Social Media Posting: Manual vs Automated
We are living in an age of immediate gratification. You want your social media post to go viral now, 1000s of followers now, and you want to see your ROI, you guessed it, now. However, Rome wasn’t built in a day and you are no Caesar. Social media posting is an art form, sometimes. It’s a science, all the time. And, it’s the bane of most small business owners’ existence.
Read on to learn about social media posting and the benefits of manually posting rather than automated or scheduled postings.
What is Social Media Scheduling
Social media scheduling lets you set a time and date for your post. However, it would be best if you still created it. Many content creators and content marketers have a schedule that coincides with their product launches, holidays, and themes for the month or quarter. So, it makes sense for them to pre-create any post ahead of the date so they have an established content library.
Some schedulers, like on SEMrush let you see the metrics of your posts on the various platforms, too. So now, the reporting portion of the posts is automated and available at your fingertips. If you’ve taken the time to create a content strategy and/or content for your campaigns, it just makes sense to track, monitor, and report on your efforts.
How to Market on Social Media
Social media marketing is one way to bring your brand and product in front of your consumers. Marketing on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn is one of the many ways marketers try to appeal to your persona and needs.
Social media posts for your audience can include a quick “how to use” or “let me introduce myself” approach. After all, people buy from people, not companies.
When you pay for ads or boosted posts on YouTube, Instagram, or any other platform, you can hone in on your ideal demographic. While some of the features have changed to protect the consumer further, you can still easily customize your reach.
How to Create a Social Media Posting Schedule
Creating a social media posting schedule is easy. Most programs link to your social media accounts, and then you can schedule and automate them with a few clicks of your mouse.
If you need an idea for a pecking order for creating and posting, feel free to use our list.
- Create content for holidays, but remain consistent and appeal to all holidays
- Create content for predictable product launches
- Create content for testimonials
- Create content for time-sensitive promotions, brand exposure, and for upcoming blogs
Why You Shouldn’t Use Schedules for Social Media Posts
Most platforms do not cost money for users to participate — barring premium subscriptions for LinkedIn, for example. The way platform make money is simple — companies pay to have their ads on the platform. They can measure the success of their marketing dollars by the number of clicks and conversions from that ad (remember, reporting is paramount).
Imagine for a second that their social media posts and ads were not drawing traffic. They might quit their campaign or move their dollars to a platform that performs based on their KPIs.
Social Media is About Engagement
So, if a post is automated that means you — the owner of your business — is not participating in their revenue-generating campaigns. The robot is. The robot cannot make buying decisions or book a call. So, your post, and likely your account, will be suppressed. Again, AI is not the end of SEO and the user experience.
This is not the end-all-be-all for posts. It does make sense to schedule posts for holidays when no one is in the office or on days you (as a solopreneur, for example) will be out of the office. 
Next, if you schedule too far out you may appear insensitive. Image if an automated post goes live on a day of something tragic in the world — you will look insensitive and careless.
Whenever you post on social media, it’s never about the post. It’s about the engagement — ahem, the user experience — of that post, that account, and the people that manage it. It’s generally good practice to engage with the platforms you post on before you post and after you post.
For more information about your social media posting strategy, contact MDINC today.
