These days, it seems like machines can do more and more work for us. The rising trend in automation has gone from a sci-fi pipe dream to a daily reality—in other words, the future is now! Most people think of cutting-edge technology like self-driving cars when they think of automation, but have you considered the way in which automation can be harnessed for marketing through Social Media and blogging? Here we’re going to talk about some of the pros and cons of automation and how to harness them for maximum potential.
Pro #1: Consistency
We’ve written before about how important it is to update your web and blog content on a consistent basis. It’s especially helpful in helping your ranking on Google, which helps your business get discovered by new clients. Scheduling content ahead of time is a great way to stick to your content calendar, and a version of the function exists in virtually all blog and website-building programs.
Pro #2: More Time for Other Work
With your blogs set to post for weeks in advance, you can use the extra time for other work, whether it’s marketing-related or another aspect of making your business run smoothly. For, example, if you’re planning an event and want to remind people about it on social media, you can use a tool like TweetDeck to schedule tweets leading up to the time of the event and focus on other important tasks that need to be done before the event. This is much more reliable than saving drafts you may forget about and not send out when this other work come up.
Con #1: Could Disengage Potential Customers
Though the idea of machines being able to think, speak, and write like human beings is intriguing, right now the content produced by software start-ups like Narrative Science is still a little, well, robotic. A recent study found that while algorithm-based articles on recent events matched human-written ones in many aspects, the most glaring difference came in the area of “pleasant to read.” Taking the extra time to have a real, live person write your content is still the best way to go if you want readers (meaning: potential clients) to enjoy it!
Con #2: Less Variation
Actual human interaction is the real basis of Social Media. That means that merely scheduling tweets and Facebook posts to go out into the void isn’t enough to build engagement with followers and customers. Setting aside time for live tweeting, responding to trending topics rather than relying only on scheduled posts, and commenting on or sharing other users’ posts are great ways to keep the human side of social media present in the automated world of cyberspace.
With all the technology at our disposal, it’s easy to fall into two traps: not taking full advantage of the many things it can do, and over reliance on automation to perform tasks. With these pros and cons in mind, you can save yourself time and stress by having content ready to post early, making more space in your schedule for the human side of online marketing.