Business owners are busy and face burnout if too much is on their plate. While marketing might be one of the first things neglected, it can really hurt your business. So, how can you stay on track and keep up with the demands of digital marketing for your brand?
What is Burnout?
Burnout is an occupational phenomenon that is common in demanding jobs. The World Health Organization notes, “Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
When you are approaching a content strategy, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of work needed to successfully achieve growth. If you aren’t able to unplug and face unclear expectations, you are at a higher risk for burnout.
Burnout leads to feeling exhausted, depressed, apathetic and completely unmotivated. You may experience a full breakdown if you don’t heed early warning signs of feeling dissatisfied with your job, unable to wind down, depleted of energy and unable to fulfill your responsibilities.
How to Avoid Content Creation Burnout
Here are some quick tips to help you avoid burnout as a marketer or content creator for your workplace.
Plan Ahead—But Not Too Much
A content strategy, content calendar and advertising plans are all helpful steps in creating clearly defined goals. However, you can also over-plan in an attempt to avoid failure.
If you tend to jump into new projects without planning, spend more time on the strategy phase. However, if you drag your feet with the planning stage because you are afraid of failure, then you need to push yourself to just get started and learn more as you go.
A content creation strategy should include a clear understanding of your brand guidelines, voice and goals. A content calendar can outline plans for specific content types that align with different parts of the calendar year, brand milestones, events and more.
Check the Competition
Checking out the competition is one quick way to get ideas for your content calendar. While you don’t want to copy them, you can quickly get your brainstorming process moving by seeing what kinds of content is being shared or getting engagement.
Don’t stop with the competition. You can look at brands in other industries that also appeal to your audience and get ideas from there as well. While these companies won’t create content on the same topics as you (different industries), you can look at the voice, visual approach and types of content they are creating to glean new ideas for your own calendar.
Don’t Over-Stretch Yourself
Only take on one or two new platforms at a time. If you try to dive into every social media platform, plus blogging, you are going to spend a lot of time trying to learn the ropes and will struggle to differentiate between the different platform expectations. Take on only what you can manage and then add on something new when you’ve mastered one with an effective strategy.
A slow and steady approach to building omnichannel marketing allows you to be more efficient in learning each platform. If you rush in and post everywhere without an understanding of the platforms, you will likely miss the nuances that increase engagement on each platform.
Take Breaks and Set Boundaries
One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to fully unplug each evening. It can be hard to feel like you aren’t “always-on” with a virtual job since your work is right at your fingertips.
However, a sure-fire path to burnout is not upholding workplace boundaries. Set a time to “clock out” each evening and stick to it. Rather than get on personal social media, try to unwind with a good chunk of time not spent on a device. Some great ways to wind down include:
- Exercise (walking, weightlifting, hiking, swimming, etc.)
- Mindfulness practices (meditation or yoga)
- Cooking your own meals from scratch
- Practicing music or making something crafty
- Art (drawing, painting, wood carving, pottery, etc.)
- Reading a book or listening to a non-work-related podcast
- Spending time with family or friends
- Pick-up games or an adult league (soccer, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, etc.)
- Planting a vegetable or flower garden in your yard
- Volunteering your time to support a meaningful cause
Break Down Content for Multi-Channel Marketing
When you work on a great piece of content, consider how you can break it down to use in multiple ways across multiple channels. Creating a video might lead to a number of graphics for Tweets, a teaser for an email newsletter and a longer blog post to post with it on your website.
Make the most out of your time by creating related content from a larger piece. Capitalizing on every idea will reduce the amount of time you spend brainstorming and researching new content.
Automate Where Possible
Craft your posts when you are free but schedule them to post when you typically get the most engagement. Set up welcome emails to go out for new subscribers, thank you emails to go out after purchases and tracking emails to go out after shipment. The more you can automate your system, the less time you will spend on micromanagement.
Recycle and Upcycle Content
Great content should be brought back around and not left to gather dust in the archives. You can save yourself more time in your content calendar by re-posting content that your audience finds valuable.
Upcycling content means pumping life back into aging content. If you have a solid piece that is starting to show signs of age, you can update facts, find new statistics, replace broken links and remove outdated examples to refresh the piece.
Outsource for Time Management
If you are really pressed for time, outsourcing part of your strategy can alleviate your burden. You can outsource writing, editing, image creation, illustration, web design and more. Start by outsourcing any part of the strategy where you struggle to create quality or work quickly.
You can hire freelancers or marketing firms to complete parts of your strategy for a cheaper option than hiring someone to help you in-house. If you are looking for support in your content marketing and copywriting, talk to our team today.
