Best 35 tips for social media scheduling

In today's fast-paced social media climate, it's hard to keep up. There's always more to post and more people to interact with. These 35 tips should help you when scheduling social media posts.

As all marketing professionals know it’s important to stay ‘on top of the game’ and social media is no exception. With the rise of social media, staying ‘on top of the game’ is becoming increasingly important. While social media never sleeps it’s important to recognise that you do, so putting your life on hold or waking up at absurd times to post is not a viable option. There are a range of different social media scheduling tools that allow you to schedule posts to upload while you’re busy at work or tucked into bed!

Peter Turla, author and president of National Management Institute, said, “A plan is what, a schedule is when. It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.”

So, what is social media scheduling? Well, social media scheduling is the act of scheduling your posts to be posted at a particular time or date on your specified social media account(s); whether that be Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter and so on.

If you ever get yourself stuck in overwhelming content management, we have some tips to make all that content easier to manage. These 35 super simple social media scheduling tips will make your life easier and your content better.

1. Set Goals

Never start a social media scheduling and marketing initiative without setting goals.

2. Use Scheduling Tools

The most important part of these social media scheduling tools (other than the obviously time-saving) is their ability to auto-schedule posts when your account is most likely to see high engagement. It takes a certain amount of brain power to pick times for 10+ posts per day, and this a huge help.

3. Optimize for the best posting time.

If you want your content to go farther and actually drive results, you need to pay attention to the timing when social media scheduling.

4. Find your posting frequency

So you know timing is important in social media scheduling because social media moves at a fast pace but now you need to figure out how often you need to post.

5. Find a content balance

The fastest way to run out of social media post ideas is to post the same type of content over and over. We hate to break it to you, but people will get sick of your steady stream of sales pitches just as they will get sick of your non-stop memes.

You need a balance of content or a content ratio in social media scheduling.

6. Identify your evergreen content

We know that you are a busy person and you might not be a professional writer or content creator. And if you are a writer or content creator, well then you’re probably not only creating content for just your brand. Most people just don’t have the time to constantly be creating new content.

Luckily, you don’t have to! This is where evergreen content comes to the rescue. Evergreen content is content that is not time-sensitive and provides value over a long period of time.

7. Keep your content ideas handy

We recommend making a list of your favorite industry publications or websites when you're doing social media scheduling.

8. Quality Posts Trump Quantity

When it comes to social media scheduling, experts agree that your focus should be on quality, not quantity.

9. Schedule Using a Social Media Calendar

Keeping a busy social media schedule organized is nearly impossible without a calendar.

10. Schedule Posts that Follow Correct Social Media Image Sizes

Sounds funny, we know but it's very important. Social media scheduling requires you to pay attention to the fine details!

11. Have a Content Strategy For Each Social Network

What works on one network, might not on another. So, have a plan for what types of content you'll schedule to be shared on each platform.

12. Select the Best Channels to Schedule on

Not every business needs to be on every social network. Rather, it's best to focus on the platforms that provide the most opportunity for your business. If you're unsure whether a network is a good fit for your business, start by reviewing each platform's purpose and strengths.

13. Define Your Social Media Voice And Tone

Is your brand serious or funny? Professional or sarcastic?

These are examples of traits that inform the voice of your brand on social media. And finding your voice is key to connecting with your audience. Why? Because people like brands they can relate to and that understand their needs.

14. Handle Negativity With Grace and Sincerity

The best way to deal with negativity is with empathy. While it can be tough to take the high road sometimes, the more genuine you can be, the better.

15. Schedule Posts at the "Best Times"

In order to maximize the number of eyes that see your content you need to post your messages at optimal times.

16. Find An Effective Posting Frequency

Finding the perfect posting frequency is almost like trying to balance a nickel on its side; it seems impossible but once you get it, it’s amazing.

17. Automate Processes Where Possible

There's no sense doing things manually, when they can easily be automated. What can be automated in your social media process?

18. Don’t Schedule Posts that Make You Sound Like A Corporate Drone

Nobody wants to follow a brand that sounds dull and robotic. Regardless how boring you think your niche might be, you are communicating with real people. So, use language your actual audience uses, and respond to users with language that sounds like it's coming from a real person.

19. Mix Up Your Content

No one likes to see social media posts that are all about products 100% of the time.

20. Don’t Use Slang Unless It’s Relevant To Your Brand

The best way that you can interact with your customer base is to use the same language that they use.

To find out how they’re discussing you and your brand start to monitor and respond in the same language that your followers are using. You’ll begin to see trends emerge as you continue to watch and listen.

21. See What Your Competitors Are Doing

Taking the time to research your competitors could help inspire your own content.

22. Create A Social Media/PR Disaster Plan

Social media while a great tool is a very powerful one. One misstep can send you company spiraling into a social nightmare and creating a plan while cooler heads are available will save you from the last second “what do we do” panic.

23. Track And Act On Engagement Data

Social media allows you to track a wide variety of statistics but depending on your overall goals the statistics you need to be tracking will change.

24. Be Smart About Scheduling Your Social Media Contests

Social media contests are usually a big hit because who doesn’t like free stuff? Using this form of content can have some massive benefits including high audience growth and encouraging interactions with your fans.

25. Don’t Rely On Auto Cross Channel Posting Settings

Have you ever seen someone cross-post from Twitter onto Facebook? Or Instagram onto Twitter? The results often look like a truncated link and some cut-off text. Not great. Instead, tailor every social media post to its respective network.

26. Research Your Hashtags Before You Use Them

So you don't use the wrong ones!

27. Use Humor Sparingly

Humor on social media can be both a blessing and a curse. One misstep and your joke can spin you into a social media disaster war zone.

However hit the right notes for humor and your brand can take off.

28. Limit Employee Access To Company Social Media Accounts

Social media is in and of itself a social endeavor. That means you want your employees to be involved in the conversation as well. However, that doesn’t mean that everyone should have access to your company social media accounts.

29. Optimize Your Social Profiles For Maximum Exposure when Scheduling Posts

If your social profiles aren’t filled out the maximum with the same information about your company you’re missing out on an opportunity to connect with your customer base.

30. Think long-term strategy, not short-term gain

Of course, you have long- and short-term social media marketing goals but – and here’s the catch – some marketers tend to focus on the short-term because their employers (or freelance clients) want to see immediate results.

31. Even if you schedule it, they might not come

Even the greatest social media campaign won’t draw followers, if there are no followers to draw. Hard truth.

32. Embrace your reviews and testimonials of posts you scheduled – the good AND the bad

Everyone reads reviews but, here’s the thing: If you have only positive reviews, everyone (or almost everyone) will doubt your reviews. There is no product, good, or service in the world than can thrill 100% of consumers, period. So, be honest with your reviews.

33. Have a comment conversation

Respond to comments on your posts, Facebook posts, and Instagram photos. @ people back on Twitter. Encourage conversation and embrace pleasantries; they show the human side of your brand. And, if and when a negative experience comes up, always take the high road; respond, empathize, and strive to be better next time.

34. Optimize your ads. Re-optimize them later. Then, optimize them again.

The social world is always changing; best practices are constantly changing, too. As a successful, on-top-of-things kind of marketer, you must be sure to keep up with what works and what’s expected. That means, measuring your ad metrics/successes regularly, while also being sure to map your successes to new algorithms, parameters, and best practices within our industry.

35. Always stay abreast of social media developments and current events

We often say that social media is always-changing, but what’s implied in that is that our knowledge is always-evolving. Follow social media news and trends in order to stay ahead of the curve, and don’t be afraid to try new things.

Let's Sum It Up

When it comes to doing business, you’re well aware of how important it is not only to plan well ahead, but also to stick to a schedule. Having a well-defined schedule helps you get things done, on-time, and, with a little discipline and dedication, done well.

Social media scheduling has the power to make your marketing successful - or scale your success to the next level.

Social media scheduling has the power to make your marketing successful - or scale your success to the next level https://t.co/qpfaKoYQJ9

— thesocialmsmarketing (@tsmsmarketing) November 28, 2020

In today’s market, growing and thriving as a business goes hand-in-hand with effective social media marketing. If you rely on schedules to help you with your day-to-day business, why not use schedules to help with your business’s social media posting as well?

Looking for the best software to make that easier?

Enter HipSocial. It can help you integrate your favorite networks, schedule content, and connect with leads on social media. Start your free 30-day trial here.