Regardless whether it is to stay connected to the loop or to let the world know about your daily chores, being social is more of an involuntary human behavior now. It is no longer an issue of whether you are on a social network, but how many social networks you are active in. One major problem arises from this is that you no longer have enough time to update so many social network at one time and still can get things done. Before you turn crazy, here are 6 tools that enable you to auto-schedule and cross post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
1. Buffer
Buffer is a good choice for people who mostly use social networks for updating several times a day with topics that revolves around their niche. It’s not just a cross posting tool but it also serves a great auto scheduling tool for those in need. Buffer lets you create a schedule (based on when you get most followers online) to evenly space out your updates so it doesn’t create an unnecessary clutter for your friends and followers. Although Buffer was meant to meet the scheduling needs while posting updates, it is also a great tool to cross post updates to multiple networks with equal precision. Note if you don’t use social media for a living, it’s better to stay off Buffer, it’s more like a robot who although does a superb job in helping a social marketer to promote a brand, fails to offer a human approach. Buffer supports Facebook (and pages), Twitter, LinkedIn etc and has support for browsers and mobile platforms as well.
2. Hootsuite
Before Buffer occurred to me, Hootsuite was my perfect companion. Functionally, it’s a better version of Tweetdeck. There’s a free as well as paid plans that comes with added benefits. While there are no configurable update schedule like Buffer, Hootsuite does have a message scheduling feature which do not exist in others.
3. Ping.fm
One app that packs almost every social network and instant messengers out there is Seesmic Ping (previously Ping.fm). Use it from mobile or desktop, the app performs equally brilliant. One thing that’s great about Ping.fm is that you can use the SMS feature to post updates, which comes handy if you are not having good internet reception yet can’t forbear the urge to update your social stream.
4. G++
People who are active in Google Plus long yearns for a social update or scheduling tool, but this has not been possible because of the unavailability of a working read/write API from the Big G’s end. We have showed you a workaround where you can schedule Google+ Post, but for those who wanted more integration with Facebook and Twitter, you can try G++, a browser extension currently available for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. This add-on embeds Facebook and Twitter within the Google+ page allowing you to post and browse through updates to and fro from the other two trending social platforms.
5. TweetDeck
Tweetdeck is undoubtedly the best browser-based and mobile client to stay connected to your Twitter and Facebook feeds. Be it Twitter list or Facebook like, you get notified about all of that with this free tool currently owned by Twitter. This is also a great way to share updates to both the networks with a single click. Another thing that is really great about Tweetdeck is that you can share updates from one network to another. So if you find something intriguing on Twitter, you can just share it on Facebook. Like other similar tools, Google+ support is however missing here too. Tweetdeck has a scheduling feature that however is a bit of frustration for me.
6. IFTTT
IFTTT allows you to automate (almost) any online task. In context of this article, you can get it to send a welcome note when someone follows you on Twitter or someone starts following you on Twitter. With 47 apps that can be used with IFTTT, the possibilities are endless. Despite meeting almost every possible internet automation needs, IFTTT is free.
I’m sure there are other tools present and they may have better functionality. However, as I stated earlier, these tools are those I had used for managing my social presence and is trusted by big brands as well. If you have a better tool, please help this list by contributing in the comments section. Also, I have put emphasis on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ which in true sense has defined benchmark standards for social networks. Others, like Pinterest, Path, Foursquare, Linkedin, although have a big audience, revolves around specific interests. So I have left them out too.
Image credits: Web Ninja Dojo and Stephanie Fusco.
Soumen is the founder/author for Ampercent, a tech blog that writes on computer tricks, free online tools & software guides.
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