Since I’ve started blogging and as the blog has grown, I’ve gotten questions from friends (and other bloggers) about blogging. From how I earn money to why I’m posting on twitter at 3am, the questions have certainly been varied! Because of that, I thought it was time to bring back my Blog Better posts (plus, I just missed doing them). I’ll use these posts to answer your questions, share tutorials, and share the lessons I’ve learned from blogging for almost four years. Today I wanted to focus on social media scheduling tools for bloggers.
So let’s address that first question: no, I’m not actually up at 3am and posting on twitter. I love sleep more than I love twitter. Sorry not sorry. But because I love sleep, I need to use different social media scheduling tools to still have a social media presence when I’m sleeping or just taking the weekend off from social media.
Buffer has basically become my #1 tool for social media scheduling. I’ve tried A LOT of tools for scheduling social media and this is my favorite so far. Buffer allows me to schedule posts for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram all at once. Literally, all at once. I can go in, write out a status and schedule it all of my social media channels. I can then easily go back in and tailor messages to my different platforms (if I want).
They also have a scheduling tool set up so you figure out what your best posting times are for each platform and then move posts around as you see fit.
My favorite part about Buffer is that they actually listen to user feedback! Since they came out with posting to instagram, a lot of users have asked for a planning tool so we can see how the “instagram grid” will look. Buffer listened and they’re planning on debuting that soon!
If you guys would like it, I’m happy to do a more in depth look at how I use buffer!
2. Tailwind
While Buffer is my go-to for all social media, Tailwind is the Pinterest Planning king of social media tools for bloggers. I’ve been using it for about a year and it’s been a huge part of my pinterest growth.
Tailwind helps me schedule all of my blog pins, pin from other websites, and re-pin old posts. I actually wrote a full post a few weeks ago about how to use Tailwind. Check out that post to learn about how to set up your own Tailwind account.
3. Iconosquare
Instagram is hard. It’s fun, but with all of the algorithm changes and always increasing competition, using for small businesses has just become an ever increasing nightmare. I still use it, but I’ve tried to become much more intentional about posting and looking at my instagram statistics.
Switching to an Instagram Business Account has been really helpful looking at my insights (no, I don’t believe that switching over to a brand page hurt my account),but, I still use iconosquare for a more in depth look at my analytics. It’s helped me figure out best posting times and what content has been the most engaging. Iconosquare also has a scheduling tool, which I’ve used a few times to see when it would be best to post. You can post to instagram from their site, but I prefer to post from buffer.
For instagram planning, honorable mentions also go out to Later and Planoly! Both of them let you schedule out your posts and see them to make sure that your top 9/grid look nice. Truthfully, until Buffer adds their visual planner (they’re working on it), I use a combination of all of these tools.
That’s it! I don’t use that many tool for social media scheduling and I really don’t believe that you need to. I’ve seen consistent growth from using these few tools. Have you tried any of these tools? Do you have specific questions about them? Also, because I love checking out new tools, what do you use?!
