Publer Takes the Effort out of Managing Your Social Media
It’s my favourite tool for managing my social media accounts
In this Article, I will Tell You:
- What Publer is
- Which social media accounts are supported
- Publer’s platforms
- What I like about Publer
- How I create and deliver social media posts
- How to create content faster with AI
- How to use Spintax formatting so X posts can be repeated indefinitely
- How to use Publer to automatically post to social media at least once per day
- How to identify which of your posts are getting the most engagement
- How to organise your accounts into workspaces
- How to work in a structured team
- Support when you need it
- How to get Publer
- Final thoughts
What is Publer?
Publer is a service that allows you to manage your social media accounts.
It’s a real time (and effort) saver for social media marketing agencies, marketing staff, small businesses or even individuals looking to maximise their output.
I don’t have the time to create and post content onto multiple social media accounts every day, so I use Publer to simplify and automate the process.
Write Once, Read Many (WORM)
This is the phrase I think of when using Publer, when I write one post that will be sent to (and read from) multiple social networks.
Publer handles all the formatting (including images) for you. You can edit each media account separately if you want
Publer’s Platforms
The primary way to use Publer is from their website https://publer.io.
They don’t have a PC based app, one isn’t needed.
For on-the-go monitoring and posting, they have a mobile app. This doesn’t have the full functionality, but they are adding new features all the time.
This video gives an overview of how to use Publer:
What I like about Publer
I’ve been using Publer since July 2020 as my primary tool for creating and sharing content on social media.
The user interface is clear and easy to use, enabling quick and easy access to all the functionality and options available. This also provides a logical workflow.
When writing posts, it shows you a live preview of each of the social media networks you will be posting to and it provides notifications and warnings for each network, such as character length and image formats.
Adding social media accounts is done with just a few clicks of a mouse, as is setting up preferred posting schedules.
With an intuitive user interface, team features, workspaces and a recycle feature to enable posts to be repeated forever, it has everything you need to ‘set and forget’ posts.
It allows you to:
- Post a single message to multiple accounts at the same time (it formats them all for you and provides previews)
- Define times you want to post to each account (or let Publer choose for you)
How I Create and Deliver Social Media Posts
I schedule posts via Publer to publicise and promote my personal brand, websites and services. Often, I want posts to recur for a few weeks (e.g. monthly blog updates) or indefinitely.
Creating the Text
If I want to promote a blog post or article, I will either write the text myself, or use this ChatGPT command and paste the article:
Create a promotional Tweet (up to 280 characters) for this article. Also include relevant hashtags.
<paste the article here>
I specify up to 280 characters because that’s the maximum number of characters allowed in a Tweet. X has the least number of characters available, so the text will also be suitable for other social media networks.
If the post isn’t a one-off, I include Spintax formatting. Some social networks (such as X) don’t allow you to post the same text multiple times, so Spintax allows you to get around this restriction.
Spintax is used to dynamically change the text each time the post is delivered, using this format:
Text {variant 1 | variant 2 | variant 3} more text
You can specify 2 or more variants, with as much text as you like. Here’s an example:
I am {very | really} happy to {announce | say | tell you} that I went on {holiday | a trip} to {Italy | Rome} and {food | bread | pizza | pasta} there was amazing!
I modify the command in ChatGPT to tell it to include Spintax formatting:
Create a promotional Tweet (up to 280 characters) for this article, include Spintax formatting to create multiple variants. Also include relevant hashtags.
<paste the article here>
Information and Issues
Whilst writing the post, the editor will show any information or issues relevant to your posts. This could include:
- The text is too long for one or more of the social networks
- The image used it too small/large (or the wrong format) for one or more of the social networks
- etc.
Include Shortcodes
Shortcodes are variables that you can set up, to save time when writing posts.
I use them for website addresses and hashtags.
Adding Hashtags
I ask ChatGPT to create hashtags and will often use these, although if you enter text into Publer and use their Hashtag function, it will review the post, provide hashtag suggestions and show you the popularity of each.
Adding Images
Images can be uploaded from your computer or cloud-based services, Unsplash, Giphy, Canva, VistaCreate or Publer AI (text to image generation).
I usually source images from Depositphotos. They provide high-quality images at a low price. They are less frequently seen than images from free sites such as Unsplash.
Live Preview
The live preview feature sits right next to the post I’m editing. It shows what the post will look like (including an image) for each social media account. it includes the final Spintax text.
Posting Schedule
I generally post at these schedules:
- Next scheduled time: You can define set times, multiple times per day for each of your social accounts. If posting a single post, I often let Publer post it at the next scheduled time (you can choose to post immediately). Using the ‘next scheduled time’ allows me to write a post and not be impatient about sending it too early or too late for my audience.
- Limited schedule: Some content needs to be posted every week for 3–4 weeks. An example of this are the monthly blog posts I write for OKZest, in which I explain what we have worked on each month.
- Indefinite schedule: Most of my posts fall into this schedule. They are links to articles or features that I want to promote. I set them to post every 1 or 2 months, indefinitely, Publer uses a ‘First In, First Out’ queue system, which works well. I ensure I have enough posts so at least one is sent per day
- Special occasions: I have posts scheduled for events such as New Years Day, fireworks day, Halloween, New Years Eve, etc.
Recycling Posts
I have a ‘bucket’ of posts that will be sent on a semi-regular basis (e.g. weekly/monthly/bi-monthly). The difference between ‘Recycle’ and ‘Recurring’ is that whilst ‘Recurring’ ensures that the post will be delivered at a defined schedule, ‘Recycle’ places the ‘next post from the bucket’ into the timeslot. I have over 31 posts (around 60 now as I keep adding more) in the ‘bucket’ to ensure that my accounts post at least 1 thing every day — I set most of them to only post if nothing else has been posted.
Calendar
The calendar view allows me to see all the posts that have been delivered, as well as all the posts that are planned to be sent.
Analytics
The analytics features of Publer allow you to view important metrics, including:
- How your social media accounts are growing over time
- Which of your posts are getting the most engagement (e.g. views, likes and shares)
- Which days and times your posts get the most engagement
This information helps you to understand your audience, to better grow and engage with them.
Workspaces
Workspaces enable you to segment your social media accounts into logical groupings. I have 3 workspaces for:
- Personal social media accounts: For my entertainment and engagement
- OKZest: A SaaS I have created with my brother, for adding personalised text onto images
- Rags Boutique: A brick and mortar fashion store owned by my sister-in-law
Working in a Team
Collaborative, organised working is supported with different user roles:
- Owner
- Administrators
- Editors
- Clients
These roles provide peace of mind that your co-workers and clients will only be able to see content and perform actions you want them to. This increases trust and reliability, whilst improving workflow.
Here is an overview of each role:
Editors
- “Full posting access” or “should be approved by Admin” access on the assigned social accounts (specified by the owner or an admin)
- Edit, delete & publish their own posts
- View other members posts for the assigned social accounts
- View insights for the assigned social accounts
- Have access to all tabs on Publer, i.e. Create, Posts, Calendar, Media Library, RSS Feeds, Content, and Analytics
- On the Media Library they can delete ONLY their own media
Administrators
All Editor’s permissions, plus:
- View, add, modify and remove editors
- Add new social accounts to the workspace when specified by the Owner
- Assign the social accounts they have access to, to other members
- Modify settings for the assigned social accounts, such as Link in Bio, URL shorteners, UTM parameters, Watermarks, Signatures, Posting schedules, and so on
- Approve posts for the assigned social accounts
- Edit, delete & publish other member’s posts for the assigned social accounts
- Have access to all tabs on Publer, i.e. Create, Posts, Calendar, Media Library, RSS Feeds, Content, and Analytics
- On the Media Library they can delete any media
Clients
A Client can have many different privileges, which are specified by the Owner.
A Client with full access would have the following privileges:
- Add new social accounts to the workspace
- View, add, modify and remove posts
- Approve/decline posts for the assigned social accounts
- Edit, delete & publish other member’s posts for the assigned social accounts
- Have access to all tabs on Publer, i.e. Create, Posts, Calendar, Media Library, RSS Feeds, Content, and Analytics
- On the Media Library they can delete ONLY their own media
Owners
All Admin’s and Editor’s permissions, plus:
- Edit workspace name & picture
- View billing details
- Add & delete social accounts
- Add, modify, and remove Admins and Clients
- Have full access to all tabs on Publer
Support when You Need It
Their documentation that is easy to find and read.
On the few times I’ve had questions or needed support, I used their live chat feature, which has truly been first class every time. I was even on a live chat with their CEO, Ervin Kalemi when I reported an issue (which they quickly fixed). I’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes for someone to reply on live chat — and each person has been very helpful.
How to Get Publer
Head over to the Publer website and sign up for a free account, or a Business/Professional account which both come with a 14 day money-back guarantee.
Final Thoughts
In this article I have given you a glimpse into how and why I use Publer. It has many useful and timesaving features I haven’t discussed, such as bulk posting via a CSV file and link shortening. The best way to get to know Publer is to try it.
I highly recommend it for both personal and business use.
By the Way…
If you are a social media marketer, check out my web service OKZest (read why and how I built OKZest).
With OKZest you can add personalised text onto images, using merge tags. The images can be used in emails, social media messages, chatbots, websites, etc.
Personalised images are proven to increase user attention, engagement and click-through rates.
Want More?
If you liked this, you might also like my Essential Guide to Creating a Website Landing Page.
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