Social media automation has come a long way in terms of tech and tools that do all the work for you. But many businesses are still struggling to reap the time- and cost-saving benefits these tools once promised.
Companies like Hootsuite and Buffer lead the charge when it comes to automating social media posts. In theory, they’re supposed to help you take more of a hands-off approach when posting to your various channels by using a single platform.
But learning a new automation program takes time and effort, and the learning curve can be pretty steep. In reality, you’re trading time on Facebook or Instagram for whatever automation tools you’re using – and paying for it!
This isn’t exactly how many businesses picture social media automation. There’s still a lot of hands-on involvement, especially since you also have to monitor your strategy.
So what does a real done-for-you solution look like?
Take a look at these four ways social media automation should be working for you without the effort traditional automation tools require:
#1 – Promote Your Blog Content
Blogging is typically your best source for social media content. Not only does it give you something worth posting, but it also helps to drive visitors to your website. More traffic equals more chances to convert, plus it sends good vibes to search engines to help with rankings.
In fact, 55% of businesses say that blogging is their top priority in their content strategy.
The downside: it’s not as easy as posting a link to your blog post on your channel. That would be too simple!
If you want users to engage with your content, you’re tasked with writing copy that will encourage users to click through. Each social channel has its own text allowances (e.g. a paragraph on Facebook vs 280 characters on Twitter), which means you’re writing multiple sets of copy for each blog post you share.
Also, each blog post can easily become multiple pieces of content for your social channels. For example, you might want to share a specific stat or insight and use that for your post, not the entire article.
Traditional automation tools can’t really do this for you. You’re proactively writing copy and figuring out which quotes, stats, and other info to share and scheduling them on your feed. Ideally, every aspect of this process should be done for you.
#2 – Find Third-Party Content to Share
We’re living in a content-driven world, which is good news for business owners and marketers that don’t want the chore of creating all brand-new content. It’s not uncommon for companies to promote third-party content on their own social media channels to drive engagement and grow their user base.
But combing through websites in search of relevant content can be time-consuming if you’re doing it by hand. Plus, there are tons of rules and best practices surrounding third-party content sharing to ensure you’re not violating any terms, copyrights, or privacy.
There are a few automation tools that can source this content for you, but you still need to be involved in what you’re posting to your channels.
#3 – Reposting High-Converting Content
It’s logical enough: posts that perform higher should be shared or promoted more often. You can justify paying to boost a post that did well versus a post that received no engagement. In fact, studies show that compounding posts will continue to generate traffic and income versus posts that are left to die.
Without automation, though, you’re sifting through your entire newsfeed to find the information you’re looking for.
Automation tools can help you uncover high performing content so you can reschedule posts, but again, this takes a little manual work.
#4 – Measuring Success
Once you click Post, your work is far from over. All social media gurus know that it’s what comes next that matters most.
Monitoring your success, both in the short and long terms, will be key in improving your social media strategy over time. You need to know what posts people are engaging with, how many people you reach, how much revenue you generate, and other information.
You’ll know which posts are worth paying to promote, which content you should reshare, and what didn’t produce an ROI. This data isn’t just “good to know,” but can help you to make business decisions moving forward.
Reports can be created with automation tools, but you have to set them up first, and then remember to generate them! For example, Hootsuite lets you create custom reports to measure content and team performance for in-depth insights.
But if you’re not savvy on analytics or don’t know the marketing metrics that matter most, you’re going to have a hard time making the best use from your data.
Real Social Media Automation Should Be Automatic!
It’s not that current automation tools and tech aren’t helpful. For businesses who have the time and money to invest in them, you could save a little time and brainpower without having to think about posting schedules.
But real social media automation should be just that – automatic!
BrandDad Digital provides a true done-for-you solution as part of our marketing packages that fills in the gaps left behind by technology. Our team of experts is involved in every step of the process, from content creation and curation to optimizing, posting, and analyzing.
Businesses get the hands-off approach they expect with automation and the experience and know-how to make it have an impact.
Contact us today to learn how you can have your social media taken care of and see our other services we provide to help grow your business.
