Having the ability to sit down and schedule out social media posts for the week or even the month is exactly the shortcut that marketers need.

Social Media scheduling tools are so valuable for that reason alone, that marketers need shortcuts in order to get their brand content out there. They need tools they can rely on, save time, and allow more content to be out in the digital world to their audience.

Not sure if scheduling content is for you? Consider some of these benefits and why social media scheduling is crucial for every marketer:

• Increased Engagement. Having the ability to schedule content in advance means that you can time your posts for the most engagement possible.
• Save Time. Making some pieces of your social media strategy automated means that you have more time to work on other aspects of your marketing strategy or— “gasp”—respond to your engagements.
• Publish more, consistently. Consistency is key for social media and saves having to scramble around for a last-minute Create a strategy and a flow for your profiles by having posts scheduled out in advance.

Now, let’s talk about what social media scheduling tools marketers could use to make it a cinch!

1. Sprout Social

This all-in-one platform that keeps marketers from juggling between different software. The easy-to-use interface and powerful features makes it easy for brands to publish content to multiple social platforms.

The ability to both schedule and post across multiple platforms keeps your social strategy from becoming a pain in the neck and a time-consuming task.

Beyond scheduling, Sprout Social is also an awesome tool for collaboration among marketing teams. Different levels of permission provide specific access to marketing managers, writers, and everyone in between who contributes to your social media calendar. Heck yeah—for collaboration!

2. CoSchedule

This a #SMSsummit tool! (Just a quick shout-out)

Similar to Sprout Social, CoSchedule emphasizes efficiency for marketing teams and individuals alike.

The tool integrates with company blogs via WordPress, and allows brands to publish and push content to social media simultaneously.

Additionally, CoSchedule provides a comprehensive “Top Content Report” which documents social shares and engagement. This is a fantastic feature for content creators looking to figure out which pieces are resonating most with readers.

Unlike other social media scheduling tools, CoSchedule primarily focuses on content versus solely social performance.

3. Feedly

There’s no denying that one of the biggest challenges of social media scheduling is creating content that will resonate with your audience.

Que Feedly.

Feedly’s platform automatically creates content to fill up your social media calendar. Instead of scrambling for news or relevant pieces to publish to your audience in-between your own posts, Feedly provides the information for you.

4. Tweetdeck

If your brand is primarily on twitter and you really only need to schedule posts on that platform—Tweetdeck is the solution for you! This social tool allows you to queue tweets across multiple accounts, set up you tweets and go live at a certain time.

You can also see your live feed in addition to notifications, mentions, and other activity all in one place.

5. Airtable

This tool was introduced to the #SMSsummit team by one of our blog writers and we are truly in love!

Airtable is essentially a content creation tool that helps you knock out blog posts in a snap.

Planning out content can help you create a strategy for your audience that will really resonate. Airtable brings the processes of content planning and social media scheduling together. The platform can be used among teams or individuals to not only plan out future pieces of content, but to also control how those posts will be promoted across various social sites.

 6. Buffer

If you are an established marketer or just getting going then Buffer is great for you!

The free option on Buffer is an excellent place to check out the platforms and see what works for you brand.

Buffer’s ability to identify your highest-performing posts is a nice touch for those looking to figure out how to improve their social content in the future.

7. Plann

Instagram can be a tough platform to schedule on since you can’t just schedule and it will be published. The third-party option isn’t available, so most tools give you a notification and you have to go in and post natively.

Plann is a great work around for that. The free plan offers up to 10 posts a month. You can upgrade to unlimited posts for one user for just $3/month.

It is great to look at your feed in advance and create a flow for your brand’s profile. You can also save different hashtag sets and pull easily from those when you are posting.

Brands are using social media scheduling tools to increase their interactions, create content that engages their audience, and grow their reach with more content.The social media world moves so fast that having a scheduling a tool can make a marketer’s and a marketing team’s lives easier and keep brand content consistent.

What features do you find to be most important for a social media scheduling tool? What tools do you use? Share with us below and let us know!