While it is very important to get all the tasks done, many of them are pretty repetitive, and when you’re marketing online you may feel like you’ve never done enough.
But there is good news…
There are Social Media tools out there to help you and they can help you stay on top of your social media marketing.
Here are two tools that I use the most and that you will find helpful:
Buffer saves you a lot of time by handing the scheduling of your posts. You preconfigure how often you want Buffer to post on your behalf, fill up your queue with posts, and Buffer will post for you on the set schedule.
Push Button Power Leads is a great tool for scheduling your marketing posts to multiple Facebook groups. You can set them up ahead of time, choose which groups you want to post to and how far apart you want them to be posted, and PBPL will take care of the rest. The greatest feature of this tool for me is it allows you to use images. Most facebook groups posting tools do not provide for images, and when you want your post to be noticed in a group, images are a must!
I see no problem with automating tweets & status updates. Scheduling posts ahead of time helps me better manage my day and keeps my profile updated and fresh throughout the day. This gives me more time to do the types of posts that I don’t want to automate.
Be sure that you’re sending out valuable content though – not just marketing messages. In fact your marketing messages should be no more often than once for every 6-8 value added type posts. Use your social media marketing efforts to provide value, and more people will follow you.
Tasks that I don’t want to automate are those such as sharing other people’s content, and commenting and liking other people’s posts. Interacting with people is something you really need to do yourself. Interaction is where the relationship is built and really needs to be more one-on-one with you and each person.
Another one to be careful of is although you can automate your posts with the above tools, be sure to specifically create different posts for different networks. Don’t create a post and then blast it out to Facebook, and Linked-in, and Twitter. It’s unprofessional and lazy, and it comes across that way.
Yes, it’s true that you can’t be on all platforms at all times, and you can’t spend your whole day on social media. So use the tools that will help you expand your reach and automate what you can, but remember… There is no substitute for genuine, authentic interaction with your audience. Use your freed up time to actually engage more!
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Let’s have some conversation!
EXPECT Success!
By Lynn Huber
p.s. Have you used any of these social media automation tools? Do you agree with my choices? What tools do you use? We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment. New tool suggestions are always welcome!
