This is such a common topic among business owners and even social media managers; should I schedule social media posts for my business?
The short answer is yes. But of course, there is a long answer.
Maintaining your social media accounts can be time-consuming, especially if you want to be consistent and always top of mind with customers and potential customers. Once you setup your social media accounts, you’ve just begun. Now you need to maintain your accounts and post daily, or at least 3-5 times a week.
Why would I schedule my social media posts?
When you schedule your social media posts weekly, or monthly, you will have consistent content being posted each day and you don’t have to worry each day about what you are going to post and you won’t have to go into your accounts daily to post. This gives you more time to engage and answer any questions each day.
Why schedule your posts:
- Consistency
- Save time
- Post at ideal times (based on your analytics)
- Global brands can post when their audience is online
One thing that makes most things easier is a plan. When you have a plan for your social media and know what you plan to post each day, it makes it much easier and faster to post.
Pre-planning and scheduling your social media posts will help reduce stress when you decide to go on vacation or have busy days because it is one thing you can do ahead of time and know that it is still being taken care of. All you will need to do is monitor and respond to any comments and questions.
Keep in mind that even if you schedule some social media posts, you can still post relevant, interesting content that might pop up during the week in the news or in your industry.
What social media scheduling software is best?
A social media management tool is a scheduling tool you can use to schedule your social media posts. Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, Agorapulse, Sprout Social, Meet Edgar and Sendible are the most common management tools available. I wrote a post that reviews these tools.
A social media management tool is like any other tool, you need to research, test and decide which tool you like the best. I have tried all these tools, but for myself, I like using the built-in Facebook scheduler, Hootsuite, and Buffer.
How do I schedule my posts within Facebook?
As I mentioned above, I like using the built-in Facebook scheduler because I like to see how many posts I have scheduled, and I am often on Facebook. If you want more of an overview of your posts across all platforms, you might want to use a tool like Hootsuite, because along with being a scheduling tool, it also serves as a dashboard to view your posts, mentions, etc. across all your platforms.
If you decide you do want to use the Facebook scheduling tool, I created a video tutorial.
I love using a social media scheduler because I know that my clients and my accounts are being posted to consistently and it gives me more time to spend engaging with people, sending replies, and thanking people for sharing my content.
Do you schedule your social media? What tool do you enjoy using?
