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Today, social networks have become not only one of the points of contact with potential customers, but also a full-fledged sales channel. People want to see a quality product, and the goal of SMM promotion is to meet these expectations. Therefore, the content created should be interesting, diverse and of high quality.
Nowadays, specialists use services for organizing automatic and delayed posting. They help to schedule the time and order of posts for several weeks or a month in advance for different projects. Using a more organized and less time-consuming approach eliminates any human factors: mixing up, missing or forgetting to post something becomes much more difficult. Plus, auto-posting to social media saves you time to do other tasks or creative activities.
What are autoposting services and why are they needed?
Autoposting is the automatic, usually delayed, posting of content on social media according to the schedule specified by the SMM specialist. The key purpose of specialized services is to automate the daily routine work of the specialist. Autoposting tools allow scheduling dozens of posts on various social platforms: uploading content, setting the posting time—and doing it all in 15-20 minutes. After that, the SMM specialist can focus on other tasks without distraction, as the prepared posts will be automatically published at the specified time. All that remains is to monitor and analyze audience activity.
As a bonus, most SMM planners offer additional features. For example, in these services, you can edit and format text, do basic photo editing, gather statistics, and track interactions with subscribers—the list of options varies depending on the tool. Considering their specifics, autoposting services enable:
- Managing dozens of accounts on various social media platforms in one window, switching to the required profile in a few clicks.
- Significant time savings—for example, spending a few hours once a week to set up daily publications on various social media for the next 7 days.
- Increased productivity—thanks to the automation of mandatory routine tasks.
- Increased reach, as the human factor is eliminated—by scheduling dozens of posts for the week ahead, you won't forget to post the next publication during peak audience activity hours.
Why can't you just plan posts in your mind?
The golden rule of SMM: engaging content is king, and the publication calendar is its best friend. So, if you're still unaware of their friendship, allow us to introduce you.
A content plan for Facebook and other social networks is a table with ideas, posting dates, and post topics. It's developed individually, so every SMM manager creates a publication grid as they see fit. You can create a standard template for the release schedule using a Google spreadsheet. Let's consider the following example:
Why do you really need a content plan? Here are a few compelling arguments:
- No need to wait for bursts of inspiration—you have a ready collection of ideas for the month ahead, posts are published regularly, you save yourself the headache of brainstorming, and you keep track of information drives.
- Time-saving—yes, it may take a few days to create an Instagram content plan, but then you only need to analyze the effectiveness of the posts.
- Convenient for the team—if not only a "one-man band" is involved in the creative process, but also copywriters, designers, content managers, they will have the opportunity to plan and execute their work qualitatively, rather than just rushing to meet deadlines.
- Variety of topics—by planning ahead, you can always think through the themes of articles in advance, and when you create a template for the month, you'll understand what's missing or if there's too much of certain content. This leaves time for refinement.
1. Hootsuite
One of the most popular SMM planners. And rightfully so: the service allows adding autoposting posts to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube in a convenient calendar, viewing publication statistics on various platforms in a single panel (and accordingly tracking the overall brand engagement), setting up auto responses.
- Among other useful options:
- managing organic and paid content in one place;
- weekly reports via email with statistics: most effective posts, brand mentions, number of clicks, and other data;
- tracking comments and the ability to quickly respond to them;
- integration with other services: Canva, HubSpot, Google My Business—overall, you can synchronize over 100 resources;
- a library of stock images, suggestions for thematic hashtags, photo editing, and other useful functions to enhance content.
You can use the web version or download the mobile application for Android and IOS.
The number of functions indeed makes Hootsuite a favorite of many SMM specialists. The main drawback is the lack of a free plan and a high price. The minimum tariff is $99/month. However, using this service is worthwhile when actively managing multiple business pages on various social platforms.
2. Buffer
The tool allows scheduling posts on eight popular social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google My Business, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube), and also has an advanced analytics system. Buffer users have access to:
- adding posts for autoposting according to the platform's proposed schedule or an individual schedule for several months ahead;
- viewing demographic characteristics of the audience;
- tracking effective publications, as well as comparing key metrics of organic and paid content;
- analysis by types of posts: which social network has the most reach for videos, where it's relevant to add long texts, and where photo content is appropriate;
- recommendations for the best time to post based on audience activity;
- a collection of post ideas generated by AI;
- Chrome web extension, mobile app for Android and IOS.
There is a free version available with connection to 3 channels of the user's choice, and each additional social platform can be synchronized with Buffer for an additional fee.
3. Later
With this service, you can plan a monthly volume of publications on all popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok. The convenient photo editor allows you to quickly edit media files without the need for other tools. Additionally, for Later users, there are recommendations for relevant hashtags, post caption generation through the built-in Caption Writer feature based on AI, and access to the Unsplash stock image gallery directly within the service.
A unique feature of Later is scheduling posts for Instagram. In the program, you can preview how the planned feed will look, change combinations, and select the best visual representation of your business page by editing the schedule of post auto-publishing.
The tool is paid, with three tariff packages to choose from depending on the business's needs: Starter - $18/month; Growth - $40/month; and Advanced - $80/month.
4. CoSchedule
CoSchedule - an online project management service. The service is more suitable for advertising and marketing departments, as it allows for media planning, maintaining a marketing calendar, and coordinating projects. CoSchedule combines several tools for managing projects from start to finish.
The service combines 4 tools for organizing marketing department activities - time organization, content, work, and archive management. "Time organization" allows you to view department activity in a calendar, where employees' tasks are displayed. The calendar can be sent to clients or management, tasks can be dragged from one day to another, and it can be customized using filters. Content organization helps plan, create, publish, and promote materials. CoSchedule has a built-in text editor for content creation, where users can create articles and posts for publication.
For work organization in CoSchedule, tools for automation and productivity enhancement are provided. These include task time logging, daily task overview, and integration setup with third-party cloud services. For example, you can integrate with WordPress to automatically publish posts on the website or integrate with MailChimp to track email campaigns.
Features of CoSchedule:
- Marketing project management
- Creating a publication calendar
- Tools for planning and creating content
- Task list creation
- Content management
- Integration with cloud services
5. Planable
If you need to plan content on social networks for the entire month (or more), Planable is an excellent solution. This tool is compatible with all types of formats, including gifs, links, albums, photos, text, and carousels.
You can also create layouts and then preview them live before publishing. This eliminates the need to create test pages for this purpose.
Most companies use spreadsheets to plan their content needs. It's messy and clumsy. With Planable, you can ditch the spreadsheets and use planning and scheduling features that you and your entire team can use.
You can integrate emojis, hashtags, and Giphy. The drag-and-drop feature also simplifies the work.
Prices start at $24 per month for 3 users (1 workspace), $99 per month for 7 users (5 workspaces), and a custom offer for those who need more than 5 workspaces, more than 7 users, and advanced features within the Enterprise package.
6. Sprout Social
The Sprout Social service appeared later than most of the social media management tools on this list. Nevertheless, Sprout Social firmly holds its place among the best.
You will be able to compare yourself and your competitors, analyze various data (such as mentions), and more—Sprout Social will provide your business with enough information for successful growth and development.
Whether you want to add all your social media accounts to one platform for convenience in managing them, or whether you want to track trendsetters—Sprout Social has a couple of tricks up its sleeve that will allow you to get all the necessary information for a very reasonable price.
It offers a range of features to help businesses optimize their marketing efforts on social media, including:
- Social media scheduling: Sprout Social allows users to schedule posts on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
- Social media monitoring: The platform allows users to track mentions, comments, and messages on their social media accounts and respond to them in real-time.
- Social media analytics: Sprout Social provides detailed analytics and reports on social media performance, including engagement, reach, and subscriber growth.
- Collaboration tools: The platform allows teams to collaborate on content and campaigns on social media, assign tasks, and track progress.
- CRM integration: Sprout Social integrates with a wide range of popular CRM platforms, allowing companies to track interactions on social media with customers and potential customers.
7. Dlvrit
Dlvrit is another valuable service for automating post placement across social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google My Business, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. In addition to allowing users to manually create and schedule posts for multiple platforms in one place, Dlvrit also offers the option to scan websites via RSS feeds and repost relevant content to social media accounts. Therefore, the tool is particularly relevant for news portals, blogs, editorial teams, and businesses with constantly updated content.
Among other advantages of Dlvrit are integration with Google Analytics, a Chrome extension, and the availability of a free version. The cost of the monthly paid subscription is $10.8 for the pro plan and $30 for the plus package.
Conclusion
Autoposting services are an indispensable tool for SMM specialists when managing multiple business pages across various platforms. For professionals who promote 1-2 profiles, the free delayed posting features directly on social networks will come in handy. Where exactly to create delayed posts is up to you to decide. But regardless of the choice, a smart and creative approach to content planning is crucial.
