What would your boss say in the event you proposed taking a month off of social media? At L.L.Bean, the reply was sure.
Although the thought might sound infeasible for a lot of social entrepreneurs, the L.L.Bean staff went “off the grid” for the second 12 months in a row this Could in honor of Psychological Well being Consciousness Month.
This initiative was prompted by the will to embody their model values, and look out for the well-being of their staff. To cite the corporate founder, Leon L. Bean, “Being outdoors brings out one of the best in us.” So, the social staff stepped again from the model accounts to spend extra time mountaineering, fishing, browsing and discovering different methods to spend high quality time with family members outside.
At a time when many social professionals are battling social media burnout, this method was concurrently stunning and refreshing. Some skeptics puzzled if it was an genuine gesture, or only a technique to generate optimistic PR. However total it was met with a whole lot of enthusiasm and help that translated to heightened consciousness of the model’s values and optimistic efficiency outcomes.
I requested Hillary Sparks, Senior Supervisor of Social Media and Exterior Communications at L.L. Bean, for extra particulars concerning the month-long hiatus, and the way she believes different social advertising groups can prioritize their very own psychological well being.
For always-on social entrepreneurs, it’s arduous to think about taking a whole month-long “break” from social. Did your staff actually unplug from L.L.Bean’s presence utterly?
Sure. We acknowledged there could be some threat related to stepping away from social media for a month, as our model—like most—makes use of social media to have interaction with our clients. Nonetheless, our clients have been overwhelmingly supportive of this effort over the previous two years (many take a social break themselves), and we hear how they respect seeing a enterprise decide to its values. And we do preserve customer support representatives accessible to assist handle any issues or wants by way of e-mail all through the month of Could.
How did you spend the break? What did different staff members do?
Personally, I handled the model’s social media pause as a relaxation interval that allowed me the house to prioritize my well-being. Different staff members did the identical, and the time away from social allowed us extra time to step outdoors. It’s all the time enjoyable once we return to social initially of June and we’re capable of share what our L.L.Bean staff has been as much as, and see how our followers and followers spent their time outdoors in the course of the month.
Professionally, my staff took our weekly conferences off the calendar for the primary two weeks of Could to create intentional focus time. We used the pause as a possibility to get a bounce on planning for our June return and past. We’re all the time wanting again to plan forward, and Could offered a possibility to try this with out the strain of publishing content material.
Why did you initially pitch the thought for spending #MentalHealthMonth off the grid? How did you get management and stakeholder buy-in?
Our founder Leon L. Bean believed that nature is probably the most highly effective antidote to the stresses of life, taking to his camp and the outside as usually as he may. His conviction has all the time been a part of our model ethos, and we’ve spent the previous few years exploring the advantages of experiencing “awe” outside, in partnership with the College of California, Irvine’s Dr. Paul Piff and thru our partnership with Psychological Well being America.
The preliminary thought to go “off the grid” got here simply weeks earlier than Could 1, 2022. It was like an “aha” second, and as soon as it was spoken aloud, we knew we needed to work to place the entire items into place. After all, management and inside stakeholders had some preliminary issues about not participating on social channels for a month, however the dangers had been outweighed by our collective dedication to L.L.Bean’s function. It was clear that main by instance and honoring Psychological Well being Consciousness Month with an genuine gesture was the one technique to do it.
Along with going off the grid in Could, L.L.Bean presents different year-long worker packages to make sure staff members have paid break day to discover the outside. We additionally make use of a supervisor of wellness operations who oversees the implementation of packages and assets designed particularly for the well-being of our staff each month of the 12 months—not simply in Could.
Had been you apprehensive about how it might affect your future social efficiency?
After all! It’s a threat shuttering channels any time, and being offline throughout Could meant we may miss participating with clients who had been planning for a summer season season of adventures. All of it got here right down to threat versus reward. We explored the implications of being perceived as unresponsive from a customer support perspective, shedding followers because of inactivity and forgoing a month of neighborhood engagement, progress and gross sales potential. However it shortly turned clear that the chance outweighed the threats, and the chance paid off.
Clients have been overwhelmingly supportive, celebrating our model for residing as much as our function. The social efficiency and progress from 2023’s time spent off the grid additional solidified our dedication to make this a recurring, rising effort.
It’s reassuring that your YoY impressions had been truly up 95% throughout Could. Do you credit score the social media pause on your success?
Our YoY impressions being up signifies that L.L.Bean’s clients worth our dedication to our function and to their well-being. Our clients have seen us decide to this break for a number of years and have continued to have interaction with our model. It’s vital to notice that our choice to pause natural social media was largely pushed by our need to assist our clients get outdoors to prioritize their psychological well being. We need to encourage them to get outdoors extra usually and expertise the advantages of nature.
What do you suppose the general affect on your enterprise was?
Our Psychological Well being Month initiatives additional established us as a purpose-led firm. Now we have spent the previous 111 years serving to individuals get outdoors, with the understanding that spending time outside is nice for our our bodies and our minds. Via our Off the Grid marketing campaign, we had been capable of attain new clients who weren’t but accustomed to our model’s values. From these new followers to legacy clients, we loved participating with our neighborhood and boosting consciousness of what we stand for.
What stunned you most in the course of the month-long break?
What stunned us probably the most was that our clients had been as engaged as ever. Our gross sales had been stable, and our clients’ offline engagement with the model was robust. We had been nonetheless capable of join with our clients by means of our partnerships with Strava and Psychological Well being America, offering them with assets to profit from their time spent outdoors.
What recommendation would you give to different social entrepreneurs who need to advocate for psychological well being? Do you suppose it’s solely achievable for groups within the out of doors business?
We dwell in a world with fixed distractions and stressors, which has made us extra aware of the significance of prioritizing our psychological well being. At L.L.Bean, we do this by spending time outdoors. However extra broadly, the subject of psychological well-being is related to any model. We’d encourage firms to seek out their voice within the dialog in methods which are genuine to their values and neighborhood.
How do you suppose different social entrepreneurs can maintain their psychological well being?
I‘m inspired by efforts to make social media a extra optimistic, uplifting house. And I’m certain any marketer will inform you that a part of the thrill of the work comes from the ever-evolving social panorama. However it’s all about steadiness. So, I encourage everybody to step away when you’ll be able to, even when it’s simply 10 minutes spent outdoors.
To study extra about defending your psychological well being in your social media profession, learn our information to discovering a wholesome steadiness with social media.
