What the Sprout Spotlight awards taught us about the state of social marketing

Last year, the team and I launched our first people’s-choice awards program, the Sprout Spotlight Awards to recognize the teams, creators, community managers and strategists behind some of the best brands on social. We set out to celebrate the people behind brand handles through five award categories:

Always On: Celebrated those who knew when to unplug.Community Builder: Honored those who had a lasting impact on their audience.Best-in-Class Social: Shined a light on those who went above and beyond to create a memorable social experience.Campaign of the Year: Applauded a campaign that had a lasting impact.Brand of the Year: Recognized a social team that created a social presence both marketers and consumers could feel inspired by.

This program revealed a lot about our community and the state of social marketing as a whole. Here some key learnings that changed my perspective on our strategy, industry and social marketing roles.

Managing burnout remains a challenge and recognition is essential

When the world turned to digital platforms to stay connected in 2020, the expectations of social media professionals rose—I know, I felt it. They managed constant change, adapted quickly and took on more responsibility and ownership over their brands’ presence. With high expectations, pressure to be always on and limited understanding of and recognition for their efforts, many social professionals were driven to a point of burnout.

The pressure for social marketers to be always on is nothing new, but the digital transformation over the past year has accelerated that mindset. An evolution from one of our video series, our Always On award recognized 184 nominated social professionals who took in the world around them, empathized with their community and championed the power of social, while also knowing when to step away and unplug.

https://twitter.com/HashtagHeyAlexa/status/1321797744533610497

Though I’ve recently seen more honest conversations in the marketing community, and society at large, to step away and unplug, burnout remains. Industry professionals still crave ways to establish more balance with a job that demands so much. Here are a few resources you can reference if you’re struggling to find balance:

How to talk to your boss about burnoutBattling burnout as a social media manager

Social professionals work behind the scenes and are too often overlooked when it comes to recognition. Social professionals put so much time and energy into their work, but rarely get anything in return, leading to a seemingly endless cycle of immense burnout. Providing a space that was dedicated to celebrating their work, especially during this time, was essential.

*taps 🎤 * 🗣 ahem

tomorrow, @SproutSocial will be announcing the winner of the #sproutspotlights community builder award and i’m a finalist. 🙌🏾

it feels so amazing to be recognized for my work. 🥺

drop 👏🏾 dat 👏🏾 vote 👏🏾 if 👏🏾 you 👏🏾 love 👏🏾 me 👏🏾

👉🏾 https://t.co/yxe7xa7pdP pic.twitter.com/JJfij2XoPj

— jayde i. powell (@jaydeipowell) October 29, 2020