Social media is an awesome marketing tool, but it can also be a huge time drain.  If you post regularly, or want to post regularly, and use multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+, then an app like Hootsuite can save you a tremendous amount of time.

Hootsuite allows you to schedule social media updates or posts across multiple platforms.  If you are posting in real time, logging on several times a day, then Hootsuite can save you a lot of time.  You can enter tweets, posts, or updates ahead of time and tell Hootsuite when to post them.  You can also enter one post to be posted on multiple platforms all at once.

All you need to do is write your posts ahead of time.  Once you have a week’s worth, you can log in to Hootsuite, enter them, and let Hootsuite know when and where to post them.

Benefits

One of the biggest benefits of Hootsuite is that it allows you to become far more consistent with social media, rather than posting when you feel like it.  You can decide ahead of time if you want to post once a day, three times a day, or ten times a day.  Then, you can write your posts all at once.  If you want to post three times a day, then you’ll need to write 15 posts a week.  Plan to write them on Friday morning, and schedule them for the coming week.  You’ll be all set with your social media until next Friday.

Writing a post and using it on multiple platforms can also save time.  There is little need to create separate posts for each platform. With Hootsuite, you can enter your post and have it update your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ account all at the same time.  In addition to those four, Hootsuite integrates with WordPress, YouTube, and Instagram.

Even if you still log into your social media platforms every day to increase your interactivity and engagement, you can still automate your posts to save time.  Hootsuite is free for customers who have three or fewer social media platforms connected.  Look for it at Hootsuite.com.