Oh content scheduling, how I look at you with admiration. I was scared to approach you at first and here we are, looking after 3 social media channels together <3. Seriously, content scheduling changed my productivity and till death do us part. I am both a graphic designer and social media manager and my life can get a tad crazy. Sometimes all I do all day is manage our social media channels, but sometimes I’m whipping up designs for our clients on a deadline. Our social media channels are my children and I won’t allow you to call CPS on me for not giving the tender loving care they deserve!
So, to give our social media channels TLC consistently, I looked into content scheduling. I have to admit, I’m really unorganized in my life and looking in the future scares me. Naturally, planning a whole month IN ADVANCE was almost undoable. But I soon realized like meeting someone new, you gotta give them a chance to show their true potential.
I use a free version of Hootsuite for our Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram and I haven’t looked back since. I feel more confident and proud of what we post on social and I love the idea that everyone knows what’s coming up next. Like everything, there’s pros and cons, but content scheduling is an absolute no-brainer for any social media manager.
Pros
Consistent Posting
When you plan out a whole month of content, all you have to do is sit back and relax. Scheduling posts also builds consistency in both momentum and the material you post. When you are thinking of new content day-by-day in a fluster, you may not achieve the consistent aesthetic you want for your platforms.
More Control
Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin all have different “peak times” where most people are actively engaged on social media. This means if you have three separate social media sites, you will need to post three different times which may be different from each other. With a content scheduler, you can control when your post will go out on each channel to achieve maximum engagement.
Diversity of Content
Being able to plan out what kind of content will be posted ensures that your channels stay interesting. For example on a Monday you might post an inspirational quote, so Tuesday you would post something other than a an inspirational quote. It eliminates redundancy and it allows you to mix and match days that look the best next to each other on a feed.
Better quality content
Everything looks better when you put more thought and time into it. So why should you rush day-to-day to create and post content on your social media? Scheduling ensures that each post gets the same TLC in quality to achieve the look and feel you want your socials to be.
Less Time than Manual Posting
For me, it takes a solid working week to plan, design and schedule content a month in advance. This also includes getting the posts and schedule approved by our Art Director. This is how my schedule looks like when I’m posting day-today
1. Think of what you want to post
2. Panic that you need to meet the optimal post time
3. Design something quickly
4. Get it approved by everyone
5. Then post it
I can guarantee that you won’t make your optimal post time and the aesthetic quality every time doing it day-by-day. Another way to look at it is what happens if you can’t make it to work or if you have a busy day at work? Get everything knocked out in a week and watch your content scheduler post your cool designs.
Cons
It may not look right
Each social site is particular on the dimensions or settings a photo or video must be in. Most free content schedulers will resize the photo or video itself to fit the standards for each channel. This may mean that they will crop your photo awkwardly or leave unnecessary white space on the sides of your videos and photos. Make sure before you schedule the post that you have your dimensions and settings correct to the chosen social site to avoid autocorrection by the content scheduler
It may take a while
Dedicating a whole week to content creation and scheduling can be lengthy. I mean, you’re planning a whole month! That’s at least 30 days of content. However, if you accumulate the hours spent on day-to-day posting, it’s shorter in the long run and a whole lot less stressful.
Doesn’t offer full posting capabilities
For example, I use Hootsuite and it allows me to connect up to 3 social media profiles for free with 30 days of free scheduling per month. It’s all good and dandy but, I can’t do the following things on Instagram when I schedule a post:
- Tag someone on a photo/video
- Choose the cover photo for a video
- Upload more than one photo in a photo set
- Post a video that it more than 5 MBPZ per second
If you are posting a photo set or video on Instagram, I recommend doing this manually.
To conclude, content schedulers are a must for social media managers. If you need to take care of 3 social media channels, I recommend just getting the free version of Hootsuite. Of course, there’s cons for a free version but they are simple fixes that require just a tad bit more effort on your end. I mean, what else you have to do? You scheduled all your content and you have all this free time because I convinced you to schedule your content, right?
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