Social media marketing plays a major role in marketing any product or service. It is crucial to showcase your brand value and cultivate an emotional connection with your audeince.
That’s simple, right?
Social media marketing works on a simple concept but with over 4.48 Billion social media users targeted by 93.79% of businesses worldwide, you may struggle to stand out with your social marketing initiatives.
Social media statistics have revealed the popularity of social platforms and how they keep users hooked for hours. With this popularity comes the need to plan social media content skillfully. However, doing it all manually can be consuming, which is why social media planner tools exist.
To market your offering in such a competitive space, a social media planner can be a lifesaver. So, let us begin with understanding what exactly is a social media planner tool.
But why Use a Social Media Planner Tool?
A social media planner can be described as a visual content calendar that allows you to plan, organize and schedule social media posts for various social media platforms. It saves you from the hassle of planning and posting your content individually on every platform.
Let’s take a look at the best social media planner tools.
Buffer is another best social media planner tool that users love for its easy-to-use interface. In addition to content planning, it also allows you to schedule and publish posts on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Buffer’s engagement feature will enable you to stay on top of conversations and helps you to reply to comments in real-time. Its analytics feature provides insights into post performance, audience engagement, and optimal posting times.
Unlike other tools, Buffer offers a forever-free plan, which has its downside too. The free plan only allows you to schedule only 10 posts per month. It also lacks various advanced features compared to other premium tools.
Pros
- Buffer comes with an easy-to-use interface that wouldn’t require learning time.
- It offers a free plan.
- Allows you to customize posts for various social media platforms.
- Offers decent customer service to rely on.
Tawnya P.
“Buffer is a super easy-to-use tool for all your social media scheduling needs. They’re regularly releasing upgrades that make it more convenient. You can sign up for free and get quite a few features as well!”
Cons
- Its free version allows you to publish only 10 posts per social channel every month.
- It lacks many essential features like content curation, team management, etc.
Anupam P.
“The free version of Buffer has limited features and only allows to manage a few social media accounts”
SproutSocial is a robust social media post planner tool that offers advanced features for managing and analyzing your social media presence. It provides a centralized dashboard to schedule posts, engage with your audience, and monitor brand mentions and social media conversations.
SproutSocial’s reporting and analytics features help you track key performance metrics, measure campaign success, and generate in-depth reports. It also offers CRM integration to enhance customer relationship management.
Pros
- Sprout Social allows you to set up and access all your social media accounts in one place.
- It is a decent social media planning and scheduling tool that allows you to group team members for better collaboration.
- It also allows tools integration covering tools like Hubspot, YourVoice, and Zendesk, etc.
Dan K.
“I like that all of our social media accounts are accessible in one location and that I can schedule posts when they are the most advantageous to our organization. It allows us to maintain a clear social branding and present ourselves most professionally.”
Cons
- Comparative is an expensive tool for individuals and small businesses as there are alternatives in the market that come with budget-friendly pricing.
- Sprout Social offers a limited integration facility for the price it offers.
- It has a steep learning curve that requires time investment.
Alexandra H.
“There are some strange UI experiences, such as needing to edit pending posts after the scheduled time is passed and random bugs that feel more common than with other platforms. Limited integration functionality such as liking Instagram posts which is likely not Sprout’s fault but wish was clearer in the sales conversations. Bit of a learning curve with reporting. Like literally any software, everything seems perfect in sales, but when you start using it, you will realize that there are limitations which, while expected, is frustrating.”
Hootsuite is one of the oldest social media management tools that also offers social media planning functionalities. It comes with an intricate UI that may require some time to get a hang of. However, given its high pricing, the tool still does a fair job of offering social media scheduling, management, and monitoring capabilities.
Hootsuite’s powerful analytics feature provides valuable insights into audience engagement, post-performance, and social media trends. It also offers team collaboration features, making it ideal for managing social media efforts across multiple team members. So, you can also leverage Hootsuite to effectively manage and monitor your social media accounts, gain insights through analytics, and collaborate with your team.
Pros
- Hootsuite offers a wide range of social media management features.
- Offers in-depth social media reports for performance analysis.
- It helps with easy post-tracking and allows you to monitor social media conversations.
Sophie B.
“The fact it’s a one-stop shop. You can post across multiple social media networks, boost posts and even reply to comments. I love that it gives you access to reports as well. It’s very helpful to see how your posts are tracking.”
Cons
- Despite its features, Hootsuite is still high priced compared to its alternatives.
- Hootsuite has a steep learning curve and requires time to get a hang off.
- It has a little intricate user interface making it complicated for users.
Darshana B.
“Things I dislike about Hootsuite are limited platform support, cost, learning curve, dependency on a third-party platform, limited real-time engagement and user interface and navigation.”
Planable, is a social media planner tool designed for efficient collaboration among team members. It offers a visually appealing and interactive interface that allows you to plan and schedule social media posts, preview them in a feed-like format, and gather stakeholder feedback. Planable’s approval workflow feature ensures smooth communication and seamless approval processes within your team.
Pros
- Plannable is known for its ease to set up and easy to use.
- It offers a visual planner to plan your social media posts.
- It is a decent platform for individuals and freelancers who want to plan their social media content.
Charlotte J.
“The ease of set up, very intuitive user interface, very helpful and quick to respond support team. Great for freelancers or agencies with different clients.”
Cons
- Allows posting on only the top seven social media platforms.
- Not suitable for large agencies and businesses that need a whole bunch of social media management features.
- Only provides the basic analytics matrix and lacks in offering advanced analytics data.
Mischael S.
“One negative aspect of Planable.io is that the analytics and reporting capabilities are somewhat limited compared to other social media management tools on the market. While it does provide basic metrics such as likes, comments, and shares, it does not offer more advanced analytics like the ability to track conversion rates or customer acquisition. Another potential downside of Planable.io is that it can be a bit expensive for smaller teams or businesses on a tight budget. While the platform does offer a range of pricing options, the cost can add up quickly if you need to manage multiple social media accounts or have a large team of users.”
CoSchedule is an editorial calendar tool that enables you to plan, schedule and post your social media posts and WordPress blogs. It is a decent tool for executing your social media campaigns with the flexibility to plan your content visually.
With CoSchedule, you gain access to a drag and drop social media calendar to organize your social media content. It also provides analytics to track your social media performance and integrates with popular marketing platforms like WordPress, HubSpot, and Mailchimp.
Pros
- CoSchedule allows easy post-planning and scheduling.
- It is a social media planning tool that is fairly easy to use.
Lyndsey B.
“The easiness of scheduling posts with recommended times in one spot.”
Cons
- Lacks many advanced functionalities that are crucial for long term success on social media
- Lacks at offering integration capabilities with various tools.
David W.
“There is no direct way to post to Instagram; it is a somewhat complicated integration with other tools. I have actually started using another app to make this more doable for me both for posts, stories, and IGTV.”
Airtable, is a versatile tool that offers customizable databases, making it suitable for various purposes, including social media planning. With Airtable, you can create customized tables and workflows to manage your social media content calendar, track post-scheduling, and collaborate with team members.
Airtable comes with a flexible and visual interface that allows you to organize and view your social media planning data in a way that suits your needs.
Pros
- Airtable allows you to visualize your content plan for social media.
- Allows team members to collaborate and contribute to social media planning.
Stephanie E.
“Airtable makes importing data, sorting it, and manipulating it very easy and straightforward. There are a ton of functions and features that are conducive to reading information quickly. It works great as a resource center for team members to collaborate on.”
Cons
- Airtable is only suitable for social media planning and doesn’t offer important social media management features.
- It can be a complex tool for many users to learn and get a hang off.
Abdulkader S.
“Can be complex for some users, lacks some features of traditional project management tools. Can be slow at times.”
Sendible is a comprehensive social media planner tool suitable for managing multiple social media accounts and engaging with your audience. It offers features like post scheduling, content curation, social listening, and analytics.
Sendible’s social listening feature allows you to monitor brand mentions, industry trends, and competitor activities. It also offers CRM integration and team collaboration features to streamline your social media management efforts.
Pros
- Comes with an intuitive interface to plan and schedule social media posts.
- Offers the ease of editing posts and uploading graphics as needed.
Nat R.
“Sendible is a very intuitive tool. You can easily select which accounts that you want to send a blast to, and you can even edit when necessary. I upload graphics all the time with no issues.”
Cons
- It may turn out to be an expensive service in comparison to its alternatives.
- Comes with limited analysis and reports capability despite its high pricing.
Vadim S.
“The premium services are somewhat expensive and do not have a free version; however, it does have a 30-day free trial. On the other hand, the reports and analysis are somewhat limited compared to other alternatives in the market.”
Crowdfire is a social media planner tool that helps you grow and manage your social media presence effectively. It offers features like post scheduling, content curation, follower management, and social media analytics.
Crowdfire’s recommendation engine suggests relevant content for curation and identifies inactive or non-following users for follower management. It also provides insights into your social media performance, including follower growth, engagement, and post reach.
Pros
- Allows easy monitoring of basic performance matrices such as new followers, post clicks, and mentions.
- Helpful for content curation and offers content ideas to plan your social media content.
Niko V,
“Crowdfire is able to link with all major social media platforms. It is easy to monitor new followers and unfollowers, mentions and click per post through the dashboard. Scheduling of post feature works well and also it gives great suggestions on which content to post.”
Cons
- Lacks advanced analytics features that is important to understand overall social media performance.
- Lacks many advanced social media management features needed to succeed on social media.
Brittany N.
“The one thing I dislike is that it’s free to get started, but you are subject to some functionality limitations.”
Sked Social is a powerful social media post planner tool designed to simplify your content scheduling and management. The list of its supported platforms includes Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
With Sked Social, you can visually plan your Instagram feed, schedule posts, and use the hashtag planner to optimize your reach. Its advanced features, like user-generated content (UGC) management and analytics, further enhance your social media marketing efforts.
Pros
- It lets you plan and schedule your social media posts visually.
- It comes with a fairly easy-to-use interface.
Courtney D.
“I like that you are able to schedule and auto-post stories and carousel feed posts. I haven’t been able to find a service that does this. I also like the insights section where you can assess competitors.”
Cons
- You may experience some bugs while posting content with this tool.
- Lacks in-depth analytics that is offered by platforms like SocialPilot.
Riley S.
“We’ve run into quite a few bugs while using it. There have been issues with content not posting or posting at the wrong time. It can be very hit or miss, although I wouldn’t say this happens too frequently.”
Loomly is a social media management platform that allows you to plan, schedule and post your social media content. It is a versatile tool that simplifies content creation, scheduling, and collaboration.
It offers a calendar-based interface for planning and scheduling posts across various platforms. Loomly’s collaboration feature allows team members to review and approve content before publishing, ensuring a seamless workflow.
With its post-optimization recommendations and analytics, you can refine your social media strategy and achieve better engagement.
Pros
- Comes with a calendar-based interface to plan and schedule social media posts.
- Allows team collaboration to review and approve content before publishing.
Justin G.
“I really like the ease of publishing and the various features provided, like being able to alter content for different platforms and accounts, the carousel posts, creating one post that can be posted to all of our social channels without duplicating it,”
Cons
- The interface can be slow at times leading to difficulty of posting.
- It can come across to be an expensive option if you want to gain excess to advanced features.
- Loomly doesn’t offer real-time phone support to address your issues.
Collin O.
“Although there are many advantages to using Loomly, there are also some drawbacks worth noting. For one thing, while the interface is intuitive and user-friendly, it can be slow at times due to its large number of features. Additionally, while most features are free (such as access to basic analytics), more advanced features require a subscription fee—which may not be ideal for those on a tight budget. Finally, while the customer service team responds in a timely manner when contacted via email or chatbot, phone support isn’t currently available for technical issues or questions about billing plans.”
TweetDeck is a social media planner especially used for managing and monitoring your presence on Twitter. With this tool, you can schedule tweets, engage with your audience and stay updated with the latest trends on Twitter.
You can use TweetDeck to streamline your Twitter management efforts, schedule tweets, and watch over Twitter discussions relevant to you.
Pros
- TweetDeck offers real-time updates that help you to stay on top of your Twitter game.
- Twitter’s own tool to plan your Tweets.
Anisha A.
“TweetDeck – With customizable columns, scheduling, and real-time updates, it’s the perfect tool for staying organized and on top of your Twitter game. Highly recommend!”
Cons
- TweetDeck only works for Twitter and not any other social media platform.
- It comes with limited features in comparison to other social media management tools.
Vishnu M.
“It would have been great if I could integrate Twitter with other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Also, I face some issues while logging in from Mozilla Firefox.”
Zoho Social is a robust social media planner tool that offers features like post-scheduling, content curation, and analytics. It supports almost all popular social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google My Business.
Zoho Social’s advanced analytics provide insights into your social media performance, audience engagement, and competitor analysis. It also offers team collaboration features, ensuring smooth coordination among team members.
Pros
- Hassle-free post planning and publishing on all social media platforms.
- Offers advanced social media performance insights.
Rohit K.
“The best part of Zoho Social is that in one click, one post gets published on every social media platform linked; you don’t have to do it manually. I love this feature.”
Cons
- Zoho Social offers limited social listening capabilities.
- It can be a complex tool to learn and has a steep learning curve.
- The customer support is limited and is not as good as its alternatives.
Islam B.
“Limited Instagram Posting and Social Listening, steep learning curve, and the customer support is not as fast as can be. As a company, I know they can do better in these fields.”
Brandwatch is not just a social media planner tool but a powerful social listening and analytics platform. It helps you monitor brand mentions, track industry trends, and gather valuable insights from social media conversations.
With Brandwatch, you can identify key influencers, measure the performance of social media campaigns, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing strategies.
Pros
- Brandwatch allows easy social media planning and scheduling.
- A decent tool for working with teams while exercising complete control of access.
Geoffrey G.
“Super flexible and powerful dashboards that allow you to create any view you are looking for. This is a super strength when you work with teams that are unfamiliar with your work because you can set the settings and have people work in the data without fear they mess up your settings. Otherwise, the tool offers all the customizable options found in other tools like command center.”
Cons
- Not an accessible option for individuals and small businesses.
- It comes at higher pricing than its competitors.
Sabariah A.
“Not all social media medium is available to be integrated, and only some, like Twitter, can be used with Brandwatch.”
SocialBee is a social media planner tool designed to simplify your social media posting and content recycling. It offers features like post-scheduling, content categorization, and evergreen content recycling.
SocialBee’s content categories help you organize and rotate your posts, ensuring a varied and engaging social media presence. Additionally, it provides analytics to track your post performance and audience engagement.
Pros
- SocialBee comes with an easy-to-navigate user interface.
- Offers social media post scheduler that offers real-time post previews.
Krysten N.
“I find the platform easy to navigate. I appreciate the re-que features for automation. I find it useful to be able to post on so many different platforms for personal, as well as business use.”
Cons
- SocialBee on only a web-based platform which is not suitable for macro businesses and enterprises.
- Doesn’t offer in-depth social media analytics.
Brian H.
“I cannot schedule my personal Facebook posts the same way I do the rest of the other platforms. In the analytics, I wish it would show me the impressions information that is available on Linkedin, not just the reactions and comments information.”
MeetEdgar is a social media planner tool that focuses on automating your content scheduling and recycling. It allows you to categorize your posts, create content libraries, and set up automated posting schedules. MeetEdgar’s unique feature is its ability to recycle your evergreen content, ensuring your best posts are shared consistently over time. This saves you time creating content while maintaining an active social media presence.
Pros
- Allows you to create content libraries that can help you repurpose content forever.
- Allows you to group your content into different categories for easy scheduling.
Emily J.
“Until I can hire a social media manager, this helps keep content flowing”
Cons
- Comes at a hefty price not suitable for freelancers and small businesses.
- Offers limited analytics and team collaboration capabilities.
Jena A.
“Price is by far the biggest turnoff from regular use. The second is that repetition can be a bit much until you have built quite the library. And you will also need to understand social media marketing to understand what to post”
Conclusion
When it comes to social media planner tools, there are tons of paid and free social media tools that offer this functionality. However, not all these tools are not worth your time. Some tools may come with a high price tag, while some may lack important functionalities that you may need for social media management.
With all that in mind, SocialPilot can turn out to be the best option. It allows you to plan your social media content, schedule it for publishing, and monitor its real-time performance. You can also work with your clients and team to keep everything in place. The best part is that you can test SocialPilot with a free trial and review all its features before switching to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are social media management tools?
Social media management tools are software applications or platforms that help individuals or businesses streamline and organize their social media activities. These tools provide various features and functionalities to simplify the process of creating, scheduling, publishing, and analyzing social media content across multiple platforms.
What are the three social media tools?
The three types of social media tools are social publishing platforms, social listening platforms, and performance analysis platforms.
What are examples of social media tools?
Examples of social media tools include SocialPilot, Buffer, Sprout Social, Later, Hootsuite, etc.
These tools offer a range of capabilities, such as content scheduling, performance tracking, audience engagement, and social listening, to enhance social media management and maximize the impact of social media efforts.
About the Author
SocialPilot
SocialPilot is the best social media planner tool that allows seamless social media planning and scheduling. It offers a dynamic editorial planner which allows you to plan, schedule and publish content on numerous social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business, Tumblr, etc.
SocialPilot is the best social media planner tool that backs you up with a variety of social media planning and management features. It is a suitable tool for social marketing agencies that have multiple clients and social media channels to handle. With its easy-to-use interface, you and your team will not have to worry about the learning curve and can get a hold of all its features in no time.
Being a social media management platform, it allows you to set up your social media profiles with ease and allows you to create posts and schedule them for multiple clients. SocialPilot allows you to post content to multiple accounts at once, which can help you stay on top of your audience’s mind.
Another advantage you get with SocialPilot is the ability to work with your team in a collaborative environment. With its team collaboration feature, you can streamline all your social media activities, assign roles to different team members and set content approval channels as well. Overall making the best social media planning and managing platform for everyone.
Its features include:
What People Say About Us
Germain D.
“The solution is very inexpensive compared to other tools. The tool is also able to manage a wide range of platforms. It’s updated very regularly, and new features are added. Last but not least, the editor is very robust: you can start a post for multiple destinations (LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter) and, right from the editor, adjust content for each platform.”