Social media - to automate or not?

The issue of automation is one of those things that generates lively debates and there are many people who think it is completely false to use automated systems to post for you.  In a business world where one of the key words is 'authentic' it simply goes against the grain.

On the other side of the fence are a band of people who think that it's unrealistic to expect a business person to be tied to the computer for enough time to post regularly throughout the day.  They quote things like 'if we weren't using tools like this we'd still be washing clothes by hand and writing everything by hand.'

There is a case for both.

You need to be authentic - you should only post material that reflects you, your business and your beliefs.

You have a business to run and it is immensely time-consuming to be on social media all the time.

However, there is a happy medium - where you can get the best of both worlds.  Let's look at how this might work.

If you use social media as a marketing tool part of your activity is likely to be sharing your knowledge in the form of tips and advice.  You need to generate this material so it reflects your expertise and knowledge, but you don't need to write each tip out again and again.  This is where, once you have a bank of information, it's reasonable to use an automated system to share this on your main social media platforms.

Most of us repeat our core messages frequently, it's how people get to know what our expertise is.  To rewrite the same information over and over would be a bit like writing 100 lines in school - a punishment, with little point!

So messages that are not topical and are simply sharing information can be automated.

However, if you only broadcast people will tune you out.  This means that you do need to monitor your various social media feeds regularly and respond and engage with people.  If this is just a few minutes once or twice a day, it's better than not at all.  I do my social media at the same time I look at my email - it's all part of my communication activity.

There's a place for both automated posts and live interaction - as long as you use them intelligently.