Did you know that Agorapulse now has publishing categories aka “queue categories” or “category queues”? It’s like having a secret assistant that makes sure you never forget anything and always stay interesting– in other words, it makes you seem even smarter than you are!
If you use publishing categories for your queue the right way, you’ll get better results and engagement on social media in less time!
What Are Agorapulse Publishing Categories?
Social media is all about sharing content that will get your audience to engage. But as we all know, only a fraction of your audience sees each of your posts. Because of this, you can have fantastic content that’s never seen by the people who need it most.
Much of this content isn’t time sensitive– it’ll be just as valid a month from now as it is today. This type of content is known as “evergreen” content. In the past, the only way to share evergreen content with Agorapulse was through a long single queue set on repeat. The brand new category option changes all that. Let’s take a look at how it works.
In the “Publishing” tab, select “Queued” to create your publishing categories.
Time to get your queue set up!
1. Create a queue category name. This might be something like “recipes,” “home buying tips,” “yoga videos,” or “parenting tips” depending on your industry and the type of content you post. More on that later!
2. Make your queue visual and choose a color. This will help you easily see what’s what.
3. Craft queue rules. It’s really important that you don’t just keep posting the same content every day. Otherwise rather than looking smart, you’ll look lazy. So set guidelines about how frequently you want the same content posted. If you don’t have enough content in the queue, it means a time on your content calendar will get skipped.
4. Organize your queue. If you have already been using the queue for a while, you may have a lot of content in your general queue. Now is a great time to sort that out into your categories and create a separate schedule for each one.
What Publishing Categories Should I Use?
Take some time to brainstorm ideas. Think about the types of things that are of interest to your audience and related to your brand. Here are some examples to help you get started.
Real estate:
- Home improvement
- Landscaping ideas
- Buying and selling
- Mortgages and lending information
Food industry:
- Recipe ideas
- Facts about ingredients
- History of food
Lending or financial:
- Word of the day
- Financial planning tips
- Success stories
Always include:
- Your own blog posts
- Posts and media about your company
- Testimonials
- Promotion of your business or service
- Links to your free lead magnet giveaways
Think about the things that you talk to clients and customers about in person or over the phone. What questions do they ask? What interests to them? What will stay relevant even with the changes in your industry? Use the answers to inspire your categories.
How to Organize Your Publishing Categories in Agorapulse
Twitter is the platform that really encourages a lot of sharing. Evergreen content on Twitter can yield big results, as we found in a case study of Jeff Bullas’s Twitter account.
Category queues can really help ensure that people get consistent and varying content from you. Here is the Agorapulse Twitter queue to give you some ideas.
If you are wondering how often to post on Twitter, read these guidelines first. You can also utilize hashtag based queues to align your posts with what’s trending. For example, the hashtag #MotivationMonday trends every week, so you can create a queue of motivational tips and advice that posts every Monday.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t be organized on every platform– Facebook also benefits from evergreen content. The key is not to overload your schedule. Here’s one example.
Instagram also utilizes queues, especially now that Agorapulse can do direct scheduling to Instagram! This is a big update that has the potential to really change Instagram. The key here is to continue delivering high-value content on Instagram.
Remember to include Instagram hashtags on your scheduled posts, and to add original new content on a regular basis as well.
How Do You Make the Most of This Feature?
Like any other tool, Agorapulse content categories are only as good as you make them. The good news is that there are ways to make these really go to work for you!
- Bulk upload. You can now add posts from a CSV file all at once, so that if you have previous content created and saved, you will save a ton of time getting started.
- Review regularly. Even evergreen content sometimes needs pruning. Make sure you have a schedule (I do it on the first of each month), to review your posts, tweak them if needed, and delete ones that are no longer applicable.
- Create and shuffle. In addition to adding new content on a regular basis, you can also shuffle your content queue so that the order of the content is mixed up from time to time. This is another great way to keep your content fresh on your social media accounts and help new people see it.
- Pause when needed. Occasionally, something so big happens in your industry or the world, that nothing you have planned will be appropriate. Go ahead and use Agorapulse’s pause feature to put that queue on hold until life has returned to normal.
What Will You Do with Agorapulse Publishing Queues?
Did this article prompt some new ideas for your business? What are some of the categories you are going to create for your social media? Let us know in the comments!