Social Media: Ten Reasons Why You Should Automate
Many social media consultants feel that automation can hurt your brand. Whenever you mention the “A-word,” people fall on one side of the divide or the other. Hardly anyone is in the middle on this one. And yet, it’s something that can be done gracefully, and without looking like a robot. Of course, I’m not recommending total automation, but a hybrid approach.
Your Mental Health
Even if you’re not a social media consultant, if you must make every post manually, you will surely go insane. And since you’ve carefully been getting enough sleep, why risk your health now?
Time Management
Time Management
Creating posts all at once, maybe a week at a time, is a better use of your time than doing them one at a time.
Maintain Consistency
Maintain Consistency
If you have decided upon a certain number of posts per day, automation can help you reach that goal.
Time Zones
It’s simply not possible to be on all day long. Everyone needs some time off. And if your client is on the east coast while you are on the west coast, automation is the way to go.
Automation Can Make You Feel More in Control
Feel in Control
Social media can be an overwhelming task, especially if you’re trying to run your startup at the same time. Automation can help you get your life back. By the way, here’s a post about how to blog for your startup, in case you missed it.
Post When Fans Are Online
Post When Fans Are Online
If you’re up at 2 a.m., you might not want to send out that tweet if your audience isn’t there. Schedule that tweet and go back to bed!
Use a Scheduler
Analytics
When you see a post that you like, use a scheduler such as HootSuite to auto-schedule the retweet for an optimum time. For most of us, that is 9-5. You can use a program like Tweriod to see when your followers are online.
Vacation
Sooner or later you need a few days off. Schedule some stuff, but make sure to have someone check in for you if you do.
Posting Frequency
As more and more people get online, the marketplace is more competitive. It’s possible to post more frequently using automation (as long as the quality still remains high).
Stay Top of Mind
If you’re the most brilliant person in the world, but you don’t show up? No one will remember you.
Scale Your Social Media
With automation, you’ll be able to grow your followers more easily.
A Hybrid Approach
After six years of trying different approaches, I’ve come up with an effective hybrid approach. It’s partly automated (from blog posts), and partly live participation, which includes posting others’ articles and engagement. The hybrid approach has gotten me the most followers and, more importantly, the best relationships. And everyone knows that Relationships are the ROI of social media, as my friend Bridget Willard says.
Where Do You Stand?
Do you automate a little bit? A lot? What tools have helped you? Leave me a comment!
Hybrid for me. I actually maintain a calendar for myself with what gets posted where. My core blog post Tweets are the only thing I schedule well in advance. The rest get scheduled only when I cannot be online.
I prefer to always be active. When I can’t, I have no problem not posting. It shows others breaks are OK and I that I do actually post and engage in real time.
Hi Robert,
I still try to post even if I’m not physically online, but get back to people within a reasonable amount of time. Finding that right hybrid balance isn’t always easy. There are no hard and fast rules.
My blog posts are automated on Twitter, but otherwise, everything gets posted manually, or responded to in real time.
Thanks,
Carol
I absolutely love interacting on Twitter and I think it makes a difference but…
It’s just not possible unless I plan to accomplish nothing else all day. So a hybrid plan has to be implemented…whether I want to or not.
But full automation? NEVER!
Hi William,
Oh, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Love interacting, but I love having a life, too!
Full automation is out of the question, but it’s nice to have the option to have a balanced life with some automation.
Carol
I totally agree with you Carol.
I’ve done complete automation, partial and fully manual posting. The two extremes seem to have very little benefits and many downsides.
The hybrid is so much better for you and your community because it just leaves so much more time to engage authentically.
Great post!
~Kittie
Thank you, Kittie. I agree about the extremes being not very beneficial. Some automation, or a hybrid approach, works best for my clients, too.
Carol
Great post Carol. I’m on the fence. I spend an hour to an hour and 1/2 every morning scheduling tweets–46 in total. During that time I also share archival posts on 4 FB accounts and 3 LI. In the afternoon I spend 30-45 minutes on G+, Pinterest, FB, and LI. I know I could reduce the time, but hate giving up control. The truth is I’m posting so much I don’t take the time to be as social as I once was. Thanks for the post and thanks for the letting me think out loud here.
Hi Randy,
I think it’s always a hybrid of scheduling and live posting, and we each have to find that balance point. Like you, I spend a lot of time posting and scheduling each day, looking for great content, and engaging.
I would love to spend more time engaged with people, too, but need to have a life.
Thanks for the comment, Randy. Food for thought!
Carol