Tag: Scheduling Tools

#AwesomeTools – Social Media Scheduling Tools

One of the best ways marketers have found to reach potential customers is with social media.  When social media first emerged, this was fairly easy because there was really only one platform—Facebook.  But now, there are dozens of different social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even video formats such as YouTube. 
If you are working in marketing, it can be a nightmare trying to juggle all of these platforms and reach as many customers as possible.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  There are now apps available that can help with social media scheduling.  Three of the hottest tools on the market are Buffer, Edgar, and Hootsuite. Let’s take a look and see what they have to offer.
Buffer
Buffer is a scheduling tool that allows you to upload your posts and set them to post at whatever time you need.  It also allows you to cross-post to multiple platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest with just the click of a button.
Buffer offers multiple plans for different users including the option to have a single user platform. If you have a big team and need many people to have access, Buffer allows you up to 25 additional team members. You can connect up to 150 different social media accounts which makes managing multiple brands a breeze. Buffer has a free account option which is perfect for people who are managing  just one brand.
                                                                                           
Edgar
Edgar currently only works with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but it offers a range of flexibility.  What makes Edgar so special is the ease of recycling your content. You can set a schedule that makes sense for your platform and Edgar will automatically re-share your content in a loop, so you’re getting the most out of your posts. Edgar allows scheduling for one-off posts too, so you can fill your social media to suit your needs. They keep their pricing structure simple, too with just one pricing option available.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is another option for scheduling your posts to automatically publish on your social media platforms. You can even bulk upload messages to save you a ton of time! Hootsuite supports Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and WordPress. What I love most about Hootsuite is their extensive data and analytics. You can analyze your data in real-time so that you can make better decisions about what material to post to your various platforms. 
Hootsuite also offers a thirty-day trial that allows you to take it for a test run before you purchase one of their many plans.  Chances are, there will be a plan that fits your business’s needs.

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be stressful.  By using the apps and tools that are available to you, you can schedule your posts and save yourself some time and headache, allowing you to focus on other parts of your business.

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Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.



Social Seven: Tools of the Trade – Post Planner

Post Planner claims to triple your engagement and reach. Erin used the tool for her own business for a while to compare its effectiveness against simply posting natively to Facebook.
It goes back to posting images versus just posting text. Posts with images get more engagement, likes and shares than if you just use text. People are drawn towards color and visual stories. Text alone is boring. It’s good to have a healthy combination of both. There is a lot less reach with a text only post than if an image is added. One of the things Erin really likes about Post Planner is that they have added the capability to create a post in Post Planner then create an image in Canva and the tool will automatically share it. It combines the two processes into one step and saves time. It’s connected to your Facebook and Canva so all those designs are saved in both places.
Another great thing about Post Planner is that it gives you ideas about what to post. When you are drawing a blank, you can search Post Planner for images, quotes, or engaging questions to ask to boost your content management. This is similar to what Hootsuite and Buffer offers but it is more of a searchable database than a list of links. Post Planner also offers insightsfor those seeking motivation or additional ideas.
Post Planner is only $7 a month to use, with occasional sales to make it even more affordable. Therefore, it is a reasonable, cost effective tool with some decent perks to help keep up with social media management.
We’d love to hear your feedback if you have used Post Planner and it has helped your business or helped you engage your audience.
Think this might help you with scheduling content and staying on top of your social media? Follow us on social media to find out when our Social Seven podcast is streaming live!

Social Seven: Tools of the Trade – Editorial Calendars and Trello

If you don’t have a routine or a schedule, you aren’t going to be consistent with your social media. So, it makes sense to build an editorial calendar. What do you use to build a calendar for your content? This can depend on the client. Everyone has thrie own themes and weekly schedule. Each one is so drastically different, as are their posting options. A social media manager could use tools like Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Drive and Dropbox for different purposes. However, that means pulling from a variety of different places. Therefore, it makes sense to have everything in one spot instead of duplicating efforts.
Trello is an online tool for scheduling. There are so many things you can do with it. Trello can be set up for one clientor many. There are various boards, lists and cards for each client. You can be very narrow with what you are doing. Typically, with an editorial calendar for a client is there is a social media strategy. In Trello, you create cards. These cards include brief descriptions on what to post, hashtags, timing and anything else pertinent to that schedule.
One major perk to Trello is that images that have been created to share can be placed onto these cards as well. Text can also be added so that everything for the post is in one place. Also, the client can be added in order to review the cards before they are posted. Due dates can be added and reminders via email will be sent to remind team members or clients to approve or review the posts.
Trello also allows users to label the cards with custom labels to help with organization. Then it can be copied into Hootsuite or whatever other scheduling tool is being used to post the content.  For Twitter, it may be better to use something different such as a Google spreadsheet or an Excel file. This is mainly due to the bulk uploading nature of that platform.
There are other tools available such as Base Camp, One Note and Evernote that could be used as well. Base Camp and Trello are very similar. Unfortunately, Base Camp gives you only a specific amount of time to make changes or edit a post, which could cause some issues in the long term. The idea is to keep you organized. Don’t let yourself run dry. Try out some new tools and see if you can make them work for you!
Think these might help you with scheduling content and staying on top of your social media? Follow us on social media to find out when our Social Seven podcast is streaming live!

Social Seven: Tools of the Trade – Dropbox and Google Drive

Social Seven – Social Media Podcast

With Erin Cell of Socially Powered and Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor




Here are some sharing tools to keep yourself organized: Dropbox and Google Drive. These tools utilize cloud computing, which is not a new concept but is becoming more popular. For those who have teams, you can add your teams to either Dropbox or Google Drive to share files and information. There are pros and cons to both. It might be a good idea to pick just one of these tools or you might find yourself checking both when you can’t remember what you put on which one.
Be cautious when using the cloud, it’s possible to share a virus on one file with all the other files on the site. This isn’t a fault of Dropbox or Google Drive, but it can be an issue. Make sure to keep your anti-virus software current and follow safety techniques when opening and downloading attachments and programs.
One benefit to using these types of tools is that if your personal hard drive crashes, all of these files are kept on the cloud. It can be costly, and sometimes impossible, to recover files from a crashed system.
Those who have a Chromebook will find that Google Drive is even more practical. The best part of Drive is the shareability and being able to share documents with others easily. Users can create documents, spreadsheets and presentations right there in the drive. The files are live and automatically updated. No need to worry about using the most current version since the file is in real time. It auto saves frequently and can be edited right in Google Drive. It can be accessed from anywhere since it is an Internet based tool.
If you have a Gmail account, use just the one account for your mail, your Google drive, YouTube and other Google products. It’s so much easier when everything is connected.

There are other cloud based sharing apps that could work well for you. Educate yourself on all the optimal uses for all of these tools.

Think these might help you with scheduling content and staying on top of your social media? Follow us on social media to find out when our Social Seven podcast is streaming live!

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