
As a social media marketer, I utilize (and happen to love) the tools and programs that allow me to schedule posts and tweets in advance. The ease of being able to compose 10 updates within a short hour to be posted on multiple social networks over the course of a week is a huge time saver. There is no question that these tools have greatly improved the quality of work-life balance for small business owners and social media marketers alike. But when I see a business that posts the exact same 140 character or less message not only on Twitter, but across all channels at the exact same time, it makes me wonder: Is this really, truly social?
Aside from the obvious rule of not posting carbon copy phrasing/wording/content across all channels, let alone at the same time, there is often little to no conversations happening on these brand/business pages. It’s all one big ad space. And, believe me, your customers are soon to realize this and will unlike your page or ignore your brand all together.
BUT don’t despair small business owners and entrepreneurs, there IS a way to use social media scheduling tools without sounding like a robot. Here are a few tips to keep the ease and convenience, while not missing out on the true meaning of SOCIAL media.
Leave some content for real time. There are certain live events or relevant news that can arise that could relate to your brand in some way. Don’t miss out on these opportunities because they weren’t waiting around in your scheduler for the past few days. One of the best examples of using real time news to engage is Oreo’s response to the Super Bowl power outage.
Check in on your pages. Don’t just rely on viewing your platforms through your scheduling tool of choice’s dashboard. There are many interactions you could miss and you also want to periodically see what your followers see. Not to mention certain things like a Twitter cover photo, updating profile images, or organizing a Facebook album can only be completed on those actual sites.
When using a scheduler like Hootsuite, Buffer, Klout, or IFTTT, remember to switch up your wording, posted image, or even the call to action depending on the social network you are posting to. You must tailor your post to the network. For instance, aside from adhering to length requirements of each platform, knowing which ones support hashtags is pretty important.
Automate your go-to, filler, and non-urgent content first. Leave the latest campaign, news, promotion, or special event for live posting and interaction. As such, it will receive more detail and therefore more likely higher engagement than a scheduled post.
While this definitely is NOT something you should do with every post you’ve ever drafted, it is OK to let these tools help you in repeating your own content. You need to be very selective when doing so, but sometimes scheduling multiple tweets (spread out over the course of days/weeks/months) of a popular post on your company’s blog is great for driving traffic to your website. Just be selective and use a bit of discretion.
Let automation work for you. Use the content suggestion tools. Take advantage of great analytic reports. Be sure to have your calendar filled for when you are away from the office, your computer or smartphone, or a wifi connection. Scheduling software is ideal for filling up time slots during weekends, evenings, holidays, vacations.
Last, but not least, by all means, be sure that your settings allow for notifications of ANY interactions on your platforms, sent directly to your smartphone. This way you are quick to answer, comment and respond. The very definition of being SOCIAL!
Aside from the obvious rule of not posting carbon copy phrasing/wording/content across all channels, let alone at the same time, there is often little to no conversations happening on these brand/business pages. It’s all one big ad space. And, believe me, your customers are soon to realize this and will unlike your page or ignore your brand all together.
BUT don’t despair small business owners and entrepreneurs, there IS a way to use social media scheduling tools without sounding like a robot. Here are a few tips to keep the ease and convenience, while not missing out on the true meaning of SOCIAL media.
Leave some content for real time. There are certain live events or relevant news that can arise that could relate to your brand in some way. Don’t miss out on these opportunities because they weren’t waiting around in your scheduler for the past few days. One of the best examples of using real time news to engage is Oreo’s response to the Super Bowl power outage.
Check in on your pages. Don’t just rely on viewing your platforms through your scheduling tool of choice’s dashboard. There are many interactions you could miss and you also want to periodically see what your followers see. Not to mention certain things like a Twitter cover photo, updating profile images, or organizing a Facebook album can only be completed on those actual sites.
When using a scheduler like Hootsuite, Buffer, Klout, or IFTTT, remember to switch up your wording, posted image, or even the call to action depending on the social network you are posting to. You must tailor your post to the network. For instance, aside from adhering to length requirements of each platform, knowing which ones support hashtags is pretty important.
Automate your go-to, filler, and non-urgent content first. Leave the latest campaign, news, promotion, or special event for live posting and interaction. As such, it will receive more detail and therefore more likely higher engagement than a scheduled post.
While this definitely is NOT something you should do with every post you’ve ever drafted, it is OK to let these tools help you in repeating your own content. You need to be very selective when doing so, but sometimes scheduling multiple tweets (spread out over the course of days/weeks/months) of a popular post on your company’s blog is great for driving traffic to your website. Just be selective and use a bit of discretion.
Let automation work for you. Use the content suggestion tools. Take advantage of great analytic reports. Be sure to have your calendar filled for when you are away from the office, your computer or smartphone, or a wifi connection. Scheduling software is ideal for filling up time slots during weekends, evenings, holidays, vacations.
Last, but not least, by all means, be sure that your settings allow for notifications of ANY interactions on your platforms, sent directly to your smartphone. This way you are quick to answer, comment and respond. The very definition of being SOCIAL!