4 tools to make your social media life easier

Facebook scheduling: Pick your time to shine

1If you use Facebook as your primary social media outlet, then you should take advantage of the scheduling feature Facebook recently introduced. It’s very simple to use. Enter your post, then click on the little clock icon. Select the day and time you’d like your text to post and hit schedule. So far, this is one of my favorite tools – I’ve used it quite a bit and have not run into any issues with it working properly.

Tip: The scheduling feature only works on pages, not personal profiles, and does not work with sharing someone else’s post. I hope this is something Facebook will implement in the near future.

Twitter lists: Focus on those who matter

2When you click to view a Twitter list, you’ll see a stream of tweets from only the users included in that group. The nice thing is that you don’t have to be following a Twitter user to add them to your list. This is a great way to cut through the hundreds of tweets in your stream and narrow it down to just those you really want to see.

Tip: To create a list, go to your Twitter home page and click the profile drop-down icon in the top navigation bar. To add someone to your list, go to their profile and click on the drop-down icon of the little person (next to the Follow/Following button).

Google Reader: Make the Web come to you

3Google Reader is a free service from Google that uses RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds. RSS feeds offer a simplified view of Web content down to just text, pictures and videos — minus the site’s style and formatting, which can sometimes hinder or befuddle casual reading. When you want to do a quick scan of your favorite sites, this is a real time saver.

Tip: Nearly every site has an RSS feed, and you can usually find it by scrolling around and hunting for the little RSS logo, a little orange box with three white waves.

HootSuite: Manage your accounts in one place

4I’ve long been a huge fan of HootSuite and other third-party schedulers, like Tweetdeck. The service lets you post to several different social media platforms from one site. The dashboard lets you monitor those same platforms in an easy-to-view format.

Tip: At the free level, you can add up to five social media platforms, which is enough for most people. Once you begin to use HootSuite as your team’s social media dashboard, expect to pay $5 to $15 per month per additional team member.