Schedule Your Social Media Posts: A Guide to Online Post-Planners

Posting content to social media is time consuming, and surprisingly effort intensive when done on a regular basis. The rest of this post will discuss some time management options in regard to scheduling pre-designed social media posts through a few different post scheduling services.

What They Do:

Post-planners are used mainly so that people can pre-schedule their social media posts for an entire day, week, month - all in one sitting. Kind of a 'set-it, and forget-it' option for your social media posting strategy.

Scheduling Options Mentioned in this Post:

1. Buffer
2. Hootsuite
3. Socialoomph
4. Pagemodo
5. dlvr.it
6. For Pinterest: Tailwind
7. For Instagram: Latergram

Buffer & Hootsuite

Needless to say there's a lot of options out there in regard to post planning tools. I thought I would try to write this post which advocates time management techniques, with time management in mind so...if you're looking for 2 sites that will post to a variety of social networks, you might try either:

• Bufferapp.com - Check out their 'About' page here: bufferapp.com/about

• Hootsuite.com - Checkout their 'About' page here: hootsuite.com/about

You'll notice that if you search around in these sites, that they are set-up a bit differently. I have found Buffer to be more user-friendly and Hootsuite to be a bit more all-encompassing. I have heard positive feedback regarding both sites, though I find Buffer to be easier to navigate through.

Without a subscription, both Buffer & Hootsuite still let you connect and share to one of each: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google Plus Business Pages (and additional social platforms which vary between the two sties).

• For more information regarding these post planning tools you might try this link: bit.ly/1AVVBTg - for an article by Social Media Today.

More Scheduling Options

Socialoomph & Pagemodo

• Socialoomph: I have used this site mainly for sharing, scheduling and analyzing my Twitter account, though I believe they have added additional sharing features. The array of specifically Twitter related features available on Socialoomph.com is impressive to say the least. If you are looking for options, I would suggest giving them a quick look. For more info on this site try their 'About Us' section here: www.socialoomph.com/about - Or you might try this 2012 article from PC World at: bit.ly/1CTqFUy.  

• Pagemodo: I have used Pagemodo primarily for its Facebook features and tools. They also let you connect and post to a variety of social media accounts as well. If you're looking for some custom Facebook design tools in addition to a post scheduling planner you might give Pagemodo a try. Try their 'About Us' page here: www.pagemodo.com/about-us 

Sharing & Scheduling Your Blog Posts with Dlvr.it

Just about all of your standard blogging sites like Blogger, Wordpress or Tumblr for example have their own post scheduling options as built-in features. However, if you wanted to try an outside service which connects, schedules, and shares your blog entries to an array of social media sites you might consider Dlvr.it - which helps you to distribute your blog posts to any variety of social media sites.

For more information concerning this site, you might consider this article from: Practice eCommerce - found at: bit.ly/1zJHqz2 - which explains how to use Dlvr.it in greater detail. The article is a bit older from (2012), but well put together.

Specialty Scheduling Tools

Scheduling Options for Instagram and Pinterest Respectively

For Pinterest scheduling try: Tailwind - found at: www.tailwindapp.com

• As far as I know, the only way to schedule posts to your Pinterest account is through a website called Tailwind. If you're looking for cool Pinterest features, Pinterest analytics and/or Pinterest auto-posting, Tailwind is your best bet, really easy to use and dare I say...fun!

For Instagram scheduling try: Latergram - found at: www.latergram.me

• Like Tailwind with Pinterest, Latergram helps you schedule posts to your Instagram account, along with some other cool features.

Summary

There are indeed quite a few options out there. Of all the sites listed above, I would probably recommend Bufferapp.com for its ease of use, versatility, and available features.

Tailwind and Latergram offer some cool scheduling features but those features are unique to Pinterest and Instagram respectively.

I hope this blog article was helpful and that it helped give you some ideas for online tools, which can help you time-hack your way to a happier schedule.

*Disclaimer: I am not associated with any of the Websites or companies listed in this blog post, which is intended for educational purposes.

A Few Simple Tips for Adapting Your Google Plus Profile to a Global Audience

Google Plus is a great social platform to develop a following, and by adopting a few basic adaptations to your profile and posting strategy it is remarkably easy to develop a diverse array of followers.

Set Your Language Settings

An often overlooked (free) feature available via Google Plus is use of their Google Translate application, which is built-in directly for desktop users.

Give the Translate Feature a Try

To use the translate feature, just make sure that your language settings are defaulted to your native language by visiting your account settings: http://www.google.com/settings/account - & clicking on language. Once your language settings are defaulted to your language of choice, you'll notice a translate button at the bottom left hand corner of any public posts written in other languages.

Note: As far as I know the Translate option is only available for posts in a desktop setting, but they do have a mobile app for Android and iTunes, linked below if you wanted to check them out.

• Android App Store on Google Play: http://goo.gl/wpdBy

• iTunes: http://goo.gl/CRrXA

There is also a desktop app to visit at: https://translate.google.com

Photos Help

It can be tough to tell if you want to follow an account which is entirely in another language. The information shared may be offensive or something you fundamentally disagree with.

A filtering system I have had success with on Google Plus is to scroll through user posts and look for images that are safe or normal looking (think cute cats, landscapes or comic illustrations for example) - 9 times out of 10 they are generally a safe account to follow and be followed by.

It's kind of a silly trick, but also a good method to use in your own posting strategy to help foreign-speaking followers know that you're a safe or un-offensive account to follow as well. A 'safe' picture is worth a thousand words :)

Summary

Aside from adding a bit of diversity to your standard posts, photos like the one above have a way of disarming your social persona at a casual glance. And just about anyone, regardless of the language they speak can recognize and appreciate images like this one - Essentially these just make it easier for people to engage with you on Google Plus regardless of their native dialect.

It's also a bit easier to 'Plus 1' a photo-post than to read a written content post...in any language actually, so photo posting on Google Plus is a way to give others something to 'Plus 1' on your profile without having to link into a separate blog or outside website.

Language Settings

Setup your language account settings at: http://www.google.com/settings/account to enable the 'Translate' feature for Public posts.

Join Communities Relevant to Your Interests

Also, by adding some diversity to your standard posts (based on other hobbies or interests you may have) will help to broaden your follower-base and aid you in finding new networks in the form of Communities to join - which are the real secret to gaining a follower base on this social network, but that's for another post :).

I hope this was helpful and that anyone reading this is having a great day - Cheers!

Where to Find and Create Customized Email Signatures

You may know that most popular email services like Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL and Outlook let you create custom email signatures directly through their user settings. In each of these services you can format your signature and add links to improve the design a bit. But if you're looking for a more professional look to your email signature, you may consider a service called: Wisestamp - which integrates directly with Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL and/or Live, Outlook or Hotmail.

Signature Options:

After creating a free account with your Facebook or Email, you'll find their page setup is pretty straight forward in regard to filling in your details:

You'll see your entries reflected on a preview screen as you enter your info: 

Adding Social Media Profiles

You'll notice as you scroll down on the main screen a few additional options on the left-hand column. When you get to 'Social Profiles' simply click their 'Add another profile' link to add a variety of social media accounts & other online stores, videos & portfolio sites:

Depending on the type of email correspondence you plan to use this signature for, you'll want to pick relevant accounts to link. For example, non-professional email signatures may have links to your personal social profiles or fun YouTube or Pinterest accounts, whereas professional signatures may link to your LinkedIn profile or other online portfolio sites like Behance. If you click on the 'Add another profile' link you'll find a pop-up menu listing a variety of platforms to link to:

If you hover your mouse over any of the icons listed above while logged into the Wisestamp website, a little menu will popup, telling you the website which each icon represents. In the event you may not be familiar with the websites represented by these icons, I threw an arguably helpful chart together, which corresponds to the icons above:

LinkedIn	Facebook	Twitter	Pinterest	Google+	YouTube	Instagram
Vimeo	Google Search	Google Maps	Tumblr	Wordpress	Flickr	Picasa
Ebay	Amazon	Reddit	MeetUp	500px	Behance	deviantArt
Angel List	Google Drive	Google Play	Apple	Dribble	FB Page	VKontakte
About Me	Blogger	Blog RSS	Elance	Etsy	Klout	Foursquare
Slideshare	Soundcloud	Stackoverflow	Vine	Trulia	Zillow	Wix
Yelp	Ello	Goldmail

If you'd like do a quick search on any of these sites, you can try entering them into the search bar below, to find more info about most of them:

Extra Options

A final option you may consider, can be found by scrolling below your social icon options. These 'apps' offer additional features you might consider. For instance, you may want to feature your latest YouTube video, Amazon Book, or latest Tweet below your signatures. They have some really clever design features that you can easily mess around with until you find a combination you like. A few of their options are displayed in a screenshot below:

These features are totally optional, so if you find it makes your signature look a bit cluttered, that's something to think about. In the image above you'll notice a tiny down-facing arrow highlighted - if you click there a drop-down display menu will appear with different applications you can sort through:

A Few Generic Examples

It doesn't take more than a minute to throw together a few different designs. Their service is free to one signature, but enhanced with a subscription

The examples above took just a minute, but if you take your time with their design features you can make some unique and creative signatures, save them to your email account of choice, and never have to worry about it again. The last image is broken down by section:

1: Personal or Business Details

2: Picture or Logo

3: Linked Social Media Profiles

4: Application: Causes

I hope this blog post helped to demonstrate a few ways you can use Wisestamp to generate a customized email signature. 

Disclaimer*: I am not affiliated with the company Wisestamp or any of the other services or businesses listed in this blog post, which is intended for educational purposes. Thank you :)

A Beginners Guide to Email Signatures

Most email services (Gmail, Outlook/Hotmail, Yahoo! & iCloud) allow you to create personalized email signature to be automatically included at the end of each of your emails via their settings tabs. In the rest of this blog post, I'll show you where you can locate in your settings, email signature options for Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! and iCloud.

Why You Might Use One

Creating a pre-made signature is just another time management strategy you might adopt to make your online life a little bit easier. It's really just a simple short-cut giving you the option of appearing more professional through your email correspondence.

How to Set Them Up

Gmail

1: Log into your Gmail Account
2: Look to the top right corner of your Inbox - Locate and Click the 'Settings' Tab:

3: Click on your 'Settings' tab, locate and select 'Settings'

4: Scroll down until you find the 'Signature' Section

5: Fill in your Signature

6: Add Links

6: When you're done, keep scrolling to the bottom of your screen, find and click 'Save' & your done :)

Using Outlook / Microsoft

1: Login to your Outlook/Live or Hotmail account

2: Once logged in, find and click on the settings tab - upper right corner of your screen

3: Select 'Options' from the dropdown menu

4: Locate and Click on 'Formatting, font and signatures'

5: Fill in your signature, click 'Save' & you're all set

From Yahoo!

1: Log into your Yahoo! Account

2: From your Email Inbox Homescreen, locate and click on your 'Settings' tab in the upper right corner of your screen, it looks like:

3: Locate and click on 'Settings'

4: On the next screen select 'Writing Email' (#1 in the image below) from the left hand column of your screen, to fill in and save your email signature:

Setup Your Signature on iCloud

1: Login to your iCloud Account

2: From Your Home Screen, select the 'Mail' option

3: When the next screen appears, scan to the lower left-hand corner of your screen to locate and click on the settings tab, which once again looks like:

4: Select 'Preferences' from the dropup menu which appears

5: Select 'Composing' 

6: Fill in your Signature and Click 'Done' - You're all set :)

A Quick Takeaway

Whether you're using Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo!, or Icloud as your email client, you can setup your own signature directly through these email services. To locate your signature editing options in any of these services, you just need to locate the settings icon, which looks like a little cog, and is usually located in the upper right hand corner of your screen except for in iCloud where it's in the lower left hand corner

More Info:

A really great email signature web service is at: wisestamp.com which embeds directly into Outlook, Gmail & Yahoo (Not iCloud as of the date of this post). Try their about page at: http://bit.ly/1AfzZvD

You can also try this article: '101 Email Signature Formatting Do's and Don'ts' - from www.xink.io located at: http://bit.ly/17I65te for some helpful formatting tips.

*Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the services, businesses or websites mentioned in this blog post, which is designed for educational purposes. Thank you :)