Social Media Updates – Should They Be Automated?
Should Social Media Updates Be Automated?
Point #26
The answer is: It depends! If you spend all your time on social media sites, there is a good chance that your product development will fall off. It is definitely a balancing act.
You are going to spend a significant amount of time in the social media “sand box” when you start out. Even beyond the planning and implementation stage, staying engaged is a time consuming practice.
The good news is that there are some things you can automate and avoid the risk of dis-engagement.
Check out some of the useful automation tools such as Buffer, Hootsuite, and Social Oomph. However, BE CAREFUL! If you depend on these tools to post all your updates you will not be participating in the conversations. It is natural and far too easy to ignore stuff that happens automatically. Make sure you still spend time with personal updates.
Use WordPress or a WP plug-in such as Social Media Feather to automatically post new blog updates to your social media portals. Note: WordPress now has settings for your social media accounts in the blog’s dashboard. You really don’t need another plug-in unless you find one that really grabs your attention.
Be sure to post links you actually review and like – especially if you automate that sharing and send it out over and over. Remember – everything you post is a reflection on your brand and you want your updates to be a good reflection – not a negative one.
Some people direct messages to new followers on Twitter. I find this really irritating especially when they do it over and over with the same prompt. That is about as fake and obviously automatic as you can be. Don’t do that.
Direct messages are meant to be real inquiry, comment, or compliment. Do not “direct mail” automated messages.
You do not have to follow someone that follows you. I also do not recommend that you automatically retweet a tweet from a follower.
Quotes are very popular. I like quotes and enjoy getting them from others – especially when they are relevant to my brand. I often retweet quotes I receive. It gives a little social love to the sender. I sent out a quote about once every day or so.
Action Steps
- Make sure your accounts are set up on your WP blog to automatically publish new posts.
- If you are already automatically direct messaging or retweeting, turn that off immediately.
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