5 Tools You Can Use to Maximise Social Media Efficiency for You and Your Company

Social media and our presence on it has become something that has consumed our daily lives. It makes us feel important. With the way the modern world is evolving, social media is, whether we like it or not, the benchmark of both self-promotion and business promotion. These days, we must adapt or perish. So, whether you are using social media to grow your personal brand or to boost traffic on a large company product, it is key that you use it effectively. the best way to maximise efficiency in a busy, working world is through scheduling and there are tools that can help you to do that. This article aims to pick the 5 best social media scheduling tools for all budgets and every type of customer. However, there are a few questions that must be addressed first.

What is a social media Scheduler?

A social media scheduler is a tool that a business, an influencer or anybody who wants to manage their uploads on social media can use in order to structure their content to be sent out or posted at a specific time. If you use your social media as a platform for your ideas, creations or your work, having a tool like a scheduler can save you significant time and effort. It is said that users who share above 7 posts per week are more likely to gain the most engagement from followers. Tools like these allow you to take advantage of these metrics and statistics and maximise your engagement.

How Can They Help You and Your Business?

Productivity: It’s simple, staying off social media will make you more productive. The term “Social Medusa” has become more prevalent lately as people turn to stone staring at their screens. The beauty of social media schedulers is that they take the burden of having to post on social media away and eliminate the risk of getting distracted. This allows you to be more productive and work on the things that will get you ahead both in your work life and personal life.

Efficiency: Saving time is important when it comes to business, if you can schedule a variety of posts to come out during the week without you needing to physically post them, you are not only more organised and efficient, but you are saving yourself time daily. This is especially true if you are highly active on social media and use it to promote yourself as an influencer or if your business has high levels of traffic. Especially considering the fact that various social networks have different peak times when their users are most active with social media schedulers, you can use the prepared posting systems to your advantage and give you peace of mind.

Consistency: Consistency is key, especially in business. Using a scheduler allows you to maintain a strong client base by consistently uploading posts or pictures to keep them engaged. Missing one or two days of posting in this age can lead to a loss of interest in your product, posting every day lets your followers see that you are serious about your social media presence.

What to Look For in a Social Media Scheduler

A free trial or free plan: The old saying ‘try before you buy’ applies in this case. Most schedulers will have a 7-day free trial of their service or will include a free plan that gives you access to a limited number of features. This is something I would recommend trying first. You don’t want to commit to a particular program that someone else has recommended if it does not suit you or is too disorganised. You want to pick the right program for you, so use all the free trials that you can and get a feel for each of the schedulers and what they have to offer you and your business/brand.

Value: When you do decide on which scheduler to use, you want to make sure that it brings you value for money. If a $10 per month scheduler offers similar or the same benefits as a $25 per month program, you know what to do.

Ease of Use: The last thing that any company or any person wants for that matter is a tool that is complicated and not easy to use. A good scheduler should be streamlined, tidy and easy to schedule posts on. There should never be any confusion on how to use certain features, all the details and benefits need to be clearly laid out.

Smarter Queue – One of the best and newest social media schedulers on the market is Smarter Queue, which allows you to bulk upload onto a variety of different sites. It is extremely versatile, letting you post onto LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest and allows for a 14-day free trial of its services. The standout features with this tool are both its price point, which at £13.99 per month is reasonable for what it offers, and how it allows you to create categories. This feature lets you set up different categories with different post plans that can be linked to different accounts. This lets you schedule separate posts for both your personal account and your business account for example. Furthermore, it allows you to use engagement and editing tools which make sharing and curating your posts easier with it all being in one place.

Its one downfall would be its limitations on the mobile app, which as of now is quite basic and bare, but again it only has room to improve and with its excellent desktop version, its reasonable price and its versatility across a variety of social media platforms, Smarter Queue is a front runner among other social media scheduling apps.

Content Cal- Another leader among social media schedulers is Content Cal. This scheduler comes in varying price packages, varying from $17 per month ($200 billed annually) to $99 per month for a more detailed and comprehensive package that allows for more accounts and analytics. What makes this a top 5 for me is the business package, working out at $99 per month (or $79 per month if you buy the year subscription). This tool is great for big businesses because not only can you schedule posts, but you get detailed analytics that tell you where most of your traffic is coming from and how to maximise flow from that demographic. You also get access to the Content Cal Respond feature, which acts as a large social inbox allowing you to build connections with other users and gain ideas and knowledge from them. While this may seem like a lot of money, for a company, a greater and more focussed social media presence gained from a tool like this will offer a much greater return on investment. The main con would be its inaccessibility for smaller businesses; however, the next scheduling tool is the perfect solution to that issue.

Sendible- In my view, the best of both worlds can be found in this tool. Sendible is an all-in-one social media management tool (which sounds cool already) and has a few nice features attached to it. For me, the standouts are the $30 per month price tag (a little more tolerable that the $200 up front) and the “smart posts” feature. This feature allows you to edit and customise the same post with different captions or slight edits for each platform depending on your audience, giving a greater sense of creative control over your posts. Similarly, its interactive calendar feature is streamlined and lets you adjust or tailor your posts for specific dates if you wish to change things up. They also offer a larger plan for bigger businesses, but for larger businesses, I would give Content Cal the edge because of its detailed analytics and social support and interaction bubble. Whereas for smaller businesses and even individuals looking to grow a personal brand, Sendible is the better option.

Social Pilot: In terms of a detailed and easy to use social media scheduler that is good for both businesses and solo freelance workers, that is well priced, offers both scheduling and analytical data, is streamlined and offers a 14-day free trial… Social Pilot ticks all the boxes. It is one of the most versatile of all schedulers allowing you to post to sites like TikTok, Google my Business, Tumblr and VK as well as all the other heavy hitting social platforms you would expect. They Say themselves, “every feature of Social Pilot is designed in line with a vision to add more value to one’s social media schedule” and this is echoed in their 24-hour, 5 day a week support line that comes via email, phone, chat or social media itself. It lets you create custom schedules, collaborate with team members (5 members get access for $50 per month in total), it has content creation and idea generation features, allows you to manage ads and lets you bulk up to 500 posts for scheduling. I see little downside with this tool, the perfect fit for both large and small businesses alike.

Buffer Publish: This social media scheduler is far from the fanciest on the list. There is no flashy price tag or insane content features. But this tool is in the top 5 because it is perfect for the everyday person. What I love about this tool is that it has a free version that allows you to link up to 3 social media accounts and you can create your own free posting schedule in the settings. This is great because for people who like posting on social media, they can have the satisfaction of posting without needing to be on the website itself. This means if you are busy at work, writing or working remotely from home, you need not be distracted by what or when to upload, it is already done for you. It is versatile considering its free price tag, it is widely accessible, and it works on different browsers. If you do not have the money to spend on a management tool, this ticks the boxes. It does offer a buffer analyse package for $35 per month, giving you analytics if you really wanted them, but there are better schedulers that are cheaper. The free version is the reason this tool makes the cut.