The modern world of business has made it absolutely essential for your brand to be on social media. Having an active presence is something that consumers both value and use as a form of authentication for your business. If you are active and engaging on social media, then consumers know that they can trust you.
The tricky part is finding the time to stay active across your platforms, especially at the most effective times! That is where social media scheduling software comes in. With these platforms you can spend an hour here and there scheduling your social media posts to go out at the perfect times every day!
In this blog we are going to show you the most reliable social media scheduling platforms you can start using today to get on top of your digital presence.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a great social media scheduling platform. Users can schedule posts in the future on over 35 compatible social media apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Hootsuite then tracks the data of these posts so that you can monitor whats posts are working better for you in live time, without having to leave the Hootsuite app!
Users can also manage their social media promotions within the Hootsuite app and access the analytics tab enabling you to track the success of your organic and paid posts within the platform.
If you are managing multiple business, Hootsuite can really save you a lot of time. Simply upload CSV files of the posts you want to schedule and Hootsuite will schedule all of the posts for you!
Hootsuite offers a free account level on it’s platform, allowing users to attach up to 3 social accounts and schedule up to 30 posts. For some businesses this may even be a perfect free option! If you need more account and schedule space then this is a great way to try out the platform and see if it is a good fit for you and your business. Premium plans with Hootsuite start from $29USD per month.
Summary of Key Features
- Social media scheduling on over 35 social media apps
- Integrated analytics
- Manage promotions within app
- Team management
Price: Free/Paid Plans
Later
Although it is mainly focused on Instagram, Later does work as a platform to use for social media scheduling across the major social media apps. The platform features a media library which is central to everything you do on the platform. First you need to upload the image or video you would like to include in your post to the media library. Once it has uploaded, you can create/schedule a post by dragging the image across to the calendar on the right side of the screen. Simply drop the image in the time slot you would like and you will be prompted with a post creation window where you can fill out your post copy and finalise the scheduled post.
Users can user Later’s ‘Conversations’ feature to monitor and reply to comments directly within the platform.
Later does provide a free account level, enabling users to attach 1 social media profile and schedule up to 30 posts. This is a great way to test out the features and work out if Later will be a good for you. Premium plans offer more flexibility and begin from $9USD per month.
Summary of Key Features
- Automated publishing
- Integrated analytics
- Multi-account management
- Comment management within app
- Easy to use media library
Price: Free/Paid
Buffer
Buffer is one of the most cost effective scheduling platforms available, but don’t let the price point fool you! Buffer is truly an excellent platform full of all the features you need to manage your brand on social media.
Like most scheduling platforms, Buffer allows users to schedule posts across multiple platforms for specific times each day. Buffer also has a Google Chrome extension that you can add to the browser. This extension allows users to share content from anywhere on the web directly to their social profiles! If you want to keep a track of the results of your posts, you can use Buffer Analyse to see important metrics like clicks, shares, mentions and more.
Users have a choice of direct publishing or push notifications. Push notifications will alert you when the post is due to go live, allowing you to manually click publish. If you choose direct publishing, Buffer will automatically publish the post for you at the time you have specified.
Buffer does offer a free account, enabling you to schedule up to 10 posts. Premium plans start from $15 USD per month, which includes 8 social accounts and up to 100 scheduled posts across the accounts.
Summary of Key Features
- Automated publishing
- Integrated analytics
- Multi-account management
- Google Chrome extension
Price: Free/Paid
Loomly
Loomly is one of the premier social media management software platforms available, primarily due to the fact that is easy to use, RSS connectivity and the interesting artificial intelligence feature.
Loomly features a Build New Post page which is where users can create and schedule posts for all their social media channels. The only notable exception for this is Instagram. Annoyingly, Loomly alone cannot schedule and publish directly to Instagram. To do this, users will need to integrate Buffer with the Loomly platform. Apart from this, Loomly offers all the tools you need to manage several social media platforms all within the one hub. Users can even connect their blog RSS feed to Loomly, which will then automatically create and publish posts based on the latest blogs in the feed.
If you find yourself with writer’s block, Loomly even provides post ideas for you! The platform uses a form of artificial intelligence (AI) to suggest post ideas based on the time of day, your location and even what is trending online at that particular moment.
Loomly doesn’t offer a free account level, however you can start with a 15 day free trial without needing to register a credit card. Premium plans range from $20 USD per month to $228 USD per month. The basic premium plan allows up to 10 social accounts and is all you will if you are managing one business.
Summary of Key Features
- Automated publishing
- Post ideas suggested by internal AI
- RSS connectivity
- Integrated analytics
- Multi-account management
Price: From $20USD per month
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is another all-in-one social media management platform perfect for small, medium and larger sized business.
Users can create, schedule, queue and post content across all of their channels within the platform, plus respond to comments and direct messages within the Smart Inbox. This Smart Inbox feature is great, enabling you to keep an eye on all of your messages across all social media platforms in the one place. You can also keep an eye on the success of your posts with Sprout Social’s integrated analytics.
Sprout Social doesn’t offer a free account level but they do offer a 30 day free trial with full functionality, and you don’t have to attach your credit card for it. Premium plans range in pricing from $99USD per month to $249USD per month.
Summary of Key Features
- Automated publishing
- Keyword monitoring
- Multi-account management
- Integrated analytics
- Smart Inbox
Price: From $99USD per month
Which Platform Is Your Favourite?
Have you tried out any of these social media management platforms. If so, which one is your favourite. If you have any questions about any of these platforms you can get in contact with our team by clicking here, or reach us on our Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn pages.
