Platform For Managing Twitter and Timing Tweets

[mjtaylor]

I have finally got one of my clients committed to Twitter, but I need to help her with timing. She tends to only have time to Tweet in the morning, and it tends to be a slew within a half an hour or so. I know there are platforms for managing timing of Tweets as well as automating some recurring Tweets. I use SproutSocial myself and love it.

But I would love to hear from others on what they use; is there a Tweet timing platform out there that is free, for example and performs well? Sprout costs $9.99 a month, and I think it is well worth it, but I want to offer her choices, too.

What are your experiences with TweetDeck? I think it has that feature, but I had problems with it. It stopped working on my desktop and then I couldn't get it uninstalled and reinstalled ... :( ...

Any HootSuiters here? Anyone who has used several of these platforms and has some feedback? Or another platform entirely.

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback. (And if we aren't following each other, please find me: @m_j_taylor. Be sure to DM me to follow back. I can get overwhelmed and fail to follow up.)

[SteveGerencser]

Hootsuite, don't be cheap, spend the $6..

[HTMLBasicTutor]

My 2cents,

Twitter is supposed to be a social networking tool. If all you do is auto tweet/timed tweet then where's the social part? You miss out on people trying to have a conversation with you or answering your @'s :wink: (hint hint)

Just downloaded latest greatest version of Tweetdeck - doesn't appear you can auto tweet/time tweet with it http://www.tweetdeck.com/support/desktop/?browser=true

[erima]

I've got to agree with HTMLBasicTutor that Twitter needs to be done in real time to be effective. There are numerous android and blackberry apps for twitter so I recommend using Tweet Deck in the office and using any one of the mobile apps to monitor twitter when you are out of the office.

One of the things that I stress to my clients is that your social media allows you to engage with your potential clients so you can tell them about a specific benefit of a product or let them know about a promotional code for your website (that you just happened to create in response to their need) ... "Hi Jerry, Many of our clients have had great results with Autowidget" ... here is a link to the reviews ... if you want to give a try, here is a promo code for ...

Don't make the mistake of thinking you can use interactive social media without being:
a. Social
b. Interactive

People use Facebook and Twitter for instant information from a person, not an algorithm.

[michaelhartzell]

Based on what everyone is saying, this may be the best of both worlds:

http://bufferapp.com/

Never flood your followers again.
Add Tweets to your Buffer and spread them out during the day.

[Milo]

I use Tweetdeck, but do find its a little bit buggy from time to time. Sometimes I don't get an update for some time as well as my tweet sometimes is delayed on going up. It could be Mac related though and overall its a nice piece of free software. On a side note, have you tried using the Facebook "Tweet" function where you can Tweet your FB posts automatically. Don't think it can be time set but it does take care of 2 things at once. Great for the time-poor like myself.

[mjtaylor]

Thank you all for taking the time to offer feedback.

And while I appreciate the wisdom on Tweeting in real time, I do think it's reasonable for her to set most of the ReTweets she plans to do for various times of the day. She does spend time on it in the morning; she thanks anyone who has Rt'd her items and follows or other DMs, and she Tweets about any original content from the site. But I see nothing wrong with timing various items to go out at various times.

For example, Sprout tells me the best times to Tweet; I think it makes sense to have timed Tweets at the high vis times. I don't advocate that anyone automate much of anything, but for time management issues, I find it acceptable, and far preferable to 15 Tweets in 30 minutes.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

On Search Engine Journal today:

6 Must Have Twitter Time Saving Apps and Tools [Video]
Read more: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/6-must-have-twitter-time-saving-apps-and-tools-video/31260/#ixzz1T9uiGvRS

Another vote for Hootsuite in that post.

[office7]

We've been using Hootsuite for several months. On the $6 per month plan, the ability to upload scheduled tweets via a CSV file is a real bonus and time saver. I have found it to be very reliable. And yes, we do engage in conversations on Twitter as well.

[ronchalice]

Like a lot of people I know, I don't follow anybody if their profile shows consistently timed Tweets. Sure I may be missing out on the next big thing, but I'm also not seeing a couple of thousand "buy ME" Tweeted links every hour. I think that unless you already are driving a nationally known brand, a couple of Tweets a day linked to comments from really satisfied customers might be a better solution. Then again, I'm using social media (blogs and Twitter) for a totally different concept and purpose than most businesses.

[Clarrie]

Another vote for Hootsuite here, although never tried Tweetdeck so can't offer real comparison.

I don't actually tend to use Hootsuite for timed tweets - what I like is being able to consolidate feeds from other site media - latest news, blog, newsletters and post them automatically through the one interface.

[nickoran]

Tweetdeck does allow you to schedule tweets, but Ive found you need to leave it running in the background or on another computer, it wont send the tweets if you dont have the desktop client up and running.

[mjtaylor]

Like a lot of people I know, I don't follow anybody if their profile shows consistently timed Tweets. Sure I may be missing out on the next big thing, but I'm also not seeing a couple of thousand "buy ME" Tweeted links every hour. I think that unless you already are driving a nationally known brand, a couple of Tweets a day linked to comments from really satisfied customers might be a better solution. Then again, I'm using social media (blogs and Twitter) for a totally different concept and purpose than most businesses.

What we are talking about is not "buy me" or other annoying Tweets. For the most part, the Tweets I suggest my client defer until later are genereally RTs of interesting items that others have shared or a second broadcast of a very good post on her site. But we are very careful to not over self promote. I like to see a max of 1 in 10 posts be about our site.

You didn't say what platform you use, Ron. :D

[robbell]

Another vote for Hootsuite from me - I use the scheduled message function all the time to control output when I'm working or not on the computer - for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and a series of others. The new publisher they've just added is really good - you can view all your scheduled tweets in a list, by day, week or month - and you can drag and drop tweets to reschedule them. Heck, it's probably the most useful social tool I use, and the scheduling's just one reason.

e2a - wow, I didn't realise this was my first post on the forum, I've been reading WPW emails for years!

[spunk0164]

I use Hootsuite but manage several feeds/different accounts and do not have a budget for the paid version of Hootsuite (yes, even $6 apparently is too much for my boss :-)). I also use CoTweet - this allows for several accounts and allows for scheduled tweets. It also allows for more than one "admin" so that a team of two or more people can be tweeting. It doesn't have the opt-in Facebook integration like Hootsuite but you can patch that problem by using the Selective Tweets app via Facebook.

For my smartphone, I have an android phone and use TweetCaster. It doesn't have a scheduled tweet feature - but it does allow for multiple twitter accounts. And the ad supported (free) version is not obtrusive IMO.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Ann Smarty (http://twitter.com/#!/seosmarty) just posted this list on Twitter: Great Twitter Tools That Cost You Nothing! (http://www.sexysocialmedia.com/great-twitter-tools-that-cost-you-nothing/)