Hootsuite is a free-source social media scheduling tool and more. Yes, you can choose a paid upgrade but the free level is just fine for most small businesses. Set up your account from www.hootsuite.com and follow the instructions to add your social media platforms – the free package allows just 3.
Then use these simple steps to save you time and boost your efficiency on social media:
- Scheduling posts to more than one social media:
Once you have added your social media platforms, go to the Streams tab and write your messages in the top right hand corner – just click on the New Post composer button highlighted below.
Before you start writing your post, select which platforms you want to post it to. Click the small arrow on the right side of the ‘Post To’ box and your platforms will appear in a dropdown menu. Just select the ones you want.
How start writing your post in the ‘Text’ box. As you have already selected your social media platforms, this text box will guide you on the character count of your post – e.g. so it’s not too long for Twitter. If you are adding a link to your website or other site, you have the option to use a url shortener – see circled in red below.
You can add your own images to your Hootsuite post – see ‘Select A File To Upload’ under ‘Media’ below. Even handier, if you don’t have any images to go with your post, you can now use the Hootsuite Media Library as well – see underlined on right. but before you add any images, check the post Preview Panel on the right of the screen. If you are using a link to a website, sometimes it will throw up an image from that link, so you don’t need to add one.
- Checking and editing scheduled messages
Once you have scheduled your messages, you can check over them to make sure you have the right time and days. On the extreme left of your Hootsuite screen, can select Publisher, then Content from tab at top and then Scheduled Messages. This will bring you to all your scheduled messages. You can edit content or change time/days from here by clicking on any of your messages.
- 3. Looking back at past messages for adapting and re-posting
Staying in Publisher, you can also check your past scheduled messages. This is a handy way of checking if you have been doing enough or reminding yourself of what you have been posting about. You can also re-use old posts in the future – simply copy the message and paste it into a new post. Use the date arrows at the top of the screen to go back through your old posts.
Finally, don’t forget that Hootsuite is a great way not just of posting but also of checking all your social media from one platform instead of jumping in and out of apps or sites…..