Scrolling social media is the ultimate way to veg out and escape for a few moments. But what happens when you take something you once enjoyed during your free time and tie it to your livelihood? Preventing social media burnout is essential to growing your business. If you dread logging on to Instagram – take a listen to what Kristen is talking about in this episode.
Here’s what you can learn from Kristen this week:
- Are you consuming or creating? The importance of setting intentions every time you open a social media app
- How to become efficient when scrolling
- Potential benefits of not checking your phone as soon as you wake up
- Ways to repurpose your content that can help prevent burnout
- Approaching your content from the perspective of serving your audience can reframe your entire relationship with your feed
Chasing likes will only bring you stress. Creating content and engaging with your audience with the sole purpose of serving them can take the pressure off and allow you to start to enjoy this part of your business again. Instead of asking how many followers did I gain today – ask yourself, ‘What can I give to my audience today?’ This simple step can make all the difference in how you show up.
Don’t miss out on the in-person social selling event of the year! Announcing the Rising Leader Summit, April 14-15, 2023, in Denver, CO. The LIVE EVENT that has historically been exclusive to 6-7 figure earners is now AVAILABLE to anyone who is hungry and willing and desires to step into higher levels of leadership. Go to kristenboss.com/rise to register today.
Thanks for listening! Do you have a question about network marketing? Kristen can help! Drop your question here, and she just might answer it live on the podcast: https:/Kristenboss.com/question
Connect with Kristen:
If you’re ready to learn the simple process of running your social selling business online, you have to check out Kristen’s live group coaching program! The Social Selling Academy: www.thesocialsellingacademy.com
Transcript for Episode #155 Prevent Social Media Burnout:
Kristen Boss (00:12): Hey bosses, welcome to another episode of the show this week. It’s just me. We’re back to a solo episode and I’m excited to chat with you especially about the content for today because I know it’s going to be relevant for a lot of you. You’ve probably felt this way at some point or another in your online business journey, and this is applicable for anybody who uses social media to grow their business. But before I even go there, I want to recap real quick, the Rising Leader Summit. We still have tickets for sale. We only have a handful of v I P tickets left, and we still have general admission tickets. I really want you to think about making this trip, this, what’s the word I’m looking for?
Kristen Boss (00:58): I want you to think about making this conference a number one priority for the growth of your business this year. This year is going to require you to get a little more gritty. You’re going to need to level up your leadership if you want to level up your income period. And so at this event, I’m going to be teaching systems automation, self-aware leadership, coaching skills, tools that normally aren’t taught to social sellers. I’m making them available to you for the first time without it you having to be a six or a seven figure earner without it coming with an expensive mastermind price tag. It is the most approachable and accessible leadership training I have ever created. Now, if you can’t get there, maybe you’re an international student or you’re about to have a baby, or maybe you’re a single parent and you can’t get childcare, we are offering virtual options.
Kristen Boss (01:45): So I want to encourage you to go ahead and grab your virtual ticket today, plan to maybe have someone come watch your kids a little bit so that you can give your focused time to this training. And I also want to say we are giving you one year access to all the training, all the recordings for a full year after the event because I know you’re going to want to go back and rewatch it and rewatch a couple things where you’re like, okay, what was that? Or maybe when you’re in the implementation of something, you’re going to want to rewatch it because there’s something about hearing it. And then when you apply it, sometimes there’s more tactical questions that come up that the training will answer for you. So make it a priority this year. Again, general admission is 2 99. Our virtual tickets are 1 99, and our vip we O literally only have a couple left.
Kristen Boss (02:32): They might be gone by the time this podcast airs. So you want to go to kristenboss.com/rise and grab your ticket. I also want to say Southwest flies directly to Denver. So there are a bunch of people in my free community that are either looking for roommates or a bunch of hotels in walking distance. And the area of town that we’re going to be in Denver is super fun. So go ahead and head to the website, grab your virtual or your in-person ticket today. Okay, let’s dive into the content. Let’s dive into social media burnout. You likely have experienced it at one point or another. And to be honest with you, I have experienced it too. There has been times in my business where I am like, I just cannot take another day of social media. It’s almost like the idea of realizing as a parent, I’m like, oh, I’m going to have to figure out dinner and making dinner for these humans forever.
Kristen Boss (03:29): And I go through dinner burnout where I’m like, I’m done. Let’s just do Chick-fil-A or make breakfast for dinner again. That’s when mom has reached dinner burnout. When I’m breakfast for dinner, kids like we’re having scrambled eggs and toast. And so maybe you have felt this way with social media. Maybe you have a tumultuous relationship with social media. Maybe you feel a lot of resistance to it, and it feels like a total drag. You getting on it, it’s like, oh, God, got to do the social media thing today. And I want to offer you just a few practical tips today that could change your experience of being on social media and make it a lot more fulfilling and energizing for you than draining and exhausting and frustrating. Because oftentimes I find if you’re not fulfilled, you’re frustrated, and if you’re not energized, you’re drained. So if that’s you, buckle up.
Kristen Boss (04:18): Let’s talk about social media burnout and how to prevent it. I was thinking about this the other day, and I think the very first point I want to make is when you go on social media, before you go, I can’t tell you how many times I’m just clicking Instagram or clicking Facebook, just autopilot. Take a moment to pause before you engage on the app, before it even loads. Ask yourself, why am I going to social media right now? Know ahead of time your intention for getting on social media. Are you getting on to decompress, to scroll, great to be entertained because you’re bored? I think it’s really important that you be aware of the reason you are getting onto social media in that moment, because if you’re not clear, you’re likely going to feel confused and then maybe guilty or beat yourself up when it’s an hour later and you’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe I spent an hour scrolling.
Kristen Boss (05:14): Where did time go? And don’t think that hasn’t happened to me. It absolutely has. But the reason why it happens is I think oftentimes when we don’t go on with a plan or a reason why we’re on, and if you aren’t clear, you might end up telling yourself that I’m working, I’m doing real research, but at the end of an hour, you have nothing to show for your time on social media. Now, if you’re using it as an outlet or your board, there’s not this expectation for you to produce anything and your time on the platform. So really it’s the idea of distinguishing, am I about to engage in this platform as a consumer or a creator? Which hat am I wearing at this time? I am on social media. Am I wearing a content creator hat or am I wearing a content consumer hat?
Kristen Boss (06:03): A consumer has a very different mindset than a creator. A consumer has a passive mindset. They’re there to consume and watch and be entertained to decompress, to scroll. They’re there to take and not necessarily there to give again. They’re just a consumer and I want to, it makes me think of, I don’t know why. I was thinking of the never ending story of the nothing. It’s just consuming all the things. And I think when we’re on social media for no reason, it just consumes all the thing. It becomes the nothing. And so again, when you are a consumer, it allows you to take the passive posture without guilt and say, okay, yeah, I’m here to decompress. I’m here to scroll. I’m here to because I’m bored. I’m here to be entertained. I’m here to, maybe a really honest answer would also be like I’m here to distract myself from pain that I don’t want to face in my reality right now.
Kristen Boss (07:03): I’m here to distract myself from something in my life I don’t want to deal with. And I actually think social media is oftentimes a huge distraction. You also have to understand, if you haven’t watched that documentary, I can’t remember if it was called, I think it was called the Social Dilemma. If you haven’t watched it, I encourage you to watch it because it is about how these apps are built to essentially work with your dopamine addiction. Once you get likes and comments or visibility or a notification, your brain gets a little head of dopamine. And so a lot of times we can become, we don’t even know why we’re going there. Our brain is just seeking the dopamine some. It’s finding yourself in the pantry with a handful of chocolate chips and realizing without even realizing, without even really thinking, I’m going to go to the pantry and grab a handful of chocolate chips, suddenly you just find yourself in the pantry with a handful of chocolate chips, likely because you’re not being conscious and intentional and aware of what’s actually going on.
Kristen Boss (08:01): It might be your brain looking for a little dopamine hit with sugar being like, oh, I’m just here for a dopamine hit. Why am I here for a dopamine hit? Am I bored? Am I hurting? Am I frustrated? So being aware of the consumer hat, and I want to be very clear, you’re not wrong for being a consumer because for me, I like to decompress on social media. It’s fun. I have my scroll time. Now, lately I’ve been a lot more disciplined with my evening routines, and so I don’t scroll really past 9, 9 30. I really try and get blue light devices off because I notice the difference it makes in my sleep routines, how I wake up feeling in the morning. And trust me, I had a lot of resistance to this for a while. I used to be somebody that fell asleep with a device in their hand and I was waking up a lot more exhausted and depleted.
Kristen Boss (08:45): And when I started taking, cutting back my blue light time, the screen devices at night, I noticed a really noticeable difference in my energy levels in the morning and how easily I fell asleep when I don’t have blue light. And blue light is shown to reduce melatonin and keep you from falling asleep naturally. Now I fall asleep really easily. I have my Kindle paper white. It is my favorite thing at night. And I know I’m kind of going on a tangent here, but maybe you need to hear it. But that is kind of my compromise. I love falling asleep. I love having Kindle Unlimited. That is my favorite splurge. It’s so fun. I get to read my fictional books. And so that’s how I unwind at night. At nine o’clock, you can find me in bed with my little noise machine. I’m turned into such a granny.
Kristen Boss (09:35): But you know what? I’m a proud granny now, but I have my noise machine, I’ve got my stuff diffusing, I’ve, I’ve taken my supplements and I’ve got my water and I’ve had my sleepy time tea. Who am, I literally sound like such a grandma, but I will tell you the quality of my sleep is so much better. All that to say, that’s usually before my screen time turns off. I’m a consumer. Sometimes when I’m on my treadmill, if I’m scrolling, I, I’ve done just done this recently cause I just got a new treadmill. I’ve decided if I’m scrolling, I’m walking. If I’m going to consume, I’m going to consume while I move, I’m going to get my steps in. So just something I’ve been conscious of, oh, if I’m just going to take the next 20 minutes to scroll, might as well just get on my treadmill.
Kristen Boss (10:25): And so I enjoy scrolling, but it also holds me accountable to getting my steps in for the day. So just figuring out, or you know, might know this as a habit stack. It’s like if I’m creating the habit of a treadmill, I already have the habit of scrolling. It’s just something I do. So I’m going to marry that or pair that with a habit I want to have. Okay, so that’s when you’re creator. Now, that’s when you’re a consumer. Now, let’s put on the creator hat. That is when you go to social media and it is a non passive position, that means you are moving into creative mode. You are consciously not. You’re not in a subconscious, subconscious, passive, easily suggestible place. As a consumer, you are in a productive, creative directive role where you are actively thinking about what I can give my audience.
Kristen Boss (11:19): You are not a taker. You are a giver. As a content creator, you’re actively thinking of how can I serve my audience? What do they need to hear? You are moving on with an intention to create and produce an outcome. I want you to think of that I am on here as a creator. I’m producing an outcome, meaning I’m producing a real, I’m making a post. I’m going live on my stories. I’m engaging with five people. But when you’re a creator, your brain will naturally want to slowly fall into consumer if you don’t have a plan. And that goes into point number two is you need to come to social media with a plan A, why am I here? Am I a creator or a consumer? If I’m a creator, who am I talking to and what am I doing here? What is the outcome goal of my 30 minutes on this platform?
Kristen Boss (12:09): And it’s because a lot of people will say, I’m here to work my business. That’s like you walking into a gym and saying, I’m here to get fit. But you have no plan for if you’re going to do dumbbells or a weight machine or cardio. You have zero plan. You just kind of go start bouncing around between equipment and you spend an hour just kind of maybe doing a couple bicep curls over here. Maybe I’ll do a couple squats over there. Oh, I’ll go spin on the bike there. Maybe I’ll just roll on the machine and kind of just scattered energy. But what’s happening is like you’re just wasting your time and then you leave the gym and you wonder why you’re not getting results. I see people approaching social media the same way they’re approaching social media, going to the gym without having a workout plan.
Kristen Boss (12:53): It makes no sense. It’s walking into the gym saying, I’m here to get fit, but I have zero plan for how I’m going to get fit. It’s walking in with a plan of this is what I’m going to execute, this is what I’m going to accomplish and I have an hour to do. So would you spend all day in the gym? No, that seems silly. You would say, how long am I at this gym and how can I make it as effective as possible? If I’m going to be spend 45 minutes at the gym, it’s going to be like I want to see a return on the efforts I put in. So I’m going to learn to be efficient. And it’s the same way as a content creator. It’s going in with the plan being like, who am I talking to and what am I doing and what’s the outcome I’m planning here?
Kristen Boss (13:29): So the outcome is like, this is what I’m going to accomplish in the time I am on this platform. I’m going to connect with five new people. I’m going to make one post, do five stories and batch three reels. Notice how there’s so much accountability there. And I would have that on a sticky note or a journal in front of you when you sit down as a content creator to get on a social media platform. So again, it’s notice how that’s a very active role versus the very passive role of a consumer. Now here’s what I want to offer you doing real research. I would actually put that in your consumer category, not your creative category, because you will easily find yourself scrolling and forgetting that you’re there for research and you’re now suddenly you’re scrolling, you’re laughing, you’re sharing things with your friends. I have friends on social media where our entire conversation is reels.
Kristen Boss (14:26): We’re just sharing between each other. There’s like an emojis, that’s it. But we’re having a conversation. This is me and my husband too. This is marriage. Now, we don’t talk in text, we just share reels with each other and laugh. And my husband will be like, why didn’t you laugh at the real eye center earlier? I’m like, oh, I’ve seen that one, or something like that. But if you’re not careful and conscious and intentional, you will solely slip into a consumer. And here’s the thing, when you are not going in with a plan, your brain is constantly trying to figure out my creator, consumer, creator, consumer. And so if you are trying to wear both hats in the same 30 to 30 minutes to an hour, of course your brain is going to feel C fatigued because there’s no plan, there’s no direction. And sometimes there’s even guilt being like, oh, I got nothing done.
Kristen Boss (15:12): Well, you didn’t have a plan. Of course you didn’t get anything done. Did you actually expect yourself to be effective if you didn’t have a plan? That’s silly, but this is how people approach social media. And then they start to say, well, I hate social media. It’s all consuming. It’s in. I spend all day with my phone in my hand. I’m like, it does not have to be that way. You are not a victim to social media. You are not a mindless ape. You are a human with a prefrontal cortex that can make rational, logical decisions and decide to be less addicted to dopamine. And I would actually encourage you to look for slower, slower and maybe more high quality dopamine in your life. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the concept dopamine delay, but it’s something that I’ve heard is helpful for people that have ADHD, and that is something that I struggle with. I have adhd. So for all my H ADHD people out there that are saying, you can’t grow a business because you have H adhd, I’m just going to challenge that.
Kristen Boss (16:14): And the way I found that out was when I wrote my book, I was like, oh dang, this is wow. Okay, so going back to this idea of dopamine delay, this idea of not letting your brain get on the dopamine train first thing in the morning. So maybe not being on your phone and checking your social media the first few minutes you wake up telling yourself, I’m not going to pick up my phone or check my social media until this time until 8:00 AM And this is something I experimented with my life coach. I was telling her, I was like, Hey, I just kind of want to see how I do if I don’t pick up my phone or look at social media, or even for me Slack, my company, slack channel. It’s like how my team communicates. It’s like a group chat for companies. And I noticed that.
Kristen Boss (17:05): She’s like, okay, well how long do you want to leave your phone untouched? I was like, I want to work it. Not really picking it up until 9:00 AM Because what happens is once you get the hit quick hit dopamine first thing in the morning, your brain starts the dopamine cycle a lot earlier. So then it’s looking for the next hit of dopamine and then the next and the next and the next. But when you have a dopamine delay, you’re actually teaching your brain to go without such a quick hit of dopamine. And so that’s something I’m working on in the mornings, just being like, okay, how can I be in charge of my brain instead of my brain being in charge of me and I had to put my phone in another room in the mornings that helped me. Actually, that’s part of the reason why I got the hatch alarm clock.
Kristen Boss (17:46): I’m not an affiliate with it, and it’s my new favorite purchase. I love my hatch alarm. And so I would have my phone charging in another room. And so I get up and I don’t get on my phone, and I noticed how uncomfortable I was feeling that first hour. My brain kept telling me I was missing something I was missing. It was like I was experiencing intense levels of fomo. And I’m like, wow, this is so interesting that my brain is offering me something big in the world is happening that I’m missing out on. And sure enough, when I picked up my phone at nine turns out wasn’t true at all. There wasn’t anything I missed. And I communicated with my team by the way. I said, Hey, if you drop me something in Slack, don’t expect me to respond until after nine o’clock. So that way they knew I wasn’t ignoring them.
Kristen Boss (18:34): So I was also putting things in place for, okay, how can I make this decision easier for myself? So for example, I don’t want to be on my phone until 8:00 AM. How do I help myself? Okay, I’m going to charge my phone in another room. I’m not going to have it on my nightstand. That was huge guys. Me charging my phone at night literally, because I don’t want to get tired and have to get up and go to another room to plug my phone in. So nine, between nine and nine 30, it’s in the charger and I don’t touch it until the next day. And it’s just noticing the quality of my life and my energy levels are just so much better. So it’s this idea of not being a victim to your phone. And I think that’s when burnout happens. It’s when we believe we don’t have control.
Kristen Boss (19:25): The phone is controlling us, but you can put strong boundaries in place without your business suffering. And I find oftentimes that’s what people like social media sellers, they’re very afraid. What if someone messages me and they say they’re interested and I don’t get to them right away? Okay, so let me offer you this. So what if you don’t get to them right away? Do you think their interest is that? If they’re like, nevermind. Nevermind. I’ve changed my mind in the last two hours since I’ve text you. If that’s the case, then you don’t want them as a customer either, because they will be the person that buys from you once and ghost you and suddenly they’re like, ah, this doesn’t work for me. You want someone that really wants it. Let them sit in their decision. It’s not the end of the world. And you look more abundant.
Kristen Boss (20:09): You don’t look needy and scarce being like, oh, message, I have to answer this right? And that I think it’s just a good training for you. Okay, so we’ll sum up. Know your role. Are you a content creator or are you a consumer? Go in with a plan. The third one is, learn to repurpose your content. My God, so many of you really burn yourselves up because you constantly think you have to be creating new. You do not have to constantly be creating new things. You can take your highest performing content from 60 to 90 days ago, re-share it. Your audience won’t notice. And if they do notice it was your highest performing content, which means they’ll probably enjoy the reminder or they’ll enjoy reading it again or watching it again. And one piece of content in written form, one piece of content can actually be turned into three pieces of content.
Kristen Boss (20:58): Let me give you an example. Let’s say you do a written post where you’re talking about a story or something you’ve overcome. Okay? So now you have a written post that can be repurposed and turned into an email. If you have an email list, which I encourage everybody to have one, this is something I’m teaching in the SSA now, is how to build an email list. You can turn it, you can add it to maybe a text campaign, a blog post, a podcast episode, a real talking about it more in your stories. I actually think I just listed eight different ways to repurpose a single piece of content. So I know for me this podcast episode, I’ll probably turn it into one or two Instagram posts being like, okay, this is still valuable because not everybody is consuming the podcast at the same time. Someone’s going to consume this six months to a year after I’ve already created this, and that’s fine.
Kristen Boss (21:47): It’s great for them. And I can also share it on my social media. And we just for people tend to get very in their head of, my audience is going to be bored, my audience needs to hear something new. They actually don’t. Message repetition is message saturation. You’re building brand consistency breeds trust with your audience. You talking about the same thing all the time is great. So repurpose your content. All right? And then the last point is be more about service than growth. When you are growth orient, like it’s okay to be growth oriented, but to obsess over growth, to make the primary reason you are on social media to grow your account is a disservice to yourself. Because when you come to the account saying, I’m here to grow my account, notice every post is going to feel high pressured. You’re going to likely have perfectionism kick in.
Kristen Boss (22:40): You’re going to think, okay, this post has to create growth. This post has to do this, or this reel has to go viral and you’ll be obsessing. Why isn’t my account growing? And you’re making it very much about you. And I think of oftentimes, if we’re chasing likes, chasing views, chasing followers from an insufficient place, meaning from a place of lack, what we’re doing is making our social media content strategy about ourselves and how we feel about ourselves. I can like myself, if a reel goes viral, I don’t like myself if A, B, or C. And so it’s being very aware of that. And I want to invite you to move into having a service posture of coming onto social media and say, what can I give today? How can I serve my audience? What do they need to hear? How can I be of service to them?
Kristen Boss (23:29): And here’s the thing, I even get caught up in this, guys. I don do too. I don’t want you to say, I don’t want you to think I’m exempt from this. It’s something I have to be conscious of and aware of and something my current content strategy is like, I just want to help my audience, the people that are already following me. I just want to give them content that is valuable to them, that is entertaining, that they enjoy consuming, that they enjoy sharing with their team, that they enjoy sharing with their audience. I’m very much in that posture. And so I believe when we are in service and true service, service growth is a byproduct of that. And not only that service takes the focus off of you and puts it on your audience. And so sometimes when, and oftentimes with having this, I need to grow my account.
Kristen Boss (24:19): Have you heard of the concept like a watch pot never boils. I think that’s the same thing when we’re fixating on our growth and not on service. We’re just like, come on, why isn’t my follow follower increase going up or my count going up? And why isn’t this viral and why am I struggling with views and why is my reach not this data can be useful and helpful in a way that informs service being like, okay, this data tells me my audience really likes this. I’m going to improve and talk more about this. Notice how we’re using data for service instead of data for ego. Like, oh, this means I’m doing great, or I feel good, or I’m encouraged, or I believe my dreams are possible because the data is informing how I feel about myself. There’s a way to look at your data from an empowered place and be like, okay, what do I need to know from this data that helps me serve better?
Kristen Boss (25:09): Instead of, what do I need to know from this data that helps me grow faster? One is about me, the other is about you. And so I encourage you to make that shift. And I think, honestly, I think when we’re just living for ourselves, that is exhausting because again, the watch pot never boils. It becomes fatiguing watching the thing and feeling like nothing is happening. But if you have followed me for any period of time, I talk about the law of compounding results all the freaking time, which means it’s not just necessarily about quality, it’s about quantity that you are putting out, like repetition and putting in the reps and building the habit and working on service. And eventually your message gets better, your message gets clearer, your marketing gets better and clearer with repetition, with practice, with progress. Okay, my friends. So with social media, you get to be in charge. You get to call the shots. So decide, am I a content creator? Am I a content consumer? Why am I here? Go in with a plan, repurpose your content, make it about service instead of growth. And I guarantee you’re going to start to feel differently about social media. We’ll catch you guys in the next episode.
