As a small or mid-sized business, your marketing team is probably small, and you’ve probably got one or two people managing your social media accounts. Any social media manager will immediately tell you that juggling retweets, LinkedIn posts and Facebook photos without a system gets sloppy very quickly. Adding another person (say, one copywriter and one manager) opens up even more potential for missed connections: more services means more potential for scheduling errors. That said, there are many ways to ensure posts are created and published on time, every time.

Homegrown

If your social media posting frequency is low, sometimes a basic spreadsheet can keep everything organized. Setup is minimal, and the solution itself is free. How you configure it should be based on your special needs, but include spaces, columns or rows for:

Social media network (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.)
Date and time
Content, including copy, images and links
Status (planning, creating, posted)

This solution won’t schedule posts for you like our other selections will, but with all you’ve got on your mind, digital marketer, a little bit of vigilance and a sturdy calendar app is better than relying on memory alone.

HootSuite

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little parliament of owls delivering messages to users’ desktops at timed intervals like carrier pigeons? Stylish. Instead, social media managers do all of the heavy lifting— just as wonderful, but not quite as nocturnal. If you’re trying to get attention across multiple time zones or need to send out posts outside of business hours, scheduling through HootSuite is a safe bet. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, Mixi, WordPress… you name it, HootSuite supports it, whether natively or for a small added fee. Pro service begins at $8.99/month for 50-100 social media profiles and 1-9 members. As for features, HootSuite integrates with analytics platforms and is also functional for mobile.

Buffer

The new kid on the block is looking smooth. If your company uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and App.net, social media scheduling is easy with Buffer. The service has three tiered plans for business, depending on the number of connected users ($50 per month brings together five team members on 25 connected accounts). With free analytics and mobile apps, you can space out link, photo and text posts and add on a number of free apps. Pretty cool.

For small to mid-sized businesses, those are our three favorite options for managing social media scheduling. Which you choose depends on the complexity of your social media strategy and what campaigns you may be running at any given time. Don’t forget that some channels, such as Facebook, have built-in scheduling, too. Check them out, or feel free to discover your own— the important thing here is keeping social media accounts active without inundating followers with post after post.

If you’re unsure of what’s best for your company, a more detailed and custom-made consultation with us is just an email or phone call away.