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 workforce went “off the grid” for the second yr in a row this Might 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 exterior brings out the perfect in us.” So, the social workforce stepped again from the model accounts to spend extra time mountain climbing, 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 surprising and refreshing. Some skeptics puzzled if it was an genuine gesture, or only a strategy to generate optimistic PR. However total it was met with loads 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 in regards to the month-long hiatus, and the way she believes different social advertising and marketing groups can prioritize their very own psychological well being.
For always-on social entrepreneurs, it’s laborious to think about taking a whole month-long “break” from social. Did your workforce actually unplug from L.L.Bean’s presence utterly?
Sure. We acknowledged there can be some danger 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. Nevertheless, 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 recognize seeing a enterprise decide to its values. And we do hold customer support representatives out there to assist tackle any considerations or wants by way of e mail all through the month of Might.
How did you spend the break? What did different workforce members do?
Personally, I handled the model’s social media pause as a relaxation interval that allowed me the area to prioritize my well-being. Different workforce members did the identical, and the time away from social allowed us extra time to step exterior. It’s all the time enjoyable once we return to social at the start of June and we’re capable of share what our L.L.Bean workforce has been as much as, and see how our followers and followers spent their time exterior throughout the month.
Professionally, my workforce took our weekly conferences off the calendar for the primary two weeks of Might to create intentional focus time. We used the pause as a possibility to get a soar on planning for our June return and past. We’re all the time wanting again to plan forward, and Might introduced a possibility to do 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 might. 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 concept to go “off the grid” got here simply weeks earlier than Might 1, 2022. It was like an “aha” second, and as soon as it was spoken aloud, we knew we needed to work to place all the items into place. After all, management and inside stakeholders had some preliminary considerations about not partaking on social channels for a month, however the dangers have 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 strategy to do it.
Along with going off the grid in Might, L.L.Bean provides different year-long worker applications to make sure workforce members have paid time without work to discover the outside. We additionally make use of a supervisor of wellness operations who oversees the implementation of applications and assets designed particularly for the well-being of our staff each month of the yr—not simply in Might.
Have been you nervous about how it might impression your future social efficiency?
After all! It’s a danger shuttering channels any time, and being offline throughout Might meant we might miss partaking with clients who have been planning for a summer season season of adventures. All of it got here right down to danger versus reward. We explored the implications of being perceived as unresponsive from a customer support perspective, shedding followers as a result of inactivity and forgoing a month of neighborhood engagement, development and gross sales potential. But it surely shortly grew to become clear that the chance outweighed the threats, and the danger paid off.
Prospects have been overwhelmingly supportive, celebrating our model for residing as much as our function. The social efficiency and development 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 have been really up 95% throughout Might. Do you credit score the social media pause in 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 essential to notice that our resolution to pause natural social media was largely pushed by our need to assist our clients get exterior to prioritize their psychological well being. We wish to encourage them to get exterior extra usually and expertise the advantages of nature.
What do you suppose the general impression on your online business was?
Our Psychological Well being Month initiatives additional established us as a purpose-led firm. We now have spent the previous 111 years serving to folks get exterior, with the understanding that spending time outside is nice for our our bodies and our minds. By our Off the Grid marketing campaign, we have 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 partaking with our neighborhood and boosting consciousness of what we stand for.
What stunned you most throughout the month-long break?
What stunned us probably the most was that our clients have been as engaged as ever. Our gross sales have been strong, and our clients’ offline engagement with the model was robust. We have been nonetheless capable of join with our clients by our partnerships with Strava and Psychological Well being America, offering them with assets to profit from their time spent exterior.
What recommendation would you give to different social entrepreneurs who wish to advocate for psychological well being? Do you suppose it’s solely achievable for groups within the outside trade?
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 exterior. However extra broadly, the subject of psychological well-being is related to any model. We might encourage corporations 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 deal with their psychological well being?
I‘m inspired by efforts to make social media a extra optimistic, uplifting area. And I’m positive any marketer will let you know that a part of the joy of the work comes from the ever-evolving social panorama. But it surely’s all about steadiness. So, I encourage everybody to step away when you possibly can, even when it’s simply 10 minutes spent exterior.
To be taught extra about defending your psychological well being in your social media profession, learn our information to discovering a wholesome steadiness with social media.
