There are many social media automation tools, but the most commonly known and used is a social media scheduler.
When choosing the best social media scheduler for your business, make sure the scheduler you select works with your platforms of choice. There are social media schedulers that do not support some platforms.
Social media automation tools can provide organization and convenience. However, ensure they are permitted for use by the platform. Otherwise, you are at risk for getting your account banned.
Also, consider what other features each scheduler offers outside of scheduling posts that could provide additional benefits for you, your business, and your brand.
Overall, schedulers are helpful so businesses and brands don’t miss important dates and allow more efficient content planning for campaigns and events. The right scheduling tool will improve efficiency, increase your brand’s awareness, and help reach your goals.
If you struggle to know what to post in the first place, make sure you download our Social Media Content Creation Kit. This free bundle is the ultimate resource for coming up with and never running out of post ideas for your social accounts.to get a detailed look at all the best schedulers, their pricing, features, and more.
Want the condensed version? Watch the video, then download the Ultimate Scheduler's Guide.
What Is A Social Media Scheduler?
Just in case, let’s define a social media scheduler. It is one of the more commonly known type of social media automation tools.
Simply put, it is a tool that schedules out all of your posts across your social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
This helps ensure you are consistently posting to social media, as well as making the process much easier.
The last thing you want to do is create content and fail to post it. A scheduler is a type of social media automation tool that definitely helps, and there are countless schedulers out there.
Benefits Of Schedulers That You Didn’t Even Know
Schedulers not only post on a predetermined date and time but a great social media scheduler can also:
Recommend the best times to post.
Suggest hashtags for you to use.
Analyze how well your posts are performing.
Analytics are extremely important and often overlooked, but understanding what content is successful is key. This allows you to understand what content is working (so you can keep making more) and what content is less effective (so you can stop making it for now).
Also, some social media schedulers allow you to compare competitors. This is great for setting performance benchmarks and understanding how competitors are performing compared to your brand and each other.
Going a step further, some schedulers assist you with monitoring social mentions. This is extremely valuable for community building and brand sentiment.
What Is The Best Social Media Scheduler?
There are many favorites but the best social media scheduler for you will depend on your brand’s needs and goals. We use a lot of different social media schedulers based on the features and tools provided and the platforms used.
Some serve some platforms while others do not, so the best scheduler for you will be based on several different factors.
PRICE
Are you looking for something that is free? If you are looking for something that is free, that will reduce your options.
If you are willing to have a paid option, then consider which platforms the social media scheduler serves.
FEATURES
Would you like a tool that recommends the best times to post?
Do you need something that's going to suggest the best hashtags?
Do you need something that's going to offer robust analytics and reporting?
All of these things are going to determine what’s specifically the best social media scheduler for you.
Is truly a social media automation tool? Or does it allow you to plan posts only, but you still must manually post?
With those things in mind, in no particular order, here is the list of the top social media schedulers and which social media platforms they serve:
Top Social Media Schedulers:
Crowdfire
This scheduling tool supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
The free plan is available for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can link up to 3 accounts and schedule up to 10 posts per account.
Buffer
This tool lets you schedule your social media content to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
It has a free plan good for individual users that need to schedule social media content for up to three personal social accounts.
Hootsuite
This platform lets you schedule your social media content to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest.
It has a free plan ideal for 1 user but it has a limitation that allows you to schedule up to 5 social media content at a given time and you can manage two social media accounts.
Post Planner
This tool has a starter plan available for Facebook and Twitter but if you choose the Love, Guru, and Agency plan you can schedule your social media content to Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Sprout Social
This scheduling tool supports Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
You can try this tool for a 30-day free trial to schedule your social media posts, and pull reports, and you can engage with your audiences or customers.
Coschedule
This platform lets you schedule your social media posts to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
You can try the free version for 14-day with no credit card required.
The free version has three main features that are limited or unavailable to use are Team Collaboration, Advanced Project and Task Management, and Advanced Social Publishing.
Planable
This platform lets you schedule your social media content to Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can try the free plan to test out this platform, you can also schedule up to 50 posts for free.
Feedly
It lets you easily share articles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Email, and more.
Your social media content can schedule with Hootsuite or Buffer.
Planoly
This platform lets you plan and schedule your social media content to Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.
It also offers a free plan that has a limit of 30 uploads (not scheduled posts) per month that resets the first of each month.
Later
This platform lets your social media content to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
The free plan has the basic features and you can use one account per platform with one user.
Skedsocial
This tool lets you schedule and auto-post your social media content to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
You can try a 7-day free trial to test out the platform.
Content Cal
This platform is a social media content planning and scheduling. It lets you schedule your social media content to Twitter, Facebook (pages only), and LinkedIn (profile and pages). Plan and create content for a large number of networks including Instagram, YouTube, Google+, your blog, Pinterest, Email, Snapchat, and print media.
This offers a free plan that allows for 1 user, and 1 content calendar to plan and publish to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Agorapulse
This social media management tool supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
This offers a 15-day free trial with no credit card required to try this platform.
Metricool
This scheduling tool supports Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Google My Business, LinkedIn, and Twitch. Helps to analyze, manage, and grow your digital presence.
It has an unlimited free plan with 1 profile to each platform. You can schedule your social media content up to 50 posts per month.
This Instagram hashtag and analytics tool. Helps you find the best hashtags in a matter of minutes. They have a newer scheduling tool that allows posts to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
You can try the 7-day free trial and can link to 1 Instagram account. Also, you can track 10 posts per month.
Bonus Mention: Canva
This graphic design platform has new features where you can schedule your social media content that supports Facebook pages and groups, Instagram Business Page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, Pinterest, and Tumblr with more platforms on the way.
The scheduling feature is only available on the Pro plan, not on the free version.
Want to save this list? Download the Ultimate Scheduler’s Guide to help you decide the best scheduling tool for you and your business needs. The guide gives a more detailed look at all the schedulers mentioned above.
Again, be sure to choose the scheduler that will benefit your business or will provide for your needs. There are so many choices, that there is little need to settle.
As a reminder, please do not set and forget your posts. Meaning, do not schedule your posts but never log into your accounts.
It is important to still stay active on all your accounts, respond to comments, and engage. These activities are also important to increase your brand awareness and gain engagement.
Plus, logging in will help you stay up to date with the ever-changing interfaces and new features and tools of each platform.
Yes, using social media automation tools can be extremely helpful. However, be mindful and avoid using these tools without true human interaction.
The Ultimate Scheduler’s Guide gives a more detailed look at all the schedulers mentioned above including pricing, features, and more. Get your guide here!