I found it pretty difficult to use the Schedule Bulk Messages tool in Hootsuite when I first used this feature, so I thought I would provide this guide to explain exactly how to get this working. Let me know if this has been useful to you.
First, you want to create your content to be scheduled. I used Notepad to create my content, as I encountered many problems when I tried this process in Excel. The format of the content has to be very specific and must be exactly like this:
21/10/2023 16:25,”Your Content”
Once you have created up to 50 unique messages, save the correctly formatted file as .csv -> (In Notepad) Go to ‘save as…’ from the options bar at top of application and type the desired file name, then add .csv (i.e. BulkSchedules.csv)
Then you are ready to upload the file into Hootsuite and the messages will automatically be scheduled. Go to ‘Publisher’ on the left sidebar of Hootsuite, click the ‘schedule in bulk’ button and upload your file.
You may encounter several error messages when you try to upload your file, but if you have followed my steps there should be no problems. If you do get error messages, open the file again and double check every message for formatting mistakes. Here are also a few things to check if you have encountered error messages:
- Make sure the first message is at least 10 minutes after the current time
- Only assign the messages in 5 minute periods (i.e. 4:45, 2:30 etc -> not 2:37)
- Two messages cannot be scheduled for the same time so only assign one message per unique date and time
- Each message has to be unique -> you cannot schedule the same for different times using this tool
- Only 200 concurrent scheduled messages are allowed -> you can also not upload more than 50 unique messages per file
Once your file has been successfully uploaded, click on the ‘Publisher’ tab on the left sidebar of Hootsuite and click on the ‘schedule’ option to see that your bulk messages have been scheduled.
Are there any other features or tools in Hootsuite that you have had problems with? Tell me about them and I will be happy to write a similar article for your issue.
