A large part of our workload at Freshbat is creating and scheduling social media posts for our clients. One question we often get asked is ‘How do you manage to stay on top of sharing so many posts on social media?’. There is one simple answer – scheduling tools! Our team primarily use Loomly to schedule our posts but there are many other great scheduling tools. They provide a great way to ensure that a constant stream of content is being posted to both our channels and our clients’ channels. In this post, we’re exploring the many great factors about scheduling tools and recommending some of the most popular ones!

Manage Multiple Platforms

This is the factor that we find the most useful. Scheduling tools allow you to post simultaneously to multiple platforms and channels. This is extremely helpful when posting about a campaign that launches at a certain time in the day. You can plan and schedule your content to be posted on each channel at the same time to ensure a consistent launch.

Planning

We understand that it’s impossible to be active on social media all the time, which is why planning and scheduling posts creates an active presence on your behalf. By planning your posts ahead of time, you can make sure a continuous stream of content is going out. One of the benefits of doing so is it creates positive customer attitudes towards your brand as they’ll feel as though you’re reliable. All you need to do is check in with your platforms and reply to any engagement! Scheduling content also helps with planning campaigns and events in advance, so you can relax knowing that everything is under control.

Access To In-Depth Analytics

Have you ever struggled with having to log in to each individual platform to collect the analytics? Well, you’ll love the analytics feature that is present on many scheduling tools! It collects and collates data from each channel, so you don’t have to spend time searching for it. Using this data, you can understand what kind of posts are performing well, at what times and on which platforms. Due to your content being scheduled ahead of time, you can then edit them based on these insights.

Branding Consistency

We see it all too often – social media posts that are not consistent with a company’s branding. This often occurs when businesses are too reactive when posting, as they often lack time to ensure their posts are consistent. Using social media scheduling tools, you can stay on top of all your key messages and keep your branding clear. Many scheduling tools provide an overview of what it will look like on each channel, which allows you to keep things consistent!

Social Media Scheduling Tools Recommendations

Loomly

Pros

• Easy to use platform with useful calendar view
• Multiple channel posting
• Continuous improvements to the platform (e.g., posting to Instagram Reels is now possible)
• Approval system
• Analytics
• Mobile access

Cons

• Some of the more complex plans can be expensive

Hootsuite

Pros

• Easy to use platform with useful calendar view
• Multiple channel posting  (with recommended times to post)
• Analytics
• Mobile access
• Monitoring service that allows you to reply, mention actions and direct message on the dashboard

Cons

•   The free version is quite limited
• The free version does not provide analytics

Agorapulse

Pros

• Content planning and scheduling
• Shared content calendar
• Multiple channel posting
• Analytics
• Mobile access
• Listening/monitoring features

Cons

• No feature to preview posts (such as previewing the Instagram Grid)
• Analytics are somewhat limited, with many reviews stating that there is a gap in reporting

Buffer

Pros

• Content planning and scheduling
• Quick and easy setup. 
• Analytics
• Multiple channel posting
• Instagram grid preview
• Mobile access

Cons

• No posting time suggestions
• Some specialised post types are not supported (Carousels and Reels on Instagram)
• Toggle between Facebook and Twitter can be confusing
• Analytics are limited 
• Paid version is slightly more costly

Later

Pros

• Hashtag analysis
• Content planning and scheduling (with recommended times to post)
• Multiple channel posting
• Visual planner
• Analytics
• Story scheduling
• Mobile access

Cons

• Analytics are limited
• The free version limits the number of posts that can be scheduled per month

Sprout Social

Pros

• Content planning and scheduling
• Audience targeting
• Content optimisation
• Customer interaction histories
• Multiple channel posting
• Analytics (real-time tracking and competitor analysis)
• Mobile access

Cons

• Pricing can be expensive
• Doesn’t support TikTok
• Youtube analytics are limited

Tweetdeck

Pros

• Manage multiple Twitter accounts
• Content planning and scheduling for Twitter
• Multiple timelines
• Manage Twitter inbox
• Analytics

Cons

• It’s only for Twitter (You would need another scheduling tool to manage other platforms)

Meta Business Suite

Pros

• Manage Instagram and Facebook accounts on one platform
• Ability to create Reels
• Ad campaign setup (demographic-based targeting)
• Mobile access
• Analytics
• Content planning and scheduling for Instagram and Facebook

Cons

• The mobile app doesn’t seem to function as well as the desktop version
• It’s only for Meta-related applications (Facebook & Instagram). You would need another scheduling tool to manage other platforms

There are many other social media scheduling tools, but we wanted to review some of the more popular ones. Be sure to check out the different features of each tool before reaching your decision. Whichever you choose, we recommend using scheduling tools to help with your social media content. 

About us

We’re Freshbat – a strategic communications agency providing integrated marketing services to business leaders who embrace change and value marketing in a proactive and trustworthy environment.

Our goal is to give you more headspace, help you to make stuff happen and build better relationships by taking a fresh approach to marketing. We know you’re the kind of person who wants to be considered an inspiring and empowering leader for your business.

In order to be that way, you need to be in control of your marketing. The problem is you feel your marketing isn’t good enough, which in turn makes you feel confused and frustrated that you don’t have the resources, creativity or expertise to solve the issue.

We believe it’s just plain wrong that business leaders are tasked with keeping up with the rapidly changing marketing landscape on their own. That’s why we provide integrated marketing solutions through our worry-free marketing process.

Here’s how it works: we have an initial call to find out the things holding you back, we then create a bespoke strategy to reach your ideal clients and finally we implement your marketing plan for you so you can worry less and achieve more. We create tailored and integrated marketing solutions that bring order, strategy and results while having fun in the process (yes, it’s possible!).

Our core services include: 📈 Content marketing strategy 📱 Social media management 📧 Email marketing 👩‍💻 Blogging and web content

Contact us to see how we can help you take a fresh approach to marketing. Email hello@freshbat.com to book your discovery call 📧