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Meet Edgar. He’s an octopus who just so happens to be a social media wizard. (Really, it’s a social media curation + scheduling app that allows you to automate your social updates like no other third party app out there.) It currently supports Twitter, Facebook personal profiles, Groups, and Page, and LinkedIn. And it just so happens it’s branded with an octopus full of personality.
Edgar seems to come up in any and every conversation I have about digital marketing -- because he’s just that good.
What Edgar is
Created by the LKR team, Edgar is, in their words, “the only app that stops social media updates from going to waste.” Tall task, wouldn’t you say? Well, he lives up to it.
Here’s how it (he) works: you create content and add it into your back end library in Edgar, organizing it by category. Once you’ve built a library of updates, you create posting schedules on a nifty calendar for each account you’ve set up. At the times you’ve specified, Edgar will choose an update from the designated category and post it to your account(s).
Here’s how that looks:
1. I have several categories set up in my library.
2. I create a schedule for each account I’ve linked up with Edgar.
3. Edgar pulls the needed updates from your library and creates a queue.
It’s genius, yeah? Edgar effectively automates your social media -- but leaves you in control. You create the categories, determine the schedule, and have the ability to view the queue days in advance and swap updates as needed.
That’s the basic gist of Edgar’s functionality. Here are some nitty gritty details that make him even more awesome:
Take advantage of the ‘Use Once’ category. Sure, most of the content you’ll load into Edgar will be evergreen content or content that has a decent lifespan (since that is the point of revolving it, after all). But not everything you want to post should be repeated. No worries -- just choose the default “Use Once” category, and Edgar will know not to go back to that particular update once it’s been used.
Batch upload with import functionality. If you’re a Google Doc addict like some of us (ahem, Cristina and I here at OWS), you like to collaborate via shared documents before finalizing anything. Fret not: you can draft those social media updates in a spreadsheet and use the Import button to bring them all in at once.
Take a break. Let’s say you’re going on vacation or just want to go dark for a while. Or perhaps you want all of your social content to point to something like a launch (like we did for Building Your Online Community!). There’s a handy “Pause Queue” button that freezes Edgar and his revolving content and makes it ridiculously easy to pick up right where you left off when you’re ready.
Add photos. Edgar doesn’t just support plain text updates. With a handy “Add Image” button for each new update you add, you have the ability to easily enhance your post.
See how you’re doing. Edgar’s got a built-in statistics dashboard that’ll give you a quick glimpse at how each of your posts are performing. After all, social media requires strategy -- and strategy requires metrics to benchmark yourself on.
Those are just some of the features -- the fun doesn’t stop there.
The most grateful octopus you ever did meet
There are different perceptions on what good customer service is, but I think every user of Edgar can agree: Team Edgar nails it. Beyond easy email access to the Edgar pros, the team also runs an “Edgar HQ” Facebook Group where there’s a fair share of learning and celebrating going on. The best part of all this access? The team is incredibly receptive to requests for upgrades to their own application. In less than a year since launch (I’ve been a user since day 1!), I’ve seen countless changes made based directly on user requests -- a true testament to caring about your customers.
Okay, okay. I’ve got one last thing to gush about. You see, Edgar is just downright grateful to have you as a user -- and it shows. I was glowing a bit the day this came in the mail: his response to my Facebook post about him. What a guy! (The back had my post printed out with hearts surrounding it, and a note that “Edgar loves you, too!”)
Things to keep in mind
Naturally, nobody’s perfect -- even this little guy. A few things to keep in mind as you consider the use of Edgar:
1. He’s not exactly a cheap date. It’s up to you to weigh both the time he’ll save you in streamlining your social media as well as the benefit of having a consistent presence with the price tag. There are two account levels: $49/month for up to 10 accounts and 1,000 stored updates, and $99 for up to 25 accounts and 5,000 stored updates. On the fence? Request an invitation (average wait time is 24 hours or less!) and give a 30-day trial period a go.
2. He’s not the be-all, end-all. Like most things, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. When it comes to social media monitoring and engagement, automation is fantastic to keep things consistent, but checking in live on a regular basis to respond to and interact with others is paramount to an honest, successful social strategy. For that, we layer on Hootsuite and the native Twitter app, as needed. (And TweetChat for our monthly #OWSchat, of course!)
What Edgar means for social media
For a solopreneur running the rat race of serving clients, creating new revenue streams, and handling all the day-to-day happenings of running a One Woman Shop, Edgar means a stress-free approach to social media management and consistency in your social media marketing.
Oh -- and it means for the first time ever, you can call an octopus your friend.
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This is SUCH a fantastic review. Thanks so much, Sara! And thanks for the shoutout to our customer service team – they really do work magic, and Edgar wouldn’t be the same without them!
Thanks for commenting, Amanda! A fantastic review is easy to write when the product is absolutely awesome. And the customer service team deserves all the love!