10 Ways to Beat Brand Burnout
Brand burnout got you bummed out? I feel you. Creating content consistently is hard stuff.
Below are some tried and tested ways for you to beat burnout and reinspire your brand and your business.
01
Grab some new templates
With the click of a button or two and for $20-something bucks, you can grab some brand-aligned templates on sites like Creative Market for your stories and posts. Think of this as the brand version of getting cool workout gear to make the gym fun.
Don’t feel comfortable doing a dancing reel? Never tried making a meme post?
Do something you wouldn’t normally, take a risk and challenge yourself to try something new especially if it pushes you outside of your comfort zone.
This is one of the main tactics I use to stay creative and push out a constant stream of content.
Case and point: Last week I was thinking about how much I HATE making reels on instagram (especially in app because truth be told, they’re ugly AF). So I made it my goal for the week (no matter what it looked like) I was gonna make a god damn real! Welp…. I ended up making a silly reel of me not wanting to adult wrapped in a burrito blanket.
Guess what. It’s nearing half a million views and climbing. Probably my most watched, liked and seen piece of content, well, ever.
Yes, be shooketh. And go try something new.
03
Ask your audience
Doing for others takes yourself and your feelings out of the picture.
Kind of like the hardships of parenting— I imagine parents have to constantly remind themselves why they do it and who we do it for (tiny human survival) in order to muster up the energy to keep showing up every. single. day. (Even when it feels like a sucky, thankless job).
Luckily though, unlike tiny humans, the interwebs won’t exactly die from neglect.
Use features like instagram story polls or send out customer feedback surveys to hear straight from the people who consume your content exactly WHAT they want to see, need or would love for you to create content around.
I do this almost weekly with a poll out to my followers on what’s on their mind. I want to know what they’re struggling with so I can design an entire week of themed content around them. I do this particularly on week’s when I’m feeling meh about creating content. Knowing I’m accountable to someone else who is looking to me for help or advice gives me all the energy and motivation I need to keep going.
And sometimes my followers pick a totally unexpected theme or topic (like this week) and the challenge itself triggers my problem-solving brain in a good way. The newness of it sparks my curiosity and takes out the redundancy of recycling the same old content.
04
Challenge yourself
Speaking of a challenge…you don’t need an audience to challenge yourself.
Sometimes when you’re really stuck you need the bigness of something to come along and force you out of that rut. I find that creating a challenge for myself (i.e. to do something for 30-days straight or post one reel a week), is a great way to stop thinking about what I CAN or SHOULD do and just DO IT.
Better yet, make your challenge known and create an added layer of accountability to improve your odds.
05
Get a coach
It could be you don’t need someTHING to push you, but someONE.
A coach can help you find direction while also creating the accountability and motivation you need to keep going—especially when you don’t feel like it.
Sometimes you’re so deep in the weeds of your brand or business that you can lose perspective and feel lost.
This is why I offer a 1:1 Brand Breakthrough program for my brand clients. We meet for a 1-hr zoom call every three months and tackle a problem their struggling with. Most important is that they begin the next three months with an actionable plan (and any creative assets they need) so they can pivot, focus and refine their brand or biz over the year.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Whether it means enrolling in a course or program, or finding a community or coach to support you… a little help can go a long way.
06
Outsource
Do you find yourself procrastinating on the same thing over and over again? And no matter what you try or how you push nothing seems to get you to do that thing?
Welp.
It might just be time to accept that you need to outsource. There are just some things that don’t come easy or naturally to us. But it still must be done. So instead of fighting it, save yourself the suffering and hire or ask someone to help you.
Especially when it comes to creating content for your brand or biz, there are a million and one ways to outsource any which part of it that you don’t have the time or energy to do yourself.
07
Book a brand photoshoot
This is one of my favorite ways to reinvigorate my brand, content and my customers.
A brand photoshoot is never a bad investment. And I’m not just saying that because I’m a photographer.
When done right, photos help us tell powerful and compelling stories about what we do, how we do it (differently) and who we are— all the things people care about and connect with most.
Remember, when you are feeling stuck and don’t know what to post next, just tell a story. Photos are a great way to do this and you’ll add to the library of assets you can repurpose later.
08
Learn to Big-picture Batch
People who I have observed to be the most burnt out are the ones that mistake content planning for content strategy.
The former tires and the latter inspires.
Stop worrying so much about what to post, how many times and all that algorithm drama and instead create a strategy around your content so that you can batch create ahead of time.
Carving out time to create a larger asset library and knowing how those assets fit into your larger brand or biz strategy will allow you the freedom of time and mental energy later.
When days pop up that you are too busy to post or too tired, you can lean into your asset library and rely on your larger strategy to know exactly what to post.
Most of the fatigue I see is from people constantly trying to come up with weekly content or captions on the fly or not having a bigger picture for how this helps their biz so they’re just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. And over time, they burnout.
The thing is, burnout is inevitable. It will happen. So it’s best to be prepared for it.
One way I do this is by spending a day every month or so devoted to developing my content strategy. On this day, I’ll look at all the pain points my client’s have and create themed week’s for instagram on how I can help solve them or open up the discussion around topics they care about (like branding on a budget, phone-tography, burnout, etc.).
This way, I’m not reinventing the wheel every single day when I think about what I should post or write a caption. I always have backup content that is strategic and pre-batched in advance that I can rely on.
And when I’m feeling particularly inspired or there’s something going on in the world that I should be joining the conversation on, I’ll create on-the-fly (and actually enjoy it).
09
Travel
Travel can mean physically going somewhere but it doesn’t have to.
The point is to get out of your head and escape into a new book, idea, way of working or place. Find inspiration and seek it out instead of waiting for it to strike.
I do this by reading everyday, with the goal of finishing one book a week. I also listen to podcasts daily and pick up my life every month or so to stay inspired and energized. (But not suggesting you upend your life to become a nomad…reading a book will do.)
10
Take a social media sabbatical
I give this same tip every. single. week. And no one listens.
I give this tip to myself. And I never listen.
It’s funny to me how hard we fight against rest. And yet, everytime I actually do it, I feel 1000% more energized in less time than if I tried to push through.
The fact is creating content is hard work. Managing your own brand or biz is tough. There’s no way around it.
Remember you can’t pour from an empty cup. When all else fails and you just can’t anymore….don’t.
Pause, breathe, eat, sleep, spend time with your family. Take a social media sabbath (one day a week) or sabbatical (however long you need).
Forget about the followers, the algorithm, the pressure you most likely are putting on yourself.
Rest, don’t quit.
If you found these tips helpful, like, share and comment below.
