A social media scheduling platform helps publishers leverage Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for maximum results. Selecting the best social media scheduling platform depends mainly on which features you need. There are dozens of options available for digital news publications and online magazines, and they all have unique features and capabilities.
The basic features almost all social media scheduling platforms have are scheduled posting and cross-posting. Scheduled posting means the publisher can write up one or more posts, and then schedule the day and time when those posts will go live on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Cross-posting means the publisher can write the post once and then put it up on multiple platforms.
Some advanced tools that are also nice for digital news publishers include collaborative calendars, activity streams, and content libraries. A few of the higher-end social media tools use machine learning and artificial intelligence to manage tasks on behalf of the publisher. In some cases, these tools will actually track the engagement on the publisher’s posts to learn when certain times of content should go live.
The right social media posting platform can help a digital publisher maximize the impact of a social media marketing strategy. Any digital publisher can benefit from using a social media scheduling platform, but larger publishers have the most to gain.
The most common reason why local news publishers start using social media marketing platforms is for the cross-posting tools. An individual or a small team can streamline their daily schedule and perhaps gain a larger following on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
For larger digital media companies, using a social media dashboard is more about team collaboration. With unified activity feeds and group inboxes, multiple people can reply to direct messages and online comments without fear of stepping on each other’s toes or doubling up on the work. Tasks for doling out assignments are another key feature that large teams utilize more frequently than smaller digital publishers.
Growth vs engagement is an issue that digital publishers should consider when deciding which platform to use. Some social media scheduling platforms are designed in a way that encourages user growth over engagement. Broadly speaking, social media scheduling tools encourage engagement by posting content at the time when users are most likely to interact.
What’s interesting is that no two publications have the same ideal posting schedule. Certain audiences are more likely to engage with content in the morning, for example, while others are most likely to engage on the weekends or late at night.
The type of content that the publication is posting matters, as well. Are people more likely to “like” the publication when they see a photo with a brief caption or a photo with a longer caption? Advanced social media marketing platforms offer insights into how seemingly minor changes in formatting or content development lead to major results.
Although Hootsuite spent years as the most recognizable and widely-known social media marketing dashboard, a number of other companies have come onto the market. This is great news for digital publishers, since it means greater flexibility and lower prices industry-wide.
To help guide digital news publishers through the process of selecting the best social media scheduling platform, we have put together this guide with information about some of the most popular options.
5 Social Media Scheduling Platforms
1. Hootsuite – As mentioned previously, Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media marketing and management dashboard. The company has been in the business for years, and this is a solution that publishers of all sizes can use.
2. Sendible – Publishers who want a unified place to plan their social content strategies can take advantage of Sendible’s tools.
3. Agorapulse – While Agorapulse is another all-in-one social media dashboard, it also has special features that make engagement and scheduling content especially simple for novice users.
4. Buffer – Buffer provides digital publishers with simple tools for authentic social media engagement. Users can both publish and analyze their campaigns with this platform.
5. SocialPilot – Hundreds of thousands of businesses use SocialPilot to schedule social media posts and improve online engagement. SocialPilot has made its mark in the industry by providing its users with exceptional value.
Have you tried any of these social media tools? Which one is your favorite? Reach out to Web Publisher PRO to learn how our goal-oriented strategies can take your publication to the next level.
