Social Media Automation: 8 Time-Saving Tools for 2024
Social media automation tools allow you to automate boring, time-consuming tasks so you can get back to the fun stuff, like creating stunning content.
In this blog, you’ll learn how to automate tasks on social media with tools that help you improve response time, reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks, and give you the insights you need to create more engaging content.
Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.
What is social media automation?
Social media automation is the practice of using tools or software to manage repetitive marketing tasks on social media platforms. This includes posting content, replying to FAQs, tracking results, and building reports in less time, with less effort.
What can you automate in social media marketing?
You can automate many (but not all!) tedious social media marketing tasks. And don’t worry—we’ll get to the software tools that can take care of these tasks for you at the bottom of this post.
Content creation
Let’s face it: we can’t always be the Vincent Van Gogh-esque creative geniuses we often are. Sometimes, we’re more like Vincent Van No. But, if you need a hand brainstorming content ideas, you can always turn to a generative AI tool to help you out.
Look, you can (and should) automate text-based content, visuals, and videos using generative AI. But you absolutely need to review and edit AI-generated results. AI isn’t perfect (none of us are), but it’ll give you that get-up-and-Gogh boost you need.
Source: ChatGPT
Social media posting
Switching between different social accounts to publish multiple times per day can take up a lot of time. Especially because the best time to post and content marketing best practices vary by platform.
Automated social media posting saves time and increases efficiency without reducing content quality. Once your content is locked and loaded, you can use a social media automation tool to schedule the appropriate pieces and post times on each network. Then sit back, relax, and let the robots take your posts over the finish line.
Social customer service
A recent Hootsuite social trends report saw a massive dip in online customer satisfaction rates. But why are people so unhappy? Once the world officially reopened (bye-bye COVID), business owners stopped paying attention to online customer service.
So, what does this mean for your business? There’s a gaping hole in the ecommerce market, one you can fill with better customer service. And one way to do that is to use customer interaction automation.
You don’t need a human team member to answer common questions like “What are your hours?” and “Do you have any coupons available?” Likewise, you can automate service requests related to package tracking, refund status, and other issues tied to your CRM.
Conversational AI tools can handle more basic work without drastically affecting your business’s bottom line.
Social analytics
Automated data collection makes analytical reporting and decision-making a lot easier. Luckily, social media marketing automation was practically built to take care of the tedious number crunching you truly hate.
Automated data collection can include things like:
* Platform-specific social data, like the best time to post on Instagram vs. TikTok
* Post engagement stats, like likes, comments, shares, and more
* Keyword or hashtag tracking, which allows you to see exactly what people are saying about your brand, themes related to your industry, and your competitors
If you find the right tool, you can even automate your reporting, generating client-ready dashboards and reports with just a few clicks.
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Tips for effective social media automation
Don’t use spammy bots
Just because some tools exist doesn’t mean you should use them. Remember: use bots for good, not evil. Embrace bots that help improve customers’ lives and your own.
AI tools that speed up customer service response times? Great. An inbox to manage DMs, comments, and tags from multiple networks in one place? Excellent.
But bots that automatically comment on or like social posts? Not such a good idea. They can cause lasting damage to your relationships with your audience. They can also land you in hot water with the social networks themselves.
Avoid cross-posting without making adjustments for specific networks
Cross-posting the same content to multiple social media accounts might seem like the easiest option. But it’s certainly not the most effective.
Some tools (including social media platforms) allow you to automatically cross-post to other platforms. Don’t be tempted.
Social platforms have different image display ratios, character count limits, and social features. Audiences on those platforms have different expectations, demographics, and word preferences. It’s highly unlikely that your link-heavy Facebook post, for example, will perform as well on linkless Instagram.
Instead, take the time to adjust your message for each platform’s audience. At the bare minimum, you’ll want to review:
* User handles, which can vary between platforms
* Image specs, like file type, size, cropping, etc.
* Text, including platform character count and platform-specific language
* Hashtags, including number and usage
Instead of cross-posting, use automated social media publishing at set times to use your time most efficiently.
Find a balance between human expertise and automation
A poor builder blames his hammer when the house falls down. When you publish a “Don’t worry, be happy” post the same day as a global tragedy, the same goes for you.
tl;dr? Don’t set it and forget it unless you want your house to topple. Automating social media marketing doesn’t mean you flip a switch and walk away.
It’s important to monitor any automated outputs, including your publishing schedule. That way, you can make any adjustments required in real time.
World-changing crises happen all the time on social media. A poorly timed post can make your brand look out of touch or tactless.
The best social media automation tools for 2024
1. Hootsuite
Number one on our list is Hootsuite (what, are you surprised?). Hootsuite provides a comprehensive social media management platform that offers a wide range of automation features. We’ve got so many features, in fact, that we broke them out one by one below.
Hootsuite streamlines your social media marketing efforts, making it easier for you to manage all of your social accounts from one place. In our humble opinion, it’s the best social media automation tool.
Price: Free trial, followed by a tiered paid subscription starting at $99/month.
This tool is best for: Medium-to-large teams, social media marketers, and content creators.
Here’s a breakdown of Hootsuite’s key automation tools and why you should care about them.
OwlyWriter AI
OwlyWriter AI is Hootsuite’s AI-driven, social-media-specific content-generating tool. Use it to save major time generating and testing social media captions.
Key features:
* Rapid content generation. Create engaging and relevant social media posts in seconds, saving you time and creative energy.
* Instant insights. Automatically identify and repurpose your top-performing posts—without manually reviewing your past content.
Craft perfect posts in seconds
http://dlvr.it/T7cpCQ
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