Avoid These Common Mistakes When Scheduling Posts
Whether you’re new to content creation or a veteran blogger, scheduling your posts in advance is the best way to save time and keep a consistent online presence. However, there are plenty of mistakes you can make when scheduling posts that could upset or annoy your audience.
10 Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make When Scheduling Posts
Improper scheduling can embarrass your brand. From posting the wrong content to skipping embedded link descriptions, here are 10 mistakes you shouldn’t make when scheduling posts.
1. Focusing Too Much on Automation
Automation can help you take a step back from live posting, but that also means you won’t be online as often. You need to actively engage with your content if you want it to be seen, so work with a team that can respond to comments, complaints, and requests in a timely manner.
2. Disregarding Your Post Metrics
Another shortfall of automation is a “set and forget” mentality. Your content may be working now, but if you don’t review your metrics, that could change. Be sure to check your analytics software and heatmap software regularly to see what content is popular or falling short of your goals.
3. Reusing Non-Evergreen Content
There’s nothing wrong with reusing content. In fact, posting repurposed content can extend the life of what you already made. However, the key word here is “repurposed.” Non-evergreen content has to be reviewed before it can be posted, or you’ll share something that isn’t relevant.
4. Mentioning Time, Dates, or Years
Posts titled “How to Correctly Schedule Posts in 2022” can increase engagement in 2022, but you need to update your content every year to keep the clicks coming. If you mention hard data, update the studies you include in the article, as information can change widely every 5 years.
5. Forgetting to Review Your Queue
Whether you use automation or a manual queue, you should always review your posts before they go live. At best, your posts may contain spelling errors. But at the worst, your posts could be insensitive, include broken links or references, or contain defunct discounts or affiliates.
6. Having a Really Short Posting Cycle
Every social media platform has limits on how many posts you can queue. For example, Tumblr caps out at 1,000 posts in a queue, but third-party software can increase that limit. If you post too frequently or have a short posting cycle, your followers will keep seeing the same content.
7. Not Writing a CTA Link Description
When a post contains a link, you should add a call-to-action (CTA) or text description that describes what the link is. You’re not doing this to ease your customer’s fears about a shady-looking link; you’re writing an impactful CTA to convince others to buy from your website.
8. Failing to Tailor Posts to Each Platform
Not all types of content do well on every platform, and scheduling the same looking content on multiple platforms defeats the purpose of having a multifaceted social media presence. Before putting content in your queue, make sure your text and images are tailored for each platform.
9. Ignoring Each Platform’s Posting Rules
Some brands will use someone else’s content on their website or social media pages. But if you want to cover your bases legally (on social media), you need to give credit, ask for permission, and create a terms of service. If you steal someone’s content, you could be banned or worse.
10. Skipping the Team Approval Process
You’re eager to queue your post, but that eagerness can make you jump the gun. Even if you don’t follow the above best practices, an approval process will get you to stop and review your content checklist. To save time, bulk upload posts and send them to the right team members.
