Once a mere luxury, social media scheduling tools are now available to all, often an integrated part of a social media management system. Such tools are extremely helpful when running your company’s social media, as they not only let you schedule updates for times when you’ll be unavailable to do so, but also get a bird’s-eye view of your posting strategy. For those who have a hard time finding time to post consistently, or finding it difficult to remember to post, social media scheduling is an excellent option–you can schedule all of your posts at the beginning of the week, or whenever you have spare time, then sit back and monitor as needed.
There are many tools available for social media scheduling, but which is the best for you? There are several important factors to consider, including: cost, compatible platforms, available posting formats, and your experience level.
To give you our recommendations, here is a handy guide to the social media scheduling tools out there, each with a few tips from the Eustace Consulting Team:
- HootSuite
HootSuite has gotten a lot of attention over the past few years, growing from a free web application to a whole suite of apps with sophisticated functionality. In addition to their original web-based service, HS now boasts mobile apps (iPhone and Android) and desktop apps for both Windows and Mac. The online and desktop versions allow you to schedule to Twitter, Facebook (including pages), LinkedIn, WordPress, and Foursquare–while the mobile app only supports Facebook and Twitter; however, the app is extremely intuitive, and includes features like link-shortening, the ability to add photos, and even language conversion. The free version of HootSuite allows you to schedule updates for up to 5 profiles, while the paid version gives you an unlimited number of accounts and access to features like analytics and multiple users.
- Hubspot
Our personal favorite, the Hubspot marketing automation platform includes a social media scheduling tool. If you’re an advanced user looking for insight into your social media ROI, and help with the SEO of your posts, this platform is for you! It allows you to schedule, form a recurring schedule, and send segmented updates, all from one dashboard. You also get powerful analytics, which can show which specific social media updates led to a new contact or sale. Additionally, a handy bookmarklet lets you easily add a link or webpage to your social feed. Hubspot is available via mobile app (iPhone only), and both versions allow updates to Twitter, Facebook (profiles and pages), and LinkedIn (profiles, groups, and company pages).
- Buffer
Buffer is a free tool that lets you gradually as content to your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook queues–as you see it. Whenever you see news worth sharing, simply and quickly add it to your Buffer, in which it will be distributed at key points throughout the day. Afterwards, you can see the reach of each post with simplified, easy to understand analytics. Buffer is free for the basic plan, but for just $10 a month you get expanded capabilities–including number of social profiles and additional team members. Buffer has iPhone and Android apps, as well as integrations with all major news reader apps.
- Spredfast
If you’re a marketing agency or contractor that needs to manage several clients’ social media, this may be your best bet. The platform has advanced analytics, allowing each client to get detailed ROI measurements, down to the tweet or bit.ly link. This information is given in easy-to-read (and easy-to-present) graphs, giving you one less thing to worry about when it’s reporting time. One very useful feature is the benchmarking tool, which allows you to set goals for your social platform, and even compare it to similar social campaigns or strategies. Spredfast has an app that lets you manage Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+. As a public company, Spredfast will cost a bit more than other services, and has no free option.
- Postling
If you tend to use social media for its customer service appeal, this is an excellent platform. Postling supports not only the usual social sites, but also review sites like CitySearch, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. Alerts from all of these sites are sent to one “social inbox,” from which you can monitor mentions, messages, and even keyword searches. You can schedule posts to Facebook (including photos), Twitter, LinkedIn, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, and YouTube–and even better, reply to posts via email. Postling’s handy Suggestion Engine recommends next steps for beginning users. The platform’s iPhone app is free for registered users, though the service has no free option (it is relatively inexpensive, at $10 a month for 5 social accounts).
Do you have a favorite social media app we neglected to mention? Tell us in the comments!
