Social media management ranks among the more stressful disciplines in marketing, according to new research from Metricool, a social media planning and analytics platform.
The company’s “2026 Well-Being in Social Media Professionals” report, drawn from responses by more than 1,000 freelancers, agency employees, in-house marketers, and business owners worldwide, found that one in three respondents rates their overall well-being in the profession as negative.
The survey covered six areas: sample profile and methodology, work perception, workload, the “always-on” dynamic, stress, and self-care. The respondent pool skewed toward solo practitioners: 59% reported working alone, and 37% said they run their own business. Social media managers and strategists made up 45% of participants, followed by entrepreneurs and business owners at 24%, content creators and general marketers at 13% each, and community managers at 5%.
Work Perception: Undervalued and Undercompensated
A majority of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with how their work is perceived relative to other marketing disciplines. Fifty-seven percent said they feel their work is valued less than other marketing roles; 39% said slightly less valued, and 18% said much less valued. Only 43% felt more valued.
On the question of whether managers or clients understand their work, just 10% said they feel very well understood. Forty-eight percent said they somewhat understood, 35% said they did not really, and 7% said they did not at all.
Financial rewards have been limited. In the 12 months prior to the survey, only 24% of respondents received a pay raise or bonus, and just 15% received a promotion or professional recognition. Thirty-seven percent reported receiving no form of reward: financial, professional, or otherwise. When asked about fair compensation, only 4% said yes, absolutely, and 26% said mostly yes, while 42% said not really and 19% said not at all.
Despite the lack of formal reward, 94% of respondents said they feel appreciated for their work at least sometimes, with 12% reporting always and 45% often. Fifty-nine percent reported high creative freedom in their roles.
Marina, a respondent from BoeckComunicació, described the perception gap directly: “Being a community manager or social media manager isn’t just about creating content and publishing it. There’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes that isn’t visible or understood.”
Workload: Multiple Responsibilities, Limited Support
The survey documented a broad scope of responsibilities that extends well beyond content publishing.
Among the tasks respondents regularly manage, strategy and planning, and content creation each came in at 92%, followed by analytics and reporting at 79%, copywriting at 77%, video editing at 73%, graphic design at 72%, and community management at 70%. Sixty-one percent also handle tasks not directly related to social media.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they feel they are expected to do too many things at once. Eighty-seven percent reported feeling overwhelmed by their workload at least sometimes, with 30% saying very often.
Seventy-nine percent deal with urgent or last-minute issues at least sometimes, and among those, 53% said such issues consume between zero and 25% of their workday, while 33% said between 25% and 50%. Forty-six percent reported frequent pressure to produce viral content or strong performance metrics.
Liza, of Wonderbok Digital, described the role’s scope: “Being a social media manager is rarely just about posting content. The role stretches far wider – strategy, branding, digital marketing, problem-solving, psychology, and often being the buffer between expectation and reality.”
Always-On Culture: Overtime and Disconnection
The survey found a strong pattern of work extending beyond scheduled hours.
Seventy-three percent of respondents reported working outside their working hours. Sixty-three percent work overtime at least sometimes, with 37% doing so very often. Among those who work overtime, freelancers and independent business owners reported the highest rates (82% and 83%, respectively) compared to 64% for agency employees and 58% for in-house marketing team members.
The leading reason for overtime was last-minute changes, cited by 53% of those who work overtime, followed by live-marketing and events coverage at 35%, special releases or campaign launches at 32%, and online crisis management at 22%.
Forty-four percent of respondents said they are not able to completely disconnect outside working hours. Sixty-three percent said they are expected to be available outside work at least sometimes. Content ideation pressure, cited by 58% of respondents, and being chronically online, cited by 54%, ranked as the two situations creating the most pressure.
Stress: Burnout and Emotional Fatigue Are Widespread
Ninety-five percent of respondents described their work as at least slightly stressful; 54% said their work is quite stressful, and 15% said it is very stressful.
Reported experiences tied to work included loss of motivation or creativity (73%), mental fatigue (69%), difficulty disconnecting (62%), stress related to performance or results (50%), burnout or near-burnout (46%), and sleep issues (44%). Just 7% reported none of these experiences.
Forty-six percent of respondents said they have considered leaving the social media industry due to stress or burnout. While most rate their work-life balance positively – 51% describe it as good and 35% as excellent – 14% characterize it as poor or very poor.
On the emotional impact of negative online comments, 76% said such comments affect them to some degree: 53% said it bothers them, but not deeply, 15% said it affects their mood for the rest of the day, and 8% said it contributes negatively to their mood. Twenty-four percent said they brush it off easily.
Christian Krause of Trainer mit Herz summarized the dynamic: “Working in social media often means balancing creativity, performance pressure, and emotional availability all at once. There’s a constant demand to stay visible, responsive, and relevant, and it can easily become overwhelming.”
Among respondents, 49% said they have taken measures to improve their well-being. Of those, 47% said the measures had a positive impact, while 53% reported no noticeable improvement.
The most common burnout-prevention strategies were leisure activities (70%), physical exercise (68%), and time with family or friends (68%). Turning off work notifications outside working hours was cited by 50%, and 43% reported managing screen time outside work. Only 20% said they have tried to communicate better with their manager or client.
When asked what they would change about their job to improve daily life, 37% cited new tools to increase efficiency as their top priority, followed by real limits on working hours (34%), process and planning improvements (14%), and more autonomy (7%).
On the productivity tools front, 72% said they use AI or automation tools, 63% use social media marketing tools, and 40% use podcasts and playlists. Fifteen percent use meditation apps.
Robert Campbell of Aspire Media N.I. CIC stated: “For me, well-being in social media means being able to enjoy the creative and strategic aspects of the role without feeling constantly depleted or guilty for resting. Until the industry normalises those things, I think many practitioners will continue to operate in a state of heightened vigilance rather than healthy engagement.”
Image source: Metricool Follow this link to find the full report
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
Social media management ranks among the more stressful disciplines in marketing, according to new research from Metricool, a social media planning and analytics platform.
The company’s “2026 Well-Being in Social Media Professionals” report, drawn from responses by more than 1,000 freelancers, agency employees, in-house marketers, and business owners worldwide, found that one in three respondents rates their overall well-being in the profession as negative.
The survey covered six areas: sample profile and methodology, work perception, workload, the “always-on” dynamic, stress, and self-care. The respondent pool skewed toward solo practitioners: 59% reported working alone, and 37% said they run their own business. Social media managers and strategists made up 45% of participants, followed by entrepreneurs and business owners at 24%, content creators and general marketers at 13% each, and community managers at 5%.
Work Perception: Undervalued and Undercompensated
A majority of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with how their work is perceived relative to other marketing disciplines. Fifty-seven percent said they feel their work is valued less than other marketing roles; 39% said slightly less valued, and 18% said much less valued. Only 43% felt more valued.
On the question of whether managers or clients understand their work, just 10% said they feel very well understood. Forty-eight percent said they somewhat understood, 35% said they did not really, and 7% said they did not at all.
Financial rewards have been limited. In the 12 months prior to the survey, only 24% of respondents received a pay raise or bonus, and just 15% received a promotion or professional recognition. Thirty-seven percent reported receiving no form of reward: financial, professional, or otherwise. When asked about fair compensation, only 4% said yes, absolutely, and 26% said mostly yes, while 42% said not really and 19% said not at all.
Despite the lack of formal reward, 94% of respondents said they feel appreciated for their work at least sometimes, with 12% reporting always and 45% often. Fifty-nine percent reported high creative freedom in their roles.
Marina, a respondent from BoeckComunicació, described the perception gap directly: “Being a community manager or social media manager isn’t just about creating content and publishing it. There’s a lot of hard work behind the scenes that isn’t visible or understood.”
Workload: Multiple Responsibilities, Limited Support
The survey documented a broad scope of responsibilities that extends well beyond content publishing.
Among the tasks respondents regularly manage, strategy and planning, and content creation each came in at 92%, followed by analytics and reporting at 79%, copywriting at 77%, video editing at 73%, graphic design at 72%, and community management at 70%. Sixty-one percent also handle tasks not directly related to social media.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they feel they are expected to do too many things at once. Eighty-seven percent reported feeling overwhelmed by their workload at least sometimes, with 30% saying very often.
Seventy-nine percent deal with urgent or last-minute issues at least sometimes, and among those, 53% said such issues consume between zero and 25% of their workday, while 33% said between 25% and 50%. Forty-six percent reported frequent pressure to produce viral content or strong performance metrics.
Liza, of Wonderbok Digital, described the role’s scope: “Being a social media manager is rarely just about posting content. The role stretches far wider – strategy, branding, digital marketing, problem-solving, psychology, and often being the buffer between expectation and reality.”
Always-On Culture: Overtime and Disconnection
The survey found a strong pattern of work extending beyond scheduled hours.
Seventy-three percent of respondents reported working outside their working hours. Sixty-three percent work overtime at least sometimes, with 37% doing so very often. Among those who work overtime, freelancers and independent business owners reported the highest rates (82% and 83%, respectively) compared to 64% for agency employees and 58% for in-house marketing team members.
The leading reason for overtime was last-minute changes, cited by 53% of those who work overtime, followed by live-marketing and events coverage at 35%, special releases or campaign launches at 32%, and online crisis management at 22%.
Forty-four percent of respondents said they are not able to completely disconnect outside working hours. Sixty-three percent said they are expected to be available outside work at least sometimes. Content ideation pressure, cited by 58% of respondents, and being chronically online, cited by 54%, ranked as the two situations creating the most pressure.
Stress: Burnout and Emotional Fatigue Are Widespread
Ninety-five percent of respondents described their work as at least slightly stressful; 54% said their work is quite stressful, and 15% said it is very stressful.
Reported experiences tied to work included loss of motivation or creativity (73%), mental fatigue (69%), difficulty disconnecting (62%), stress related to performance or results (50%), burnout or near-burnout (46%), and sleep issues (44%). Just 7% reported none of these experiences.
Forty-six percent of respondents said they have considered leaving the social media industry due to stress or burnout. While most rate their work-life balance positively – 51% describe it as good and 35% as excellent – 14% characterize it as poor or very poor.
On the emotional impact of negative online comments, 76% said such comments affect them to some degree: 53% said it bothers them, but not deeply, 15% said it affects their mood for the rest of the day, and 8% said it contributes negatively to their mood. Twenty-four percent said they brush it off easily.
Christian Krause of Trainer mit Herz summarized the dynamic: “Working in social media often means balancing creativity, performance pressure, and emotional availability all at once. There’s a constant demand to stay visible, responsive, and relevant, and it can easily become overwhelming.”
Self-Care: Individual Efforts Outpace Structural Solutions
Among respondents, 49% said they have taken measures to improve their well-being. Of those, 47% said the measures had a positive impact, while 53% reported no noticeable improvement.
The most common burnout-prevention strategies were leisure activities (70%), physical exercise (68%), and time with family or friends (68%). Turning off work notifications outside working hours was cited by 50%, and 43% reported managing screen time outside work. Only 20% said they have tried to communicate better with their manager or client.
When asked what they would change about their job to improve daily life, 37% cited new tools to increase efficiency as their top priority, followed by real limits on working hours (34%), process and planning improvements (14%), and more autonomy (7%).
On the productivity tools front, 72% said they use AI or automation tools, 63% use social media marketing tools, and 40% use podcasts and playlists. Fifteen percent use meditation apps.
Robert Campbell of Aspire Media N.I. CIC stated: “For me, well-being in social media means being able to enjoy the creative and strategic aspects of the role without feeling constantly depleted or guilty for resting. Until the industry normalises those things, I think many practitioners will continue to operate in a state of heightened vigilance rather than healthy engagement.”
Image source: Metricool
Follow this link to find the full report