Ever wonder how people on social media can have a full-time jobs, cook for themselves, and post every single day on multiple sites? There’s a simple method to this that you can implement too, especially for marketing your business - and that’s by using a social media scheduler. These scheduling tools are the best way to create your content on multiple channels without the headache of managing each one separately.
The best thing about them is that all you need to have is a social network channel like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and others to get started. Just choose your images, add some captions, and schedule your posts.
Done and done right?
Well, yes and no.
There are a few things you need to know before you go jumping into the deep end of social media scheduling. Here is a guide that will help you use these tools the right way for your business to get the most engagement from each one in no time.
What Are Social Media Scheduling Tools?
Social media scheduling tools are software tools that help you plan, create, and post all your social media posts in one place. These handy apps are just what the doctor ordered for a marketing strategy that is stress-free and quick for all of us who want to market ourselves or our businesses instead of having to use precious hours of our time online creating multiple posts each day.
You can either download these tools from an app on Android or iPhone. You can manage your social media scheduling from their desktop websites too. Either way, you have plenty of means to not only create posts but manage interactions and keep track of how each one is doing.
Why Do You Need a Scheduling Tool?
By now, you’re probably picking up your phone and finding your first social media scheduling app. But if you don’t already see how great this method of social media marketing could be for you and your digital marketing strategy, then here are a few more reasons to consider downloading a scheduling application.
Saves time
Post multiple channels at once
Become consistent with posting
Won’t have to open each social media channel every day
Spend more time updating your content
Creating your posts on a scheduling app not only gives you more time in the day for doing the things that are just as important, but it also helps you become a better marketer for your business or yourself. And who doesn’t want to grow their followers and leads?
How to Effectively Use Social Media Automated Tools
Now that you know the many benefits that you can get through scheduling your social media posts, you can now see how to use these apps effectively to get all the benefits.
There is, of course, no secret formula or sly tricks that will turn you into a master of using a scheduling tool, but if you know these simple tips for planning, creating, and posting your content from these apps, then you can get the most out of these tools and your time. So, if you want to market your business, products, or services, then keep reading to know how to best use a social media scheduling app.
Set Goals
The first thing that you need to do is to set realistic goals. You’ve probably heard about having SMART goals. This is a type of guide that you can use to create simple and effective goals for yourself or your business. SMART goals stand for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-Bound
If you follow these guidelines for your social media strategy, then you can come up with clear and concise goals that your social media scheduling tool can help you reach in no time. Once you have these goals written in your mind or on a piece of paper, next, write down smaller milestones you want to reach that will get you to your ultimate social media goal. For example, if you want to get to 200 new followers, you may say that your first milestone is 100 new followers. These are called key performance indicators or KPIs for short.
You can measure these smaller goals through things such as:
Likes
Views
Followers
Click-through rates to your website, online store, or wherever you want them to go
Just remember to make sure that you know what the finish line looks like.
Create a Content Calendar
Creating a social media calendar will help tremendously when paired with your scheduling app. This is a calendar that allows you to make a note of every type of content you want to make, which channels you want to make them on, and on which days.
If you want to be better prepared for using a social media scheduling tool, then this step is one of the most important ones. Also, if you aren’t sure how to go about creating one of these calendars, then you’re at the right place!
Social Media Calendar has a variety of content calendars that can get you started.
Download a Social Media Scheduler That’s Right for You
There are plenty of social media scheduling tools and apps out there for you to choose from. Just type it in the search bar of the Apple or Android store and see how many pop up.
But wait! Don’t make an account with the first one you see come up on the search results.
There are a lot out there and each one comes with unique features, pros, and cons. So, which one should you choose, That all depends on the personal or business goals you made a second ago. So, before you download one, make sure that it’s the right one for you and your social media goals.
Add Social Media Channels
The next step is to add the social media platforms that you already have or just created. Either way is completely fine. If you are adding multiple social media profiles to your scheduling app, just be aware that you may not need all of them right now. If you’re new to social media marketing, starting off with a couple is perfect for right now. And then, after a while of getting used to how they operate, you can add more if you’d like.
Social Media Calendar also has post ideas on our blog or catalog page in case you’re ever confused about what type of content you should create for your chosen social media sites.
Know the Perfect Time to Post
This is one of the most important factors to consider when creating and scheduling your posts. Depending on your target audience, the time you post on each social media site will be different.
If you want to know an in-depth look at what times are the best to upload, Social Media Today did a great guide on when’s the best time to post on each of the major social media platforms.
No matter what social channels you choose, make sure that your audience is on there when you post. You may have to do some manual data gathering for yourself by checking now and then on when your audience is the most active on a chosen platform. But once you get it down, you should see your engagement go up.
Type Your Posts
Social media scheduling tools always make it easy for user to create their posts for multiple profiles as possible. With this step, you can take as much time as you need to create the best posts you can. Some scheduling tools will let you plan out your layout before posting to sites such as Instagram. take advantage of this and create brand-associated visuals that your followers will love.
Also, it would be a great idea to consider learning the basics of SEO for different social media sites. Basically, this means that you’ll be able to write certain keywords that will make your posts stand out in search-related terms over others. Although SEO practices take time to fully show the fruits of your labor, if you keep up with it, your profile could eventually show itself on a lot of users’ feeds.
Store Visual Elements as You Go
Remember that you can’t reap the benefits of showing up high on the search page if you don’t also provide visually appealing and valuable posts. Social media schedulers also make it easier for this to happen. While making your posts, make sure that you have a folder on your phone’s gallery or desktop that has all your social media photos, images, and infographics in them. By optimizing this aspect of your scheduling routine, you can easily add photos quickly to the posts before saving.
Also, don’t worry. These scheduling apps usually show you how your post will look on the platform before you post it. Because of this, you can see if the image works or not before the rest of the world sees it.
Follow a Content Ratio
Creating content for your social media can be daunting, we know. It’s hard being both interesting while not being too repetitive. Having a schedule could help prevent you from dealing with this problem if you do this one thing. When scheduling your content, also consider following a content ratio guide. What this means is instead of posting one type of content, you, instead, create varied posts.
For example, if you want to post on Twitter 6 times a week, then you can follow a ratio of 3-1-1. This ratio recommends you create 3 posts about your content, 1 shared post from someone else, and 1 personal post not related to your business. By drafting all these posts for the week in the scheduling app, you can easily keep track of your ratios.
There are a lot of different formulas out there. Depending on what goals you have for social media, you can craft your own content ratio guide and schedule them at the right time every day.
Collaborate with Your Team
One of the best things about a lot of these social media scheduling tools is that they don’t have to be isolated to yourself. If you have a team for your business and want to make a social media campaign, many apps have an option to share them with multiple people.
Managing social media is already a hard thing to do by yourself, so if you don’t have enough time with a scheduler, you can keep track of your content even with someone else overseeing it. Now, you can really sit back and relax.
Just keep in mind that not every social media scheduling app has this team feature, so look closely before making an account with just any app.
Keep Track of Your Analytics
One of the best things about a scheduling tool for social media is that you can keep track of how well your posts are doing from each platform, all together in one app. Talk about convenience! That’s why these tools are especially useful for business owners, entrepreneurs, and influencers.
Knowing who is interacting and how your profiles are doing is vital to know during social media campaigns. And even if you aren’t one of these types of users, you can still get the most out of analytics by seeing which one of your posts is doing the best. Take notes of the ones that get the most interaction and take steps to create more like it.
Make Social Media Marketing Easy
Now that you’ve read these tips for effectively using a social media scheduling tool and app, you can confidently go out there and create posts that are engaging, creative, and encourage engagement. Always remember to keep track of your results and build upon them with every week of creating more varied content.
If you don’t know where to start with posting content, you can use Social Media Calendar’s many resources that will help you create the perfect account on each social media platform. With our catalogs and your scheduling app, you’ll see your goals reached in no time, no matter what they are.
Take the stress out of chaotically managing social media accounts and start growing your brand instead.
