We may want to stay away from artificial intelligence (AI) and automation for particular tasks, especially when it comes to the creative domain. However, there are several avenues where social media automation can be a game changer.
From crafting engaging content, suggesting hashtags, analyzing posts, and several other tasks, it can help you reduce time spent on repetitive tasks. Sounds like a marketer’s dream, right?
This comprehensive guide will help you understand the power of social media automation for your business. We’ll delve into its intricacies, explore its benefits, and show some examples of how you can make use of this innovation.
So, if your social media team is overwhelmed, a simple tool is all you need to improve productivity and make social media management fun and relaxing again.
What is Social Media Automation?
Social media automation is the process of using a specific tool or set of tools to help you create advanced automation and workflows to perform certain repetitive tasks. This includes processes like post-scheduling, handling customer interactions, and producing analytical reports.
While you can automate simple tasks to save on effort, you can also utilize AI to fine-tune processes that are heavily dependent on manual effort.
For example, if you publish a blog on your website, you may use a social media team to disseminate this content across social networks.
Instead, you can automate the process using social media automation software and create workflows to do this automatically. Your social media teams can merely review this content, make edits, and schedule the post on multiple platforms, helping you save time and manage various social media channels efficiently.
How Does Social Media Automation Work?
Social media automation might sound like wizardry, but it’s powered by clever software and well-defined processes.
Let’s understand how it actually works and the ways it can help you simplify your social media processes:
1. Managing social media platforms
Most businesses can only thrive if they use the platform their audience is on.
Today, these can be several, such as Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and others. If you’re managing all these social platforms manually, they can take up a lot of time and effort.
Automation platforms can help to make this process more efficient, allowing you to connect them in one place.
It simplifies campaign management and eliminates context switching, all while giving you a holistic view of your social media presence. This technology allows you to retain your brand voice on each platform and tweak the content and format as per the unique requirements of each social media channel.
2. Scheduling posts
Have you ever woken up in a cold sweat remembering you forgot to post that important update?
Forget the last-minute scramble!
Automation tools let you schedule posts weeks in advance, ensuring consistent content flow even when you’re busy.
You can choose specific dates and times, tailor posting schedules to each platform’s peak engagement hours, and even create queues for ongoing content streams.
The best part is that these automation tools also analyze your content to recommend the ideal time to schedule your posts, helping you get more engagement and views.
3. Ad automation
Targeted advertising can be a powerful tool, but managing campaigns across multiple platforms can be time-consuming. Automation comes to the rescue again!
Social media automation tools allow you to set budgets, define target demographics and interests, and schedule ad displays, all within the automation platform. You can optimize campaigns based on performance, analyze clicks and conversions, and refine your targeting with precision.
4. Automated responses
Let’s face it: repetitive inquiries can eat up valuable time. Automation can handle those for you!
Create pre-written replies to common questions and inquiries, like product information, shipping updates, or simple greetings.
This ensures prompt customer service even outside your working hours, boosting your brand image and creating a positive customer experience.
Dominos is the perfect example here with their Facebook chatbot, working as a great assistant in pizza selection. The idea behind this is to make the ordering process faster with little human intervention.
5. Data analysis and social listening
Knowledge is power, and data is your kingmaker in the social media realm.
Automation tools provide comprehensive analytics, giving you deep insights into audience preferences, campaign performance, and content effectiveness.
Using these tools, you can easily track engagement metrics, identify trending topics, and gauge sentiment towards your brand in real time. This allows you to make data-driven decisions for your social media strategy and campaigns, further improving your chances of success.
Benefits of Social Media Automation
Once you integrate social media automation tools into your digital processes, there are several benefits that you can gain. It’s not just about automating simple processes or relying on AI to improve your outcomes. In 2022, 98% of consumers made purchases through social media, underscoring the pivotal role of automation in social commerce engagement.
The importance of social media automation has a lot to do with how it can help your teams focus on critical business areas. At the same time, the simple workflows are being managed efficiently.
Some of its key benefits include:
Saves time and effort
By automating repetitive tasks, social media automation tools free up precious time and allow your teams to focus on the bigger picture. They can use this time to brainstorm strategies, understand audience engagement, and elevate your social media game to the next level.
Improves engagement
Automation helps you maintain a steady stream of high-quality content, ensuring your audience sees you regularly. This increases brand awareness, attracts new followers, and fosters deeper connections with existing ones.
Manage ad performance
Gone are the days when you only get to see the results of your ads after the campaign is over. With social media tools, you can track ad performance and fine-tune campaigns based on audience engagement, interests, and behavior.
Improves brand presence
As your business grows, managing multiple social media accounts and maintaining your brand profile manually becomes unwieldy. Automation acts as your scaling companion, enabling you to manage numerous platforms seamlessly without sacrificing quality or engagement.
The DON’Ts of Social Media Automation
Undoubtedly, social media automation and AI can work magic for your social media process. But that doesn’t mean you can rely on them for everything.
There are a few areas that still require the human touch, and it is crucial to understand the DON’Ts of social media automation to avoid these common pitfalls.
These include the following:
1. DON’T use spammy bots
Imagine a host of comments on your posts, but they all look repetitive and generic. It doesn’t look good, right?
Spammy bots or scam bots are robotic comments or messages that use AI programs to help improve engagement on social media.
However, using such manipulative tactics can often lead to a loss of brand reputation and alienate your audience, the ones who actually matter.
2. DON’T post the same message to every network
You may use social media automation tools to manage each channel but don’t use the content on each platform as is. Each social media platform has its own personality, audience, and format.
Copying and pasting the same content across all your channels is ineffective. Instead, tailor your messages to each platform’s unique characteristics.
3. DON’T “Set it and Forget it”
Have you created an automated post for a particular date, but something more interesting comes up?
Trends and the world outside keep evolving beyond your set schedule. Stay actively involved by monitoring your social media feeds regularly. Be prepared to adjust your schedule, remove outdated content, and address audience comments or concerns promptly.
If you miss the bus on a crucial trend due to your set schedule, it may be too late to post it later.
4. DON’T neglect your ads
Similar to posts, your ads require your attention, too. Don’t just set it and forget it.
Regularly monitor your ad campaigns, analyze performance metrics, and adapt your targeting and budget allocation based on insights.
Remember, the online landscape is dynamic, and what works today might not be effective tomorrow. Stay engaged, adjust your strategy as needed, and optimize your campaigns for maximum return on investment.
5 Social Media Automation Tools Marketers Can Use
Social media automation tools come in all shapes and sizes, each focusing on a particular area. Here are some of the top platforms:
1. SocialPilot
A powerful all-in-one social media automation tool, SocialPilot can do a lot more than just schedule posts. It has tons of features like social scheduling, calendar management, AI content generation, detailed analysis, reporting, client management, and more.
The platform also works with several social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and others.
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Bulk scheduling across platforms
- Content creation, curation, and suggestions
- Detailed analytics reports
- Excellent customer service
Cons
- Small glitches and inconsistencies in posting
- No auto alert if any post in the queue fails
- This is mainly an issue for Instagram, which can require manual intervention
2. eClincher’s Listening Tool
A dedicated social listening platform that goes beyond scheduling, eClincher focuses on monitoring brand mentions, analyzing competitor performance, and identifying industry trends.
It’s ideal for brands focusing on brand reputation management, competitor analysis, and identifying emerging trends.
Pros
- Powerful social listening capabilities
- Real-time sentiment analysis
- Advanced reporting tools with competitor insights
Cons
- Not visually appealing, which can be a dealbreaker for most users
- Occasional glitches or bugs
- Not as user-friendly compared to its competitors
3. Lately
Lately is a social selling and brand amplification platform focusing on AI-powered content generation and editing.
The platform learns your brand and employee voice, helping you turn your long-form content or blogs into powerful social media posts.
Pros
- Stunning visual planning tools
- Automated hashtag suggestions
- AI-powered image editing features and detailed visual analytics
- AI-content writing features to help you transform existing long-form content into bite-sized social posts
Cons
- Users have experienced bugs in the queue feature, where posts can jump back into their original order
- Compared to competitors like CopyAI or WordTune, Lately’s copy and content can feel slightly off. This requires manual editing for posts, making it less efficient for AI content creation
4. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a powerful SEO and research tool that allows you to identify trending topics, find high-performing content, and understand your audience’s interests.
The tool is popularly used for keyword research, competitive analysis, and other content marketing strategies.
Pros
- Fantastic tool for content marketing and research
- Identifies influencers in your niche, helping you improve your social media relationships
- Includes link-building strategies to improve website ranking
Cons
- Limited features for social media management
5. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a social media management tool that lets you keep track of your social media engagement, analytics, and interactions all in one powerful centralized hub.
This includes the ability to schedule posts and campaigns across channels, run ads, and get detailed analytics and social listening features.
Pros
- Social inbox for managing customer interactions
- Team collaboration tools
- Automated reporting and real-time analytics
- Advanced social listening capabilities
Cons
- Users can encounter problems when scheduling campaigns and posts on Instagram and LinkedIn. You can consider alternatives like Buffer, CoSchedule, or other tools for this.
Social Media Management Made Easy
Social media management is no easy feat; even large teams face challenges managing activities on multiple channels. With social media automation, you can easily automate and streamline your social media efforts and focus on amplifying your brand voice.
These tools can help you:
- Save precious time and resources for deeper strategy and creativity.
- Boost your reach and engagement by maintaining a consistent, high-quality presence.
- Optimize your campaigns and ad performance for maximum impact and ROI.
- Gain valuable data and insights to refine your strategy and connect with your audience on a deeper level.
- Enhance customer service and brand image by ensuring prompt and helpful interactions.
But remember, while you embrace automation, your human touch is equally essential.
Use social media automation to empower your voice, personalize your interactions, and build genuine connections with your audience.
You can opt for the tools mentioned that match your specific needs and budget and always take advantage of the free trial to ensure you find the perfect fit.
By combining your strategic understanding of automation with the right tools, you can truly unlock the power of social media and propel your brand toward online success.
