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I personally NEVER schedule my tweets. I don't see how I'm providing any real value by using software to act as if I'm active. I'm a community person at heart and I really enjoy being part of the conversations that follow on for a link to a great post or resource. That said, it can be useful to have a system to schedule blog posts to automatically be published to Twitter. If I've been busy, I'll always ensure I make the time to get involved in any conversation that have happened since I've been aw

Which is why I always schedule my tweets during times I know I can tweet in between to make it personal.

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Alyssa Avant
http://alyssaavant.com

Hope I don't sound too contrary, but I schedule Tweets heavily for my clients. I find that by scheduling 3-4 tweets a day, linking to the client's site and other stuff, and having the client also send out 1-2 more personal tweets each day, you can see a definite return.

There are a whole bunch of cool things about Twitter, and one of them is that you can be personal and then you can also use it to share business messages. I read my Twitter updates in Tweetdeck, and click on a huge variety of the links - some that are more "billboard," and others that are more personal. It's all good!

I should clarify, maybe, that the tweets I write and schedule - while essentially advertising for my client - are more informational than hard-sell. It's a matter of how you talk about their business, how you put it into personal or informational terms.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

I do schedule tweets like affiliate links and events using hootsuite. But mostly Im on Twitter in real time chat.

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Margaret Salmond, Bay Area VA
http://www.bayareava.info

Originally Posted by RebeccaT

I don't schedule them anymore....I only schedule quotes for in the morning and I created a spreadsheet for them and I mark them out when I have scheduled them. I do schedule blog posts (I will write 3-4 at a time), I schedule videos (when I upload them), and I schedule events so that I can plan them correctly. But as far as just daily stuff all that stuff is me live....And I teach my clients to do the same. If they want me to do all their stuff like about their sites, they are not my ideal client.......

Thanks for sharing this...yours is a model that I would love to follow. I unfortunately created the social accounts before familiarizing myself with the system.

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Crystal Chambliss - YourAdminCenter
Owner (Virtual Assistant)

I find people a lot of people on Twitter tend to just fire out a volley of tweets in one go. It's obvious they're doing it automatically. Depending on the time zone I could end up missing all of them as they're pushed to the bottom of the page.

Having them spaced out over a specific time I think people would also be more inclined to read them, rather than reading through one large block from the one person, which can look spammy. It's like, "ok I'm here now, here's all my stuff, bye".

I'll have a look at that Hootsuite. It would be nice to be able to schedule Tweets because it would allow me to deliver them consistently throughout the day in such a way that people in different timezones can still see them. It would also be really cool to send @'s to people when I know they're going to be online.

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European Virtual Assistant Services

IMO there's nothing wrong with scheduling Tweets, as long as you do find some time to get involved real-time. The fact is YES you need to be personally involved and be a real person but let's face it, you're also a marketer of your own kind and you've got to consistently get your message out and keep your name visible so scheduling helps to ensure you do this.

Don't just sell, sell, sell but keep your name out there, stay visible. Schedule some Tweets to whatever...quotes, blog posts (yours or otherwise), sites of interest, tools, etc. to ensure your profile is active & visible and then jump in and converse as well. We're all marketers of some sort so we have to weave those marketing tactics in...tactfully =)

I actually do schedule some Tweets.
When I know I'm going to be out of the office for a couple of hours I'll schedule a few tweets to be posted for when I'm away, and also sometimes before I go to bed I schedule Tweets so that people in other TimeZones who aren't awake when I'm actually on Twitter don't miss out on the opportunity of hiring me as their VA
I like to keep my name at the top of peoples minds so when they think that they may need a VA, they think of me first (hopefully), and if at that moment they are on Twitter and they see one of my Tweets pop up, all the better for me.

The Tweets I do schedule though are usually VA tips, and also links to my latest blog post.

When I am in the office I converse a lot on Twitter and post other peoples blog posts, articles of interest etc that come up at the time.

So I think there is nothing wrong with Scheduled Tweets as long as you do it tactfully and reply to people's @mentions and RT's as soon as you get a chance.

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I too enjoy doing the "real thing" as far as twittering...topics come quite easy just by reading what others are saying, doing or whatever. I do tweet every day to keep up the "good habits" and keep my presence alive.

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Mary Beth Marino, Owner
The Writing Editor