First of all, I apologize for the terrible title. It was my attempt to think of a clever and witty title that rhymed, and I think I failed. Anyways, how to take a vacation from technology when your job is social media is a question I’ve wondered about. Don’t misunderstand me, I love public relations and social media, which is why I am willing to work odd hours and more hours than a normal, however, everyone needs a vacation even if you are lucky enough to have an awesome job in PR!
Here are some tips from Kary Delaria’s article “How to take a vacation in the age of social media“:
Share access
Vacation or not, no one person should be the keeper of all logins and passwords for your agency or client’s social properties. Keep a spreadsheet of all of the pertinent information, and make sure others in the office know where it is, and how to access it. (This should already be part of your crisis communications plan.)
Set expectations
We operate in a transparent world. If you’re planning to go on vacation, it’s not unheard of to say so. You don’t need to share pertinent details of your family trip, but a message on your agency accounts telling people specifically when they can expect to hear from you can work well for you. Consider something like:
“I’m on vacation through the end of the week and will be back on Monday. I am checking email and Twitter DMs daily, but not responding until my return. For immediate needs, please contact Julie in the office.”
Find a backup
Whether you have the luxury of taking time off from your agency’s posts, your clients’ businesses are going to keep running. To fill the void in either location, consider lining up some guest bloggers or pre-writing some posts to go live while you’re gone. Assign a backup community manager to engage on your other properties (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) where you have an active community. (This might be a nice time to encourage more community-generated content to lighten your load.)
Have a plan for monitoring
You can head out of the office, but that won’t stop people from talking about you or your clients online while you are away. You can not afford to take a vacation from monitoring these conversations. Crises hit when we least expect them, and you don’t want to be caught unaware. In his guest post on the Radian6 blog, Aaron Friedman offers advice for prioritizing mentions and assigning someone to respond in a timely manner. Again, you’re going to need to rely on your team (unless you plan to be tethered to your smartphone), but some realistic planning can go a long way to ensure that things are being covered while you’re away.
Thank you Kary for these awesome tips! Check out the original article here.
Mid Day Coffee Break 
Great find, Rachel. I wish I could get away from technology as easily as this article makes it seem to be. Still, scheduling posts and making sure that your co-workers are covering your bases seem to be great tips for anybody that would like some sort of a break from the hectic work place.
I cannot wait to take my own vacay from every single form of social media when I go to Africa. I think the hallelujah chorus is gonna sing when I can just shut it all off and focus on ministry. Woohooo!
I hear you girl! Mission trips are great to really disconnect from the world… and have a wonderful reason and excuse to do so 🙂
I’ve wondered what a PR professional does when it’s their turn to escape. Social media is 24/7 but they need a break too. These are great tips and the article is great. It’s good to know when you need a break you will get one and there is a way to do it. Thanks for sharing Rachel!