Social Media Tools Making Us Less Engaged on Social Media

Are Social Media Tools Making Us Less Engaged?

A few weeks ago, I saw a tweet with an unusual text in it. It displayed a company that automated tweets for a popular blogger who has been one of my mentors.

I tweeted back to that tweet but never received an answer back. That really got me thinking.

Do we get so busy that we become disengaged with our audience? Are using social media tools making us less engaged and not a good practice?

My Buffer Tool Experiment With Social Media Engagement

If you have been a long time read here at Inspire to Thrive you know I've always loved the Buffer. That was until I started sharing Facebook posts via the Buffer. Not only did some images come out blurry but I lost engagement on those Facebook posts. My engagement went way down.

I quickly went back to scheduling posts on Facebook itself and the engagement level went back up! Now part of that is because Facebook wants us to spend time on their network. You can't blame them for that!

Of course I loved the Buffer because it saved me time over the years. But is time everything when it comes to social media marketing?

Testing Agorapulse Social Media Tool

Next, I began testing out Agorapulse. I love this social media tool today! Not only does it give me great analytics to share with clients, but I can schedule tweets and it doesn't show their name in them like the Buffer displays on Twitter. Agorapulse is also great for scheduling Instagram posts which can result in making less errors and saving you time. (You know typing on your mobile on the go sometimes can be tricky!)

More to come on this social media tool as I've been using it for about 2 months now. I'm still learning new ways to use it daily. A special thanks to Mike Allton for suggesting to me to use this social media tool.

Here is Mike's Response to Me About Agorapulse and Social Media Engagement:

"We've done extensive testing of "Reach" because that's something that's easily tested, measured and compared. If you post very similar posts, the same way, at the same time of day, day after day... that's comparable and you can draw conclusions from the data.

Agorpulse tested posting natively to all of the networks vs. using 3rd party tools and not only does the data show that there is no penalty, it's suggestive that using a tool actually helps - though we think that's an anomaly.

There really shouldn't be any difference. A post is a post as far as the networks are concerned."

Engagement is Something Else Entirely According To Mike!

"We sometimes schedule content for the reach tests that purposely avoids encouraging engagement so as not to skew the results. But crafting a series of posts that are supposed to get the "same" amount of engagement every time, and then schedule some using a tool to see if there's a difference, seems impossible to reliably manage.

Which means the only conclusions others might reach are purely anecdotal or uncontrolled. "We started posting using Sprout Social and our engagement went down." Really? What else might have changed? Did you post more or less? What were you talking about? What else was going on? Were you posting the same kinds of posts about the same topics? Did you stop doing something else? - So many clarifying questions which would have to be asked."

My Social Media Tips Talk About Engagement

Recently, I have started sharing some social media tips on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I am a big believer that you need to engage with your audience. Why just throw things up on the wall and leave? I see many social media management companies doing just that. They take blog posts that are canned and post them time after time. That's it!

Now, I believe it is called SOCIAL media for a reason, to be social! Talk, engage, share, comment, etc. Do something, don't just be passively throwing stuff up on the wall or feed on the social networks.

Here Are What Others Are Saying About Using Social Media Tools Today!

"The top professionals own the best gear. It's the same with anything - sports, music or business. When it comes to Social Media; you can't keep up with the trends if you don't have the support of automation on your side...

It just isn't practical to sit there all day posting manually!

However, that doesn't mean 100% automation is a solid strategy.

(Far from it).

Always blend automation with the human touch - it's a winning combo - and people will otherwise notice any imbalance.

I always say:

"If you're on Social Media but not engaging, then you're just media!"

Wisely choose your tools for the most time-heavy tasks, and perfect their application (while consistently researching new vendors).

It doesn't matter how many you use - as long as it's all sensibly balanced with your budget, business type, and level of interaction."

"I think too many automation tools is not only a bad idea, but for many reasons. One, if you're trying to game the social media sites you will get caught eventually. Two, if something bad happens in the world you might have an inappropriate and untimely post that you missed because you didn't remember where you put it.

I only use two. First, I use Tweeten for Twitter (of course) because I hate using browsers for things like this. Then, I can pre-post articles and such on there and it works great. I also use Buffer, but I only use it for LinkedIn, since you can't pre-post there. If you have a business page on Facebook you can pre-post there, so there's no need to use any other automation services. I know some people use it for Instagram, but it's problematic sometimes.

Finally, if the only thing you're doing on a social media site is posting stuff and not engaging anyone, you're missing out on the opportunity to actually meet potential customers. You don't have to do it a lot, but having people see that you sometimes talk to others humanizes you and people will get comfortable with you."

"Automating every aspect of your social media marketing can make you look like a spam bot, helping you lose contact with your audience.

On the other side, liking, following, commenting and engaging on every mention of your brand or social media post can be overwhelming and absorbing all of your time.

I think the right strategy should be somewhere in between.

Depending on your goals, try using some automation tools to increase your reach, while keeping authenticity by engaging with your community, every time is necessary."

Use Social Media Tools to Engage Your Audience, Not Put Them to Sleep!

I believe finding the right blend as others suggested here on the blog is key to balancing your social media. I always tell clients you have to spend time or money. It's either one. You must invest your time or money with social media marketing today.

Finally, be sure the social media tools you use today don't put your audience to sleep. Be sure you have a way to respond to others when questions are asked in a timely manner. I go on each of the networks for at least 5 minutes to start the day. Not only on my own channels but those that I manage.

Then, I check notifications mid day and again before hitting my pillow. This can be done with Agorpulse too and they even have an app for it!

Over To You!

What do you have to say about the use of social media tools and engagement? Do you use tools only post to social media? I'd love to know more in the comments below!