To automate or not, that is the question?

Actually, it really isn’t the real question. The real question is how do I automate without losing my audience?

In this episode, we take an old measurement acronym and adapt it for how to automate SMART. See what we did there?

Automated Episode Highlights: Set it up. * Define what you are hoping to gain from the automation and choose tools that help you achieve your goals. * It’s not a good idea to set up your automation and forget about it. * Never automate your interaction with people. * Social Jukebox, Bulkly, RecurPost and CoSchedule are all tools that integrate with most social media platforms to help organize and automate your content. * Try video as a way to thank people for their engagement and connect with people.

Measure it. * Your automation tool should include measurement so you can see how it is working. * Before you start, have a measurement plan in place. * If you missed it or need a refresher, we discussed measurement in episode 21.

Activate and Automate. * Part of activating an automation is to watch it closely to see how it performs, which relates to your measurement plan. * Be on hand to interact with people. Be an active part of the automation and engage with people. Your participation shouldn’t be automated.

Refine it. * Make changes to what you are doing based on the results you are seeing. * Look at what is working and what isn’t to refine and further refine your automation. * Social media platform algorithms are ever-changing and what people see changes with that, so you may have to refine your efforts as a result.

Test it. * Check new ideas against the old and A/B test for best results. * Try different types of posts, different times of the day and different platforms to test what works best. * Never set it and forget it.

Links, Tools and Apps Mentioned: * Social Jukebox * Bulkly * RecurPost * CoSchedule * Commun.it * Episode 21: 6 Ways to Track Sales

  **Take Action**

Set up an automation plan and let us know what tools you have decided to use and for what parts of your social outreach. Extra credit for a video!

     **How to reach Kami:** If you’d like to learn more about Kami Huyse, visit her website at www.zoeticamedia.com. You can contact her by email at kami@zoeticamedia.com or tweet to @kamichat.

How to reach Madalyn: If you’d like to learn more about Madalyn Sklar, visit her website at www.madalynsklar.com. You can contact her by email at madalyn@madalynsklar.com or tweet to @MadalynSklar.

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