I’ve been a fan of beatrixapp.com since I signed up two weeks ago (this article is responsible for my action!) This app is a “virtual social media assistant” that takes all the legwork out of posting to your Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, so you don’t have to.
Beatrix isn’t just a post-scheduling app; it’s an intuitive virtual assistant that will go out and find relevant content on the Internet for you, based on your industry-type and keywords that can then be posted to your social accounts on predetermined days, at random times.
Although it’s not a “set-and-forget” app, Beatrix saves hours of the tedious work of going out and finding content ideas for me to post on my social channels, allowing me to do what’s important – strategizing on what will work best for my social media campaigns.
One feature that was a welcome relief was the ability to add your own personalized posts into the mix.
At its release, Beatrix only created posts for your social accounts based on the industry and keywords you selected. This initial drawback made it necessary to also have a separate post-scheduling app for posting content about specific product releases and sites I wanted to send a link to.
Now you can add in your own personally-written posts as well, linking to specific sources, and upload your own pictures, videos, etc. This is a great way to mix your own product launches and other marketing material into the natural flow of the posts the Beatrix assistants create for you automatically.
No, it’s not a “virtual robot”
Take a look at the sample posts on this page: http://beatrixapp.com/use-cases/business
The app obviously has real human beings working behind the scenes. The posts are always different, with catchy natural headlines that get people clicking. Indeed, Beatrix’ content is curated by real people.
No, it’s not “yet another HootSuite clone”
I understand that Beatrix’s services sound like HootSuite, but if you learn a bit more about it, there is a world of difference between the two social media management platforms.
Firstly, HootSuite lets you manage your social activities with your own content whereas Beatrix lets you manage yours with curated content suggested by your VAs.
Secondly, Beatrix lets you choose what to publish via an intuitive keyword selection tool, whereas HootSuite relies on your own judgement with regard to what content to publish.
The bottom line, Beatrix focuses on freedom. HootSuite focuses on control. Your choice. I choose the former.
Customized plans for different needs
The two main benefits to using Beatrix is the low monthly cost and post quality.
Intern:
With the base Intern package, you get the services of a single, friendly virtual intern, who’ll create all your posts for the week using 5 custom keywords of your choosing. Custom RSS feeds and automatic reports aren’t offered at this level, but it only costs $15 a month too.
Assistant:
Spending $20 a month for Beatrix’s Assistant level service will give you more features and double the custom keywords. This level still utilizes the services of a single virtual intern, but allows you 10 custom keywords instead of 5.
Assistant also allows you to add up to 10 specific RSS feeds that you want your assistant to base their posts from. You also get automatic reports delivered to your email on a monthly basis, which details how many likes and comments your posts received.
Manager:
The $30 per month Manager level really kicks your social posting up a couple of notches – literally. You get the services of 3 virtual assistants instead of 1, which further refines your posting schedule and content diversity.
You get everything you would with the Intern and Assistant packages, but can add up to 15 custom keywords, and 15 custom RSS feeds you want the assistants to draw posting topics from. Of course you also get automatic reports delivered to your inbox every month too.
Agency:
The Agency level package is for those of you who need minute-to-minute posts to keep your followers intrigued. The $100 monthly fee is easily justified when you consider that you’ll have all the features of the other three, but with 10 virtual assistants at your disposal.
Included is also a whopping 20 custom keywords, and 20 custom RSS feeds that can be used to ‘coach’ your virtual interns with.
Why I use the Beatrix app
I’ve been involved in online business for 8 years and I’ve done many trial-and-errors, mainly in task outsourcing. I work with a couple of virtual assistants, and tempted to hire a virtual social media assistant the Chris Drucker way, but Beatrix solve these “managerial” problems for me:
1. Hire a cheap VA from overseas to research and create relevant posts.
The problem here is the need for training, monitoring, staff turnover, and the obvious grammar and spelling errors that could damage my reputation with followers.
2. Hire a fluent English speaker for higher-quality posts.
The problem here is the same as using a foreign VA, but with the added expenses that come with having a fluent speaker on staff. The added language quality is worth the expense, but it’s easy to blow your budget quickly with this option.
3. Hire a social media posting service.
This option is rife with potential issues. It can be expensive, but you also have little control over the content or who’s posting it. I’ve used many of these kinds of services and you always end up getting just what you pay for (perhaps much less than you paid for.) A service company offers better posting frequency and quality content if you’re ready to pull your wallet out, but most of them start at $100 for an entry level service offering on or two daily posts. Sure, you could pay pennies, but most likely than not, what you pay is what you get: Cheap service almost always equal low quality.
Considering that I wanted quality, human posts that add real value to my followers, I knew I couldn’t hire a cheap VA from overseas to do this task. I also couldn’t afford to pay a native speaker an hourly or per-post fee. Both of these options left me at the mercy of the assistant, who could flake out any time, “get sick”, or demand pay raises constantly and cut into my budget. Asking for accurate reports would be a problem too, due to human error and/or the assistant fabricating positive stats to boost their worth.
Hiring a reliable and reputable service is the only other option outside of the Beatrix app, and many of the top companies do provide excellent reporting with their services. However, this could be very costly to get even a post or two every day, and many of them simply recycle/reuse their posts and links across multiple customers – making the finished posts look very generic and uninspiring for my followers.
Verdict
So in conclusion, I like Beatrix because of the pricing options – that’s a given. But even more so, I like their API and the freedom to allow the virtual assistant(s) to create posts based on my custom keywords and content from RSS feeds that relate to my businesses, while also being able to mix in my own posts whenever I want to.
Beatrix sends me a new posting schedule at the start of every week. I can add my own posts in to the mix, and remove posts they have scheduled which I don’t like. The app is very intuitive, and uses both authority and lesser-known sources to make my posts look as natural as possible.
There are some possible alternatives, but I just enjoy how things go with Beatrix. It’s a personal preference, really.
I strongly recommend Beatrix – just take the 14-day free trial, no catch, to see whether the app will cater your needs.