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Published November 18th, 2016 by

Best Practices for Social Media Marketing Automation

Social media is one of the most valuable and ubiquitous tools at marketers’ disposal; however, defining the best method to capitalize on the power of social media remains difficult to pin-down. Is it best to isolate different channels, or adopt a cross-channel approach? Which combination of platform and content encourages more customer engagement?

Because the social media environment makes such rapid and dramatic changes, much of the guesswork tends to fall back on one key indicator—return on investment. While some tools offer analytic insight into your performance, others focus on helping marketers manage their social media strategy more effectively to maximize their return, or establish expertise in their field.

The Best Up-and-Coming Tools for 2017

Picking up the right tools can make your social strategy more effective than ever—so long as they’re managed properly.

Listed below are several widely-lauded social media technologies which I expect will only become more relevant in the near future. Leveraging these well may just be the key to enable your strategy to reach the next level in terms of brand recognition, affinity and connectedness:

SocialOomph

Don’t let the somewhat drab appearance fool you—this is a powerful instrument for social media success. SocialOomph allows users to connect their various social media profiles and collate them for simultaneous management. You can schedule posts, allowing for a coordinated campaign across multiple different platforms, or just use it as a simple way to keep tabs on everything all from one location.

Notifier

This is a great tool for anyone interested in the concept of “influencer marketing,” or engaging authoritative industry voices to gain more visibility for your brand.

notifier

Notifier automatically searches your content for specific brand references, then pulls up the social information for that brand, enabling you to quickly and easily reach out. This will help you build relationships with influencers, expand your network and reach more high-level contacts in no time.

Quora

Quora is a Q&A site which allows users to ask public questions, which other users may then answer. In contrast to Notifier, which is good for reaching out to authoritative industry figures, Quora is perfect for those with specific expertise looking to further establish themselves as an authority on a specific subject.

quora

“Quora’s a great tool to help build up your presence,” says Gary Cardone. “It allows you to engage directly with potential clients, while establishing your brand at the same time.” Check Gary Cardone’s Quora account for an example of what the platform offers.

Crate

This content curation tool started to attract almost immediate attention from marketers. Essentially, Crate builds a library of relevant blogs, keywords and influencers, then tracks which perform best on social media. You can use this data as research to inform your own strategy, condensing down to a more precise formula what it is exactly about certain content which leads people to click through and read or watch.

crate

Overreliance Can Be a Bigger Problem than Underutilization

These automated processes can go a long way to help merchants make the most of their campaigns. However, it’s important to remember that with automation, there eventually comes a point of diminishing returns, and that overreliance on automated shortcuts can sabotage your efforts.

Too much automation can have several detrimental effects:

  • You may overlook vital weaknesses due to a false sense of security.
  • Too much recycled content can stifle innovation and novel thought.
  • Repetitive, insular campaigns can lead customers to disengage.
  • You can lose touch with customers, creating a feedback loop of further disengagement.

As digital consultant John Boitnott explained, “Today’s automation tools are extremely powerful and sophisticated, but they aren’t intelligent enough to negate the need for human contribution just yet.” Keep in mind that the point of social media is to engage people with your brand on a personal level; too much automation can make you seem impersonal, robotic or uncaring.

Automation is a Balancing Act

Of course, you shouldn’t write-off automation due to concerns about the potential negative ramifications. There are many ways in which these automated processes make social media easier, more efficient and ultimately more profitable for marketers.

Remember that automation in social media is a matter of maintaining a delicate balance. Overuse of automation may alienate your target demographic, but ironically, being too conservative regarding automated technologies may lead you to miss out on countless opportunities to connect with customers.

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