Sometimes it can feel as though you’re yanking out the IV when you consider taking a vacation and having to leave your social media accounts behind. Well, you don’t necessarily have to completely cut the cord, especially if you’re a business owner; but, it is possible to manage your social media accounts and not be connected at the hip to them.
Scheduling posts is one of the best ways to ensure that you are still active, without really being there. It isn’t the ideal method, but if you’re going away for more than 24 hours, then it’s a plausible strategy. List the posts you know are necessary, input them, and schedule them to post at the time that you (or your company) normally posts.
If you are running a business, you can always ask someone else at the company to take over the social media while you are away. Make sure this individual has all of the necessary login information, and that they have been briefed in the proper posting protocols. If the account is your personal account, let your friends, family, and followers know before you leave that you will not be available.
You can always do once-a-day checks on your accounts. If you’re traveling outside the country and may not have internet access, of course this will then not be a possibility. However, a vacation that includes a vacation from social media is not necessarily a bad thing!
Finally, as mentioned briefly above, let your clients know ahead of time the dates that you will be gone and when to expect you’ll be back in your office. This can set clients’ minds at ease knowing that everything will still be handled by someone in your office and, should something arise, they will know who to contact in your absence.
Those of us whose work in literally tethered to the internet perhaps deserve vacations more than the average person. All it takes is some careful planning, and you actually can reconnect with the real world and the people and places that mean so much to you.