Never be ashamed that you don’t have enough time to sit around all day on social media. If you are a highly motivated leader like most of the readers of this blog or employed for that matter, you are probably not alone. Remember that social media should help to promote you and your platform. It shouldn’t distract from achieving those goals. While it shouldn’t take over our lives, we do want to make it a priority, especially when things get hectic.
Busy professionals fall into one of two traps on social media.
1) Sacrifice it completely in favor of higher priority activities. This will cause you to fall away from the top-of-mind position you covet and you risk undoing your previous efforts.
2) Go post-crazy and publish 25 times in the span of 2.7 seconds. This will just annoy people and get you blocked. Try staying top-of-mind now.
Consistency and moderation is the social media “sweet spot” for posting. If people come to expect your awesome material while not being overwhelmed with it, they may even begin to look forward to getting updates from you.
So, how do we get there?
If you read my last post, you know that crafting a quality, targeted message is the key to winning on social media. That is still Rule #1. Now, we are going to up our game by using the social media tool of automation. This will allow you to utilize one of the more effective productivity tools – batching, which simply means that you group related tasks into one period of time to avoid multi-tasking. Also, it is a duel threat because you can schedule posts ad hoc whenever you come across great content or have an awesome idea, all while maintaining consistency in your posting schedule.
I am not recommending that you break rule #1 in favor of saving time, nor am I promoting the idea that quantity beats quality all of the sudden. I am only suggesting a better way of doing things. You are still able to spend the appropriate amount of time and make sure that your messages are in line with your voice, tone, and core principles. Automation lets you do it on your time.
But which tool should you use?
If you have done any research into this field or have read our post from a few weeks ago, you know there are just under 5 gazillion companies (rough estimate) boasting they have the best application on the market. Well, let me save you some time. Buffer is the tool I use and so should you. More than any other social media tool I have used, Buffer is the most user-friendly. The minimalist design allows for a short learning curve and its simpler functionality makes sure it does what you need it to very well. This is your command center. Set your schedule for the same times every day to isolate that variable. This will come in handy when you start testing other components like hashtags or specific calls-to-action.
It is extremely versatile.
Make sure to download the mobile app for ad hoc tweets while out and about. Also, get the Chrome extension for curation while surfing/reading.
Get some personalized help.
Another unique function is the Suggestions tab, which provides suggestions based on your interests. You get five fresh ones every day so comb through these when you have a free second and with one click, schedule it to post.
Content curation just became simpler than ever.
Their newest feature is actually what really sets them apart. They recently rolled out a new tab called Feeds which allows you to link and easily add posts from up to 15 feeds. As you can see, they are fond of mysterious code names for their products. This really puts you into social media efficiency-ninja status. Find the 15 sources that are in line with your principles and your purpose and take a few minutes each week to schedule posts from those feeds. It has never been easier to use a social media tool to its full advantage.
Now that you are armed with the most powerful social media tool available, take some time to get familiar with the product and get out ahead of your schedule by keeping the queue topped off. This way you won’t feel the nagging guilt of going ghost on your community or the searing pain of being unfollowed by them.
Do you have another tool you prefer? If so, let me know which one and why.
Great post, Reade. Automation is definitely our friend and helps spread things out so it makes it easier on readers. My favorite tool is hootsuite, although Buffer is a great tool as well.
Thanks, Adam. I’m actually a Hootsuite convert, myself. Its a great tool, no doubt, but its just a little too hefty (in terms of complexity) for my purposes. Plus, I love the culture at Buffer.
Reade…when you wrote “Find the 15 sources that are in line with your principles and your purpose and take a few minutes each week to schedule posts from those feeds. It has never been easier to use a social media tool to its full advantage,” are you talking about signing up for 15 blogs that will come to you via Buffer? Maybe this will all be clear in playing around in the app. Great article. I’m always looking for tools that will help me.
Hi Linda! Thanks for reading.
Allow me to clear up. This feature allows you to just simply enter any blog url you want (up to 15) and have all new posts immediately available for you to add to your queue. Its a simple and easy way of collecting your favorite blogs for easy sharing, right there in Buffer.
Does this make things more clear?
Yes…thanks so much Reade. I’m getting this before I forget! :o)
That’s great to hear. Let me know if you have any more questions 🙂
Thanks, Reade. I will!
I am buffer user but after reading this article, I think i should give a try at least as feed tab seems interesting and beneficial.
You should definitely give it a go. I’m sure you’ll be impressed.
Hmm. I’ll have to check out Buffer now. thanks Reade!
Awesome! Hope you like it. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂