Social media. Every business needs it, but posting content and keeping a library of all of your content is A LOT of work. If you Google Social Media Scheduling app, there are heaps! Hootsuite, Skedsocial, Plannthat (Australian business!), Loomly, Later and Publer, just to name a few.
Businesses of all sizes can take advantage of a social media scheduler, especially if they have multiple social media accounts. If you are just using Facebook and Instagram, you can consider using Facebook's Creator Studio,which is free!
Here are three of my favourite platforms to post social media posts. All of them have different positives and negatives and will suit different businesses.
There may be affiliate links in this post which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something through a link. Please be assured that I only recommend products I have personally used and think are great!
What are the best social media scheduling apps?
I will be looking at three different apps you can use for your social media posts. See below for my thoughts on Later, Publer and Hubspot.
Later
I have been a long-time Later follower. Later was the first social media scheduler I used when I started C Angel Marketing, I have outlined some of the things that the paid version gets you below.
Platforms
Later works with most of the main social media channels. However, it doesn't integrate with LinkedIn, which is a major downfall for many B2B brands and businesses.
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Instagram
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Facebook
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Twitter
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Pinterest
Later also includes Story scheduling and multi-photo scheduling (these are not auto-posts though).
Link in bio
Later has an in-built Link In Bio feature included in the paid plans.
Content features
Later has several options for you to add content to your library. You can upload photos and videos directly via the desktop or phone app. They are also partnered with Unsplash stock photos, so you can search their library direct from Later. You can search for content by hashtag to see what has been mentioned on Instagram, as well as easily see mentions and tags within the platform to easily add that post to your library to post at a later stage.
Once saved to your library, you can drag it onto your calendar for all social profiles and then edit the image slightly for each.
In terms of written content features, the saved captions are a great feature where you can pre-save hashtags or regularly used captions for easy input into the posts. They also have a hashtag suggestion tool that suggests similar hashtags to use.
Analytics
Analytics is built into the app. It uses analytics to find out the best time to post to Instagram. It also includes analytics for Pinterest and Twitter.
Other things
Later allows you to tag and mention people directly from the platform, as well as tag a location, so no need to go and edit the item once posted to add those tags.
Instagram scheduling has a First Comment feature, which is a handy place to add your hashtags.
There is a share calendar feature, where you can share your upcoming calendar with colleagues and clients.
Plus, you can choose to add emojis to your post too.
Limitations
One of the limitations that currently exists is that LinkedIn is not a supported integration. For me, this is a limitation because I am a B2B business.
Publer
Publer is a new(ish) platform out there. I came to know about Publer through an App Sumo deal. Side note, if you haven't heard of App Sumo, I highly encourage you to check them out. They often have awesome deals going on up-and-coming or well-known software. I use a handful of ones I have purchased through App Sumo every week in my business.
Publer has a free plan so you can try it out for free! Otherwise, their paid plans scale with the number of social accounts you need.
Platforms
The top plan of Publer allows you to schedule:
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Facebook
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Instagram (no stories)
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Twitter
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Pinterest
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LinkedIn
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Google Business (game changer!)
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Youtube
Link in bio
Publer has a new, in-built Link In Bio feature included in all plans.
Content features
Publer also has several options for you to add content to your library. GIF and Video content is only included in their top plan at this stage.
They have a similar concept to the captions Later have, they call them 'signatures'. They also have shortcodes so you don't have to type out full sentences or paragraphs that you use often.
For those posting links to your website to drive traffic, they have link shortening built into the platform too!
Plus, you can choose to add emojis in your post, just like Later.
Recycling and recurring posts
This is one of my favourite features in Publer, the ability to set recurring posts and recycled posts. You can set rules around what days of the week you want them recycled and how long in between posting the content.
Other
I mentioned Google Business is one of the supported platforms. I haven't seen many schedulers with this ability, and for local businesses such as restaurants, local services and schools Google Business is an important part of the social marketing mix. So for me, along with the LinkedIn integration, I think Publer wins over Later at this stage.
Limitations
The current Pinterest integration means that you need to use Zapier or IFTTT integrated to automatically have these posts scheduled.
Hubspot
Unlike Publer and Later, Hubspot social scheduling is not a product in itself, but a feature in their marketing product. For medium-large businesses that use and pay for a stack of marketing tools, Hubspot might be the way to go.
Platforms
Hubspot supports the following platforms:
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LinkedIn
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Facebook
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Instagram
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Twitter
They also let you connect Youtube from a reporting perspective, however you will need to continue to post in Youtube itself.
Content
Hubspot has a media library that you can use across the different marketing channels in Hubspot, emails, landing pages and social posts. You can add images or videos to your posts.
They also have an integration with Shutterstock for stock images.
Just like Later and Publer, you can choose to add emojis in your post while editing.
Other
Hubspot allows you to mention people directly from the platform, as well as tag a location, so no need to go and edit the item once posted to add those tags.
From a reporting perspective, scheduling through Hubspot means that you will be able to see a holistic view of all your marketing channels, not just social in itself. This is probably the biggest advantage over the other two platforms mentioned above.
Limitations
The plan you need to be on to access Hubspot's social scheduling features is around $1,300 a month. This is definitely not a platform to use if you are just looking at social as your strategy, However, if your business is at a point where automation is key, and you want a single tool that covers email, social, ads, blogs and more than it is worth looking at.
Summary
In summary, I think Publer is slightly ahead here for small-medium businesses just interested in social posts. The fact that it has LinkedIn and Google Business, which both other platforms above are missing, makes it stand out in my eyes.
If you are looking for guidance in setting up your marketing tools, get in touch for a chat about how I can help get you set up and ready to go!
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