5 Healthy Practices When Managing Social Media for Your Business

According to Oberlo, there are approximately 3.5 billion active social media users around the world. Beyond their ability to keep us connected, social media platforms have evolved into sources of news, entertainment and creativity. For businesses in particular, the various channels – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc. – have become avenues for marketing through which brands and companies can identify and reach their target audiences.

While social media brings many benefits to our lives, it also comes with plenty of negative impacts. A 2015 study conducted by Ottawa Public Health found that heavy social media usage contributes to physical health issues like eye strain, as well as mental health issues like increased anxiety due to device dependency and lack of in-person interactions. In more serious cases, it can even result in depression as users see one another promoting a false sense of reality through highly curated and filtered photos and captions.

Business owners who have to manage their company’s social media presence, on top of all their other roles and responsibilities, need to be mindful of the harmful effects these platforms can have and prioritize their health.

In this article, we’ve compiled five healthy habits you can adopt while managing your business’ social media accounts:

1. Refrain from Checking Social Media Immediately When You Wake Up

For so many of us, checking our social media accounts is the very first thing we do upon waking up. This is a lot of stimulation first thing in the morning. If social media management is part of your job, you will be on these platforms throughout the entire day, so why not carve out some time in the morning to consciously unplug? Our morning sets the tone for our day. Use the time to do something mindful for yourself like make a nice breakfast, meditate, squeeze in a work out or even just have a cup of coffee. Create boundaries for yourself and stick to them.

2. Review Your Workload

Social media management is a ton of work. It requires you to continuously conceive of ideas for original content tailored to your various channels, physically create that content, strategically post it at specific times, respond to comments and engage with your audience. If you’re a small business owner, this is a lot to add to your plate when you’re already managing and operating your business.

According to the World Health Organization, unmanaged, chronic work-related stress leads to burn out. To prevent this, you should take time to check in with yourself each day. What does your workload look like and how are you managing it? Are you taking on too much?

Creating daily to-do lists is a great tool for prioritizing your tasks. It helps you to see what things are most important or time-sensitive and need to be completed today, versus those that are less important and can perhaps be taken care of tomorrow or later in the week. As it pertains specifically to social media, you can create a content calendar to map out and schedule your posts. This can be done on a weekly or monthly basis, whichever you prefer. When you know what needs to get done each day, it keeps you organized and efficient, all of which helps to reduce stress.

3. Take a Break from Negative Comments

When you’re managing social media for your business, you have to engage with your audience. Most of this is done through your comments section. Unfortunately, this includes responding to negative comments – addressing concerns, answering questions, acknowledging and apologizing for negative customer experiences, etc.

Dealing with negative comments day in and day out can definitely take a toll on your mental health. If ever you feel you need a break from them, without taking a break from social media all together, you can turn your comments section off for a few posts. A number of platforms also offer filtering features that automatically block specific comments based on certain words or phrases. Any comments that contain these words or phrases will not show up anywhere on your profile. Just be weary of doing this too much. Brands that delete all their negative comments may come off as inauthentic to their followers.

4. Take Screen Breaks

If social media monitoring is part of your job, it will require you to spend a lot of time staring at screens. Failure to manage this can result in screen fatigue which can cause eye strain, feeling tired and a lack of energy. Create boundaries for yourself and make it a point to take breaks to turn off and move your body in some way. If you work in an office, this can be as simple as taking a lap around the floor. If you work from home, can you go for a walk around your block? Squeeze in a quick work out? Even stepping away from your computer or phone to do a few quick stretches will help.

Studies show that the color green helps calm us down. If you’re home and you have a yard, perhaps you can take five minutes to go sit in it. If your office is near a park, maybe that’s a destination you can walk to on a break. The goal is to give your brain and eyes a rest, and get the blood flowing through your body.

5. Don’t Hesitate to Ask for Help

Operating a business and managing its social media is a lot to take on. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you need help. If you run your company with a partner, is social media something you can divide up between the two of you? Maybe you’re in charge of content creation and your partner can be in charge of answering comments and engaging with followers. Find a split that works for you. If you have the room in your budget, you could also consider hiring a social media professional to handle that facet of the business for you. This will free up time for you to focus on things like growth and expansion.

Final Thoughts

Social media is a great marketing tool for your brand that should not be overlooked. That said, there are healthy ways to manage it so that you aren’t burning out. Use the tips above to maintain a sound and healthy mind while managing your business's social media accounts. Remember, the healthier you are, the more efficient you’ll be, and the more you’ll contribute to your company’s bottom line.