3 Good Reasons not to automate Social Media
According to US research company Gleanster, approximately 84{1884f1fad642c0a335e320fbf36199da8501940de449f82beb0b1edf5c3b25f3} of top companies with social media presences are either considering automating their social media updates or are already doing so. While this may suggest that automation is a good thing, there are, however, risks. Here are three good reasons why automation may not be such a good idea after all.
Timely Information
Twitter and similar sites make sharing news quickly exceptionally easy. The trouble is, the latest news rapidly become old news and get ‘lost’ among busy timelines at a rate of knots. Users have to be alert and ready to share the latest news at little more than a moment’s notice. The trouble with pre-scheduling tweets/ updates on a Monday, for example, is that anything newsworthy happening during the week may be missed.
Imagine, for instance, an important announcement concerning your industry being made on a Wednesday. As your tweets are scheduled, your pages will fail to mention this news to your followers for a week – by which time they will not only have moved on, they may also view you as being less than cutting edge. Unless that is the impression you wish to give, you have to be clued up on the latest news by being actively involved.
Tragedies
Sad as it is, media tends to feed on tragedy, and the vast majority of news reported on is negative. Should anything bad happen, there is no doubt that your followers will hear about it very quickly.
Now imagine what would happen if you forget that one of your pre-scheduled posts is in direct conflict with such a tragedy. Once it is out there, there is nothing you can do. Even deleting it will be of little use, because somebody somewhere will have seen it, commented on or shared it and/ or maybe taken a screenshot of it.
At best, you will be seen as insensitive. At worst, you will appear to be completely uncaring, even evil. With your reputation in tatters, you could end up losing followers and business.
Reality Check
All too often, it is obvious when someone is scheduling posts. Typically appearing too often and at odd hours, scheduled posts frequently appear to be run by bots and have an unreal, impersonal feel to them. When your social media pages cease to feel real, people will not connect, because feeling nothing for robots, they see no point in interacting you.
Mitigating Risks
A little careful planning can help to mitigate these risks. Remember that ‘mailing it in’ is not an option when scheduling posts – it is best to plan carefully and think things through thoroughly before scheduling anything. Monitor the news and check your scheduled posts, intervening if necessary to prevent conflicting messages being posted. If you really do not have the time to stay actively involved, consider enlisting the help of social media marketing professionals.
