For small business owners it’s no longer about just existing on social, it’s about being present and engaging with your audience.
Unfortunately, trying to organize, manage, and publish your social media content is no easy task.
It requires time and investment to see results of a well-executed social media marketing strategy.
Here are some benefits of social media scheduling that will positively impact your business.
Being there without being there
Consistency across platforms with your brand voice.
When scheduling your social media posts, take steps to ensure that your brand is maintaining consistency through using the same filters, colours and fonts and templates. You can be certain that your brand is recognisable across all platforms.
If your business has followers in different time zones, scheduling allows you to set your posts to be published when they are online. No more pushing posts out when your followers are sound asleep. This also applies to all followers, by using your analytics to determine the optimal time to land your post in the news feeds.
Consistency in posting.
We all have those times in our business where client work and deadlines take over our calendar. It is these times where scheduled posts are a relief. Our marketing continues without missing a beat, keeping existing and potential customers and clients entertained and engaged. It is this consistency in posting that our followers are looking for when the choose to follow us on social media.
Better Content
Scheduling your content means that you can dedicate specific time to really plan your content.
Be strategic.
By taking a strategic approach you can ensure that your content is meeting the needs of your followers. Value is part of each platforms algorithm. Value is determined by the engagement of your followers. We know that a variety of posts keeps your followers interested. There should be a mix of entertaining and educating and inspiring and informative posts, only then can you put forward any sales posts. So rather than simply reposting status updates of other businesses you can control the quality of appropriate content.
Captivating captions.
This also means that you have better creative control over the captions (copy) that each post contains.
This also applies to applicable Call to Actions for each post.
Productivity
Busy vs productive.
We are busy enough working IN our businesses, so anytime we can find a solution to better manage our time is a good thing. The productivity gurus see batching as an effective use of our time. When we set specific times in our schedules to research and schedule our social media posts, we are opening up more productive blocks of time for other (important) things.
Productivity hack.
Reposting your existing content is effective for your productivity. The algorithms on each platform drastically restrict the reach of your posts so don’t be shy in reposting existing content – specifically evergreen content. Even if a follower has seen a post previously it will reinforce your message.
Scheduling Software / Apps
There are a variety of apps and software that provide scheduling content to social media so much easier.
Facebook Creator Studio
Creator Studio is a free scheduling option that allows you to schedule your posts via desktop to both Facebook and Instagram, individually or for cross posting.
Buffer
Buffer has a free and paid accounts. Social media scheduling is available for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Buffer offers desktop and mobile apps.
Hootsuite
There are free and paid versions for Hootsuite. Hootsuite offers social media scheduling for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Hootsuite has desktop and mobile apps.
Later
Later offers scheduling of photo and video posts to social networks including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. There are free and paid versions available via desktop and mobile apps.
Publer
Publer is a new player on the market that I have been using. Publer offers scheduling of photo and video posts to social networks including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with Zapier integration for Instagram and Pinterest. There are free and paid versions available via desktop and the mobile app is in the works.
FYI. this is an affiliate link and I may receive payment should you sign up.
Scheduling Tips
✅ Check back on your posts – put fresh eyes on your posts for spelling and grammar, even after it’s been published. Make edits as necessary. Not everyone will see each post in their news feed, many will see it when they visit your profile.
✅ Check your analytics for the best time to post – give your posts a better chance of landing in the feed of your followers when they are online.
✅ Check your analytics for the best types of posts – your most engaging posts should be used more often.
✅ Leave room for spontaneity in your calendar – trending topics and ‘in the moment’ posts
The benefits of scheduling
Lets face it – social media can be a huge distraction. So rather than interrupting your day to make sure you get that random post out on social media, scheduling means you are preventing distractions in your daily routine and marketing your business at the appropriate time and place.
By scheduling your social media posts you can more accurately implement your social media strategy.
Ultimately, scheduling leaves room for you to be available for engagement.
And engagement is THE winner on all platforms and for all audiences.
Tell me, do you prefer to schedule your social media content or do you prefer to just wing it?
NOTE: While social media scheduling has many benefits, be sure to remain alert and conscious of current circumstances. Trending and breaking news may adversely affect your scheduled posts. In these cases, scheduled content should be monitored (or modified if applicable) closely. Remember to keep your content current and relevant – take care not to schedule too far ahead of time!
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