Does using an automatic posting platform make sense for your business?
A digital presence is essential to a modern business. Whether published via email, web, or social media, your business needs strategic and high quality digital content in order to thrive. And just as the digital marketing landscape constantly evolves, so should your approach to posting online.
There’s a good chance your business already has a profile on more than one platform. But if you’re still figuring out what social networks you should be using, and what trends and practices you should be implementing, you can read our blog ‘Which Social Platform is Best for your Business’.
Automation is extremely useful for businesses, as we outlined in our blog ‘Benefits of Automated Marketing for your Business’ streamlining processes and ensuring efficiency. One extremely useful digital marketing automation is automatic posting. Such services enable the user to schedule their content, along with a variety of other tools and strategies to assist with social media efforts and enhance email marketing campaigns.
This blog is designed to help you decide whether your business should be using an automatic posting platform. There are various platforms, each boasting their own unique features. We’ll run you through some of our favourite systems, and unpack their benefits and limitations, so you can figure out which may be right for you. Keep reading to find out more…
Should I be using an automatic posting platform?
Businesses come in all shapes and sizes. But no matter their differences, in the 21st century, it’s essential that each one has an online presence.
As much as we love the results social media brings our clients, we understand how incredibly time consuming it can be. Between making updates, responding to customers, creating content, and sharing it, managing social media is a full-time job. Not to mention all the specialities that need to be considered, such as the time of day content is posted to get the most engagement, social media advertising and sharing links.
Automatic posting platforms allow you to accomplish all of those tasks in a far more time efficient manner. Put simply, if you want more time for strategy and to focus on growing your company, you should be using an automatic posting platform. And what business doesn’t want that?
Let’s elaborate…
Time
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘time is money’. But unlike money, time is a truly finite resource.
One of the key benefits of automation is the time you save, giving you the opportunity to work on your business. A lot of work and time goes into crafting and posting an excellent social media post. Automatic posting platforms can streamline this process from start to finish, providing you with the adequate tools to identify trending topics and content that is relevant, with the ultimate goal of making your brand more relatable, and your social media more engaging. They also allow you to schedule your content, giving you the luxury of not having to log on to each individual account and manually post every time.
That being said, it is still essential to prioritise time on your social media platforms, as not everything can, or should, be automated. Social media management requires not only strategising and posting content, but interacting with followers. By automating your social media content, you create more time to engage with your audience
Consistency
A consistent voice, consistent content, consistent posts and consistent aesthetics. This is what your followers want to see from you.
Seeking to understand why people unfollow brands on social networks, a survey conducted by BuzzStream and Fractl identified consistency as a key factor across all social media platforms.
Consistency allows your intended audience to easily recognise you, and influences their willingness to engage. If your voice, content, posts and aesthetics don’t align with your business values and objectives, you likely won’t gain any traction among those you are targeting.
Control
Automation and a digital marketing strategy go hand-in-hand.
When it comes to social media, another key benefit of automation is the increased volume of posts companies can manage. Social media automation allows companies to effortlessly post more content across more accounts more often. And in this instance, more is more.
Automatic posting platforms also share insights into the nature and behaviours of your audience in order to better target them. Monitoring these levels of engagement can assist in developing greater strategies to gain more likes, shares and overall traction, and obtain your business’s goals.
So, how should you implement an automatic posting platform to your digital marketing strategy?
Sold on automating your business’s social media? Here’s a quick rundown of a few of our preferred automated social media posting platforms.
Hootsuite – https://hootsuite.com
Hootsuite is one of the most popular and widely used content scheduling programs. More than 16 million users use Hootsuite for scheduling, monitoring, content curation, analytics, team management, security and boosting followers across a large network of social platforms.
Price:
Should I use Hootsuite?
With plans ranging from a professional to enterprise level, dependent on how many social profiles you manage, Hootsuite can benefit your business in a number of ways. However, it does have it’s limitations. It can be expensive for teams, and to view analytic features, and it cannot be integrated with other third-party tools. That being said, Hootsuite is certainly one of the superior ‘all rounder’ programs in terms of social media management, and offers a 30-day free trial, and a limited free plan, to help you work out if it’s right for you.
Buffer – https://buffer.com
Known for its comprehensive analytics, Buffer is a user-friendly program which can assist with all elements of publishing and replying, while planning and collaborating.
Price:
Should I use Buffer?
Buffer offers a limited free plan, and a very competitive pricing structure in comparison to other similar programs. However, it doesn’t offer monitoring tools for mentions, searches and hashtags. If you’re looking for a simple, affordable program, primarily to automate publishing a scheduling, Buffer’s system is ideal for you.
Crowdfire – https://www.crowdfireapp.com
Crowdfire is a social media management tool, specialising in content curation, scheduling and publishing, analytics and mention tracking.
Price:
Should I use Crowdfire?
This application has many benefits, primarily the ability to track engagement, and providing information on who is following you, or may have unfollowed you. It’s important to keep in mind that Crowdfire only assists with growing followers, not engaging with them, and has other restrictions in regard to social media management. If your strategy is to gain more followers, Crowdfire is an effective social media automation application.
Automation is just the beginning
Implementing an automatic posting platform can effectively assist in reaching your organisation’s objectives. Keep in mind, when using automation you should time it right, and be open to change. Stay flexible with your schedule and utilise your analytics to shape your approach, and get the best possible results.
Contact us today
Need a hand with your social media strategy? Greenfish Marketing can assist you in finding and applying the right approach for your business, gaining followers and boosting engagement. Contact us or book a discovery call today to learn more about how we can boost your business.
