One of the biggest complaints I often hear from entrepreneurs and small business owners about Social Media Marketing is “I just don’t have time for it!” Social Media Marketing does take time and commitment, I won’t lie to you. However that being said, you can automate a big chunk of it in order to help you manage it better and stay in the social networking game.
We all know (or should know) by now that Social Media is a very important element to any business. With so many people flocking to social networking sites to engage others, get recommendations and create relationships, if your business is not in the mix of it, you are leaving tons of opportunities on the table; I promise you that.
Automation of Social Media Marketing is only part of the game plan…
Just let me iterate here, that this process I’m about to share with you is to be done in conjunction with your social media marketing efforts. Basically you are setting up the process, however each day you are still allowing for LIVE engagement and connection on your networks.
At the end of the day, nothing can replace the intimate involvement of the social networking process that connecting with others on a one on one basis provides. This automation process is just as a supplement, if you will, to your already existing plan.
This process will allow you to share thought knowledge, quotes, your marketing promotions, etc., on a automatic basis any time of the day, without you having to be present at that very moment. Cool?
Video Overview of How to use Hootsuite to automate your Social Media:
Your turn: Share with us some of the ways you are automating your social media. If not, what are your thoughts on automating this process to some level?
Great tutorial, Michele! I LOVE Hootsuite. I used to be a tweetdeck girl, but hootsuite blows the pants off of tweetdeck. It’s a must use for any social media participant.
Hi Marlee,
I was a Tweetdeck girl too.
But starting having some technical issues and slowly moved towards Hootsuite. Now I love Hootsuite! Definitely one of the top applications to manage your social media in my opinion.
Thanks for stopping in.
Thanks Michele! I haven’t tried Hootsuite yet. So I am getting that this is like the Twitter management systems that let you schedule your tweets, except can be done with other social networks too? It is also something of a time management tool that reminds you what to do with your social media on a regular basis? Looks like a good system and I might want to look it over.
Hey Kalen,
It really does a great job at helping you manage your content sharing with multiple networks and at the same time allows you to keep it all contained in one area. Nothing worse than having to juggle multiple applications. It’s not a perfect solution, but one of the best I’ve used thus far.
Good luck!
Hey Michele, I like that strategy and I have just started scheduling tweets. Most of them are actually second tweets from good posts I read.
For example, when I post this comment, I will RT the post. Then I will edit a tweet a bit, and RT your post again later today or tomorrow by scheduling it.
This way I am hoping more people will see it.
I should just do the same for myself, but if there wasn’t Tweet Old post plugin, I probably would not be tweeting any of this stuff.
I use Tweetdeck and I can see myself doing this there as well
Thanks for the tip!
Hi Brankica,
That’s a great way of going about it and a good way to add to your daily additions. Things like posts (mine or others), I usually do in the moment and don’t schedule in as part of my weekly marketing tweets. It’s great that you take the time to edit tweets and re-share them. Good Karma is headed your way girlfriend.
I used Tweet Old post as well, but recently had to disable it as it’s been acting all wacky on me. Will have to look into it…thanks for the reminder.
Stay cool!
Awesome tutorial! I have a HootSuite account but honestly hardly ever use it (my mistake!). This looks really promising, I had no idea you could upload excel files. I’ll have to give this a go.
Hi Eugene,
Uploading a CSV file is definitely one of my favorite features! Really a huge time saver and super easy.
Let me know how it goes.
Hi Michele,
I only use Tweetdeck and have just started scheduling out tweets which does save time. It also helps when you live in another time zone. I like Brankica’s tip which makes a lot of sense. I have been wondering about Buffer. Would you recommend it over using scheduling on Tweetdeck?
Hi Susan,
I love Buffer and still use it as well; mostly for adding posts (often quoting them) to my twitter stream as I visit other blogs throughout my day. It works very different though than Tweetdeck. In Hootsuite or Tweetdeck you can schedule your tweets for any day at any time. In Buffer it goes directly to your next time slot for that day. You are limited to 10 slots unless you upgrade.
Personally, my favorites at the moment are Hootsuite for daily management and scheduling and Buffer for in the moment sharing of content. Not a perfect solution, but one that seems to work for me.
Thanks for explaining the difference Michele and I will have a look at Hootsuite
I am a Hootsuite user as well. Couldn’t agree more with your advice.
I typically spend the morning once a week scheduling various types of content for the week. As I read blogs or articles that would be relevant to our message, I share them on the streams so people understand there is more than just a machine talking to them.
I also make sure to jump in every day for a few minutes to see who is mentioning our work or RT’ing our stuff so I can thank them or answer questions.
Hi Bryce,
You definitely seem to have the formula down.
It really makes a huge difference in managing your business (and your time) when you have a plan like this worked out.
Thanks for stopping in and sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated!
Ciao!
WOW, this is so cool Michele. I do schedule some Tweets manually, specially for specific times – like when I am sleeping
, just to get things flowing. The “bulk” scheduling of marketing tweets is really a nice strategy and one that I will most likely get quickly addicted to. I like “automation” that works and this is one of those.. Nice video BTW, not a lot of uhms , lol
LOL, still a few, but like I said, so darn hard to get rid of them completely.
Good luck with your automation Francisco. I think you will find it makes a big difference.
Later partner.
The time consuming aspects of social media is one of the reasons that I haven’t been so active in using social media.
I too have an account with them that I created a while back, but never really gave it a through look.
Maybe I should check out hootsuite more closely. Thanks for the tutorial Michele.
You’re welcome Satrap. Being to upload my CSV every week with only having to make some minor changes has been sooo helpful for me.
Let me know how it goes.
Hello Michele,
I know that social media is one of the “good” ways to bring traffic and get credibility. I was not so much into this until now and I believe Hootsuite can help my website grow in numbers!
Thanks for this helpful post.
John
You’re welcome John and good luck with your social media plan!
Wow, that’s the best way to schedule your content sharing across the social networks.
Hi Michele,
Thanks for creating the video demonstration. I’ve seen others using Hootsuite but never really explored using myself.
After trying Tweetdeck and not getting on with it I haven’t really tried many others. I did use Viral tweet Builder until they fell out with twitter and have since started using buffer.
Now that I’ve seen the inside I think I’ll give it a try and see how I get on with it. It always helps when someone shows you how it works for them so thanks for creating the video, it’s very much appreciated.
I’ll add this post to my video challenge result Michele, but will give it the weekend to see if any more are added. Save over editing the post
Thanks agian Michele,
Respect and Regards,
Barry
Hi Barry,
Buffer is great too and I still use that as well… just for different reasons. They have some similarities but for the most part have very different functions. I would be curious to see how they progress though. They are still relatively new in the scheme of things and I expect there is more to come. If they offered the ability to upload a CSV file, I would definitely consider using them for this purpose.
Thanks for stopping in and sharing your input.
Have a great weekend!
I’ve used Hootsuite in my social media marketing efforts and it really is very helpful. I highly recommend its use too. It is a very excellent tool to find new Twitter users to connect with,solid search features and tools to manage rss feeds, etc. Thanks for a very helpful tutorial.
Hey John,
Yeah, I’m looking forward to using it more with managing rss feeds. Currently I use Twitterfeed, but may switch to using Hootsuite since I pretty much use it for everything else currently.
Always great hearing from you!
There is a much Faster and easier way to handle this automation for Hootsuite, as well as manage all content, automatic hashtagging and even follow friday lists. It’s called Bundle Post. http://BundlePost.com
All social content in one place, exports in CSV scheduled, hanstagged and ready to import into Hootsuite.
Thanks, Michele!
I am already a big Hootsuite fan. It is my “secret” weapon to not only find relevant content, but to schedule future tweets for the several social media accounts I manage for work.
It is an excellent way to manage content and realistically engage online without having to constantly BE online to look for new content.
I also could not agree more that this is a supplemental tool and not a replacement for live interaction. I still spend time each day online, but scheduling tweets allows me to spread out our interaction and schedule future tweets to help keep us engaged even when we are not present.
I appreciate the in-depth look. I’ll be sharing this!
All the Best,
Carri Bright
Hi Carri,
It seems you have your social media marketing under control… great to know. I know it can be overwhelming when you are managing multiple accounts. Or even managing accounts for clients
Thanks for sharing your experience. Really great of you to stop in and I hope to see you back again soon.
Hi Michelle,
This is the first time I have visited your blog. I am part of Barry Wells Challenge so that is what has brought me here!
I have heard of Hootsuite but have never used it. I was also a user of Viral Tweet Builder but now use TweetAdder but with it being a desktop software it can be a bit of a pain if you are out of the office!
I have never heard of Buffer so will look into that too.
Thanks for the video tutorial!
Craig
Hi Craig,
LOL, just realized I left a comment on your site… saw you on Barry’s site too!
Great strategy by the way.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tutorial. I used to be a Tweetdeck addict, but after running into some issues (also a desktop application), I started using Hootsuite and just love it now! Funny how that works.
Great meeting you and thanks for taking the time to stop on by.
Hi Michele,
Excellent video tutorial! I use regularly HootSuite but to schedule my tweets in bulk I must upgrade, and for the moment, I use the free version.
Also I use semi-autos like Twitterfeed, Dvlr, etc. and Tweetdeck sometimes for scheduling.
I want to tell you a secret Twitter weapon I’ve, – but psss don’t tell anybody
I use Twiatter for more than schedules.
It’s a little slow to load (I open it in a separate tab while I do other tasks) but it’s great to Repeat tweets in future times. Days, weeks and even months ahead. So, if you’ve the same tweet over and over, just put in automatic for a specific hour/day of the week/month and done! Have you tried it?
Have a great weekend,
Gera
Hi Gera,
You’re the send person to tell me of Twaitter. I believe I may have taken a quick look at it once but never really delved into it.
Will have to check it out in more depth for sure.
I think that’s what’s great about applications such as these, you can set if and forget it for the most part. If that application allows you to post one tweet for multiple days – that would be awesome!
Thanks for the suggestion and have a wonderful weekend!
Hi Michele,
Finally got over to you. As you are one of Barry’s challengers, I wanted to pop over and watch your video – which is great.
I do use buffer and find it quite a handy little tool, but like you say, these types of tools are to be used as additives.
Thanks Michele for sharing that. I will call again.
Take Care
Julie
oh Michele, delete these comments. a wp error problem came up, I pressed okay, typed up comment again and now there’s multiple.
Sorry
Julie
LOL, no worries Julie. I had to do a triple take for all those comments.
Thanks for making it over… great hearing from you. And I’m glad you enjoyed the video.
Look forward to talking again soon!
Hootsuite rocks, been using their pro plan for a while and the ability to have my staff all share and manage the same Twitter account and Facebook page are great.
Hey Justin,
Yeah, I think that feature is really great. I’m only working with one person at the moment but hopefully that will be changing very soon.
Great hearing from you!
I love HootSuite, it really helps keep my social media organized and it really does help your productivity as it saves you time trying to manage everything.
HootSuite is usually the only thing I use for accessing Twitter. I do have my Facebook account connected to it as well.
I don’t think I have been using HootSuite to its fullest, so I’ll download your guide and see what I can learn.
Thanks for the guide. I’d kinda been keeping Hootsuite on the back burner till now.
Jeriea Smith recently posted..how to Challange Your negative core belief by experiment