Managing social media incorporates lots of different skills. You need to plan content, engage with your followers, understand social analytics,  and know how and when to post. This blog will give you all the information you need to know about how and when to post by explaining how to use popular social media scheduling tools. 

Social Media Scheduling Tools

Later

Later is Colibri Digital Marketing’s personal favorite scheduling app. We use it for as many channels as we can for our own social media as well as client’s. We love it because it lets you schedule posts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.  Later has a variety of features that make it stand out from other scheduling apps, such as the ability to schedule the first comment for Instagram posts and schedule stories. Later has a very user-friendly and easy-to-navigate interface. They have 5 different pricing plans, outlined below. 

The free plan offers 1 profile for each social channel and 30 posts scheduled for each account. This plan allows you to store unlimited media and an easy link in bio programs. 

The Plus plan, from $7.5 a month, allows users one social account per platform and 100 posts. The big difference between this plan and the free plan is that it offers Instagram story scheduling and the ability to add the first comment on Instagram. 

Next up is the premium plan, from $16 a month; it offers two profiles per platform and 250 posts. It offers the same features as the Plus plan, as well as more analytics info and the ability to add mentions and tags. 

The starter plan, from $24 a month, offers 3 profiles per platform and unlimited posts. Aside from that, it has all the same features as the premium plan. 

The last plan Later offers is the brand plan, from $41 a month. The difference between this plan and the starter is that it has 5, instead of 3, profiles per platform. Otherwise, all of the features are the same. 

HootSuite

If Later is not quite what you are looking for, check out HootSuite, another popular (B Corp certified!) scheduling app. They support many social media channels as well as the ability to post on business pages, personal accounts, and any other type of social activity.  HootSuite offers a variety of plans with unique features to work best to accommodate your needs. Let’s take a look at each.

The professional plan, $29 a month, gives you basic but essential tools for scheduling social media posts. You can have one user, up to 10 social media accounts, and unlimited scheduling, a big selling point. All of their plans offer unlimited scheduling. 

The team plan, $129 a month, offers you a wider range of users and accounts. This plan offers users 20 social profiles and 3 users, and, of course, unlimited scheduling. 

Their business plan, $599 a month, offers users 35 social media profiles and between 5 and ten users. This plan also includes unlimited scheduling.

Hootsuite’s last plan, the enterprise plan,  offers custom solutions. This plan is great for bigger businesses because it accommodates any specific needs a client has by offering custom solutions. 

Hootsuite is appealing because it has plans that can work well for different sized businesses. The professional plan is great for small businesses, while the enterprise plan can be used by huge enterprises. 

Buffer

Buffer has three different pricing plans which work well for small to medium sized companies. Through Buffer, you can schedule posts for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Linkedin. 

The pro plan, very affordable at $15 per month, offers 8 social profiles, the ability to store 100 social posts per account, and one user. With this account, you can post on all the platforms they offer and also add the first comment on Instagram.  

Their next plan, the premium plan, costs $65 a month and allows you 8 social profiles, the ability to store 2,000 posts, and two users. On top of the features of the pro plan, the premium plan offers you the ability to add links to your instagram post for shopping, and you can schedule stories.

Their last plan, the business plan for $99 a month, gives you 25 social profiles, the ability to store 2,000  social posts per account, and 6 users. They offer the same features as the premium plan, with the difference being more profiles and users. 

Sprout Social

The last scheduling tool is Sprout Social. On top of scheduling, they offer conversion management and engagement tracking. Their three plans work with Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The standard plan, $99 a month, offers up to 5 social profiles, profiles, keywords and locations monitoring, paid promotion tools for Facebook and more essential tools. 

The professional plan, $149 a month, offers 10 social profiles, everything in the standard plan, and more. Some of the best features of the professional plan are competitive reports for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and Trend analysis for Twitter keywords and hashtags. 

Last up is Sprout Social’s advanced plan for $249 a month. They offer the same features as the professional plan: 10 social profiles, URL tracking, and suggested replies for social media posts. 

For more social media tools, check out this blog. 

Bonus content! 

Because we love using Later, we thought we would give you a quick guide to scheduling a post. 

Step 1: Upload your image to Later.

Step 2: Drag image to the day and time you would like it to be posted. 

 Step 3: Add a caption and edit the image. Here is where you have the option to add the first comment and a link in the bio. 

Step 4: Edit and review images, captions, mentions, hashtags, links, and locations for each platform. 

Step 5: Save the post, and with that, it will be posted at the correct time! 

If you have any edits to make after you have scheduled it, you can click the image and edit it. 

Later has simple but very useful features, so we highly recommend checking it out and scheduling your posts. 

Takeaways 

Using a scheduling tool makes social media management much easier and creates a system. All of these plans offer unique features. Later offers exhaustive scheduling features, whereas Sprout Social offers more analytics tools. When choosing which tool to use, make sure to be clear on your needs. 

If you have any more questions about social media or anything under the umbrella of digital marketing, schedule a 30-minute strategy session with us. We’d love to hear from you!