I don’t have time for Social Media! Can I automate it?

Yes! You will still have to dedicate time to scheduling your social media activity, but with some of these free tools you can really optimize your time.

Buffer- Buffer will take the posts you have scheduled and place them in a queue, publishing them based on the next time slots that you have preconfigured. Link in new window: www.bufferapp.com

Hootsuite- This tool serves to schedule your posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and WordPress, as well as providing a dashboard for you to see all your activity on you’re the accounts you’ve connected. You can create a new account or sign in using your Facebook, Twitter or Google account. Link in new window:   www.hootsuite.com

Canva- It can be difficult to create images for your posts- Canva solves this problem! It can help you create icons and large photos for your social profiles, cards, motivational quotes, or an announcement. You have plenty of free template to choose from, and there are lots of ‘premium’ images and backgrounds you can use for a very low price.  Link in new window: www.canva.com

SproutSocial- Sprout Social is not free, though it does offer a trial. If HootSuite seems a little too complicated for you, take advantage of this trial and see if its simplicity is worth the price! You will also get great insights on who your followers are, who has unfollowed you, and which content you post does better. Link in new window: www.sproutsocial.com