Why “Set it and Forget It” Doesn’t Work on Social Media
New to the social media horizon are apps that automatically schedule and find content—slicing, dicing, and throwing it out at just the right time. Sure, the robot might sound like a good idea, but …
Author’s Note: This article originally appeared on Associations Now.
Set it and forget it.
It’s a simple sentiment with universal appeal, the one theoretical button press that could make everything easier.
And if you’re trying to cook a leg of lamb or some baby back ribs, that sort of system may just work for you. TV pitchman Ron Popeil (a man whose products I’ve put on my wedding registry, because I loooove rotisseries*) has made a good career out of pitching this sort of mentality—the idea that something should be so easy to use that you only have to check in on it when it’s ready.
But do you really want your social media presence to be defined in such a limited way?
That was the thought I had last week when I stumbled across a new social media management app called Beatrix. This app promises to do “everything a social media intern does,” a statement that assumes that social media is best handled by interns and not people with deeper knowledge of an organization. It calls itself an “Advanced Social Media Virtual Assistant,” which is a really nice way of saying “automated bot.”
If you’d like to see Beatrix in action, she’s dishing out some tweets over here on topics as diverse as dental floss, shower racks, and Microsoft.
I’m sure in a future upgrade she’ll even make Starbucks runs. Because that’s what interns supposedly do, right?
I kid, I kid. But before we hand off our social media to the robots, let’s talk this over for a second.
[But wait — there’s more! Click to read on …]
* — This statement is not true and added for comedic effect.
Ernie Smith is the editor of ShortFormBlog, a social media journalist at McMurry/TMG, and a former newspaper guy who spent rounds at papers big and small.
