Messaging across multiple channels

Lorelei Gibb talks about the benefits, as well as the drawbacks, of updating all of your accounts at once…

If you follow this column regularly you will know that we have looked at the benefits of posting on different social media channels. We’ve discussed the merits of Linkedin, Pinterest, Facebook and Google+, but there are also Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and a whole host of other services.

So how are you supposed to manage all of these accounts? There are several options for managing multiple accounts from a single interface, with Hootsuite and Social Sprout perhaps being the most popular. Being able to post to your multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook business page, Linkedin groups and G+ account all from a single page has immense time saving implications.

There are drawbacks with this way of updating all of your accounts; whilst they enable you to save time you shouldn’t become lazy.

Let’s say, for example, that you’ve just written your latest blog “How to Choose the Right Laptop: Ten Top Tips for Making the Right Choice”. If you just post the same message on all of your social media pages at the same time, it’s not going to drive more traffic to your blog – it’s going to drive people away.

Sharing posts in this way is akin to calling someone on the phone, emailing them, posting on their timeline and knocking at their door simultaneously – it can get seriously irritating.

Instead, try varying your text and scheduling posts to go out at different times. You could have “Unsure Which Laptop to Buy? Ten Handy Hints” going out at 8:30 on Twitter, “A Comprehensive Report on Buying the Best Laptop for Your Business” going out on a LinkedIn group that evening and “Top Ten Things You Need to Know When Buying a New Laptop” scheduled for Facebook at lunchtime.

Anything that helps a business save time is worth exploring, but with social media you must think of your audience’s needs first.

Lorelei Gibb is Marketing Director at www.dolphinupgrades.com