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Social managers: How many accounts do you manage? And on how many platforms?
I started my first role as a social media manager about six months ago (previously, I worked in editorial + audience development) and everything has gone well so far. I came out of the gate with great numbers, but over the past month or so, burnout and the addition of more duties have begun to take its toll and I’m down MoM.
A major part of the issue is bandwidth. I’m the sole social manager on my team and tasked with strategy, reporting, drafting copy, scheduling, sourcing imagery, and creating Reels/assets/other content for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and soon, TikTok.
I’m also expected to work on the paid side, including drafting, executing content, and occassionally reporting across platforms on behalf of our marketing team. (Luckily, we’re working on onboarding a freelancer to take on these duties, so this shouldn’t be an issue much longer.)
I’ve seen dozens of complaints on LinkedIn about how social media managers should not be in charge of so many duties. But at the same time, so many social managers claim to run 8-10 accounts that it seems pretty par for the course.
**I guess my question is**: **How many social accounts do you manage across how many platforms? What duties are you in charge of? Is there something you do to make running this many accounts simple, or is everybody just running on fumes?** I can’t tell if my workload is actually insane or if I could be doing something better.
If it’s relevant, I work in media.
Edit: Formatting.
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1 Reply
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You’re doing more than you’re supposed to. That’s like 3 professions in one (copywriter, designer & SMM) I once worked as a SMM, designer, copywriter plus community management for over 6+ brands. It affected me so bad I couldn’t meet my deadlines and the work was mediocre because I couldn’t focus on one thing.
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I am in a similar position. I think it’s a crazy workload but also a crazy amazing job, you know? But yeah it definitely builds up on your brain and ‘social media burnout’ is very real and super common w/ SMMs
I was just going through that hardcore, it’s actually why I joined this group lmao
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I have the same tasks as you and manage 6 social accounts for a single client (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit).
It’s difficult to juggle and I end up having to prioritize the top performing platforms to keep the momentum going. Most of my time is spent on video editing these days!It’s not ideal by any means and our metrics suffer for it, but I feel like the waters are really murky when it comes to “what does a social media manager actually do” industry-wide.
I’ve found myself in other jobs having to explain to CEOs what my tasks should entail and what they should expect, it’s exhausting lol
Agency work is even worse in my opinion, I’ve had to manage 5 clients at a time, totaling 25 social media accounts, the results were mediocre at best but the clients don’t know enough about what to expect to care and management just rolls with it. -
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I manage five clients. 18 total accounts across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & YouTube. I also manage website content for two clients and email marketing for three clients.
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18, or 19 if you count the client who just can’t get their shit together so I only have to post for them once or twice a month.
My daily workload includes every single aspect of social that you can think of, from curating, to writing, to graphics, to URL encoding, the whole lot of it. There is absolutely no way I could do this without an automation tool. Thankfully, we use Sprout Social, which is like the Rolls-Royce of social automation.
It’s definitely a juggling game and requires some severe time management skills. But yeah, like most other social media pros out there…I’m exhausted. A lot.
EDIT: Before you ask, yes – our accounts are doing very well. Everything is pretty much up MoM and YoY, although the rate of Twitter growth and engagement has slowed thanks to Elmo Muskox over there.
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I’m a freelance social media manager for small businesses and I’m frequently in charge of all their organic marketing.
The biggest thing I have learned over the years to avoid burnout is to build processes that allow you to work smarter not harder. For instance when I’m working on outreach for a client, I will simultaneously be making notes on what the target audience is doing, how they interact and what they’re engaging with. Things like that allow you to do multiple tasks at once, and help you take a breather as and when you need.
It also helps to avoid social media as much as possible at the weekend!!
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