3 Reasons Kuno Creative Doesn’t Auto-Post to Social Media

Roughly two weeks ago, we posted the custom-made image to the right on the Kuno Creative Facebook page. The post received several “likes,” a share and one question, which read, “Well, are we supposed to manually post everything every time?”

It’s an excellent question, especially for smaller companies interested in exploring social media as a means to drive leads but don’t have the budget to hire a social media specialist or outsource their social efforts to a marketing agency. Here, I’ll explain just why Kuno Creative doesn’t auto-post below, but first, let’s define exactly what auto-posting is.

What is Auto-Posting?

To auto-post means to utilize applications that automatically distribute blog or other content to connected social media accounts. Applications to connect social profiles may be built into your website or blog platform (you can connect social accounts in HubSpot under the Content navigation, for example), or they may be third-party plugins. Dlvr.it (pronounced “Deliver It”), Twitterfeed and Posterous are just a few popular auto-posting services.

Auto-posting should not be confused with social media scheduling, which allows social media managers to optimize reach by selecting future days and times to post content. Popular social media scheduling tools include Buffer, Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.

Many companies choose to auto-post because of its extreme convenience. It’s understandable: There are only so many hours in a day, and many CMOs still have a difficult time communicating social media marketing’s ROI to the C-Suite. But just because you can auto-post to social media, doesn’t mean you should. The statistic in the above image alone should deter anyone from pursuing the strategy.

Why We Don’t Auto-Post

Statistics aside, there are a number of reasons Kuno Creative does not auto-post. Below are just a few of those reasons:

• Poor form – We believe success in social media requires engagement, listening, educating and entertaining (E.L.E.E.). If we set our social profiles to autopilot, we’d be devoid of engagement and listening, not to mention we'd eliminate the necessary human element necessary for social media success. It would be poor form for us not to practice what we preach.
• Different styles – Different social media platforms have different styles. Twitter only allows 140 characters and permits hashtags. Facebook posts can be significantly longer and can include location, tags and even emotions (for personal profiles). Auto-posting the same message to different platforms means you’re missing out on opportunities to customize and increase engagement.
• Duplicate content – While there are certain pieces of content you’ll want to share on all of your social profiles (i.e. – downloads, blogs, etc.), sharing all the same content on all profiles will alienate those who follow your company on multiple platforms. Just think: If you deliver all the same content on Twitter as you do on LinkedIn, why should anyone follow your company on both?

These are just a few reasons we choose not to auto-post. Shona Mackin and Trevor Kohlhepp bring up even more great points in their respective articles, so check them out if you’re still in need of some convincing.

What is your opinion on auto-posting? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

Known as Hawkeye for her near superhuman copy editing abilities, Lisa Gulasy applies her unique experiences in agency and journalism to manage strategy and day-to-day engagement of client social media profiles and assist and researching and writing blogs, press releases and advanced content. Find her on Twitter and LinkedIn.