Managing yourself: Schedule social media updates with Buffer, HootSuite and Timely by Demandforce

I have had a number of discussions with friends on how they think I am online all the time. Do you really think I would have the time to write 3 academic books, teach, do research, write journal articles, and do my academic service if I was online all the time? Of course not. I schedule some of my updates, mostly to re-promote my own content or to promote others’ contents. Here are my tips to Managing Yourself on how I schedule my social media updates.

My first rule: I only schedule updates that are reshares
– reposts of a blog entry that I have already published
– reshares of other friends’ tweets or posts
– links to my other social media platforms (I’ve talked before on how I treat my social media outlets like “gardens” that I “water” all the time)

My second rule: I never schedule an update that is a response to people (e.g. an “@ reply” or a mention). That would just take the interactivity out of social media. I respond in real time, when I make the time to answer tweets (that’s when you see a barrage of responses to people on my stream).

My third rule: I try hard to not repeat the same blog post through all 3 social media managers. This one is hard because sometimes I need to re-promote the same contest twice, and obviously it’s hard to keep track. But trust me, it’s even harder scheduling 20 tweets!

My fourth rule: I try to mix-and-match through all three social media managers. I find it much easier to mix-and-match by using HootSuite to schedule retweets of people, and Buffer and Timely to repost my own content.

Here is how I use Buffer:

Buffer is a social media manager that auto-shrinks links (I have it connected to bit.ly so that all my analytics come from the same source) and fills a certain “buffer” (e.g. a “tank” of updates”). It’s hard sometimes to keep that tank filled, even with however much content I produce. I use Buffer for about 10-15 tweets a day. Buffer also has a Chrome extension that allows you to auto-shrink and prepare a tweet by including the title of the blog post. The only annoyance is that you need to keep your buffer “topped up”. And sometimes I just don’t have the time to choose posts to “top up” my Buffer.

Here is how I use Timely by Demand Force

Timely functions pretty much like Buffer does, with the auto-shrinking and including the title of the blog post. I also have it linked to bit.ly. But the thing with Timely, it supposedly tweets at only the best times in the day (e.g. when your tweet will have the most impact/be the most read). Timely by Demandforce only allows you to schedule 9 tweets, so combined Buffer and Timely I pretty much have anything I need (25 tweets a day is A LOT).

Here is how I use HootSuite

I have always had a soft spot for HootSuite. Right now HootSuite is a pretty large company with more than 100 employees and what feels like a completely different corporate culture. But at the time I met Ryan Holmes (whom I consider a dear friend), HootSuite was still in its infancy and just emerging. My feedback, I think, helped shape some of the features now you all get to enjoy (and I do have a paid HootSuite Pro account). There’s a ton of features I love, but the one I get more giddy about is the scheduling part. HootSuite lets me control when a tweet is posted. And as a result, I can use it extensively to schedule retweets from content I see on my stream.

So, as you can see, the reality is – I’m not always online. That’s one of the reasons I hate DMs. People send me a DM thinking that I’m going to read it. I NEVER do. There is only 3 people in the entire world whose DMs I read and that’s because I know that this is their only means of communications because they’re incredibly private. Everyone else, I make them email me or @ reply to me. And when I have a moment (e.g. when I commute) I respond directly online.