I am an Independent Author who specializes in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Just wrote my first book! (CERBERUS: From Hatred Born) I hope these tools I have learned to use also help you!
My Website: www.jycalcano.com
My Twitter: @JYCalcanoauthor Twitter Account Page
My Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/GoodreadsCerberus
My Facebook: Facebook
Blog: http://www.jycalcano.blogspot.com
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POST #8: HOOTSUITE BULK MESSAGING EXPLAINED
So, you bit the bullet and bought a $10 a month ($9.99)
subscription to Hootsuite. Perhaps you want to use some special features, or
another. Perhaps you are like me and
want to schedule messages in bulk –making your life easier while creating
exposition for your products and name over multiple social media at the same
time.
If that’s the case, the question becomes: How do I schedule
Bulk Messaging?
Though there might be other ways to do it, this is how I, a
total noob, do it.
Method II: Bulk Messaging using Hootsuite.
First of all go to the Publisher Window and select Bulk
Message Upload (Orange Square)
That should bring up this Bulk Schedule Updates window. Its an interesting and somewhat confusing
window full of instructions:
SO, from the top:
- The PURPLE SQUARE is where you upload a .csv file (comma-separated-value) from your computer, establish which format your .csv file is using for the date and time (mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm), and the Social Networks you want to post the messages on.
- The BLUE SQUARE demarks rules for acceptable .csv formats for Hootsuite AND posting rules.
- The RED SQUARE is the scroll bar. I mark it because it is hard to see and because I use it as part of this tutorial.
- The SMALL RED SQUARE is a Hootsuite formatted Downloadable Sample .csv file to help beginners (like us) establish acceptable Bulk Messaging Files. It is EXTREMELY useful.
I strongly recommend reading the instructions BLUE
SQUARE, but note that they aren’t exactly super clear.
Let’s get into practical help.
STEP 1: Use the scroll bar (RED SQUARE) and reveal the
‘Download Sample .csv’ marked by the SMALL RED SQUARE. The actual file name will be ‘bulk-schedule-sample.csv’. Download it
to wherever you feel more comfortable.
STEP 2: Open the ‘bulk-schedule-sample.csv’
file using your spreadsheet program. I use Microsoft Excel (Because as a writer
it is a Gold Standard for me) but Open Office has a nice spreadsheet program as
well that is completely free. You choose.
SAMPLE BULK MESSAGE SPREADSHEET
- BLUE LINE (COLUMN A)– The date and time of each message.
- ORANGE LINE (COLUMN B)– The general content of your message.
- GREEN LINE (COLUMN C)– Website URL that Hootsuite will shrink automatically. (We went over URL format differences in POST #7)
- In short, you set the date and time for each individual message. (COLUMN A)
- Write out the message content including URLs that you DO NOT want shrunk (I put my Tiny URL links here) (COLUMN B)
- If you want automatic URL shrinking you put the URL here. (COLUMN C)
IMPORTANT CRITICAL LIMITATION FOR BULK
MESSAGING: You cannot attach pictures into the .CSV bulk message format file. (I really don’t like this) BUT there is a trick using DROPBOX links
that helps you do this! Here is the
link for the trick:
Here is an example of my own .CSV bulk message file. (Always
remember to save this file as .CSV comma-separated-values. Excel doesn’t do
this automatically.)
As you can see I did the following:
1.
Set my date and time in column A following the
date/format (mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm). Each date and time is unique and follows the
date/time rules leaving more than 10 minutes between each post AND ending on a ‘5’
or a ‘0’.
2.
Set my message content in column B. Each message
is UNIQUE and does not exactly repeat
other messages.
3.
Left column C empty because I put my URLs into
Column B. I LIKE my meaningful URL links. No automatic URL shrinking for me!
STEP 3: Go back to your Bulk Schedule
Updates window:
- Find the prepared .CSV generated file in your computer and select it. (ORANGE SQUARE)
- Choose your social media. (Remember I use Twitter as an example and conform my messages to Twitter limitations) (RED SQUARE)
- VERIFY that you are using the correct date/time format corresponding to the format IN your .CSV file (RED SQUARE)
- Cross your fingers and SUBMIT. (RED SQUARE)
- If you did everything right, THIS is what should come up! (GREEN SQUARE)
- YOU’RE DONE!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!
This concludes my Hootsuite Bulk Messaging Tutorial for Noobs! (like me)
I hope it was
helpful! ROCK ON!
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I am an Independent Author who specializes in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Just wrote my first book! (CERBERUS: From Hatred Born) I hope these tools I have learned to use also help you!
My Website: www.jycalcano.com
My Twitter: @JYCalcanoauthor Twitter Account Page
My Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/GoodreadsCerberus
My Facebook: Facebook
Blog: http://www.jycalcano.blogspot.com
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