HootSuite just rolled out on Friday a new feature called AutoSchedule. Essentially, just like Buffer, HootSuite’s AutoSchedule feature will pick the best time to post your content so that you optimize the number of shares, likes, and retweets. The other great thing about it is that you can turn it on or off. So if you have that special press release that is going out and you want to post something to go along with it but don’t want it to come out before the press release, then you can still manually set the time and date.
Photo from HootSuite Inc
Here’s how it works:
- Type in your text and select the date icon to schedule your post as you normally would.
- You’ll now see AutoSchedule On/Off button. Turn it on for a specific post. When you turn it on, the calendar will disappear. (Don’t worry, you can still modify it after the fact if you make a typo. )
*(Note: if you use the AutoSchedule, you’ll need to go into the Publisher and change the date otherwise it stays with today’s date. Not sure if this was by design, but I’m hoping that eventually it won’t be a two step process.)
That’s it! Just another way that HootSuite is simplifying your social media marketing. Personally, I use it as a dashboard and reply to folks right in the dashboard. It’s great for brand monitoring. If you don’t yet use HootSuite, you can sign up for a HootSuite Pro Free Trial (affiliate link). Why go Pro? Here’s the differences between HootSuite Pro vs Free:
HootSuite Pro:
- Facebook/Twitter Search
- LinkedIn Company Pages
- Google+ Pages
- App Directory (Instagram, Constant Contact, SlideShare etc)
- Draft Messages
- Quick Reports
- 2 RSS/Atom Feeds
- AutoSchedule
- Unlimited Social Profiles (ie: 5 Twitter, 10 Facebook Pages, 10 Google+ Pages etc)
- Bulk Scheduling
- 1 Free team member ($10 Value)
- 1 Free Enhanced Analytics Report ($50 value)
- Google Analytics Integration
- Facebook Insights Integration
- Unlimited RSS/Atom Feeds
- 100 Free Archived Tweets
- Klout Scores
- Message Assignments (teams)
- Team member permissions (teams)
- Up to 5 Social Profiles
- Facebook/Twitter Search
- LinkedIn Company Pages
- Google+ Pages
- App Directory (Instagram, Constant Contact, SlideShare etc)
- Draft Messages
- Quick Reports
- 2 RSS/Atom Feeds
- AutoSchedule
Not convinced? You can try out HootSuite Pro for free for 30 Days and if you don’t like it, stick with the Free version.
I love Hootsuite and I am also loving the AutoSchedule feature! I do wish there was a way to adjust the frequency with which the scheduling occurs in preferences. When I schedule my posts and tweets, the autoscheduler will push out more than we’d prefer. I’d like to limit it to a certain number of times a day, and then have it move on to the next day. Do you know if that is possible?
Hi Katherine, you can go into the Publisher (access it from left nav) and change the day of the posts.
How exactly does the software decide what time to post each Tweet?
Hi John, The algorithm uses a combination of your activity and your followers activity. It’s a new algorithm and it will continually be improved over time as we monitor the use of it by our customers. Specifically, Autoscheduler looks at your personal history to determine sharing patterns from your past and post content accordingly whilst also looking at your followers feedback. Hope that helps.
Great article – thanks for sharing Tracy! We’re really excited about the new AutoSchedule feature, so far our users are loving it.
Let me know if i can answer anymore questions.
-Your friends at HootSuite
Good article though there is a grammatical error in your first paragraph “you want to post something to GO along with it”
Thanks Paul!