Scheduling Posts on Social Media – Please don’t do it

OMG. I really think that this one of the worst things you can do on Social Media, be it Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. Or any of the others.

And that applies to brands and you as an individual. Actually, when would you schedule a social media post from your own personal account? You wouldn’t. Ever. And you never have.

So why do it for your business. Or let an agency do it for your business.

Yes, I can see that it saves time and it’s easy but it is ABSOLUTELY NOT what social media is supposed to about or what it was ever intended to be about.

Social media is NOT about allocating a couple of hours on a Monday morning to do you’re ‘social media for the week’ and then thinking ‘job done’. It’s supposed to be spontaneous, natural and of the moment.

It’s 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

Zuckerberg described Facebook as “an online directory that connects people“. Well. Where is the connecting with people when you’re just scheduling and broadcasting posts through a scheduling tool? In fact, you never even have to log in to Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn to post – so you never get to see what people are actually talking about. There and then.

So it’s a big mistake. A big mistake just to be broadcasting, you need to be interacting, connecting, liking and sharing the posts of others.

And what’s more. It’s actually bad for your posts. Because if you’re scheduling posts, those posts are going to be down weighted (in terms of getting into peoples feeds) by Twitter’s algorithm. And Facebook’s algorithm. LinkedIn’s algorithm. Instagram’s algorithm.

Why do I say that? It just makes sense that those social media platforms WANT people to visiting their sites (www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com etc) and they want them to be liking, sharing and commenting on other peoples posts.

Just like your website. You want more people visiting and you want them visiting for longer. Key metrics that you use to see how your website is performing.

No surprise that that is exactly what Facebook, Twitter et al want. So why should they reward people and brands who don’t even visit their site??

Sure, your posts will be posted. But they will definitely be down weighted by their algorithm.

I am sorry if this sounds like a bit of rant (it is btw) but it makes me mad to hear organisation like Sprout Social, Later, CoSchedule, Feedly etc bragging on about saving time. That is all that scheduling will do. Save time.

What I’m not sorry about is saying that if you want to have a successful social media account, it is hard work and it is time consuming.

Scheduling is a short cut. A short cut that damages the effectiveness of your posts.

You wouldn’t do it on your own account. Why would you do it on your businesses. Or let an agency do it.