In last week’s post, I wrote about how to generate a week’s worth of content for your Facebook page (or any other social media account) in one day.
And while the post is really specific about how to generate that content, you’ll notice that I did not give you the tools to actually schedule said content ahead of time.
There are many different tools that will schedule your posts ahead of time. But, since I have personal experience with only a handful, I’m going to stick to writing about the tools that I know and love.
And yes, I do mean tools in the plural. Unfortunately, there is no one tool that will allow you to pre-schedule a post to all 4 of the major social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+) at once.
With those two caveats in mind, let’s take a look at the tools I use to schedule my social media updates in advance.
Hootsuite – Facebook, Twitter, and a Google+ business page
Hootsuite is a free web-based tool that allows you to post to your Facebook page, your Twitter account, and your Google+ business page. Setting up a free account takes about 15 minutes, after which you’ll need to spend about 10 minutes connecting your Hootsuite account to each of your social media sites.
Pros: Free! Easy to use, web-based, and there’s an app for your smart phone, which means you can access it from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. It automatically shortens links for you, and you can reply to Tweets and Facebook updates from right inside Hootsuite.
Cons: Hootsuite is great for posting updates to Facebook, but it’s a terrible interface for interacting with your Facebook fans. Also, they have a lot of nifty reports, but none of them are available at the free level.
Pingraphy – Pinterest
It took me a while to find a site that would let me pre-schedule my pins on Pinterest and track the results. But I found Pingraphy a few weeks ago, and I’m hooked! It lets you upload pins in bulk and you can pre-schedule them through an intuitive, easy-to-understand interface. Plus, it tracks the likes and shares your pins receive, and even tracks your top pins and the status of individual boards. Neat!
Pros: Web-based application, so you can access it anywhere that there’s internet. You can even add a pingraphy button to your internet browser toolbar, which allows you to pin an article or video instantly.
Cons: Unlike my other favorite tools, Pingraphy is not free. (Basic accounts are $15/month). The scheduling options are great, but you have to upload an image in order to pin it at a later date. This rules out pre-scheduling YouTube movies. And, if you’re re-pinning images directly from the Pinterest website, there’s no way to schedule them to be pinned in advance.
Do Share – Google+
Do Share is an extension that you can add to the Chrome internet browser. Unlike Hootsuite, which deals only with Google business pages, Do Share allows you to post to a personal Google+ profile and Google+ communities. Since I exist on Google+ as a personal profile, Do Share is an easy way for me to pre-schedule personal updates, interesting articles, and links to cool YouTube videos.
Pros: Free! Easy to use, intuitive interface makes pre-scheduling a breeze. Probably its biggest pro is that it’s one of the few free tools out there that works with personal profiles as well as business pages.
Cons: It only works on the Chrome browser, and your computer has to be turned on when a post is scheduled to go live. Also, you cannot upload any media files, which means unless you can link to a picture online, sharing photos via Do Share is not an option. There are also no tracking capabilities.
– –
There are, of course, many other free tools out there. You’ve probably heard of Buffer and TweetDeck, both of which allow you to schedule material in advance for Facebook and Twitter. I have never used either of these tools, so cannot speak from personal experience. But, if Hootsuite doesn’t float your boat, definitely keep them in mind as other options.
Your Turn
Do you have a free social media tool that you absolutely love? Leave me a comment below and tell me about it!
~ Felicity
photo credit: Noel C. Hankamer via photopin cc
[hana-code-insert name=’Felicity Fields Author Bio’ /]
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Wow – I had no idea that there was a tool to schedule Pinterest posts ahead of time! Interesting. My personal favorite is buffer. I use it personally, but not for my business. Should probably start doing that!
Michael recently posted..What do you want to eat? The importance of being on your customer’s short-list
I’m really excited to hear about Pinography! Right now I’ve been allowing Saturday to be the day I play about with Pinterest and I’m adding it to my “Product Listing System” in the promotion section but it’s good to know I can branch out with a tool! Thanks for the share, great post!
I didn’t either, Michael, until I asked the Internet one day! It’s amazing what’s out there now. 🙂
Felicity Fields recently posted..My Favorite Free Tools to Schedule Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ Updates in Advance
Thanks, Aradia! Saturday is actually a great day to be on Pinterest, as many other people are as well! Especially if you have a food or fashion-related business.
Felicity Fields recently posted..My Favorite Free Tools to Schedule Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Google+ Updates in Advance
I’m a big fan of Buffer, though it doesn’t work with Pinterest. Will definitely have to check Pinography out! Thanks for sharing!
Pingraphy isn’t free any more.
Hi Cindy,
No, sadly, it isn’t. And I haven’t yet found anything to take its place. If you find something before I do, please let me know!
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
You should try BufferApp.com – amazing for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn scheduling. Would love to see it add Google+ and Pinterest, but the easiest scheduler by far in my opinion. 🙂
Hey Rivka,
I have a Buffer account, but I haven’t used it much yet. I share some personal updates as well as videos & photos, and I find Hootsuite to be much better at that. Plus, I personally like the total control of scheduling posts down to the minute, rather than relying on a pre-set schedule like with Buffer.
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
any recs for other pinterest planners? i think you have to pay for pingraphy now..
Hi Annie,
You’re right – Pingraphy is no longer free. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any free alternatives. There are free programs that let you pin stuff, but it’s in real-time, with no future scheduling capabilities. I’ve been keeping my eyes out, all the same, but for now I’m signed on to Pingraphy’s paid version.
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
Thanks for the list! I think scheduling of social media posts must be judiciously done. Don’t make your social media feed appear too automated or your followers will loose interest. Be sure to mix in some real time interaction to engage your community. Thanks for sharing including with the BizSugar community.
Heather Stone recently posted..The Nastiest Habit (That We All Have)
HI Heather,
Thanks for the feedback. I honestly don’t think the average Facebook user pays any attention to how the update was posted. Most people are in scan & read mode – very few take the time to check the post byline.
That said, however, it is necessary to spend some “real time” interacting with your social media folks. Otherwise, yes, you are just broadcasting and not building relationships.
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
It sucks that PinGraphy is already a paid pinterest scheduling tool. I guess you pay for the awesome stuff. I hate DoShare honestly. I thought it was awesome the first time I discovered it( A google PLus scheduler,,wooohoo!!!) but when I figured out how it works, my love for it all went downhill….Thanks for the share in Bizsugar!
I’m with you about Pingraphy, Teepu. It’s a great piece of software, and is the only good one I’ve found so far that has the “schedule in the future” functionality.
I also agree that DoShare is not the best. However, since my Google+ account is a personal one, not a business one, I can’t use Hootsuite to post to Google+. So, you make do with what’s available!
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
Those are some great tools to use to cut your the time you invest in updates in half to say the least. If you have countless things to promote scheduling is the best way to go.
I used Pingraphy when it was free. It went offline for a while and when it came back it was a paid service. I don’t blame them and completely understand why they would charge. During the time I was using it for the company I used for I have pinned over a 100 pins. About half of them was at once and it took me about 5 minutes. The rest I scheduled. Either way its a great tool.
ifttt.com(If This Then That) Is also a great tool. You can create recipes such as, you have a new blog post it will post on Twitter. There’s so much you can do there and if one is strategic enough it can be very beneficial.
Anyway, thanks for sharing this. I think I will actually have to start utilizing them for once.
Bernard Z. recently posted..How to Write Great Articles from Your Own Unique Perspective
Thanks for the tip about If This Then That, Bernard! I’ve never heard of that site before, and it sounds interesting. I too lament the passing of free Pingraphy. Still, the paid service isn’t that expensive, and it’s worth it to have the ability to schedule things in advance.
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
I was so excited to see there’s a place to schedule pins for pinterest. However, I wasn’t as excited to see how much it costs. I don’t use it enough to justify paying more for that than I do Hootsuite pro. Since writing this, have you found anything that’s free or maybe less expensive to schedule to Pinterest? Thanks so much!
Misty recently posted..Fit Friday – Issue 2
I’ll admit that I’m not a fan of how much it costs either, Misty. Unfortunately, all the free tools out there do not have the capability to schedule things in advance – you can only pin them in real time. I keep looking for a free version, though, and I’ll definitely share it if I find one!
Felicity Fields recently posted..5 Irresistible Email Lists to Learn From
As a wedding magazine, we love the idea of a pin scheduling service, but the cost doesn’t make sense for us either. Perhaps Pinterest itself will find a way to offer this function in the future.
Adirondack Weddings recently posted..Want Adirondack Weddings’ blog posts delivered straight to your (electronic) door?
Hi Adirondack Weddings,
Thanks for the reply! I recently bit the bullet and signed up for Pingraphy’s paid service. The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it became to be constantly irritated that I couldn’t plan things in advance. The paid version really isn’t that much – on the order of $100 to $200 per year. In the grand scheme of things, that’s quite a small amount for the ability to schedule things in advance.
Based on the history of Twitter and Facebook, I doubt Pinterest will include the ability to schedule pins in the future. At best, they may incorporate a “pin this image later” function. But that doesn’t help businesses like you and me, who like to upload our own images as pins. I think we’re always going to have to use a 3rd party software for that.
But who knows? Maybe Pinterest will prove me pleasantly wrong. 🙂
Felicity Fields recently posted..Changing Focus (A Story About You & Me)
First off I would like to say great blog!
I had a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your head
prior to writing. I have had a tough time clearing my mind
in getting my ideas out there. I do take pleasure in writing but it just
seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are usually wasted simply just trying to figure out how
to begin. Any recommendations or hints? Thank you!
facebook credits free recently posted..facebook credits free
Hi there,
Thanks for your feedback! I also have a tough time getting started when I sit down to write. What helps me most is to force myself to start writing whatever comes to mind, even if it’s not on topic. I find that the act of writing nonsense for a few minutes is enough to get my creative juices flowing.
Hope that helps!
The comment from facebook credits free is totally spam- off topic and really generic…. nice try getting around spam filters but, so obvious to me.
Anyway- I wanted to know if you found any alternatives for scheduling pins etc..??
TIA
Laura recently posted..Crafty Crafts
Hi Laura,
I have not found an alternatives for scheduling pins aside from Pingraphy, which has now re-branded itself as ViralTag.
I went ahead and purchased a pro plan with ViralTag, but I understand that’s not an option for everyone. At this time, though, it seems to be the best (and only) service available.
~ Felicity
Felicity Fields recently posted..In The Trenches: My Online Marketing Successes & Failures
Thank you for this – it’s fantastic information! 🙂
Christina recently posted..Wheatless Wednesday – Southwest Spaghetti Squash
You are welcome, Christina! Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Hello Felicity,
Great info in this post, I wanted just to add another way to schedule facebook posts that is quite easy, it’s a free app that I developed, please take a look and hope you like it http://www.facebookplanner.com/ . Let me know your thoughts on it and I am always open to suggestions of improvement.
Hi Mike,
I took a quick look at your tool. I was impressed with the website for sure. 🙂 But since I, and many other people, manage more than just a Facebook page (ie Twitter, Pinterest, Google+), I really prefer a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer that connects to multiple social media networks. The less places I have to log in to do my social media thing, the better!
Hello Felicity,
Thanks for your response. I am glad you like that site 🙂
As for what you said, it’s true that it’s faster to use a tool that does several things, like you said manage more than once social site at a time and maybe sometimes that’s exactly what one needs. However, you must take into account that most tools that do several things tend to do only the basics, whereas a tool that is specialized for a certain thing can do it with more details and in depth. What I mean is, I assure you that you will find a lot of things my app can do(and a lot more in the future as I plan to add a lot more features) than you can do with Hootsuite of Buffet.
So, I guess in the end it depends on your needs when using a certain tool 🙂
Mike recently posted..New feature – post from rss feeds
Sadly pingraphy is gone
Hi Tina,
Pingraphy is alive and well! They changed their business name to Viral Tag a few months ago. However, it is no longer free after the trial period.
Hi Felicity,
I just found pinwoot.com last night, and it’s great. Not only can you schedule pins, but you can also follow users and in turn get more followers.
Jordan Hansen recently posted..Preschool Prep
Hi Jordan,
PinWoot looks very promising! Thanks for sharing the link. I’ve bookmarked some time to explore the site this afternoon. 🙂
Felicity
Nice article.
but I’m a bit confused.
what is the best tool sto post pics on facebook and google+?
I’m only interested in posting pics.
thanks in advance
freddie
Hi Freddie,
Thanks for your comment! If you have a Google+ business page, then I would recommend using Hootsuite, since it will allow you to post pictures to both Facebook and a Google+ Business Page.
However, if you have a personal account on Google+, you will need to post them in real time or use DoShare to schedule them in advance. Note that with DoShare, you can only post an image if it’s on the internet somewhere; you can’t upload images from your own computer with DoShare.
Good luck!
Felicity
Felicity Fields recently posted..In The Trenches: My Online Marketing Successes & Failures
Thanks Fecility – I like using hootsuite and IFTTT, but I’m going to try Viraltag (the new pingraphy). Have you come across or used Pinwoot?
Louise recently posted..Braised Cardamom Cabbage and Pork
Hi Louise,
Thanks for your comment! I have heard of Pinwoot, and I think I signed up for the ViralTag as well. To be honest, I’ve sort of let the Pinterest side of my business slide recently – too many other things going on!
Would love to hear your feedback about both ViralTag and Pinwoot. 🙂
Felicity
Hi Felicity,
It’s been some time, just wanted to let you know that we’ve switched to a desktop app instead of an online one and added a lot more problems, at this point you can schedule Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter from the same, easy to use and extremely affordable platform. Apart from scheduling you can do a lot more, for example we have a feature that increases the reach of pages a lot. It basically shares your posts from your page on a lot of other groups in the same niche, this will bring a lot of traffic and increase the reach a lot, you can see for example a test we’ve done with this : http://www.massplanner.com/grow-facebook-page-get-50-times-reach-normally-free/
Hope you’ll find it more worthy now, let me know 🙂
Mike recently posted..Captcha support for the Facebook platform in Mass Planner
Looked promising, but only for PC’s? What about the rest of the design world?
thanks for the facebook schedule how to guide post , previously i was following this to schedule my posts, but i am loving your article even more …..
http://techleaks.us/how-to-schedule-facebook-posts-to-publish-automatically-at-later-time/
i beleive that … The comment from facebook credits free is totally spam- off topic and really generic…. nice try getting around spam filters but, so obvious to me.
I read a lot of interesting articles here.
Probably you spend a lot of time writing, i know how to save you a lot of time,
there is an online tool that creates readable, google friendly articles
in seconds, just search in google – laranitas free content source
Patrick recently posted..Patrick
I’ve just recently dabbled in the social media marketing and managing and I’m really learning a lot here. I am looking for an app or tool that would automate Pinterest posts and so far I’ve read about ViralTag and Viralwoot (both with former names. I wonder why they both changed?) I haven’t read a review on Viralwoot though. Anyone? Is it good?
My personal favorite Pinterest pin scheduler is http://TrafficWonker.com. Best of all it’s FREE!
Thanks so much for writing about Pingraphy in the past. We’re now called Viraltag and have added some great features for visual content marketing. We’re also happy to tell you Viraltag is now running on Pinterest’s API. With the new data we’re building more functionality to make Viraltag an even more powerful platform for our users. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me directly — Jilly Badanes, Director of Marketing @ Viraltag.
Personally I love Socialpilot (https://socialpilot.co/) which allows to shchedule post across all social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and much more. It offers advanced queue limit so you can easily schedule your social media post in advanced for weeks or months ahead. It’s a really user-friendly and affordable tool compared to buffer and hootsuite.
Don’t know about other social media platforms, but for pinterest, I use http://PinPinterest.com for my pinterest accounts’ automation and managing. I’ve gained over 50k followers for my pinterest and a lot of them are now regular readers on my travel blog, TravelMagma 🙂
Here are some features of PinPinterest:
– Free to use
– Runs on the cloud
– Mobile optimised
– Pin Scheduling
– Speed Control
– Easy to setup
– Intelligent content detection technology: pins only pictures relevant to your business
Setup once via its 5-minute setup and put everything on auto pilot 🙂
Attention all Pinterest users…here is a fantastic opportunity that I have just discovered. This company is willing to pay good money to people who know how to pin on Pinterest.
If you have a Pinterest account and know how you use it, then this could be your lucky day. Get the full story here:
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