How to Schedule Posts on Social Media

Best Free Social Media Scheduling Tools

The internet offers a number of instruments that allow publishing posts online. The options, functions, social networking site coverage, benefits, and more, may differ. Below are 9 free social media platforms that you can use for automated publishing.

Buffer

Best known for its intuitive interface, Buffer will let you schedule social media posts in a few clicks. Basically, it works as a service for queuing and distributing materials through social networking sites. Aside from that, it offers numerous features for statistics, metrics, and even strategies for boosting social presence.

Positive aspects:

• A simple and intuitive user experience (UI);
• Easily connect with popular social networks;
• Visual campaign planning for social networking sites;
• Suited for teamwork and interaction;
• There is an application for smartphones;
• Social publishing and planning assistance.

Among the drawbacks:

• No support of paid advertising options;
• Paid plans come with more advanced features.

Rates for Buffer packages are as follows:

Additionally, it grants a trial period of 14 days for the Essentials package.

Social Oomph

This social media scheduling software is primarily targeted at the Twitter platform but also compatible with social networking sites like Discord, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, etc. You may arrange publications beforehand, seamlessly follow your followers, and update numerous accounts at once.

Positive aspects:

1. Time-saving;
2. Feature-rich social networking publishing functionality;
3. Responding automatically to new followers;
4. Auto-posting to social networking sites;
5. Keyword research for your company, goods, and niche;
6. Identify targeted Twitter users for following;
7. Twitter auto-unfollows.

Among the drawbacks:

1. No Instagram support;
2. No email or phone customer support;
3. With paid plans, you get more advanced features.

For SocialOomph, the following plans are available:

You can also test Business Suite for free for 30 days.

Later 

Later is a social media post scheduler that can manage and arrange postings on various services like Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. However, it’s primarily geared toward Instagram and visuals. It is convenient to schedule publications, video clips, and stories on social networking sites automatically. The platform lets you share updates, increase traffic, and analyze how well your posts performed.

Positive aspects:

• Timeline preview on Instagram;
• Simple and convenient interface;
• Automates tedious tasks with just a few clicks;
• It helps to prepare blogs efficiently.

Among the drawbacks:

• For others, its simplicity may be boring;
• 30 free postings per month may seem small to other users;
• Analysis instruments are limited and unable to handle more detailed data.

Later plans have the following pricing:

All Later plans come with a free trial period of 14 days. To get started, simply choose your preferred plan.

TweetDeck 

With its intuitive, unified interface, this social media post scheduling software grants organizations instant integration to their online Twitter accounts. Among its functions is a page where you can see tweets in your feeds, comments, and updates. Additionally, you may add columns to display the pages you need. And it’s easy to edit a listed Tweet before it’s published and insert images and GIFs quickly.

Positive aspects:

1. It is completely free;
2. Multi-account management in one place;
3. Customization of updates, replies, and interactions;
4. An extensive set of searching tools, including filters and auto-suggestions.

Among the drawbacks:

1. No statistics for marketing campaigns;
2. The limited size for an uploaded picture – 5 MB;
3. No option for managing ads.

Crowdfire

Companies and individuals can use Crowdfire to schedule social media posts to reach a wider audience. This platform is primarily focused on content creation and distribution. Crowdfire enables you to publish at the times when your supporters show the most interest. You may manually pick the period when you’re able to operate for each network and day. In addition, all posts for the week are logged on a Queue Meter.

Positive aspects:

• Simple scheduling options;
• The service is free for up to 3 accounts per network;
• Time-saving through efficient sharing;
• Engagement and follower growth options;
• Daily reminders to act on the suggestions;

Among the drawbacks:

• Limited options for synchronizing accounts;
• A limited number of options in the basic plan;
• Scheduling calendar views are only available in Premium.

The following prices apply to Crowdfire plans:

Monday.com 

Monday offers an intuitive interface that enables you to use this program from scratch without any preparation or training. A major goal is to improve functionality and workflow within your team. But, this also makes it perfect for those who want to plan publications to social networking sites in a logical manner.

Positive aspects:

1. A great resource for organizations and individuals working remotely;
2. Visual boards and color-coded alerts provide great tracking features;
3. Offers a timeline view, a kanban board, and a calendar view;
4. A valuable resource for communicating;
5. Organizing and overseeing processes in a reliable manner. 

Among the drawbacks:

1. Cost limitations based upon participants’ numbers;
2. It is difficult to track project goals;
3. Comments cannot be assigned to team members;
4. Doesn’t support powerful task dependencies;
5. The activity log is limited.

Monday.com provides the following plans:

You can also test out Standard and Pro plans for 14 days for free.

Friends+Me

Friends+me is a simple yet powerful solution for scheduling social media posts. Using it, it’s possible to republish your LinkedIn publications and spread them on other social networks. This application allows users and enterprises to expand their social and professional networks.

Positive aspects:

• It saves you time;
• Publications can be distributed across different media.

Among the drawbacks:

• The option of customization is not available;
• Integrations with third-party services (Zapier).

For Friends+me, the next prices are available:

Besides, you can try all the plans for 15 days.

Followerwonk 

With Followerwonk, you can determine which of your supporters are interested in your updates. In addition, you can find people whose interests align with yours using the site.

Positive aspects:

1. The company provides free subscriptions for all new subscribers;
2. Follow/followers word clouds demonstrate the most frequently used terms in users’ profiles or descriptions;
3. Compared to other platforms, all plans have lower rates.

Among the drawbacks:

1. Live Chat is not available;
2. It can only be used to monitor Twitter profiles;
3. The users’ location map only tracks up to 5,000 follows/followers.

The following prices are available with Followerwonk:

AgoraPulse 

AgoraPulse is a social networking and CRM platform for agencies so they can work effectively. It works with multiple sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And it allows engaging, collaborating, as well as measuring your efforts via social networks.

Positive aspects:

• Published materials can be tagged and easily analyzed;
• You will get to know your readers well.

Among the drawbacks:

• Its user interface can be difficult to navigate.

Prices for AgoraPulse are as follows:

Additionally, you can try out the Pro and Premium plans for 30 days.

Best Paid Social Media Scheduling Tools

If you don’t find something suitable for your purposes, you can check out 8 paid platforms for automated publishing on social websites that may offer enhanced features.

Social Champ

Social Champ lets you maintain all of your networks, organize, and direct them with efficiency and effectiveness. From interacting with your followers and engaging them in your online operations to planning publications to networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn simultaneously.

Positive aspects:

• The ideal solution for an efficient, streamlined workflow;
• It’s possible to connect many social networking profiles;
• It allows reusing published posts;
• It provides recommendations on what to write;
• The perfect resource for teamwork.

Among the drawbacks:

• Some features may not support all social networks;
• Stories and IGTV are unavailable;
• There’s no hashtag or advanced timing suggestions;
• The customization functions are very limited.

Prices for Social Champ are as follows:

Social Champ provides a 7-day test period for its Professional, Champion, and Business plans.

Zoho Social

Organizations can diversify their online presence and measure online engagement using Zoho Social. It seamlessly integrates with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Zoho CRM and various integrated modules make this an extremely powerful tool, especially when combined with the complete Zoho Suite.

Positive aspects:

1. Excellent client assistance;
2. Easily navigable;
3. Each package includes a CRM toolkit;
4. Various options are available.

Among the drawbacks:

1. IGTV and Stories are unavailable;
2. Its statistics aren’t as accurate as competitors’.

Zoho Social comes with the following subscriptions:

There’s a test period of 15 days for each Zoho Social package.

Social Pilot

This social media posting service was designed for market experts and SMM specialists. It’s possible to publish on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. Moreover, it includes Custom FB Branding, Bulk Distribution, and Social Networking Tracking.

Positive aspects:

• Budget-friendly;
• Compatible with all major social networking sites;
• A social network service covers Networking, Planning, etc.;
• Improved evaluation instruments;
• Options available to resellers;
• Content management;
• Organizing images in bulk.

Among the drawbacks:

• The absence of Instagram analytics;
• SocialPilot’s interface has been criticized by many users;
• Users are not impressed with analytic features.

The following package is available for Social Pilot:

All plans include a 14-day test period.

Sendible

Sendible is an advanced digital marketing service designed for companies of all sizes that help them reach new consumers through social networking sites. The service monitors social networking profiles and engages readers. In addition, the campaign analysis service also allows for the collection and evaluation of key information.

Positive aspects:

1. Publications organizing, communicating, and maintaining various social networking sites;
2. Content calendar;
3. Customer engagement;
4. Monitoring online behaviours and presence;
5. Stats on social networking sites.

Among the drawbacks:

1. Gathering brand mentions via online monitoring is time-consuming;
2. No options for tagging, and limited reporting capabilities;
3. Constant reconnection of profiles have been reported by some users.

Sendible offers the following pricing options:

A 14-day trial period is also available for all plans.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite’s services include post planning, post-management, and ROI tracking. Users can access data on all social networking campaigns at once. Integrated with external apps, it allows them to work effectively.

Positive aspects:

• A full suite of social media posting tools;
• Freemium subscription model;
• Most social networking sites are supported;
• Advertisement options and social networking optimization.

Among the drawbacks:

• Its interface is a bit complicated;
• Posts cannot be reshared or retweeted;
• Several users have reported difficulty in interacting with Stories in Hootsuite.

Here are the subscriptions offered by Hootsuite:

Both Professional and Team plans include a free trial period of 30 days.

Meetedgar

MeetEdgar helps businesses showcase their products and services online. It automates and optimizes postings, and so on. Simple organizational instruments make managing content easy and fast.

Positive aspects:

1. An account can be created in a few minutes;
2. Effort-saving features;
3. Weekly progress reports;
4. Content management is easy;
5. An auto-variation system;
6. An excellent library with great categorization.

Among the drawbacks:

1. A lack of in-depth analytics;
2. Accounts for a single person only;
3. Brands monitoring is not allowed;
4. The limited functionality of Instagram;
5. It lacks YouTube integration.

Rates for MeetEdgar involve:

The seven-day trial period is also available for all plans.

Coschedule

It organizes blogging and social networking sites seamlessly. Integrated with popular CMS like WordPress, Evernote, and Google Analytics. Additionally, it syncs with major networking sites, such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Pinterest.

Positive aspects:

• Excellent social media scheduling tools; 
• Design templates;
• Effective teamwork and collaboration;
• Performance tracking and ROI evaluation;
• Engagement features;
• Automated processes;
• A user-friendly interface;
• You can post directly to Instagram;
• Adaption of efficient strategies;
• Integrations with WordPress and other platforms;
• Data assessment.

Among the drawbacks:

• It’s a little pricey;
• Apps with limited functionality;
• More detailed statistics would be helpful;
• Pop-ups overpower the website;
• The social network scheduler doesn’t support Pinterest.

There are three pricing options for CoShedule:

The trial period is 14 days.

Contentcal

ContentCal is a convenient, integrated solution for planning, producing, collaborating and delivering publications. ContentCal syncs seamlessly with major networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

Positive aspects:

1. Improved analytics;
2. An affordable price (including free plan);
3. Support for social platforms;
4. Library of content;
5. Tracking audits;
6. Streamlined content workflow.

Among the drawbacks:

1. A smaller number of social channels;
2. Limited mobile app functionality;
3. It is not possible to directly publish to Instagram.

Rates for ContentCal are as follows:

The test period is 14 days.

How to Choose the Best Social Media Scheduling App

Online planners for social networking sites can be tailored to multiple purposes, different rates, and integrate many various networks. To maximize your SMM efforts, choose a service tailored to your business, objectives, and online presence.