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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Fighting Blog Burnout


It happens during the lifespan of every blog; you run short of ideas. You begin to feel...burned out. Parched. Exhausted. Mentally drained. This can be a particular danger when you blog about social media.  After all, what could you possibly say that hasn't already been presented in a listicle, a meme, or an article summary posted on that popular news blog?

                                                                Image courtesy of pixabay.com

Here are some ways to get your blogging mojo back.

1.  Announce a blog hiatus.   If network TV shows can go on hiatus, then so can your blog.  Pick a pre-determined length of time, and post an announcement. For a more personal touch, let people know the reason for the hiatus, such as an upcoming launch, a family emergency, or just because you need a break.  Chances are you are not the only one who is overloaded out there, and people will appreciate your transparency.  Be sure to re-direct to the main page of your website, and/or your email list sign up page, if you have one.

2.  Solicit and schedule high-quality guest posts. This can be done in conjunction with your blog hiatus (see #1) if you like. This strategy works best when you do it several months ahead of time. Be sure that you keep your quality standards high-- don't just use guest posts as filler. You can find guidelines on how to get guest posters here.

3.  Run a Boolean search in Google News.  Boolean searches, which use conjunctions such as AND, OR, NOT, are named after the mathematician George Boole. You can use them to search out the latest social media news by pairing them like this: "Pinterest OR Instagram OR Facebook OR Twitter" can be typed into Google News for the latest developments on any of those platforms. You can substitute keywords for your industry to get news.

4.  Try something new.  Be a guest on someone's podcast, let a college student interview you as part of an internship, add yourself to HARO (Help A Reporter Out), jump onto Periscope to see what other people are up to, or take a class that has no relation to your blog or industry whatsoever.

5.  Pull the plug.  Perhaps you never had blogging mojo to begin with, and you only started a blog because "everyone" said you had to have one. If you dread posting , people can probably sense that. Consider repurposing your blog content in other mediums, and then post an announcement that your blog is no longer active so that people won't wonder what happened.

6.  Write a love letter.  Post a paen to your favorite blogger in your industry -- preferably not the one of the top three people who is praised constantly, but hopefully someone that is higher up the ladder than you. Make sure the praise is sincere, and that you enjoy writing the post, regardless of how many views it gets or whether or not you get a comment from the subject.  Remember how great you felt the last time you received an unexpected but sincere compliment? Pay that feeling forward.



The Texas Social Media Research Institute (TSMRI) is a group of faculty, staff, and students at Tarleton State University with a mission of conducting social media research; sharing social media best practices; and providing social media education for students, non-profit organizations, state agencies, school districts, and higher education institutions.


Contact us:
Texas Social Media Research Institute
Follow Us on Twitter - @TSMRI
Call Us - 254-307-8211
Join Us for Our #TXSocialMedia Weekly Twitter Chats on Thursday Nights at 8pm CDT
texassocialmediaresearch@gmail.com

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