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Evan Clay's avatar

I feel that “approval hell” anecdote in my soul. I wish I could get through to my Gen-X, corporate-lingo-laced Comms Director, but here we are. I don’t feel heard or like my expertise and proximity to the user is valued.

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Rachel Karten's avatar

I have a suspicion one of the biggest reasons people leave a social role is because their boss does not understand how social works. (Going to add it to the survey next year.) It's really brutal and I'm sorry!

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Evan Clay's avatar

Thanks for all you do! It’s good to know I’m not alone in that frustration. It’s even worse when your boss thinks they know how social works, but really they’re stuck in 2018. 🤦‍♂️

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Truly the worst.

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Mckenzie Kapsimalis's avatar

This is such an amazing resource. Thank you for preparing this! As a SMM, I knew these numbers would be high but I never realized just ~how~ high they’d be 🤯

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Of course! And I know, lots of work to do to make this industry sustainable.

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Angel Marr's avatar

Wow, as a social media manager myself this is so timely and eye-opening! The “impact of always on” you mentioned was enough to make to make me pause.. feeling so seen!! Thanks for sharing ❤️

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Rachel Karten's avatar

I'm glad it was helpful!

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Tracy Larrua's avatar

This totally tracks. As a decades long publicist, I would tell our interns to find balance in this “new” field a few years ago? All of them are burnt out by exactly what you wrote- by always having to be “on,” and by the various hats they have to wear- writer, editor, photographer, make up artist, etc. Not to mention being on some sort of deadline 24/7. I can see the shift here where I live and work in Hawaii, and many of the folks I knew who started in the big social media movement have since moved on to other jobs.

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Kyle Rutkin's avatar

currently binging link in bio 😂

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Maggie Penton's avatar

Thank you for this post and everyone who filled out the survey! It's so nice to have words around what I'm feeling and know that other people who do this work feel it too!!!!!!!

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Rachel Karten's avatar

🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

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Kayla Kleinman's avatar

As a social media manager who left their job this year because of the burnout, appreciate all of this so much. Definitely not alone in these feelings and I hope we start to figure out solutions

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Rachel Karten's avatar

Yes, the next step here is how do we make this industry sustainable for those in it? I hope you're doing well!

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James Warren Taylor's avatar

Really interesting data. I feel like so many of these problems come from how corporate social media has become. I’ve seen how slow and approval heavy the process can get. Social should move fast but still be thoughtful, not bogged down by corporate red tape.

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