As a self-employed person, I really value having control over my time. That’s why I’m excited by time-shifting tools that let me do things when I want to do them. I’m not alone in this; time-shifting is the reason we love our Tivos and DVRs.
A few weeks back I shared a blog on Time saving tools for business blogging. Today I want to share a time-shifting tool I’ve recently started using for the real-time social media universe. Using Buffer (bufferapp.com), you put posts (Tweets) into a buffer and the app figures out the optimal time to post them.
This means that when I am inspired during the day, evening or weekend, I can read blogs and Tweets, pick those I want to share, and then put together a few Tweets. I see that HootSuite has a similar capability for scheduling posts – I haven’t tried it yet. It looks like it’s delivered through a browser extension.
There are two things I particularly like about Buffer:
- I can use it as a browser extension, mobile app or from the website. This is nice when I’m using devices other than my usual desktop.
- The analytics let you see what happened to the posts you send through Buffer.
I know that if I studied this data, I would become smarter about what worked effectively.
The usual provisos about avoiding “overly automated” social media posts apply – pay attention to what’s in your buffer and if you need to change it to accommodate the changing world. (See Social media failure stories revisited for an example of automation gone bad.)
Anne Janzer 
Anne, I love Buffer for Twitter – have used it for a long time. I use it “inside” Twitter and Twitter plug-ins, as well as from Chrome as a browser extension. It’s now available for Facebook but I use the new post scheduling tool that’s native to Facebook instead because I like the activity log. More control. Before that activity log/scheduling capability appeared, I used to use HootSuite for scheduling FB posts. The scheduler works fine. Both have several steps that can be a bit irritating but someday the interfaces will improve.
Having said that, I try not to schedule too much. Mostly regular features like a quote of the week (which I like to compose in batches) or posts/tweets for when I’m not at the computer. But everyone’s strategy is different.
Glad you brought this great tool to your audience.
Claire, guess I’m preaching to the choir, I should have asked you months ago! I’ll have to dig deep to find any social media tools you don’t know about.