Schedules

I always give a little wicked chuckle every time someone says to me "You never sleep, you're online the entire night and day!" That's not true, I've learned how to make my computer work for me even when I am sound asleep. There are ways to pre-schedule Tweets and some other social media posts so that you can get on with your life.

Personally I find pre-scheduling Tweets the easiest so let's discuss this first. There are programs online that allow you to pre-schedule a number of Tweets, these programs start at FREE and go up from there. Hootsuite at https://hootsuite.com/ allows you to pre-schedule up to 30-Tweets for FREE. Just go to the dashboard, click on "Publisher", enter your social media sights/profiles (up to 3 for an individual on the FREE plan), set the date and time you want the Tweet to go live and Enter! That's all there is to it.

Another pre-scheduling tool for Tweeting is BUFFER at https://buffer.com/. BUFFER also offers both FREE and paid platforms, you can schedule up to 10 posts per day AND (although I haven't tried other social media networks yet) the FREE plan lets you schedule posts on Twitter, FaceBook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Instagram. And like Hootsuite you can shorten links in your post. Another FREE platform for scheduling Tweets is TweetDeck at https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ which is owned by Twitter.

FutureTweets at http://futuretweets.com/ is a very basic platform where you can schedule individual Tweets, but you can't add pictures or shorten links. Twuffer at http://www.twuffer.com/ is also very basic and similar to FutureTweets and allows you to schedule individual Tweets without pictures or shortened links. Finally there's LaterBro at http://laterbro.com, while this platform is similar to FutureTweets and Twuffer it also allows you to schedule posts to Facebook.

If you've got a PAGE on FaceBook you can easily pre-schedule multiple posts with almost no more effort than making a simple post. FaceBook offers guidance on getting this right at https://www.facebook.com/help/389849807718635, So even when you're headed out on vacation you can still keep your page fresh and active. As a writer I use this feature to schedule promo and marketing campaigns. What could YOU use this for? By the way, if you are using a FaceBook page then you might have "Insights" available — one of the things that Insights will show you is when you have more visitors to your page and you can use this knowledge when scheduling your posts.

There are more apps out there, both FREE and for a fee, that will allow you to dominate your social media presence 24X7. New platforms are being created constantly.



Writing Exercise: Make a list of 10 Tweets (up to 280-characters/spaces each) that are themed around your brand, books, or anything you want to market.

Writing Prompt:  Look at a page of Tweets on Twitter. Which Tweet stands out the most to you. Write down WHY this Tweet caught your eye.

Challenge Assignment:  Go ahead and sign up for social media sites like Twitter, Google+, Instagram and/or FaceBook. Make sure to sign up for at least one pre-scheduling platform. On FaceBook make sure you sign up for a PAGE to promote your writing, art-work, or other product (your main FaceBook site is a timeline, not a page). If you already have a page check your Insights tab to find when the optimum time is to publish (or pre-schedule) posts. Go ahead and pre-schedule something now.