Managing social media content is a full-time job that never seems to end. This is why so many companies rely on the help of platforms such as Hootsuite and Later to schedule social media posts at optimal times. But these scheduling tools only cover the major networks, which leaves small business owners flustered and scrambling to figure out where they need to be posting.
Here are the best tools out there!
Social Oomph
On the market since 2008, Social Oomph promises to increase your productivity on social networks, allowing you to program messages and posts, and monitor social networks to know what customers have been saying about your brand.
Previously, the company, which was named TweeterLater.com, was focused on Twitter solutions. With the transition and expansion of features, the Social Oomph now allows you to schedule and monitor posts on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr etc, but the Twitter features are the ones that draw attention by their differential and are the only ones offered for free by the company.
The free version of Social Oomph lets you: plan tweets, track keywords, save draft posts, follow links, see mentions, retweets, etc.
Social Pilot
Launched in 2014, Social Pilot is a very complete tool with very personalized plans. The free version of Social Pilot lets you connect up to 3 accounts, share a total of 10 posts per day, have 30 scheduled posts, shorten and monitor links, and more.
What strikes you about Social Pilot is that it supports 9 different social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Vk, Tumblr and Xing. It’s a shame that the free version allows only 3 accounts to be connected.
Everypost
With Everypost, in addition to scheduling publications, you can customize them and create visual content. In the free version of the platform, you can curate content, meaning you can gather relevant content from different media and sources and easily publish it across your social networks.
In the free version of Everypost you can schedule 10 publications and soon the company plans to offer media analysis. Despite the limitations, the free version of Everypost is quite versatile as it is possible to schedule publications on all networks via smartphone, computer and tablet.
Latergram
Although also available for Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, Latergram is often one of the most cited when it comes to scheduling Instagram posts. The platform allows all content to be previewed, generating a post calendar so you can better analyze the content distribution and also check on Instagram for example if the feed is harmonious.
In the free version of Latergram you can manage one profile per platform, enter one more person to help you handle posts, schedule 30 posts per month on Instagram, 50 on Twitter, 30 on Facebook, and 30 on Pinterest. Finally, this tool in its free version offers a basic level analysis for the user to follow the posts that performed well.
TweetDeck
TweetDeck is a free tweet scheduling tool with advanced features that are ideal for those working specifically with Twitter. In addition to scheduling tweets, you can check post engagement, access direct messages, mentions, and other important functionalities.
So, did you like the suggestions of free tools for scheduling posts? Be sure to tell us and suggest other tools to make this list even more complete!
Now that you are going to schedule posts for free, have you considered investing in a platform that generates professional reports for you to present the results of your work to your client in a didactic, simple and complete? Meet Reportei and try for free!
Hootsuite
$599for 5 users
Hootsuite is a social media scheduling tool mainly used by enterprise-level agencies. It is comparatively a complex tool to use. Hootsuite has been around in the social media market for a very long time, with over 16 million users worldwide. It supports scheduling social media posts on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Youtube.
But there’s a major drawback. Hootsuite plans are pricey. Small businesses can’t afford this tool. Hence, we recommend checking out other user-friendly Hootsuite alternatives.
Pros
- The best part about Hootsuite is its social streams feature, which allows you to engage with your audience and monitor your social accounts right from the Hootsuite dashboard.
- Hootsuite provides account-specific social media analytics to track results by time frame and create customized reports based on your requirements.
- Hootsuite lets you connect with more than 150 apps from their app directory. You can browse and select apps for efficient collaboration.
Matt R.
It puts everything together on a dashboard, and it makes things way easier to view. I can see messages, comments, and responses.
Cons
- This social media posting tool is way overpriced. It also gets difficult for new users to navigate their clunky dashboard.
- Hootsuite has a lot of features. But you have to pay for each additional service like access to specific social media account analytics, customizable reports, URL shortener other than owl.ly.
- Customer support isn’t prompt. Furthermore, you will be required to pay more for assistance on priority.
Jason G.
I can’t be the only one who is frustrated by their UI. Everything about the user experience is frustrating. Everything feels glitchy. It’s as if they have never actually used the product they built.
Read: Check out the detailed comparison of SocialPilot and Hootsuite
Buffer
$100for 10 profiles
Buffer is yet another social media scheduling and publishing app just like SocialPilot. Buffer is loved by its user community. It works well with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Another great feature of Buffer is its WordPress and Chrome integrations. Want to schedule social media posts via your smartphone? No worries, Buffer also supports iOs and Android.
Pros
- Buffer has a clean user interface, which helps users to navigate within the platform easily.
- This social posting tool lets you customize your posts for every social platform with their tailored posts feature.
- Customer support instantly replies if you face any issues.
Caroline K.
The interface is easy to use. You can pick up how to navigate everything very quickly. We connected to several social media channels and can schedule and post with relative ease. Their customer service has always been friendly and prompt with responses.
Cons
- Buffer doesn’t have an essential feature, such as a Content Curation feature for finding fresh and trending content.
- Buffer has its own products like Buffer Reply and Buffer Analyze, where you have to pay extra to manage your social conversations and social media analytics, on top of Buffer Publish.
Jorge L.
Buffer is missing some crucial collaboration features offered by other software that makes it hard to use for working as a team. And the pricing is just too high for the present standard on social media pricing applications. If you have the money, it is not a problem.
Read: Check out the detailed comparison of SocialPilot and Buffer
Agorapulse
$199for 4 users
Agorapulse is a CRM and social media scheduling tool helping agencies and teams work collaboratively. One can engage, listen, collaborate and measure their social media efforts with Agorapulse.
It supports social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Instagram. This social media posting tool also has bulk scheduling, unified inbox, and RSS feed features.
Pros
- Agorapulse lets you label your content for easy retrievals and analysis.
- Using the Social Inbox, you can assign messages to your clients with a customized note or comment for them to handle directly.
- Agorapulse helps you understand your audience better with their in-built CRM feature.
Verified Agorapulse Reviewer
Our team enjoys the Inboxing feature, which gathers all notifications and messages into one inbox.
Cons
- The reporting feature of Agorapulse is basic. Though it lets you download the reports in a PowerPoint format – it is not very helpful.
- Agorapulse’s user interface is not instinctive. They need a serious makeover for users to navigate easily within the tool.
- Agorapulse has limited features compared to other social media sharing tools at this price. Except for bitly, it doesn’t integrate with any external apps or tools like Dropbox, Google Drive, Zapier.
Alex F.
Unfortunately, the reporting is pretty weak. Agorapulse will allow you to export mostly PowerPoints (which aren’t that pretty) and some .csv files for very basic social metrics.
Read: Check out the detailed comparison of SocialPilot and Agorapulse
CoSchedule
$400for 5 users
CoSchedule is a social media planner tool focused on publishing and known for its content calendar feature. With CoSchedule, you can manage your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr social profiles.
CoSchedule integrates with blogging tools like WordPress and Hubspot, which helps you organize and publish your blogs right from your Coschedule account. You can also reshare your best-performing posts with a re-queue feature.
But the basic plan doesn’t cover multiple client accounts. You will need a customizable Marketing Suite plan which might be pricey.
Pros
- If you miss out on the social media posting schedule, then it automatically fills in the gap with your top-performing posts.
- CoSchedule has a Kanban Project dashboard, where you can see what your team is working on and their progress at each stage. You can apply custom statuses to workflows based on the way your team works.
Daniella G.
Having the ability to set templates for Social sharing is incredible. It means I can continue to promote my content for weeks after it has been published, and the Requeue feature means it continues to get exposure for as long as I need it.
Cons
- CoSchedule is very pricey compared to any other scheduling tool in the market, even though it doesn’t have any enterprise-level features like social listening and monitoring.
- CoSchedule doesn’t offer many integrations and collaborations with other tools, which makes it less efficient while working along with the team and streamlining processes.
- The ReQueue feature is great, but it comes with limitations. It only allows you to queue your posts twice.
Verified CoSchedule User
CoSchedule is expensive, has confusing tiers, and has lots of bubbly features that aren’t that helpful. Any smart content marketer isn’t going to put their social media post scheduler on random autopilot and organize content by “color.” It is simply not a very useful tool after about a week.
Zoho Social
$200for 5 users
Zoho Social is built keeping in mind the needs of a growing business. It helps you work with team members, monitor brand mentions, and manage social conversations. Zoho Social lets you manage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google My Business. This social media posting tool has some amazing feature sets like social listening and SmartQ predictions. Zoho Social suggests the best time to share your posts for more engagement based on your profile analytics.
Pros
- Zoho Social offers the best time slots to schedule social media posts with its SmartQ feature (when your audience is most active).
- It has its CRM integrations, where you can engage with prospects and generate potential leads from social media.
- You can create automated reports to deliver to your clients in the format and frequency you choose. You can also include team members in the delivery list and add a personalized message.
Verified Zoho Social User
I like Zoho software for many reasons. The most important one for me was CRM and social network collaboration. It has easy-to-use tools.
Cons
- The analytics and reporting feature is not very impressive. They don’t have a combined analytics feature.
- RSS Feed integration is missing in Zoho Social, whereas all other social media planning tools have this feature.
- Zoho Social is pretty expensive for the features and UI it offers.
Verified Zoho Social User
Reporting is where I’d love to see the most improvement – there is no way to look at combined analytics or get accurate engagement numbers.
Check out a detailed comparison of SocialPilot as an intuitive Zoho Social alternative.
Conclusion
Regardless of what type of social media ad you create, it’s highly likely that you will be running into some issues when it comes down to scheduling your posts. That’s why the best social media post scheduler we found is none other than Later Social, a standalone app designed specifically to create and schedule Instagram posts.