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Tools to Schedule and Plan Your Social-Media Outreach

By  Grace Maliska
March 16, 2016

“Social media causes stress,” says Maegan Clark, social-media manager at Heifer International, because “it happens every day, every minute, every second.”

Social networks require constant upkeep, and “absolutely cannot be put on the back burner,” according to consultant Jessica Bates.

And with the number of social-media platforms growing with no end in sight, understaffed nonprofits often struggle to organize all the posts needed to attract a big following.

“It seems many nonprofits often end up scrambling to get stuff up,” says Jen Newmeyer, digital media and marketing manager at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. “To relieve this stress, take the time to do good planning, such as scheduling content ahead of time so there is always something that is feeding the funnel.”

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“Social media causes stress,” says Maegan Clark, social-media manager at Heifer International, because “it happens every day, every minute, every second.”

Social networks require constant upkeep, and “absolutely cannot be put on the back burner,” according to consultant Jessica Bates.

And with the number of social-media platforms growing with no end in sight, understaffed nonprofits often struggle to organize all the posts needed to attract a big following.

“It seems many nonprofits often end up scrambling to get stuff up,” says Jen Newmeyer, digital media and marketing manager at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. “To relieve this stress, take the time to do good planning, such as scheduling content ahead of time so there is always something that is feeding the funnel.”

Kivi Leroux Miller, owner of EcoScribe Communications and president of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, agrees and suggests using applications and programs to automate some of the work.

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The Chronicle asked all of these experts which applications they recommend for managing social-media outreach. Here are the tools they propose to help you take control and develop a smarter digital strategy.

  • ActionSprout, a Facebook add-on tool created for the nonprofit sector, tracks engagement, analyzes other web pages and social networks that have content of interest to your organization, and finds content for you to repost. Best of all, ActionSprout allows you to create and share specific calls to action (such as pledges, petitions, or volunteer opportunities) directly on Facebook. “Even if you don’t use it, get on their mailing list, because they share information that is extremely helpful for nonprofits,” says Ms. Leroux Miller.

Pricing starts with a free plan and, depending on which capabilities you choose, can cost $9 to $99/month.

  • Buffer allows you to create, cull, and schedule content you’d like to share on your social platforms, says Ms. Leroux Miller. The application will post your content on any social-media platform at any time you choose. The program also tracks engagement, so you can gauge when the most supporters respond to your posts.

    Plans start at $10/month and increase in price depending on the size of the organization. Plus, Buffer offers a 50 percent discount for nonprofits.

  • Hootsuite, a popular social-media management program, aggregates your social-media profiles into one place, allowing you to schedule posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all at once. Hootsuite also allows more than one person to manage and contribute to the account. The program provides reports on the number of people responding or sharing a post as well.

Hootsuite Pro, recommended for mid-size groups, is $9.99/month per user, but is offered to nonprofits at a 50 percent discount.

  • Post Planner curates content from a variety of social-media networks, creates a digital content schedule, and lets you edit and post, all from one screen. “This tool is especially helpful for Facebook,” Ms. Leroux Miller says, because it searches for and collects content on topics of interest, allowing you to “map out a strategy and plan ahead for different events and themes, all ahead of time.”

Post Planner costs $7 to $15 per year, depending on how many social-network profiles you link to it and how many posts you plan and push.

  • Schedugram, an Instagram scheduler, permits desktop posting from multiple contributors, says Ms. Clark. “Schedugram is useful because on Instagram you cannot be logged in to multiple accounts, but with Schedugram you can schedule [posts] ahead of time,” and it will push the content live for you, so “you need not think about it day to day.”

Pricing begins at $20/month for each account with less than 10,000 followers. Subscribers who can pay annually get two months free.

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  • Google Docs is a free application that allows multiple users to contribute to a spreadsheet, document, or slideshow. Ms. Newmeyer recommends using it to create an online editorial calendar to map out content for different social networks. This can help eliminate “the struggle of coming up with content on an immediate basis.”

Finding and posting content is infinitely easier using these tools, says Ms. Leroux Miller. “You could sit there and Google all day long, or you could use these tools and make your life easier.”

Read other items in this The Best of Online Fundraising 2016 package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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