Please welcome virtual assistant extraordinaire Kate Tilton, who is a staff writer for BadRedheadMedia.com and helps author Rachel Thompson from falling down the rabbit hole every day. Pay attention — Kate knows what she’s doing!
Ever feel like there is no way you can manage all your social media accounts, let alone post regularly to each? Ever wonder how some authors seem to be on social media ALL the time? Introducing social media scheduling tools, your key to managing your accounts and building your following.
Formed in 2010, Buffer is the scheduling tool of my choice. Ever since I found Buffer (after first mindlessly tweeting random things when I could, and then using Hootsuite) I have been a loud Buffer fan. Seriously, their logo sticker is on my computer as I’m typing this now! So why am I such a Buffer fan? Well let’s look at the pros and cons of the tool.
Pros:
- Automatic scheduling. With Buffer you create one schedule (or multiple schedules if you’d like) and with each post you add to your queue it automatically gets scheduled for the next available time slot on your schedule. Instead of other platforms where you have to add in the time for each post you do, this removes that need while still offering that feature if you need it.
- Easily click and drag tweets/posts from one profile to another (no need to copy and paste).
- Add RSS feeds from your favorite blogs to easily add content to your queue. All it takes is a click!
- New suggested content feature gives you access to easy to add content in marketing, inspiration, business/startups, lifehacking, design, and Buffer’s personal picks.
- Get access to easy to understand analytics that show for Twitter: the number of mentions, retweets, favorites and clicks of each tweet; and for Facebook: the number of likes, comments, reach, clicks, and shares of each post; and for Google+: the number of comments, clicks, reshares, and +1s.
Cons:
- The free plan limits the amount of posts you can have in your queue to ten for each account, which may be enough for someone just starting out but not enough once things get rolling. (With the Awesome plan this limit is raised to 200.)
- The free plan also limits you to one account for each account type, for example you can only have one Twitter profile added on the free plan. This may work for authors just starting out but if you run a business you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to be able to add more accounts.
Costs:
- Free ($0)
- Awesome ($10 per month or $102 per year)
- Business (Small: $50, Medium: $100, Large: $250. All per month)
Hootsuite is Rachel’s tool of choice and has been in business since 2008. With more than 10 million users around the world let’s check out the pros and cons of this tool.
Pros:
- Hootsuite is a trusted tool that has been used for years by professionals like Rachel Thompson.
- Hootsuite streams are columns within your Hootsuite dashboard that you can use to view mentions, private messages, hashtags, and more. This feature is similar to TweetDeck.
- Hootsuite’s free option gives you unlimited scheduling power, but you must schedule one post at a time.
- New suggested content is searchable, letting you easily find content to share that is relevant to your interests.
- App integrations allow you to monitor Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and other social networks for a small monthly fee.
Cons:
- Hootsuite’s free option only lets you connect with three social networks. (Pro increases to 50, Enterprise for unlimited.)
- Hootsuite’s free option does not have access to the auto scheduler, meaning for each tweet/post you must select the date and time for that tweet/post to go out.
- More expensive than other options.
Costs:
- Free ($0)
- Pro ($14.99 per month or $119.88 per year)
- Enterprise (Must book a live demo in order to get cost)
Also launched in 2008, Klout is a popular platform for many to view their social media influence while possibly gaining some perks for the work they do online. (For example, I’ve gotten everything from books to Chex Mix on Klout.) But Klout also has a new tool that lets you schedule tweets and Facebook posts. Check out the pros and cons to see if this is a tool for you.
Pros:
- Klout gives users follow suggestions based on your topics of interest and suggests you follow three people a day which is a powerful way to grow your social influence.
- Klout offers impressive content suggestions based on a wide variety of subjects. If you struggle to find content, Klout is for you.
- Klout suggests three times for each day that are optimal for reaching your audience. Like Buffer all you have to do is click and your tweet/post will be added to the next time slot (Klout also offers the ability to set a custom time).
- Klout offers a powerful summary of your online presence that you can also use to get Klout perks.
- Free!
Cons:
- Content suggestions are limited to only articles at this point and while sharing articles is good it should not be the only thing you share.
- Currently only lets you schedule for Facebook and Twitter (leaving out important platforms like Google+ and LinkedIn).
- Klout only lets you connect one Twitter account and only one Facebook account.
Cost:
- Free ($0)
No matter what tool you pick, using a social media scheduling tool to schedule your post in addition to some live content will increase your clout online.
Which social media schedule tool do you use?
About Kate Tilton:
Kate Tilton has been in love with books for as long as she can remember. A relatively new voice in publishing, Kate has been serving authors behind the scenes since 2010. Founder of Kate Tilton’s Author Services, LLC, Kate works as an author assistant and social media manager with the mission of connecting authors and readers. Kate is the creator and host of #K8chat (Thursdays at 9pm Eastern), a contributor to BadRedhead Media, and has appeared on popular media such as Publishers Weekly, The Book Designer, Kobo Writing Life and Rafflecopter. A cat-lover and fan of many geeky things, Kate can likely be found curled up with the latest Doctor Who episode, plotting world takeover, or connecting authors and readers in any way she can.
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Originally posted on BadRedhead Media. Republished with permission.
