3 Favorite Social Media Scheduling Tools
Social media scheduling programs can be great resource for personal and business accounts—whether you're going on vacation and want to schedule posts in advance, are managing several social media accounts and want to access them all in one place, or are developing a monthly calendar of content and want to analyze each post's engagement and performance.
Planoly, Later, and Hootsuite are three helpful tools that offer both free and paid plans. Some of the programs' features include shoppable posts on Instagram, hashtag suggestions, key performance metrics, and the ability to schedule Instagram Stories. Read more about these tools below.
1. Planoly
Planoly was founded in 2015 by New York City-based jewelry designer Brandy Pham. In 2013, Brandy noticed that she got more online sales from her collection Brandy Pham Jewelry whenever she posted to Instagram.
But the process of posting was time-consuming—she'd have to shoot and edit photos, email images to herself, edit and arrange a feed in Photoshop, type captions on Evernote, and set alerts to post each photo. So, Brandy created Planoly, the first visual planner for Instagram. "Planoly was specifically created for me, as I am the ideal target market, so it had to have the look and feel that I preferred as a user," she said in a recent interview. "I wanted to keep it as simple and clean as possible and be aesthetically beautiful!"
Planoly is specifically for Instagram. Some of the features include the option to schedule Instagram Stories and posts, analytics, a shoppable gallery for your Instagram content, and the design tool StoriesEdit.
2. Later
Later, based in Vancouver, Canada, started at a hackathon in 2014. Six months later, the first version was launched. Today, it has over 2 million users globally. Later can be used for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Later's features include a visual content calendar, Instagram Story scheduling, the ability to import media from anywhere, hashtag suggestions, saved captions, info about the best time to post, and Linkin.bio, which lets you add links or tag products in Instagram posts.
3. Hootsuite
Computer programmer and internet entrepreneur Ryan Holmes developed Hootsuite through his Vancouver, Canada-based agency Invoke Media in 2008. "Logging in and out of different clients' social networks was a headache, so my team created a tool to monitor multiple accounts on one dashboard. We quickly realized that lots of other businesses needed a tool like this, too. So in 2009, I made the decision to spin out Hootsuite as a separate company," he said in an interview.
Hootsuite offers automated post scheduling, key performance metrics, social media monitoring, team management, apps and integrations, and more. They also offer social media training and certifications through Hootsuite Academy.
Are you interested in learning more about social media management and strategy? Contact North Water Marketing today to learn more and get a complimentary marketing evaluation.
