Which Social Media Scheduler is Best for You?

If you are doing any amount of social media marketing for your own business you’ve probably already tried a scheduling system or two to help manage the workload. Maybe you’ve felt it’s wrong to schedule content and you gave up? Or maybe you just didn’t find the right social media scheduler for your needs. Because I believe in responsible scheduling of content (please note, this is not content automation), I have tried many different scheduling systems. From my experience, all of the different scheduling programs have their benefits, it’s a matter of which scheduling process works best for you and your workflow.

This article is based on eight programs to which I have given a thorough earnest try. They are all in a category I would say is reasonable for small businesses to purchase the upgraded services. Some of them I have used for years and some only for a few days. They all have their relative strengths and weaknesses and different scheduling processes. I have recommended each of them to different people with different needs. This list is FAR from exhaustive.

Here are the main systems or processes social media managers and small businesses use.

Buffer

Buffer also works on a queue system, similar to Hootsuite auto schedule, but with one major difference: you get to pick the specific dates and times your queue will post. For example, you can set up your Buffer to post to Facebook at 7:00, 9:00 1:30 and 6:45 on weekdays, and then pick a totally different schedule for Twitter and LinkedIn. Using the Buffer buttons you’ll find on many websites now, or the Buffer extension, you simply add items to your Buffer queue choosing which networks to post to and the item is added to the individual queues for each network chosen. So, you could put one article in your Buffer queue for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and have it go all at the same time, or, if you use Buffer more often for Twitter, the Twitter post might be queued up a few more times down the line. There is also an option to “post now” and rearrange your queued up posts.

If you don’t want to guess with your queue timing set up, Buffer integrates with Audiense to determine the best times for your account to tweet.

Pricing: You’ll get 10 queued items and three networks on the free plan. Or upgrade for $6 per channel, per month for more features.

Cloud Campaign

A few years ago I switched from a Hootsuite/Revive Social/SocialJukeBox combo to Cloud Campaign. Cloud Campaign is based on a queue system as well, and similar to Buffer you pick the exact days and times you want content to publish. However, you can divide your content into categories and then build posting schedules for each network, based on those categories. For example, I have a category for webinars and one for blog posts. I set up a content cue for each network and type of content.

This is a great scheduling option for people who have a lot of evergreen content to be recycled and spaced appropriately, i.e. affiliate marketers, authors selling books, coaches selling courses, bloggers promoting multiple blog posts.

Pricing: $49 per month for basic plan for one brand and up to seven profiles.

Compare with: Meet Edgar, Social Bee, Smarter Queue, Social Jukebox

Social Oomph

Social Oomph gets a bad reputation as one of the first and foremost programs to allow you to automatically direct message your Twitter followers, but it has some useful scheduling features that are a bit different again from the others. Social Oomph has a drip campaign feature that would be useful for someone who puts out, say, daily social media tips. You could set the drip campaign to publish daily and fill it up with your tips. When it reaches the end of the list, it simply starts over again at the top. (This can be accomplished in other programs as well.)

Pricing: Free for one personal profile. $15 a month for a single full-featured business profile. $25 a month for 10 profiles.

Compare with: Social JukeBox

Revive Old Posts (WP plugin)

Ok…this one is more automation than scheduling, but I found it very useful for a time. Revive is a WordPress plugin that randomly sends out your old, evergreen content to Twitter and Facebook. Like Buffer you set up a schedule it will follow and give it parameters for which category or tags to post and voila. I set it to randomly post an evergreen blog post three times per week. I haven’t used this plugin for a couple of years because I switched to other, less automated programs that I found I was better able to control.

Pricing: Free, but upgrade to PRO for customization options, custom scheduling, and access to more networks. $199 per year to continue receiving support and updates.

Compare with: Co-Schedule WordPress plugin

Facebook Meta Suite

Facebook recently moved its native scheduling feature out of Creator Studio and into Meta Business Suite. If you’re not doing a lot of scheduling, or if Facebook and/or Instagram is your main network, this is a great option. Many people believe although Facebook denies it, that using native scheduling improves the reach of your posts.

Using Meta you will be able to see exactly what your post will look like when it pulls in the images from a website. The downside is, of course, you can only use this to share on Facebook and Instagram so it can create a bit more work if you’re using other networks. The native Facebook scheduler allows you to pick a specific date and time for your post to appear. There are not yet any algorithms to allow you to auto schedule your Facebook content through this feature…and I wouldn’t expect them any time soon.

Pricing: FREE

IFTTT / Zapier

If This Then That (IFTTT) and Zapier work on the same premise. If this happens on this network, then make this happen on this network. For example, “if I post on Instagram, post my image on Twitter as an image, not a link” (if you click the Twitter button within Instagram it will only show your Twitter followers a link to the photo). You can use these programs to cross-post from Facebook Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and more. I use them mostly for tracking hashtags and user-generated content, not for automating any social media posting, but the options are there for automating tweets and more.

Pricing: FREE with paid upgrades.

Hey Orca

Hey Orca is built to streamline the approval process for agencies managing client accounts. It has a basic date and time scheduling system for Facebook and Twitter posts, but the beauty of this one is in the ability for a client to see a mockup of how the post will appear on the chosen network and approve it or not. The only reason I’m not using Hey Orca is that my clients generally don’t want to have anything to do with their social media posting…they just want to hand me the content and trust me to post it…and I’m ok with that kind of social media management system.

Pricing: $59 per month for one client calendar.

Hootsuite

There are two main ways you can schedule content within Hootsuite: manual and auto schedule. With manual scheduling you can pick the exact day and time you want your post to be published. If you choose the auto schedule options, Hootsuite will put your post in a queue to be published at the next, best publishing time, based on when your fans or followers are most likely to interact with it.

With manual scheduling you know exactly when your content is set to go and can plan other things around that. A great use of this is to schedule your lunch special for each day of the week at 11:30 am when customers are starting to think about lunch. However, you may not always pick the best time to post. If you are confident in your ability to figure out a good time to post this might be a good option for you.

You can set up your auto schedule to limit the number of posts per day and the hours in which it will post. For example, my Hootsuite will not publish any more than five auto schedules per day to any account, and will only post between 7am and 7pm. Each time you auto schedule a post, it lines up in the queue for the day, and if you hit a sixth post, that one falls to tomorrow’s queue. You don’t get to choose the auto schedule times, but you can always change a post’s time once scheduled. If you run multiple accounts through Hootsuite all accounts will have the same settings, i.e. all accounts are limited to the same hours and number of tweets per day (for auto scheduling).

Pricing: On March 31, 2023 Hootsuite ended its free tier and now you only get a free trial. It’s $99 per month if paid annually. Scheduling features work with Facebook Pages and Groups, Twitter, LinkedIn profiles and business pages, Instagram, WordPress, tumbler, Pinterest (with additional plugins), and many other networks.

Compare with: Agorapulse, Sprout Social, Plann, Metricool

Some of the social media scheduling tools mentioned here also have a dashboard feature you can use to streamline other parts of your social media efforts (like listening for leads on Twitter), or great analytics reports. Some of these features are free, some are paid upgrades. If you’re looking for a good all-in-one tool, you’re probably going to like Agorapulse, Sprout Social or Hootsuite best, although Buffer has analytics now that may be very good (I’ve not experienced them).

Whichever social media scheduling system is right for you, please keep in mind that social media is about being SOCIAL! Don’t forget to engage with your audience spontaneously as well, answer questions, acknowledge comments and reviews, and just plain be present on the networks you’re using. Scheduling cannot replace the human touch.

Did I miss your favourite scheduling system? Give a shout-out in the comments!

 

FAQ’s for the Insatiably Curious

How do these social media schedulers handle algorithm changes on platforms like Instagram and Facebook?

Navigating algorithm changes on platforms like Instagram and Facebook is an ongoing challenge for social media schedulers, and their approach to handling such changes varies. Typically, these platforms do not provide third-party tools with prior notice about algorithm updates, which can impact content visibility and engagement. Most schedulers adapt by analyzing post performance data over time, offering insights to users on optimal posting times and content types that currently perform well. They frequently update their systems and provide best practice guides to help users adjust their strategies in line with the latest algorithm changes.

Can any of these schedulers assist with content creation or provide templates for posts?

Several social media schedulers have expanded their services to include such features, realizing the need for a more integrated content strategy tool. These may include basic graphic design tools, post template libraries, and suggestions for post captions or hashtags based on trending topics and previous successful posts. These features aim to simplify the content creation process for users, allowing for a more efficient planning and scheduling workflow. New generative AI tools are being integrated into many schedulers as well.

Are there any limitations or challenges with scheduling posts for different types of content, like videos or Stories?

Most schedulers have worked to include support for a variety of media types. Despite this, challenges remain, especially with newer or more interactive formats like Instagram Stories. Some content types must be manually posted, but the scheduling system will send you an automated reminder at the appropriate time.

Additionally, the nuanced requirements for video specifications (like aspect ratio and file size) can complicate scheduling across multiple platforms. A video file that works fine on Facebook, may be too large, or too long for Twitter, for example.

And finally, when you schedule your content for Instagram or Facebook Stories you will lose out on the ability to engage your audience through interactive sticker features such as polls, reminders, links and so on. These are the features that often make Stories more engaging, so be aware of the con side of scheduling your Stories content.