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How to Take a Well-Deserved Social Media Break

Taking a well-deserved social media break, especially during a holiday, can be incredibly refreshing. But what should you do before, during, and after with your social media? Read on for some useful tips.

Before the Break

Before you head off on your holiday, there are a few steps you should take to ensure you can fully unwind without any lingering guilt.

  1. Inform Your Customers and Followers
    Let your audience know you’ll be away. Craft an out-of-office message for your email, update your Instagram bio, and create a post to pin to your feed. (Skip Stories since they vanish after 24 hours.) Be sure to include the dates you’ll be away when you’ll return, who to contact in your absence (if someone is covering for you), and when you’ll start responding again.
  2. Plan Ahead
    Set a realistic goal for the number of posts you’d like to schedule during your time off and for the week following your return. The week after your holiday is often hectic, so planning content in advance for that period will save you stress later.
  3. Reuse Old Content
    To make things easier, prepare your posts at least two weeks before your break. Consider recycling old content—this will save you the time and effort of creating something new. Remember, the week before your holiday tends to be extremely busy, so avoid leaving this task to the last minute.
  4. Schedule Content
    Use Instagram’s scheduling tool or a third-party app like Planoly, Later, Unum, or Canva to schedule your posts. Once set, you can forget about them and focus on enjoying your time off.
  5. Manage Your Expectations
    Decide in advance whether you want to stay active on social media during your break. Setting clear expectations for yourself will help reduce any FOMO or guilt about not posting.

Here are two examples of effective out-of-office messages:

A post shared by Tracy Merry (@merry_home.life)

A post shared by Kar Brulhart | Brand Builder & Marketing Strategist (@karbrulhart)

During the Break

  1. Turn Off Notifications
    To avoid the temptation of checking your phone, turn off social media notifications. This will help you stay present and fully enjoy your break without constant reminders of the digital world.
  2. Log Out or Delete Apps
    For a stronger commitment to your break, consider logging out of your social media accounts or temporarily deleting the apps from your phone. Just be sure you don’t have any drafts of Reels—those will be deleted if you log out.
  3. Engage in Offline Activities
    Dive into activities that don’t involve a screen. Read a book, take a walk, or spend quality time with loved ones. These offline moments can be incredibly refreshing.
  4. Capture Memories, Not Content
    Instead of focusing on capturing the perfect post, concentrate on creating meaningful memories for yourself. You can always share your experiences later if you choose to.

After the Break

  1. Ease Back Into It
    Don’t rush back into social media all at once. Take your time to catch up and gradually re-engage with your online community during the first week after your break.
  2. Reflect on the Break
    Consider how the break impacted you. If you found it refreshing and beneficial, think about incorporating regular social media detoxes into your routine.
  3. Set Boundaries
    Moving forward, establish clear boundaries for your social media use. This might include setting specific times for checking your accounts or continuing to limit your online time to maintain a healthy balance.

Posting Holiday Content: Hot or Not?

Deciding whether to share holiday photos depends on a few factors you might want to consider:

Do It If:

  • You’re a personal brand and your audience expects such content from you.
  • Your followers recognize you as the face behind your brand and are familiar with your personal updates.
  • The content fits well with your products, services, branding, and overall values.

Don’t Do It If:

  • Your usual posts are strictly about your products or services, or feature other creators and influencers using your products.
  • You rarely show your face on social media.
  • The holiday content doesn’t align with your brand or the services you offer.

Examples: These Accounts Could Pull It Off

Although the following Instagram accounts haven’t posted any holiday content, I thought they could pull off posting a few photos from their holidays.

  1. MAP Studio – A small aromatherapy business and practice. Fay, the founder, can sometimes be found in the photos. If she ever posted a dreamy picture from her holiday with a scene from the nature, she would totally nail it.
  2. The Edit by Nerrisa – Nerrisa is partly the face of her haberdashery brand, and if she posted a holiday picture wearing one of her creations made of her fabric, it would likely make sales.
  3. Unwind Studio – Needlepoint and holidays go well together, and a Reel would likely inspire their followers to buy an embroidery kit for their holiday, too.