Every brand uses social media, right? Being at the helm of any new business can be extremely demanding. There are many aspects of the business that you need to take care of – marketing being one of them.
Social media on its own can suck hours from your day that you just can’t afford to sacrifice. But it has to be done: after all, without marketing, how will potential customers be able to find your products or services?
Luckily, there is a handly little process called social media automation – the process of getting a computer to carry out the manual tasks that take up your precious time.
Here are a few ‘dos and dont’s’ of social media automation that we’ve gleaned from our own experience to help you better manage your time:
Do schedule your posts before going on holiday:
You may spend two weeks of each year on a beach in sunnier climes, but social media never goes on holiday. To ensure that you don’t neglect your social networks while away, schedule your social media messages in advance to maintain a consistent social media presence.
Do use automation to fill your social media content calendar:
Your social media channels must never be short of high-quality content. A social media automation tool like the Hootsuite scheduler enables you to view your scheduled messages, and make sure the gaps are filled between posts. You can do this by repurposing popular content, to give the posts another boost, and help in your search engine ranking.
Don’t use social media automation to schedule the same message to all networks:
Twitter has a 140 character limit and Facebook’s is 63,206 characters, so you need to customise your messages to each network. With Twitter, make sure your message is clear and concise. For Facebook, add more information and an image to increase engagement.
Don’t forget to read the articles you’re automating:
A popular form of social media automation is the use of RSS feeds. RSS is a format for delivering regularly changing web content without asking subscribers to visit the website, or signing up to a newsletter. Most websites will have an RSS feed functionality built-in.
While this is a great way to ensure you are never short of content to publish, it doesn’t mean you can stop vetting out the poor-quality RSS feeds.
The best practice is to align each of your RSS feeds to the strategy of each network, and check your sent posts regularly so you can catch and delete any inappropriate messages.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@ hotcow.co.uk.
