Twitter Scheduling? - Virtual Assistant Forums

#1 (**permalink**) 07-16-2010

Just curius how many of you schedule your tweets a week at a time? Just curious what your process is for coming up with the tweets. Do you keep a running list of ideas you have or create them as you go?

#2 (**permalink**) 07-16-2010

I schedule things like new blog posts, new Youtube videos I've created and tweets that announce upcoming webinars /etc. I don't schedule other things I try to pop in on Twitter and "chat" during the day as well. Makes me REAL instead of on "autopilot"

#3 (**permalink**) 07-16-2010

I use Hootsuite to schedule Tweets but only for a day not a full week. I like to Tweet current info and there's so much news out all the time that it wouldn't work well for more than a day at a time. I think it's important to be present to interact with people and not just send out tweets. I might schedule a few tweets throughout a week when on vacation to keep active.

#4 (**permalink**) 07-17-2010

I used to schedule them a week at a time with links to relevant and interesting articles or other stuff. I've fallen out of the habit though and since I spend so much time managing Twitter accounts for clients that my account comes last.

#5 (**permalink**) 07-18-2010

I use Hootsuite and schedule a day at a time for my business advertisements. I do try to get on and check what's going on during the day when I get a free moment and RT interesting facts or reply to people.

#6 (**permalink**) 07-19-2010

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 away.

#7 (**permalink**) 07-19-2010

I agree with the posts that relate to the authenticity factor in having a social media presence. Personally, I like to know that those I'm following are REAL people. I even enjoy when there is a mixture of personal and business tweets. This gives me an idea of what the person is really about and I tend to feel a stronger connection with them...more likely to do business with them.

Anyway, just my humble opinion.

#8 (**permalink**) 07-21-2010

I schedule my "marketing" tweets, promos and such. But at the same time I ensure that I only have so many of those going out over the week and then connect and engage personal a few times through out the day for the more immediate personal touch.

#9 (**permalink**) 07-26-2010

I have used an application for Twitter called Twaitter. It is free and allows you to schedule your tweets in advance.

#10 (**permalink**) 07-26-2010

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.......

#11 (**permalink**) 07-26-2010

Quote:

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.

#12 (**permalink**) 07-26-2010

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.

#13 (**permalink**) 07-27-2010

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

#14 (**permalink**) 10-16-2010

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.

#15 (**permalink**) 10-29-2010

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.