A lot of people who do understand the importance of maintaining a social media presence are not able to afford to keep it up, money and time wise so they end up automating their Facebook posts, their tweets, etc. I feel if you automate in moderation there is no issue with that. I realize some social media consultants are very much against automation completely. I personally am not against it. In fact I tend to automate my tweets in the night (I do not automate my Facebook posts though). The reason I do that is because while I am sound asleep, there may be people in Australia who are checking out their Twitter feeds and something that I had scheduled to go out at 3am (which would be in the middle of the day for them) would be coming up that they may find interesting. Therefore they may favorite or retweet it. However here is the issue that can get you into trouble if you are automating your posts.

If all you do is automate your posts, and people are engaging with what you are scheduling out and you never bother to check into your networks to see who has shown interest in what you had shared- then people will quickly realize that all you do is set and forget your social media activities. Therefore they will end up unfriending, unfollowing and forgetting about you. That is the worst possible thing you can do if you are automating. In fact you are shooting yourself in the foot. Who wants to engage with a robot?

If you Automate your Social Activities, Plan it Carefully

Again like I said, if you are on a serious shoestring budget and you are unable to afford a social media manager to manage your online presence- then you can automate your posts during the hours you are busy. However, if you do choose to go that route, you absolutely must take at least an hour out of your day at some point and login to your Twitter or Facebook profiles. Go and check to see who had interacted with you and respond to them. Go interact with others so you truly are social. You are not going to create an impressive social media presence by using this method, however, a little bit of networking and engagement is better than none! The message again is if you plan to automate, then you must plan to find time to engage.

If you are a business owner, it is critical that you are aware of the Four Critical Must Haves to Profit From Using Social Media and implement it in your social media activities!