Are you a social marketer struggling to keep an eye on all your clients varying platforms? Attempting to juggle each social account can be troublesome and particularly time consuming for anyone with social thoughts raging throughout the day.
When should I post? Did I favourite that tweet? When is the best time to send this out?
With the need to post relevant content multiple times a day with numerous objectives in mind social media management can be a bit of a headache. Fortunately we live in a world where scheduling tools are readily available to lend a helping hand.
Social Media Misconception
The common misconception by clients and marketers alike is that social media is pretty simple and easily manageable. However, the reality is that it’s resource intensive and a very time consuming process, taking up large chunks of our days.
However, scheduling tools, when utilised properly, can help structure your day to day social media operations and deliver a positive impact to said accounts. Software Advice, a social CRM evaluation company conducted a study with the aid of 168 marketers who were polled about their social media content strategy. Of those surveyed 78% of individuals are active on 2 to 5 social platforms and post at least once a day. Of those who detailed their social media presence, 57% used some kind of scheduling service with a vast majority planning their posts several days to a week in advance.
So, What Are Their Benefits?
With the freedom to get everything done at once, the biggest benefit to using social scheduling tools is obviously the possibility of saving a great deal of time. Allowing for better organisation and proficiency you’ll also find that you:
- Drive traffic and increase link sharing whilst expanding your social influence
- Allows you to post on your time – Just because 3am is convenient for you, it doesn’t mean that it is convenient for your audience. You can also find many additional tools which suggest times based on your audiences most active times
- Increase the consistency of your social media presence whilst solidifying brand presence
- You’ll be covered in busy situations – If you are sick or on holiday, or simply overloaded with work, scheduling tools will help you manage such situations. Think of them as a safety net to help your company stay visible.
- Won’t overload followers – You don’t want to pester your audience with endless amounts of content by posting every few minutes simply because that is easier for you. Scheduling content as you find it allows for a more consistent social media presence that your audience will enjoy.
However, whilst we applaud the abilities of scheduling tools there is one minor disadvantage that marketers can often oversee. Whilst helpful it is not a replacement for old-fashioned online communication. If someone comments on a post make sure that you remember to reach out in return; you certainly don’t want people seeing all of your content but feeling neglected when they are ignored.
Our Top 3 Tools
In light of our Back To School campaign aiming to bring you a host of invaluable information and advice regarding all areas of Digital Marketing we have outlined our top 3 social media management tools below. Whether you’re looking for a free tool or have a larger budget to accommodate some of the more expensive options take a look:
Use HOOTSUITE for Free
As one of the most popular scheduling tools out there, Hootsuite allows management of multiple social streams and up to 5 profiles. You even have the option to collaborate as a team including the ability to assign replies, mark as done and track messages. If you wish to manage your social media through mobile applications, then that’s not a problem.
The dashboard provides a view of all your social media activity across all of your accounts providing a custom built-in analytics system. It is here that you are also able to track conversations and measure campaign results. It is also possible for you and your team to delegate between responses to fans and followers where you are able to execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one web-based dashboard.
And Hootsuite isn’t just a scheduling tool. Additionally it is a social media monitoring tool where you can track what people are posting to your accounts as well as what they are saying about your brand. Simply create a feed based on a search term (i.e. https://www.allthingsweb.co.uk/blog/our-top-pick-of-social-media-scheduling-tools/ https://www.allthingsweb.co.uk/blog/our-top-pick-of-social-media-scheduling-tools/ https://www.allthingsweb.co.uk/blog/our-top-pick-of-social-media-scheduling-tools/business name) and you will see a stream of all public mentions that include your specified search term.
Some Expense for BUFFER
Allowing you to stagger content throughout the day so that social media feeds have consistent updates, Buffer works predominantly with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Whist a short free trial period is available for you to try, the service costs $10 a month to use on up to 12 social profiles with two assigned team members.
Its unique scheduling system allows you to post throughout the day with a queue like system. Rather than picking a time each time you post a user can select the best times to schedule throughout the day, where their posts added to a queue waiting to be posted at the next available time. You can even add posts to queues directly from social media accounts.
The software also includes analytics about the engagement and performance of your posts and updates which is easy to use and enables you to keep tabs on your social media performance at a quick glance. Just like Hootsuite mobile apps are available for those who are constantly on the move. Additionally browser extensions are available for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera that makes it easy to share the content you find on the web.
SOCIAL FLOW for the Big Spender
For larger businesses struggling to balance numerous social media accounts Social Flow could be the answer. Starting at $99 a month the software tool aims to take the guesswork out of social media and replace arbitrary scheduling with actionable date about when target audiences are active and what they are engaging with.
Similarly to Buffer you are able to enter your chosen content into a queue where their system uses real-time data, along with any business rules that you have manually set, to determine what to publish and when. It works by using algorithms in a real time format to help your business reach the widest audience to increase your social presence.
As available with the majority of scheduling tools analytics are also present with Social Flow. The available analytics and associated reporting provides insights into what is and what isn’t working using data from organic success to suggest which posts should be promoted.
Need Help With Your Social Media?
If you want to improve your social media marketing, but don’t have the time or skill set to do so, the team at All Things Web are on hand to help. Working closely with our clients we ensure that they receive a real and measurable return on investment with a tailored approach to social media management.
Alternatively, if you wish to learn more yourself our social media experts can also provide tailored training to help you manage your own business’ marketing strategy.
For more information and advice regarding your business’s social media, contact our team today on 01285 50 55 50 or fill in our contact form.