Social Media Automation- How To Do It The Right Way
Let’s address the elephant in the room first- the concept of social media automation in general
There are two distinctive camps when it comes to any form of social media automation: those in favor and those clearly against.
Here’s where I stand: I am in favor of social media content automation. However, I am not in favor of social media interaction automation.
Understanding the difference between the two is crucial to a successful social media automation strategy.
Here’s the crucial difference between social media content automation and social media interaction automation
Social media content automation (as a general rule) includes scheduling posts, pictures, links, etc. to appear at certain times on certain days on certain platforms. It’s “pre-boarding” your content. Or think of it as laying out your editorial calendar.
Social media interaction automation includes auto following, auto DM’s (a HUGE pet peeve of mine), auto response of any kind, crafting every single message and possible response in advance.
Basically, little interaction with a human being on the respective social media platforms. More of a blast and go approach.
I’m sure most of you have seen this or experienced it. I hate it.
Big Reveal Here- the general Internet population hates social media interaction automation too (so don’t do it. Use social media content automation instead)
Why I Use Social Media Content Automation
- To help me plan and organize my marketing message for the month, quarter or whatever period of time I’m addressing.
- To get a visual representation of my content mix
- To save my sanity- #1 reason here. I am an agency owner, producer and handle all the marketing. Without the ability to schedule what I want to say, I would lose my mind and get nothing accomplished.
The Tool I Use For Social Media Automation
My tool of choice is Buffer, with one exception. I’m not getting paid to say this, I just really like the tool. It makes my life MUCH easier. When I want to tag another business on my agency’s Facebook page, I don’t use Buffer, but instead write the post on our Facebook page, tag the business and use the scheduling function. It guarantees they’ll see that we mentioned them.
What Social Media Content Do I Automate? (here’s how to do it the “right” way)
- Ongoing agency programs- examples include our monthly newsletter and referral programs
- General announcements- new staff, staff changes, holiday closings, reminders
- Special events- customer appreciation days, charity events, open houses
- General purpose content- insurance tips, blog post link, links to pages on our website, links to other websites I find useful or helpful.
As you’ve probably already figured out, the content I choose to automate functions as more of a “reminder” or “hey, we thought this is something we should mention.” Think of it as a news broadcast.
Although I automate the general “broadcast”, I do NOT, under any circumstances, automate my responses. When you see a comment to a post or a share or a +1 or whatever, that’s ME. Personally.
It is called social media for a reason right? That means there must be a human being somewhere on the other side of the monitor.
So yes, social media content automation is a powerful and effective tool. Social media interaction automation is NOT. It’s critical you know the difference between the two. Or else you risk alienating your audience and flushing all your hard work down the drain.
Talk to me- Where do you stand on social media automation? What tools do you use? What content do you automate?
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This was a great post a much needed an confusing thought was how to tackle this beast.
timing content is huge. I didn’t even know you could auto respond on social media? I was the 54th person on FB in Florida and I feel so ashamed that I didn’t know that.
I guess I just respond real time anyways. but posting and blogging seem impossible tasks.
I just started a challenge on Lift to hit 500 words a day for 31 days. Hopefully that starts the habit.
Where do you source images?
Can you share your ‘schedule’ of topics and perhaps a few sample blog, sm posts, links and promotions for the same topic so I can have a ‘best practice’ to follow?
Thanks! Look forward to your next post!