Most brands stand out just because of their social media efforts.

In fact, 83% of consumers say social media influences their purchasing decisions.

When you’re starting a brand or running a full-fledged business, one of the most important thing is to maintain a strong social media presence.

And having the right tools is essential for keeping your audience engaged!

In this blog, we’ll tell you about the 15 social media planning tools to help make your life easier.

We’ll cover their features, benefits, and some best practices to get the most out of them.

Whether you need to schedule posts, analyze performance, or connect with your audience, these tools will have you covered.

Let’s get started!

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What Are Social Media Planning Tools?

Social media planning tools are software applications crafted to simplify and optimize the management of your social media accounts.

These tools are indispensable for anyone looking to streamline their social media efforts, whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a small business owner, or part of a larger marketing team.

Key Features and Functionalities

1. Scheduling Posts: One of the core features of social media planning tools is the ability to schedule posts in advance. This means you can plan your content calendar weeks or even months ahead, ensuring a consistent online presence without the need to post manually every day.
2. Tracking Analytics: Understanding how your posts perform is crucial to improving your social media strategy. These tools offer detailed analytics and insights into metrics like engagement, reach, clicks, and conversions. This way, you can make data-driven decisions.
3. Collaboration: Many social media planning tools come with collaboration features that make it easy for teams to work together. Whether it’s assigning tasks, sharing drafts, or getting approvals, these tools facilitate smooth teamwork and ensure everyone is on the same page.
4. Monitoring Brand Mentions: Keeping an eye on what people are saying about your brand is vital for reputation management. Social media planning tools often include monitoring features that alert you to brand mentions, allowing you to engage with your audience promptly and effectively.
5. Content Creation: Some advanced tools also provide resources for content creation, such as image editing, design templates, and even AI-driven suggestions for post content. This can be a huge time-saver and help maintain a high standard of quality for your social media posts.

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Benefits of Social Media Planning Tools

Let’s take a look at some benefits of social media planning tools:

1. Time Efficiency

   One of the most significant benefits of using the best social media planning tools is the time saved.

   Instead of logging into multiple platforms, you can schedule posts in advance for all your accounts from one dashboard.

   This allows you to batch your content creation and focus on other important aspects of your business.

2. Consistency and Reliability

   Consistency is key in social media marketing.

   With planning tools, you can ensure that your content goes live at optimal times, even when you’re not available.

   This reliability translates to better audience engagement and improved brand visibility.

3. Enhanced Analytics

   Understanding the performance of your social media efforts is crucial.

   Most planning tools come with robust analytics features that provide insights into your post’s performance, audience demographics, and engagement rates.

   These analytics help you fine-tune your strategy for better results.

15 Social Media Planning Tools in 2024

Here, we’ve rounded up 15 of the best social media planning tools to help you manage, optimize, and elevate your social media presence.

1. Social Champ

   

   Social Champ is a social media management tool designed to cater to businesses of all sizes. It offers a suite of features that streamline social media workflows.

   Key features include:

   • Post Scheduling: Effortlessly plan and schedule content across multiple platforms, ensuring consistent engagement with your audience.
   • Best Time to Post: Leverage data-driven insights to identify optimal posting times for maximum reach and impact.
   • Bulk Upload: Save time by uploading multiple posts at once, allowing you to focus on content creation.
   • Auto RSS: Automatically share content from your website or blog, keeping your social feeds updated with fresh information.
   • Analytics and Reporting: Access detailed analytics to measure the performance of your social media campaigns and adjust your strategies accordingly.
   • Team Collaboration: Improve efficiency and consistency by collaborating with your team on content creation, approval, and scheduling.
   • Content Curation: Create eye-catching content with the Champ AI Suite to keep your audience engaged and informed.
   • Social Listening: Stay ahead of trends and monitor brand mentions with social listening capabilities.

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2. Hootsuite

   

   Hootsuite is a veteran in the social media planning arena and has built a reputation for its robust, multi-functional platform.

   It supports multiple platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more.

   Key features include:

   • Post-Scheduling: Schedule posts across various social media platforms well in advance, ensuring a consistent and timely posting schedule.
   • Analytics: Gain deep insights into your social media performance with comprehensive analytics that help you measure engagement, reach, and other critical metrics.
   • Team Collaboration: Facilitate smooth collaboration within your team by assigning tasks, managing approvals, and working together on content creation and strategy.

3. Buffer

   

   Buffer is celebrated for its user-friendly interface and simplicity, making it an ideal choice for those new to social media management.

   Its features include:

   • Post-Scheduling: Easily schedule posts ahead of time across all your social media accounts, ensuring you maintain a steady online presence.
   • Performance Tracking: Track the performance of your posts with detailed analytics and reports, helping you understand what resonates with your audience.
   • Unified Management: Manage all your social media accounts from one place, streamlining your workflow and saving you time.

4. Sprout Social

   

   Sprout Social provides comprehensive social media management solutions that cater to businesses of all sizes.

   It stands out for its intuitive design and powerful features, including:

   • Scheduling: Plan and schedule your social media posts with ease, ensuring timely delivery and consistent engagement.
   • Monitoring: Keep track of brand mentions, keywords, and hashtags to stay on top of conversations relevant to your brand.
   • Reporting: Generate detailed reports that provide actionable insights into your social media performance, helping you fine-tune your strategy.

5. CoSchedule

   

   CoSchedule combines social media management with content marketing, making it a versatile tool for marketers.

   Its standout feature is its drag-and-drop calendar, which offers:

   • Visual Content Strategy: Use the drag-and-drop calendar to visualize your entire content schedule, making it easier to plan and organize.
   • Integrated Marketing: Coordinate your social media efforts with your broader content marketing strategy for a cohesive approach.
   • Performance Analytics: Measure the success of your campaigns with built-in analytics that provide valuable feedback on your efforts.

6. Later

   

   Later is a visual-first social media planner that’s especially popular among Instagram marketers. Its features are tailored to enhance visual content planning and include:

   • Grid Preview: Plan your Instagram feed visually with the grid preview feature, ensuring a cohesive and attractive layout.
   • Robust Analytics: Access detailed analytics that offers insights into your post-performance, helping you optimize your content strategy.
   • Simplified Scheduling: Schedule images and videos for Instagram and other platforms with an easy-to-use interface.

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7. Planoly

   

   Planoly is another tool designed for visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. It’s geared towards visual content creators and offers several useful features:

   • Scheduling: Plan and schedule your posts in advance, maintaining a regular posting schedule without the hassle of manual uploads.
   • Analytics: Monitor the performance of your posts with in-depth analytics, allowing you to refine your strategy based on data-driven insights.
   • Content Creation Tools: Utilize built-in tools for designing and creating visually appealing content, streamlining the creative process.

8. MeetEdgar

   

   MeetEdgar stands out for its unique approach to content recycling, which is designed to ensure that your evergreen content continuously reaches new audiences.

   Key features include:

   • Content Recycling: Automatically re-share your evergreen posts at optimal times, ensuring that your best content keeps getting traction.
   • Category-Based Scheduling: Organize your content into categories and set specific schedules for each, maintaining a diverse and engaging feed.
   • Automated Publishing: Save time with MeetEdgar’s automated publishing feature, which takes the hassle out of manual post scheduling.

9. Loomly

   

   Loomly is designed to foster collaboration among teams and spark creativity with its unique post-ideas feature.

   Highlights of Loomly include:

   • Collaborative Planning: Provide a space for teams to plan, schedule, and manage social media posts together, enhancing coordination and efficiency.
   • Post Ideas: Inspire creativity with Loomly’s post ideas feature, which suggests content based on trending topics, holidays, and events.
   • Approval Workflow: Streamline the approval process with built-in workflows, ensuring that every post meets brand standards before going live.

10. SocialBee

    

    SocialBee helps you maintain a balanced and diverse social media presence by categorizing your content and scheduling it accordingly.

    Essential features include:

    • Content Categorization: Features content categorization and diverse scheduling options, positioning itself as a versatile social media content planning tool.
    • Balanced Scheduling: Maintain a well-rounded social media presence by mixing different types of posts according to your strategy.
    • Automation: Automate scheduling and posting, freeing up your time to focus on creating engaging content.

11. Tailwind

    

    Tailwind is a favorite among Pinterest and Instagram users. It provides advanced analytics, scheduling features, and content creation tools.

    Key components include:

    • Advanced Scheduling: Schedule pins and posts with precision, ensuring your content is shared at the optimal times for engagement.
    • Content Creation Tools: Utilize design tools and templates to create visually appealing posts and pins.
    • In-Depth Analytics: Track and analyze the performance of your posts to understand what resonates with your audience and optimize future content.

12. Zoho Social

    

    Zoho Social offers comprehensive social media management solutions for growing businesses.

    It integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products, making it a great choice for businesses already using Zoho.

    Key features include:

    • • Complete Management: Manage all aspects of your social media presence, from scheduling posts to analyzing performance, within a single platform.
    • Integration with Zoho Products: Integrates well with other Zoho products for a seamless experience, providing a holistic approach to social media content planning.
    • Real-Time Monitoring: Stay on top of social conversations and mentions with real-time monitoring, allowing you to respond promptly and engage with your audience.

13. Sendible

    

    Sendible is tailored for agencies, offering robust client management features that make it easy to handle multiple accounts. Its key features are:

    • Client Management: Manage multiple client accounts seamlessly, keeping your clients’ social media strategies organized and efficient.
    • Scheduling and Analytics: Schedule posts across various platforms and analyze their performance with detailed reports.
    • CRM Integration: Integrate with CRM systems to manage customer relationships and interactions directly from the platform.

14. Iconosquare

    

    Iconosquare offers detailed analytics and scheduling specifically for Instagram and Facebook, making it a powerful tool for optimizing your content strategy.

    Key features include:

    • Detailed Analytics: Gain deep insights into your social media performance with metrics that help you understand engagement, reach, and audience behavior.
    • Scheduling: Schedule posts for Instagram and Facebook, ensuring a consistent presence on these platforms.
    • Content Optimization: Use data-driven insights to refine your content strategy and boost your social media success.

15. Social Status

    

    Social Status is a comprehensive social media planning tool designed to help businesses and agencies manage their social presence effectively.

    Key features include:

    • Content Scheduling: Allows users to schedule posts across multiple platforms from a single interface, ensuring consistent and timely content delivery.
    • Analytics and Reporting: Offers in-depth analytics to track engagement, reach, and performance metrics. Reports can be customized and exported in various formats, such as Excel, PDF, PPTX, and Google Slides12.
    • Team Collaboration: Facilitates collaboration among team members with features like task assignments, approval workflows, and role-based access controls.
    • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration: Connects with CRM systems to better manage customer interactions and improve service delivery.
    • Ad Campaign Management: Enables the creation, management, and tracking of social media ad campaigns directly within the platform.

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Best Practices for Using Social Media Planning Tools

Once you pick out the social media planning tool, the next step is to implement the following best practices:

Understand Your Audience

Before you start scheduling posts, it’s crucial to understand your audience.

Use the analytics provided by your planning tool to gain insights into your followers’ behavior and preferences.

This will help you create content that resonates with them.

1. Plan Ahead

   While spontaneity can sometimes be beneficial, having a well-thought-out content calendar ensures consistency.

   Plan your posts at least a month in advance, and use your planning tool to schedule them accordingly.

2. Monitor and Adjust

   Even the best plans require adjustments.

   Regularly monitor the performance of your posts and make necessary changes to your strategy.

   Use the analytics provided by your planning tool to understand what’s working and what’s not.

3. Engage With Your Audience

   Social media is not just about broadcasting messages; it’s about building relationships.

   Use your planning tool to monitor mentions, respond to comments, and engage with your audience regularly.

4. Collaborate Effectively

   If you’re working with a team, leverage the collaborative features of your planning tool.

   Assign tasks, draft posts for approval, and communicate within the platform to streamline your workflow.

5. Keep up With Trends

   Social media is constantly evolving.

   Stay updated with the latest trends and features of your chosen planning tool.

   This will help you stay ahead of the curve and make the most of new opportunities.

6. Maintain Authenticity

   While planning tools make it easier to manage your social media presence, it’s important to maintain authenticity.

   Ensure that your scheduled posts reflect your brand’s voice and values.

7. Leverage Multiple Platforms

   Different social media platforms cater to different audiences.

   Use your planning tool to manage multiple platforms and tailor your content to each one.

   This will help you reach a broader audience.

8. Analyze Competitors

   Use your planning tool to keep an eye on your competitors.

   Analyze their social media strategies and see what you can learn from them.

   This can provide valuable insights for your own strategy.

9. Integrate With Other Tools

   Many social media planning tools integrate with other marketing tools like CRM systems and email marketing platforms.

   Take advantage of these integrations to create a seamless marketing strategy.

10. Evaluate ROI

    Ultimately, your social media efforts should contribute to your business goals.

    Use the analytics provided by your planning tool to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of your social media campaigns.

    This will help you allocate resources more effectively.

Conclusion

Social media planning tools are essential for today’s marketers.

They save time, make work easier, and give you useful information to better connect with your audience.

By choosing the right tool and using it wisely, you can improve your social media strategy significantly.

This will help you engage more with your audience, increase your online presence, and achieve your marketing goals more effectively.

Using a good social media planning tool can really boost your brand’s success online.

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