Ask a Social Media Director #2: Social Media Burnout Avoidance Edition

By: Kelly Stone, Senior Director, Global Social Media, CompTIA

August 15, 2019

Editor’s note: Welcome to the second edition of “Ask a Social Media Director,” a pilot series wherein we throw three marketing-oriented questions at a social media leader in The Social Shake-Up community. Have a burning social media management question of your own? Tweet it to @social_shakeup or message us on Facebook or Instagram, and we’ll consider it for incorporation in future columns.

Kelly Stone, Senior Director, Global Social Media, CompTIA

Hi, I’m Kelly Stone, the senior director of global social media at CompTIA. We’re a self-funded nonprofit organization that works to advance the global IT industry. When I’m not working, I enjoy traveling, electric car cruising and attempting to adopt more Yorkies. Thanks for your questions, here are my thoughts.

Dear Director,

What are your overall tips for managing workload when leading a social media program?

Sincerely, Overloaded

Dear Overloaded,

Be sure to block your time out and protect your personal life. I spend the first hour of my day catching up on customer service inquiries and comments, then move onto the most urgent tasks. I also protect my time out of the office. Social media will take as much time as you allow it, so defend your work-life balance. People don’t expect you to do everything immediately and are typically happy to oblige as long as they know when you’ll get to it. Communicating internally is important to succeeding in any job within an organization.

Dear Director,

Are multiple hashtags still relevant to use in each post?

Thanks, Hashtag-You’re-It

Dear Hashtag-You’re-It,

Remember that the more you ask your audience to do, the less likely they will do it. I stick to one hashtag for events and that’s it. It’s easier to track and more likely to get used. Using multiple hashtags on Instagram is fine, but put them in a comment rather than as part of the cutline, so it doesn’t get cluttered. I don’t recommend hashtags on Facebook or LinkedIn because typically when we post there, we are asking people to take action away from those sites (read more on our blog, enter a contest here, etc.). If there’s a hashtag on the post, it provides a point at which your audience could navigate away from the key action you want them to take.

Dear Director,

Are videos still the highest performers, especially over text posts?

Best, Video Killed the Literary Star

Dear Video Killed the Literary Star,

Videos are king, especially if they’re optimized for social. This goes beyond having the right size or length. Videos on social media must be consumable on mobile and able to convey your message without sound, and they have to be visually compelling with a call to action in the description box.

That’s it for this edition. Be sure to send your questions to @social_shakeup or message us on Facebook or Instagram.

Follow Kelly: @KellyCulinarian