Craigslist Scheduler Tool

Craigslist Scheduler Tool:

Welcome to the Craigslist Scheduler Training! The Craigslist Scheduler will allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time.

Scheduling a Post

The first step would be to create your profile. Each profile is related to a different location that you would like to post your unit to. This means that if you would like a unit to be advertised in both Tallahassee as well as Atlanta, you would have to schedule it twice, once for each profile.

To add a profile, click on the Add button and fill out the required fields regarding your contact information as well as the location you would like to post to. We recommend that you make the profile name, the name of the city you selected.

Under Settings, please choose your posting city. This field is what will tell the system which city or region you would like to post to. You might notice that there are cities that are not options in the dropdown and this is because Craigslist does not have profiles for every city. In this case, we would recommend that you choose the closest city or region to the one of your choice.

The default post category will tell the system which Craigslist category you would like your unit to show in. You will notice that the prices differ depending on the category.

Under Contact Info, you will choose whether or not you would like to receive notifications regarding leads through email. If yes, make sure to select CL Relay.

Under Limit Images, you can select how many images of your unit will be displayed on your Craigslist post. Our recommendation is generally to select “do not limit”, this way, any pictures that you have under the My Inventory section for that particular unit, will also be advertised on Craigslist.

The autoposting configuration allows you to take a more hands off approach by allowing you to select how many posts you would like the system to create as well as select how many hours in between each and when you would like the system to initiate the posting.

This setting is mainly beneficial if you will be making constant use of Craigslist so if you don’t tend to utilize the platform often, or if it’s the first time you will be utilizing it, we recommend to not turn this setting on.

The Enable overlay on CL field allows you to have your overlays created under the Inventory section be visible on your Craigslist post as well.

The Format/Ordering allows you to choose the order in which you would like your customers to see the information you present.

Under the Default Keywords you will see two fields: the Default Blurb and the Default Keywords.

The Default Blurb is where you will want to add your business information. The recommended format is:

• Business name
• Address
• Phone number

In this section, we do not recommend adding an email address as it could lead to Craigslist flagging your post.

The Default Keyword is where you will want to add keywords that can help increase the chance of customers finding your post. Any words in your unit’s description turn into keywords so our recommendation is to add any words that may be relevant to your unit that are not in the description already.

Once you are satisfied with your profile, click on “Save” and it will show up under the Profile dropdown. You will also notice that it will lead to your units being visible on the section below, where it previously said “data not available”.

Setting a Budget

Now that our profile has been set up, let’s take a look at how to post a unit. Before we get into posting the unit itself, we must make sure that our budget has been set up. As we reviewed previously, Craigslist charges a small fee per post and you will be able to manage your budget through this platform. In order to do so, you will click on Budget/Balance, and select the budget you would like to have for Craigslist. This will ensure that you have full control of the amount you are spending on Craigslist. Please note that this is a one time setup, meaning, once you run out of money in the Budget section, you will have to add more. There is no monthly automation for this section.

Creating a Post

To create a post, you will click on the small box located to the left of the unit of your choice. Then, you will click on “schedule selected items”. Once a calendar pops up, you will choose the date and time that you would like to post the unit by and the system will enter that information into the calendar for you. The unit will show in the calendar in a light blue color which means “scheduled” until it has been posted, which will then make the unit show up in the calendar in a green color. You can always consult the labels below to check the different color codes and what each one means.

To make changes to an existing post, you can always go back to the calendar by clicking on Marketing Scheduler on the top right corner of the screen. Simply click on one of the icons on the top of the pop up window, choosing the modification that you would like to make, and then click on the unit that you would like to modify.

Lastly, you can always take a look at the posts that have already been posted, and the one’s that will be posted next at a glance by looking at the Last 5 Posts and Next 5 Posts sections. This will help you keep track of the posts you are creating on Craigslist. To view the full section, simply click on “view” and the system will show you more information regarding the posts.

This is the end of the Craigslist Scheduler Training. Please let us know if you have any questions!