Did you know Social Media Managers Are Getting More Burnt Out, With 42% Planning to Quit

Managing a company’s social media account is an enormous responsibility because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up connecting brands with paying customers. It involves a wide range of responsibilities, such as managing all content, developing a social media marketing strategy as well as public relations to an extent. In spite of the fact that this is the case, these jobs pay a rather low rate of just $20 an hour.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that social media managers are notorious for being overworked. Such a trend is dangerous since it has the potential to alienate them from their jobs, and sure enough, around 42% of marketing professionals plan to leave the social media marketing game entirely over the next two years or so.  

This comes from a report from Sprout Social, and it also revealed that 63% of social media managers feel like they are extremely burnt out as of right now. A high workload coupled with meager pay makes for the perfect storm for an industry exodus, and we are already seeing social media managers quitting prestigious roles due to the lack of adequate working conditions.

One of the most far reaching examples of this that have been seen in the past is that of the NBA. The former social media manager took to their Facebook page and remarked on the terrible working conditions, mentioning that they usually have to work 14 hour shifts. Furthermore, a 90 day wait period to get the right kind of health insurance was also touched on, and the post further expanded on the negative mental health effects that their job was creating.

Yet another example of this came when Entertainment Weekly got a viral tweet, which might now be called an X post due to Elon Musk’s bizarre rebranding. When the tweet received a reply from an internet troll, this prompted the social media manager to break character and say that she’s just a 31 year old that’s trying to pay off her student loans and bills. 

Ironically, this created yet another storm of virality for the tweet, yet it still bears mentioning that she’s just one of many social media managers who have been cut to the quick. The main issue here is that social media managing is an always on type of position, which basically means that they need to work unreasonably long hours. Being late to respond to a social media query or making a misstep can be disastrous for the brand, which is why so many social media marketers are looking for greener pastures.

The only way to fix this is to create better working conditions. No one should be working fourteen hours a day, particularly for such low pay. More work must be done to regularly check in with team members and assess their morale, otherwise there won’t be any social media managers left to pick up the pieces left behind when countless others leave en masse. It will be interesting to see where things go from here on out.