To Schedule, Or Not to Schedule: Social Media Posts
Welcome back! In a previous post, we went over the importance of scheduling certain social media posts, in a effort to cut down on time spent in the social media world. Today, we will discuss which posts are better left unscheduled. Posting in real time is essential in customer relationship building. These posts are also the ones that will make the biggest impact on your business. We will also direct you to websites that can assist your social media scheduling. As any quality Raleigh, NC website designer should tell you; it’s important that we consider how best to integrate social media into your website and life. Whether we like it or not, social media is here to stay. With this in mind, it’s time we came to embrace it.
A Tip from this Raleigh, NC Website Designer:
Sharing quotes, articles, and your own blog are great things to schedule. They’re also good for keeping your customers interested. However, one on one interaction is where long-term social media marketing success is built. So go forth and INTERACT!
It’s a good idea to spend 10-20 minutes a day on real time interaction. Focus on talking to social media users. Reply to tweets, comment on Facebook, and like pictures on Instagram. You can even re-pin on Pinterest and re-post on Vine. All these things leave your mark in the social media realm. Try to offer your expertise and make yourself available for questions. This is hard for a tech guy like me but it’s an important part of doing business in 2013.
A rule of thumb for social media marketing should be, if you’re not talking and interacting with people, it doesn’t count. Get out there; retweet, comment, share, and start a conversation! With the proper tools, some of your social media marketing can be automated via your website. Ask your Raleigh, NC web designer for more details.
Reading posts and clicking on shared articles is considered internet surfing. Don’t get caught up in the social media black hole of infinite oblivion. We all fall into that black hole from time to time; but it’s absolutely not building customer interactions or growing your business.
Now that we’ve realized what posts should be scheduled and what posts are better left to live posting, it’s time to talk about pre-scheduling tools. Though there isn’t a tool that does it all, there are some great sites that offer scheduling help! Here are some of TigerHive Creative Group’ favorite tools for scheduling posts in advance:
Hootsuite- A site that allows you to schedule posts for:
- WordPress.com
- Google+ Pages
Hootsuite also allows you to view your other social feeds and comment on the posts. You cannot, yet, post live on Hootsuite.
Scheduling on Hootsuite can be done in 2 ways.
- Post in advance: You can schedule a post on a set day and time. This option is great for blog posts or customer interaction questions
- Auto schedule posts: This option picks the best times to post your posts, so that it won’t blast your followers with several posts, all at once. It’s a bit easier than posting in advance.
Other scheduling tools to try include:
- Pingraphy
- Buffer
- Sprout Social
Social media is rapidly evolving in marketing importance. It’s free, fairly uncomplicated, and a great way to interact with potential and existing customers.
TigerHive Creative Group, and our group of merry Raleigh website designers, wants to help your business succeed. Though social media is a great place to market your business, it’s a good idea to let TigerHive Creative Group build the “face” of your business. Without an eye catching logo and website, social media marketing efforts may be ignored. For more information on our web design, video production, and graphic design expertise, visit www.tigerhive.com. Here you will find a list of all our services, as well as, some of our most recent work! We hope to hear from you soon!
