Social media has revolutionized the business world; it offers a good platform to reach a wider audience. Social media makes it easy for brands to showcase their business and engage with their current and potential customers.
This means that brands like yours and mine can now spend a considerable amount of time and attention to maintain a healthy social media presence.
But if your team is maxed out or swamped in other parts of your business, you may not be able to achieve this.
Social media scheduling and posting tools are your best bet to staying top of mind. They take a great burden off your shoulders by allowing you to automate the process.
Yet, the number of social media management tools are so many such that they can leave both the beginner and the experienced user overwhelmed.
How then do you know which tools to use and which features to consider?
Each social media platform requires its own set of tools as each tool works differently and effectively on different social platforms. This is to say that, not every tool you come across will work optimally on every platform. It is important to know which works best for which social media platform.
In this blog post, I will be focusing on two social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, and the available scheduling and posting tools that get the work done effectively.
Looking for a bird’s eye view comparing 5 of my favorite social media posting tools, grab your free comparison guide.
Let’s dive in…
Scheduling and posting to Facebook is easy thanks to the numerous scheduling and posting tools available today.
Let’s look into some of the best posting tools for Facebook.
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite allows you to post to several social media accounts. This tool allows you to create current and future posts or select existing posts for future posting. It is great for Facebook posting since it supports both personal and business pages.
Hootsuite offers you a free plan, which it limits you to only 30 messages on three social media platforms.
It’s possible to hit this limit very fast, especially if you’re trying to batch a month’s worth of content. If this happens, you can upgrade to the professional plan which will see you pay at least goes for $30 per month. This allows you unlimited scheduling in 10 social platforms. You can do bulk scheduling too.
2. Buffer
This is a free tool which allows you to schedule up to 10 messages for free; the paid plan offers you unlimited scheduling.
It lets you make several posts you’d like to share, then schedules them to be posted at the most suitable and appropriate time when your audience is uber active on the platform.
The good thing with this tool is that it allows you to customize your messages to fit each social platform. You can also add links, titles, and pictures to this tool.
PS: You can also schedule and post natively on Facebook.
Instagram now allows third-party publishing directly to the platform, a feature which was not allowed not so long ago. The best tools for posting to Instagram include:
1. Later
This is an official partner of Instagram and it allows real-time post notification and gives automated publishing on posts with single photos. It offers additional features like real-time post previews and basic analytics for post optimization.
2. Sprout Social
This tool comes with an easy to use interface and allows you to schedule and post your content across multiple accounts simultaneously. It also has a calendar feature, social media analytics, and ad reporting.
3. Plann
This tool lets you preview your Instagram feed, filter images, schedule posts and it offers Instagram analytics. It comes with a drag and drop feature which lets you control what your Instagram feed looks like.
You get to plan strategic and visually appealing posts in advance. Its pre-selected themes are a great way of creating a unique posting strategy and you can also use it to customize your own story.
It has a free plan which allows you 30 uploads per month, as well as more than 60 editing filters. If you need to unlock more features, you can use the paid plans starting at $4/month,
Do you know what social media management and posting app is right for you? Find out with my Free Guide comparing these 5 apps’ key features, pricing models, and so much more.
