Scheduling and managing posts

Scheduling gives posts a regular rhythm across social networks while leaving time for writing and conversation. A useful routine coordinates publication, selects tools for the work needed and keeps the writer responsible for responding to people.

Rhythm and productivity

Small businesses and freelances often manage their own social presence alongside other work, and planning posts can protect time for creating content and engaging with readers. ¹ One freelance writer described losing twenty minutes in threads and articles and forgetting why she had opened the platform. ¹ Sporadic bursts of several posts within thirty minutes can resemble spam, while weeks of silence afterwards can lose followers' interest or make them forget the writer. ² Regular, consistent posting can help followers expect updates, develop trust and remember the writer when they need a service; people familiar with the writer are more likely to recommend them. ¹ A steady pace also gives business partners an impression of reliability and consistency. ³

One freelance writer estimated that an hour a week suffices to draft what will be shared and schedule publication, with the application posting while the writer does other work or is offline. ^{4, 2} The aim is to spend more time on higher-value activities, including better content and real interaction, rather than simply saving time. ^{4, 5} Scheduling does not replace the writer's answers to comments or questions, and an unanswered response undermines engagement. ^{2, 3}

Benefits of scheduling include: ^{5, 3}

• Organising posts and updates across several social accounts.
• Increasing traffic to a website.
• Improving productivity.
• Engaging with people online when the writer is not.
• Pacing posts instead of publishing in sporadic bursts.

^{5, 3}

Scheduling may be unnecessary for someone already familiar with social media who manages it without losing productivity, or someone disciplined about time on a single network. ³ It should be stopped if it is preventing connection with the audience. ³

A publication routine

The routine should begin with what social media is intended to achieve and the most efficient way to achieve it. ⁶ A website carrying the original content can be the base, with social posts drawing people back to it. ⁶

In a 2012 example, an editor used a daily autism-news story to supply a website and three social channels. ^{7, 6} She shared the latest summary to Twitter and at least one of two LinkedIn groups during the day, then posted the previous day's headline and website link on Facebook the following morning. ⁸ This was a distribution routine built around one daily story rather than separate original content for every channel. ^{7, 8}

Material for later sharing can be saved and organised rather than left among hundreds of browser bookmarks whose purpose has been forgotten. ⁹ Newsletters, content alerts, aggregators and relevant websites are possible sources of material to post. ¹⁰ Finding material and automating its publication are distinct tasks that tools can support. ^{11, 10, 12}

Management tools

Coordinating several platforms and measuring results can take substantial time; management tools can make maintaining and monitoring those accounts more efficient. ¹³ A tool should be chosen for the writer's needs, and more sophisticated work may benefit from a combination. ¹⁴ A backup tool is useful when the main one is unavailable or at its limit, particularly during conferences or meetings when scheduling accompanies live coverage. ¹⁴

Scheduling tools queue posts for later publication, while broader management systems can combine several accounts in a dashboard with activity analysis and responses to followers. ^{4, 15} Buffer supports scheduling, activity analysis and a browser extension for sharing material found on a web page. ^{16, 17} Hootsuite combines a multi-account dashboard, scheduling and activity analysis. ^{18, 15} RecurPost can repeat a schedule from a content library; a larger library means each post repeats less often, with the intention of reaching different audiences at different times. ¹⁹ CoSchedule's marketing calendar places social posts alongside emails and events. ⁵ Oktopost includes compliance monitoring for sectors including healthcare and focuses on business-to-business marketing. ²⁰

Automation can also be built around a trigger and an action: for example, publishing a photograph can trigger a social post, or a mention of a company can trigger an email notification. ²¹ Prices, plans and offers change, so the provider's current information should be checked. ^{4, 19}

Human oversight

Ten recommended points govern scheduled posting. ²²

1. Be authentic.
2. Keep the human touch: monitor comments, respond and thank people for sharing posts.
3. Do not automate direct messages; people may suspect nobody is behind the account.
4. Space content and share when the audience is most likely to be online.
5. Be mindful of tragic or important events occurring when a scheduled post is due.
6. Do not use hashtags meaninglessly.
7. Analyse the impact to check whether the scheduling strategy works; almost all platforms provide ways to measure activity.
8. Try different days, time slots and headings, including whether more frequent posting produces more activity and which headlines increase engagement.
9. Focus on the one or two most helpful platforms, show up and engage there, and make fewer but better connections; trying to be everywhere can mean missing interactions.
10. Listen: hearing what people have to say is as important as sharing a view, and scheduling without interaction loses opportunities to learn what people think about the subject.

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