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I Can’t Even with

Content Anymore

How to Work Through

Content Creation Burnout

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Meghan Kowalski

Outreach and Reference Librarian

The University of the District of Columbia

meghan.kowalski@udc.edu

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It me!

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Here we go...

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Content Burnout

Working Through Burnout

Recovering From Burnout

Preparing For Burnout

Your Turn!

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All Our Content

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X/Twitter

Facebook

Print Newsletters

TikTok

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Tours

Tutorials

Podcasts

Infographics

Articles

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All Our Content

Instagram

Email Newsletters

Videos

Storytime

X/Twitter

Facebook

Print Newsletters

TikTok

Flyers

Posters

Blogs

Handouts

Tours

Tutorials

Podcasts

Infographics

Articles

Press Releases

Websites

LibGuides

Classes

Apps

Brochures

Events

Reports

Emails

Chats

Policies

Workflows

Intranet

Procedures

Forms

Checklists

Directories

Signs

Papers

Manuals

Data

Presentations

Templates

Reviews

Ads

Branding

Contests

Training

Lists

To Dos

Texts

“Kid Stuff”

Photos

Self Promotion

Hobbies

Merch

Social Media

Home Decor

Parties

Plans

A non-exhaustive list of the PERSONAL content we make

Let’s not discount the mental energy for this.

For example - thank goodness I preset my social media and newsletter content for this week. The day I arrived here for LMCC, there was a fire in the attic of my condo building. Everyone is fine - but my poor, solo parenting husband had to evacuate with our preschooler.

THEN, during yesterday’s keynote, our daycare message that our kiddo had a fever and we needed to come get her. (She’s fine - she was just sleepy and cranky from a short night of sleep from that fire AND overwarm from her coat.)

And TODAY the national zoo had to send my giant pandas back to china. I live across the street from the National Zoo. These pandas were fixtures in my life and I am not happy to see them go.

So, yeah, my mental energy was shot this week and there was nothing left to spend on crafting work content.

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All Our Content

Instagram

Email Newsletters

Videos

Storytime

X/Twitter

Facebook

Print Newsletters

TikTok

Flyers

Posters

Blogs

Handouts

Tours

Tutorials

Podcasts

Infographics

Articles

Press Releases

Websites

LibGuides

Classes

Apps

Brochures

Events

Reports

Emails

Chats

Policies

Workflows

Intranet

Procedures

Forms

Checklists

Directories

Signs

Papers

Manuals

Data

Presentations

Templates

Reviews

Ads

Branding

Contests

Training

Lists

To Dos

Texts

“Kid Stuff”

Photos

Self Promotion

Hobbies

Merch

Social Media

Home Decor

Parties

Plans

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Content Burnout

01

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What it is

When we feel...

Stress
Physical Symptoms
Disengagement
Overwhelm
Sunday Scaries

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How it happens

When we encounter...

Overwork
“Life”
Decision Fatigue
Fear & Anxiety
Imposter Syndrome
Good Old “Rut”

Burnout happens when we just have too much stuff to hold in our mental space.

How many things are on your plate right now? Very rarely is our sole job content creation.
Life in general - we are more than just people in the office doing a job, we’ve got other things going on. For example, I have a four-year old. Fellow parents of young kids, you know what that does to our sleep and patience. Even if you don’t have kids - life is a lot. We’ve all got something.
Decision fatigue - we have to make a lot of choices every day. Eventually, that catches up with us and we simply can’t anymore.
Fear and anxiety

A lot of this can come from looking at our data
We get too in the weeds and start second guessing everything
REMEMBER - Your follower count or amount of likes is not you worth!

Imposter syndrome - am I good enough - am I doing this right?
Or as simple as we get into a rhythm that leads to a rut - and ruts are hard to get out of.

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Why it happens

When we feel...

Tired
Stuck
Unhappy

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Working Through Burnout

02

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Things to Remember

It’s okay to...

Take a break
Reuse content
Be vulnerable
Branch out
Do the minimum

Things to remember

It’s okay to take a day off, people (probably) won’t notice

NPR left Twitter and it didn’t hurt at all - https://niemanreports.org/articles/npr-twitter-musk/
“A memo circulated to NPR staff says traffic has dropped by only a single percentage point as a result of leaving Twitter, now officially renamed X, though traffic from the platform was small already and accounted for just under two percent of traffic before the posting stopped.”

Just because YOU know you did it before, doesn’t mean your followers did

Content memory is short
And those who do remember probably don’t care

It’s okay and even desired to be vulnerable - you become more real

We can’t with content today, we are tired
Your followers can relate

Everything and anything can be content - Cascatelli/The Sporkful - The pasta is content
It’s kind of okay to quiet quit for a bit
You don’t have to make ALL the content, you just need to make ONE content
Fall back on project management techniques

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Ideas

User- Generated Content

Takeovers

Theme Weeks

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Ideas

Reuse Old Content

Repurpose Existing Content

Get Ideas

Reuse old content with new images (or old images with new text)

Or just reuse old content - people love a jump back into the archives
You can literally cut and paste - it’s fine
For example, I’ve reshared the picture of our old marching band AT LEAST five times, it still gets a ton of interaction (even from the same people)

Repurpose content from one area into content on another (blog to post, etc.)
Angela Hursh of super library marketing has a whole blog post on this
Start with the BIG one (usually a blog post of newsletter) and then use snippets for other things
Get ideas from others (facebook groups, twitter, etc.)
Literally ask - people are really happy to share
The best thing about librarians is that we are excited to see someone duplicate something that works for us (our job is giving stuff away)

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Ideas

Make Recommendations

Beg, Borrow, Steal

Mix It Up

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Ideas

AI Assist

Get Meta

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Resources

Places to go for inspiration

Google Trends
Popular on Reddit
Pinterest
Calendars
This Day in History
Vendors
Newsletters & Websites

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Recovering from Burnout

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Options to Try

Option 1

Take a vacation

Option 2

Remove yourself from the process

Option 3

Get offline

Option 4

Stop doing stuff

Option 5

Unfollow

Option 6

Focus on YOU

Take a vacation (like, an actual vacation, most people won’t miss you - our library goes offline during winter break)
If possible - remove yourself entirely from the process for a few days or so - do anything but make content (to make some space, schedule a week of posts - and then ignore it all for a few days)
Get offline - take a walk, journal, whatever you want - just do it offline

Consider a digital detox for at least a few hours - no phone, no podcasts, no screens, etc. - some people try a full day or weekend of this once a month

Don’t create content you don’t need to be creating

You don’t have to have an opinion or tie-in to everything
Do the bare minimum - it’s fine, really
Not everything needs a brand new graphic or written material

Stop following others for a bit (give your brain a break from ingesting content)
Focus on YOUR - YOU AS A PERSON - hobbies and likes for a little bit (make space to keep learning/discovering, and to enjoy what you do) - Ideas can come from literally everywhere

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Questions to Ask

What do I have the capacity to do right now?

Who/what could help me?

Am I setting unreachable goals or expectations?

What is my biggest obstacle to making new content?

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Questions to Ask

What is holding me back from trying something new?

If metrics/approval/funding were no object, what would I like to be creating?

What would I find joy in making?

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Remember

1. YOU are awesome.

3. Most people LIKE you.

2. YOUR ORGANIZATION is awesome.

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Preparing for Burnout

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Things to Try

Trend Chasing

What speaks to you?

Content Calendar/Schedule

Create a structure to work from

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Things to Try

Support Team

Help and Delegation

Brain Dump List

Get your ideas out

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Things to Try

Content Batching/Binges

Capture things as they come in spurts

Assess Your Workflow

Approvals, time, and steps

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Things to Try

Do Less

Quality over quantity

Resource List

Anything of interest that inspires you

Do Less

Quality over quantity - do less but do it better
Assess your platforms (what is really the best ROI for you - how many of us are still on X?... yeah, me too)
Look before your leap into a new platform (do you actually need to add it? Where is your audience?)

Be realistic about your energy - I, personally, just can’t with TikTok - it’s a legal minefield and good video is HARD - I don’t have time for that will all my other job duties

Reduce how often you post (it doesn’t have to be multiple times a day or even every day or every platform)
Reduce how much you need to create (Templates and standing ideas are your friends)

Create a list of resources you can turn to

Follow people you admire (not necessarily just libraries)
Trending websites and tools
Calendars, etc.
Anything of interest or that inspires you

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Things to Try

Inspiration Board

Gather ideas you like

Look Outside Libraries

Good ideas can come from anywhere

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Things to Try

Ignore the Algorithm

Do you really have time to “hack” it?

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Your Turn!

05

shorturl.at/muCGH

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Content Prompt

Content Prompt is a newsletter to help you create engaging content when your brain is tired.

Each day (Monday-Friday), I share tidbits to get you focused on what is happening. I also include thought exercises to get your creative gears rolling.

Monthly bonus for paid subscribers with more ideas, best practices, and info to prep for the month ahead.

**Discount Code - FREE Forever**

contentprompt.substack.com/lmcc23

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Tools / Resources

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References

Buffer - How to Avoid Burnout as a Creator
Forbes - How to Avoid Burnout While Maintaining Your Content Output
American Marketing Association - What To Do When Content Creation Burnout Hits
Writer’s Room - The Content Repurposing Strategy: Your Key to Avoiding Content Burnout
Ness Labs - Creative Burnout: When the Creativity Tap Runs Dry
Thorne, Sarah. "#Emotional: Exploitation & Burnout in Creator Culture." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 24.4 (2022): https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.408 8

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Q&A

Thank you!

meghan.kowalski@outlook.com

MeghanKowalski.com

@meghan1943

bit.ly/INDY2023

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik