Social media automation that makes the content too
Most social media automation only automates publishing. The content is still yours to make, and that was the part that took the time.
In most tools, social media automation means one thing: a finished post goes out at the time you chose without you being there. That is useful, but it only automates the last and lightest stage of the job.
The heaviest part is everything before it: what to post, how to say it and with which photo. If you want automation that genuinely frees up time, it has to make the content as well, not just publish it.
What social media automation usually means
When a tool says it automates social media, it almost always means one or more of these four things.
- Scheduling: you write the post now and pick the time yourself, say Thursday at five, and it goes out then.
- Posting queues: you load up lots of posts and the tool publishes them one at a time at an agreed pace.
- Recycling: an evergreen post, such as a tip or a service introduction, is automatically published again later.
- Cross-posting: the same post goes to several channels at once.
Why it saves less time than you expected
All four assume the content already exists. They get it out the door, but they don't make it.
Work out where the time actually goes. Scheduling eight finished posts takes maybe ten minutes. Thinking up, writing and illustrating those eight posts can easily take a whole evening. A scheduler automates the last ten minutes.
In practice the tool swaps one question for another. Before, you asked when you would find time to publish. Now you ask when you will find time to make these eight posts. The second one is the question that went unanswered in the first place.
That is why the result with a scheduler alone is so often the same: a busy start, then silence. If you don't have the time or the appetite to create the content, scheduling on its own won't fix that, because an empty queue does not fill itself.
Which part is worth automating
Automation belongs at the point that stalls the whole job. In social media that isn't the publish button but everything before it: coming up with the subject and writing the text. They take the most time and energy, and they are exactly what keeps slipping to next week.
That doesn't mean the decisions are small. What to post and how to say it are big questions, which is why good automation doesn't make them blind. It drafts a proposal from what it knows about your business, and you decide. Judging a finished proposal is far lighter than starting from nothing.
Once the content is produced that way, scheduling comes along for free. It doesn't work the other way round: automating the scheduling produces no posts at all.
What not to hand to automation
Not everything should be automated. Comments and direct messages are a conversation with a customer. An acknowledgement or a thank-you for a message can perfectly well be automatic, but the actual answer is worth leaving to a person: an automated reply in the wrong place costs more than a slower one.
The same goes for prices, promises and anything that could be wrong: those want a human eye before they go out.
This is why Bobbi publishes nothing without your approval.
What the different automations actually automate
One word, four very different sizes of promise.
| Automation | What it automates | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling and posting queues | Automates the moment of publishing | Removes the need to be on your phone at the right time. No help at all if you have no ideas or no time to write. |
| Recycling evergreen posts | Automates repetition | Stretches content you have already made a bit further. Requires that you made it first. |
| Cross-posting between channels | Automates copying | Can easily save a lot of time, since the same post does not have to be made separately for every channel. The better tools let you adapt the text for each channel. The content still has to be made first. |
| Planning and writing | Automates the deciding and the text | The only one of these that makes the content itself. Publishing and scheduling are handled along the way. This is exactly what Bobbi was built for. |
Common questions
Does automated content look automated?
It looks that way when it is made to one formula for everybody: a stock photo, generic wording and the same structure every time. When the photos are yours and the text is written from your own earlier posts, the result looks like something you would have made if you'd had the time.
Can I still edit the posts?
Yes, and you are meant to. Every post arrives as a draft, and you can change the text, swap the photo or delete the post entirely. Your changes don't stop at that one post: Bobbi treats them as teaching for the following week.
What if I want to post something topical myself?
Just post it. The automation handles the planned rhythm, and you can always add your own post on top when something happens. It is also worth mentioning things that are coming up, so they can be taken into account while the week is being planned.
Does this work if I only post a couple of times a month?
It does, and a slower pace is often more realistic than people assume. What matters more than volume is that the rhythm doesn't break entirely. You set the pace yourself, and Bobbi will not push you to post more than you decided.
Automate the part that takes the most time
Give it your website address and Bobbi will plan and write the first week for you. The scheduling comes along with it.
Try it free