Summary
- Turning to scheduling tools to streamline content management is a way social media marketers increase efficiency and return on investment (ROI).
- Social media scheduling tools streamline repetitive tasks. They enhance overall social media management processes and provide users of these tools more time for content creation and real-time engagement.
- Scheduling tools like Sprout Social, CoSchedule and Feedly cater to different needs. Apart from post-scheduling, these tools provide features for collaboration, content curation and analytics.
Social media marketers are always in search of more return on investment (ROI) and less wasted time. However, managing multiple accounts and building a community involves repetitive, time-consuming tasks.
That’s where social media scheduling tools can save the day.
Social media scheduling tools are more than just a convenient shortcut to queue up posts. The right tools help you manage your overall social media management process. They make it easier for you to create great content, publish at the right times to maximize reach and build deeper connections with your followers.
But with so many tools available, how can you find the right solution for your business? That’s where we’re here to help.
In this guide, you’ll discover 16 different social media scheduling apps and tools that save teams time and help get results for their marketing efforts.
What are social media scheduling tools?
A social media scheduler is a solution that helps you schedule your social posts across multiple social media accounts and platforms.
Just because social media is “always on,” it doesn’t mean you have to be.
Scheduling your social posts ahead of time gives you and your social team the opportunity to plan ahead and stay focused on other tasks.
Why use social media scheduling tools
Using a social media scheduler to help with account management offers you a range of benefits, including:
- Simplified posting across multiple accounts and social media platforms at once
- Optimize when to post on your accounts for maximum engagement
- Enhancing your team’s communication with collaboration features
- Calendar integrations that help your forward-planning
- Clearer visualizations, advanced analytics and reports that you can use to improve
- Strategy support tools to optimize your account’s performance
- The ability to automate certain processes with AI functionality
- Access to advanced monitoring features like social listening, hashtag analytics and more
Most of the social media scheduling tools listed below help you achieve several of these benefits.
But the best social media planner solutions on the market today help you achieve all of them, and more.
16 social media scheduling tools to boost your marketing workflow
There’s a vast number of different social media scheduling tools to choose from. Each of them differs in terms of integrations, advanced features, membership packages and more.
We’ve listed 16 different options so you can find the best social media planner for your company.
1. Sprout Social
If you’re looking for an all-in-one social media management tool, Sprout fits the bill.
Sprout’s vast list of features, integrations and solutions make it one of the best social media planner options available.
Features
Sprout’s powerful AI and automation capabilities help you hit the ground running. You’re able to process an average of 600M customer messages a day, while the collaborative content calendar makes it easy for your whole team to manage and publish across your accounts. Queueing, advanced scheduling, multimedia scheduling and multi-profile publishing are all available across Sprout’s membership plans.
ViralPost® and Smart Inbox tools are also available on all plans. They help you choose the best time to post and improve how you interact with your audience.
Sprout also offers advanced reporting tools and features like unified review management, analyzing hashtags and social listening. Collect actionable data on everything you post to improve account performance in the future.
Advantages
- Vast social media features for monitoring, scheduling and reporting.
- Integrations with all major social platforms.
- Several approval workflows to optimize your socials
- Affordable pricing plans for teams starting from $199/month.
- User-friendly interface with powerful features like social listening.
- Advanced AI capabilities including content creation support.
- Scales with your business as your social marketing and customer care teams grow.
- You can access a free, 30-day trial immediately with no credit card required.
Things to consider
Sprout’s huge number of tools means it’s applicable for businesses and teams of all sizes, from small companies to international brands. In addition to social teams, Sprout also supports data analysts or strategists with its business intelligence reporting functionality.
Sprout delivers a 233% return on investment, translating into savings of up to $1.3M. Our intelligent, analysis-ready models fit into your existing workflows seamlessly without manual setup.
Start a free 30-day Sprout trial
2. CoSchedule
CoSchedule helps brands publish and push content to social media simultaneously thanks to its calendar software. It’s designed to be an all-in-one tool for social media marketers and agencies.
Features
CoSchedule has three different calendar solutions for social, agency and content. They also support content and creation with an AI editor called “Hire Mia”, and offer several reporting tools.
Advantages
- A basic, free option and paid plans from $19/month
- Solutions designed specifically for content marketing
- Many scheduling features
Things to consider
The platform is designed for teams who are less focused on social media.
3. Planable
Planable is a social media marketing planning tool designed to help teams publish content quickly.
Features
Planable has a lot of tools that support the content creation process. They all have collaborative integrations and offer scheduling and a marketing calendar with multiple views.
Advantages
- Free option available
- Very focused on supporting content creation
- Many collaboration features
Things to consider
Meant for brands and agencies who are looking for simple social reporting.
4. X Pro (formerly Tweetdeck)
X Pro now allows users to manage multiple accounts at once, and schedule posts. This feature used to be called Tweetdeck, but it’s now part of the X Pro suite.
X Pro is also easily integrated with Sprout.
Features
Along with scheduling posts and managing multiple accounts, X Pro helps you organize posts into Collections. You can also access advanced search functions, including sentiment searches.
Advantages
- Easily post from multiple X accounts
- Search functions improve X’s use as a research tool
- Affordable at $8/month
Things to consider
X Pro is meant for individuals, as well as social teams in cases where X is a significant social media channel for their brands.
5. Airtable
Airtable is a collection of tools that function as a “spreadsheet database hybrid”. A key part of its features includes scheduling tools for marketing as well as employee management.
Features
Airtable’s campaign and marketing management tools allow you to create calendars and automate processes. You can also translate, create with AI support and measure results.
Advantages
- Free option available
- Support with strategy as well as distribution
- Designed to help teams collaborate
Things to consider
Since app-building is its main use case, Airtable may be better suited for strategists and software developers rather than marketing teams.
6. Sked Social
Sked Social is an Instagram-first scheduling tool that specializes in streamlining account management across Meta platforms.
Features
With an AI-optimized platform, Sked Social’s features include planning, collaborative tools, social inbox and listening.
Though they focus on Meta, Sked also integrates with other platforms like TikTok and Pinterest.
Advantages
- Unlimited users across plans
- Reliable customer support
- Several AI features for efficiency
Things to consider
Sked’s tools are designed primarily for brands and franchises, particularly teams that focus on Instagram.
7. Post Planner
Post Planner’s tools aim to help your content reach more followers. Its solutions help with scheduling, as well as content creation and design.
Features
As well as its basic scheduling, Post Planner offers Discover and Design tools to help you create viral posts.
You can find content ideas for what to post and schedule it right inside Post Planner, from sources like Reddit subreddits, streams and RSS feeds.
Advantages
- Free option available and paid plans from $7/month
- Tools that help you find and create content
- Recycling features like repurposing previous content to increase reach
Things to consider
Post Planner’s tools are for influencers and solopreneurs with only a few social channels. It isn’t well-suited for data analysts or anyone looking for detailed reporting.
8. StatusBrew
StatusBrew offers a collaborative dashboard for teams to schedule content on social media. They also offer different solutions designed for agencies, small businesses and enterprises.
Features
SocialBrew’s features are split into Publish, Engage and Reporting sections. They provide a shareable scheduling calendar, automated inbox tools and customizable reporting templates.
Advantages
- Buildable reports with 230 different metrics options
- Bulk scheduling and approval workflows
- 14-day free trial available
Things to consider
The tool is mainly designed for collaborative use in teams.
9. Zoho Social
With publishing, scheduling and monitoring tools as well as analytics and collaboration options, Zoho Social is another tool that provides social media management.
Features
As well as a calendar, Zoho Social has a monitoring dashboard for you to keep track of trends. They also offer analytics tools that are tailored to each social network.
Advantages
- Different pricing for businesses and agencies
- Platform-specific analytics
- Integrates with Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk
Things to consider
Meant for larger companies or enterprises with big marketing teams.
10. MeetEdgar
MeetEdgar is a scheduling and content creation tool that focuses on blogs, articles and content as well as social media.
Features
MeetEdgar’s AI content curator Inky can generate AI-written posts and content within the software.
Their main feature also involves saving all the content you publish and using this library to repurpose old ideas. This allows your evergreen ideas to be regularly refreshed into new posts.
Advantages
- Schedule and then repurpose existing content
- Usable across blogs as well as socials
- Pricing from $24.91/month
Things to consider
MeetEdgar is designed for freelancers and small businesses who rely heavily on written content as it doesn’t have much multimedia support.
11. eClincher
eClincher is a brand management tool that offers a single inbox for all your social media accounts. It also provides scheduling and tools that help you manage your SEO and online reputation.
Features
eClincher provides an all-in-one social inbox to improve responsiveness.
Their online reputation tools track conversations around your digital content. eClincher’s scheduling tools are also mostly AI-driven.
Advantages
- Monthly plans from $65/month.
- Advanced tools like monitoring and social listening
- Integrates with over 30 platforms
Things to consider
eClincher is designed for enterprise brands and very large marketing teams.
12. Iconosquare
Iconosquare combines social listening tools with its suite to offer a solution that prioritizes analytics and reports.
Features
Iconosquare’s analytics tools combine your engagement metrics with community insights across 100+ metrics.
Its scheduling tools provide some additional advanced features like image cropping, crossposting and approvals.
Advantages
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- Industry benchmark comparisons
- Intuitive scheduling
Things to consider
Iconosquare is marketed towards social teams working within large brands.
13. Sendible
Sendible allows you to manage your social media accounts at scale. It also connects with content platforms like WordPress and is built with agencies in mind.
Features
Sendible’s scheduling tools integrate with Canva Pro and allow for bulk planning for campaigns.
They also offer additional tools like Custom Tags and Automated Reports to help with collaboration and analysis.
Advantages
- Pricing starts from $29/month
- Some advanced tools like a smart compose box
- Designed to help you schedule at scale
Things to consider
Due to its focus on growth, Sendible is designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and is geared more towards agencies.
14. NapoleonCat
NapoleonCat offers tools that help you automate and manage your social inbox. Though this is their focus, they also provide scheduling and reporting solutions.
Features
With auto-moderation, you’re able to automate your direct messages across Facebook and Instagram.
NapoleonCat also supports scheduling across five platforms and social customer relationship management features.
Advantages
- Starts at £24 (approx. $31)/month
- Several tools that help with your direct messaging
- Meta business partner
Things to consider
NapoleonCat is designed for marketing teams looking to optimize their social inbox.
15. SocialBee
SocialBee is one of today’s social media scheduling tools designed primarily for solopreneurs and small businesses.
Features
SocialBee enables you to create content and generate a social strategy with AI assistance.
It also offers further scheduling solutions with an easy-to-use interface, as well as analysis and engagement tools.
Advantages
- Cheaper option starting from $24/month
- Some analytics and engagement tools alongside scheduling
- Simple UI
Things to consider
Socialbee is meant for solopreneurs and small teams, as it doesn’t have many collaboration tools.
16. Feedly
Feedly is a scheduling tool with a focus on content curation. Its platform automatically curates content to fill up your social media calendar.
Features
Feedly has two main products: Threat Intelligence and Market Intelligence.
Market Intelligence can be used to curate a feed of content. You can then integrate this with your social platforms to share relevant content.
Advantages
- Customize the content you share
- Tailor your feed to your audience or industry
- Simplify how you find and share market intelligence
Things to consider
Feedly works as a research tool and supplement for content scheduling for marketing teams. It’s aimed at enterprises rather than small & medium businesses.
What should you look for in a social media scheduling tool?
When selecting a social media scheduling tool, you know best what your organization needs based on your objectives and key results (OKRs).
There are certain key factors that should be top-of-mind when you choose the best scheduling tool for your brand’s social growth. These include:
Brand and team needs
Before you choose your social media scheduling tool, evaluate your marketing tasks, brand goals and team size. Use this software RFP to identify your specific needs, so you can make the right investment choice.
Ease of use
A seamless user experience should be one of your core determining factors. Your social media scheduling process should save your team time, not give them headaches.
Ensure that your social scheduler has an easy-to-navigate dashboard and simple walkthrough guides.
Quality support
It’s the best experience when your social media scheduling tool offers great customer support. Not all team members may be at the same skill level, so having readily available support can alleviate the downtime associated with learning a new tool.
When making a choice, select one that has a track record of good attendance to customers.
How are you taking advantage of social media scheduling tools?
Brands of all shapes and sizes are using social media scheduling tools to grow their followings, save time and push out more content.
Given the fast-paced nature of digital marketing, having these tools on deck is crucial for keeping your content from getting lost in the shuffle.
Want to build your online presence with a scheduling tool that works? Try Sprout Social free for 30 days.
