Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Staying at the top of your game on social media can be difficult these days. Pay-to-play has become a major part of the social media scene, making it necessary to buy advertising. In addition, we must post organic content for our followers. While social media algorithms usually penalize accounts that publish too frequently, Twitter seems to be the only social network that welcomes it, so long as it is not duplicate, over-automated content. The secret to your success on Twitter, though, will come down to choosing and properly utilizing the right Twitter scheduler for your needs.
Of course, one of the best ways to deal with the sheer volume of content on social media is by using a scheduling tool. These allow you to set up postings for times when you can’t be online or set and forget a series. While social media schedulers are recommended for every social network, they are perhaps most important on Twitter. Let’s take a look at the why and how of using a Twitter scheduler, along with some great examples.
Getting a Twitter scheduler has many benefits: it’s more than simple convenience. And if you’ve ever tried to do a whole bunch of social media things throughout the day, you’ll understand how time-consuming these tasks can be.
Increased productivity
There’s no question that batch processing of content is more effective. Simply compose all of the Tweets for whatever block of time you are going to do, then start posting. In many cases, you can spend a half an hour and schedule dozens of Tweets. Then, unless you need to change something suddenly, you can walk away from posting. This is more than simply convenient: with the time saved, you’re free to do other marketing tasks.
Consistency
Using a Twitter scheduler also helps with consistency. Perhaps the best feature besides productivity is the ability to maintain an editorial calendar regardless of what happens to you. For instance, if you need to go on vacation then the scheduler can automate everything until you get back. At the same time, you can use the editorial calendar to compose Tweets and then schedule them in advance.
It neutralizes time zones and holidays.
With a Twitter scheduler, it’s easy to let your tweets work for you 24/7 wherever you are in the world. For example, although I am US-based I have clients in Asia. Having a video chat takes planning due to the time zones. However, I could use a scheduler on their behalf to ensure that client Tweets are sent out to reach their market-even if it’s the middle of the night their time when I set them. The same goes for holidays that are country-specific.
You have time for engagement
Finally, using a Twitter scheduler frees up your time to actually engage on Twitter. This means responding to people who @mention you or otherwise ask for feedback. In addition, you can check the profiles of people who are engaging with your brand in different ways. Since many consumers prefer it when brands are responsive, this is a major advantage. Finally, having time for engagement frees you up to do more loyalty marketing.
What to Look for When Choosing a Twitter Scheduler
Now that you understand the value of using a Twitter scheduler, let’s take a look at the things you should consider when choosing one. They vary widely in features, ease of use, and cost. For that reason, these factors should be balanced to meet your company’s needs and budget.
Price
These applications, like so many others in marketing, have a wide range of prices. Some of them are free, while others can get quite pricy. On the other hand, there’s always a “value” proposition that surrounds features and ease of use. Whatever scheduler you choose, make sure you’re getting the right product at the right price to maximize your ROI.
Ease of scheduling tweets
Some Twitter scheduler developers have made their program easy to use, while others are more complicated. Sometimes this has to do with the number of options and features. However, the program should never be clunky or cumbersome. Rather, you need something that’s intuitive and easy to understand.
Calendar
Ask yourself: does it offer a schedule or calendar to add tweets to? Since one of the major reasons to use a Twitter scheduler is supporting your editorial calendar, having a native calendar is a definite bonus. However, if the scheduler doesn’t have one, then make sure you have another way to keep track of what needs to be said and when.
Ability to change the schedule
Sometimes it’s necessary to change schedules on Twitter. Ask yourself: can you easily move tweets around once they are scheduled? There are a lot of reasons why you might need to do this, such as a postponed sales event or changing corporate strategies. However, the most common situation is that you make a mistake during scheduling or decide to switch the order of Tweets. No matter the reason, it shouldn’t be overly complicated.
Adaptability to emergencies
Is there a pause button in case you need to pause activity when there is a crisis? These crises can take many different forms. For instance, a key employee might die or resign suddenly. There also could be a disaster or challenge that interrupts operations. As an example, when the Colonial Pipeline was shut down by a ransomware attack recently, you can be sure that their social media accounts needed to be paused. Then, they sent out new notices to update the public.
Content curation
Depending on your price point and needs, you might need assistance with content curation. One way that a Twitter scheduler can be beneficial is if it gives you content suggestions. In this case, they typically base suggestions on keywords, topics, and your brand community.
Bulk Tweeting capabilities
Find out if you can upload tweets in bulk using .csv file or something similar. While this isn’t much of a concern with smaller brands, if your company handles several Twitter accounts per day then this is a useful Twitter scheduler feature. After all, the less work you have to do, the more time you have to do other things. Plus, this feature reduces the risk of copying errors.
Evergreen Tweets
Next, consider if a Twitter scheduler will automatically (or semi-automatically) repost evergreen tweets. In this case, it would mean sending the Tweet out at regular, predetermined intervals. Since Twitter has some restrictions on duplicate Tweets, you need to be certain that you’re in compliance with their policies. On the other hand, if your scheduler can save time by automating these Tweets, then it’s worth doing this in most cases.
Further Reading: Why Evergreen Tweets are Critical to Twitter Marketing Success
Analytics
Finally, consider whether or not your Twitter scheduler has analytics capabilities. If it’s an all-in-one social media manager, then analytics tools should be included. On the other hand, more bare bones options might not have this function. In general, the beauty of analytics being built into a scheduling tool is that you have more features in one place. And in addition, if there are also curation and evergreen Tweet tools, the analytics data will assist in those functions.
The 22 Best Twitter Schedulers
Now that we’ve considered the features to look for in a Twitter scheduler, let’s look at some of the best. There are several different types of schedulers available, and they vary based on their scope. In other words, some of them work only with Twitter, while others deal with social media scheduling as a whole. Finally, some of these Twitter tools are comprehensive social media dashboards.
Twitter-Owned Schedulers
Like most social media networks these days, Twitter wants its own piece of the pie. Because of this, they have purchased or developed two Twitter scheduler options.
Twitter began offering the ability to schedule tweets on web interface in May, 2020 but scheduling must be done for each individual Tweet. In addition, you have to choose between organic and promoted Tweets when scheduling. Finally, this option is only available for Twitter accounts that have a credit card on file. As a practical matter, this means that the option to schedule Tweets isn’t easy to access unless you have a business account.
With TweetDeck, you can “customize your Twitter experience.” This not only means scheduling Tweets, but deciding how your Twitter page will be laid out. Unlike the Business tool, though, this one works for individuals and businesses alike.
Twitter-Specific Schedulers
It used to be that these were the dominant kind of Twitter scheduler. However, most have gone out of business since Twitter announced scheduling or they have added other social networks and become general social media-specific schedulers. Nonetheless, we do have a quality option remaining.
This one’s still in business for one major reason that I can tell: it does more than just schedule Tweets, while still being Twitter-specific. In particular, Tweepsmap combines scheduling with analytics. Datapoints are used to show not only which Tweets are most effective, but what times of day are ideal for sending them. Then, you use the scheduling utility to capitalize on this information.
Social Media-Specific Schedulers
These days, the trend is more towards schedulers that can handle multiple social media networks. They can handle Twitter and the other social networks and were created to publish content, not monitor engagement. What this means is that you’ll need to look elsewhere to get analytics.
With RecurPost, you can do a few things very well: schedule posts, then engage with your audience. That’s because this app features an inbox which makes responding to audience questions, messages, and reposts easy. You can use it to monitor one brand or many, depending on your needs.
This application has two main distinctives. First, it’s a master at reposting high-performing content and assisting with content curation. MeetEdgar claims to help you “never run out of content.” The other distinctive is that it’s designed for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses. So if that describes you, check out MeetEdgar.
Use MissingLettr if you need content curation, something to drive organic traffic, and a unified social media strategy. One of the big plusses is that they have a native content calendar functionality. This allows for scheduling content months in advance. An added plus: they help with drip campaigns and content curation.
SocialBee is a very agile application. Among its strengths is the ability to automatically make changes in successful posts, which really helps with the challenges created by Twitter’s reposting policy. In addition, you can put your posts into different categories for posting, and even set them to target certain customer groups. Overall, a very powerful Twitter scheduler.
Using CoSchedule, you can put all of your marketing in one place. That is, if you get their full-service marketing suite. However, you can also purchase just their social media scheduling facility. This is easy to use, and compatible with several social networks. In addition, they give you reports to share with stakeholders, and allow for easy rescheduling.
TwitTimer is the most obvious of the former “Twitter only” twitter scheduler. Now, it has added Facebook and LinkedIn support. It’s also one of the options that supports CSV upload, RSS curation suggestions, and Bit.ly integrations.
General Social Media Dashboards with Twitter Scheduling Support
Finally, no Twitter scheduler list is complete without discussing general-purpose dashboards. Besides the specialized tools, you can also use your general social media dashboard to schedule tweets. Just make sure they have all of the functionality that the other tools mentioned above have! In many cases, you may find that a combination of tools is ideal. Of course, having too many of them at once can make social media management clumsy, so choose carefully.
In the scheduling part of AgoraPulse, you can do more than just set and forget. Instead, you can use a visual calendar for scheduling, plus collaboration and reporting tools. Putting the posts into categories and setting them for reposting is also a snap. Finally, there’s a mobile app for professionals on the go.
On Sendible, you can schedule posts months in advance. However, you can do more than that. Rather, they boast the opportunity to preview Tweets to ensure that they are on-brand. You can even edit your non-social media internet infrastructure. Lastly, note that this app is especially designed for agencies.
SocialPilot has different features depending on what you need, and it’s cost-effective. With that said, they have great features for a Twitter scheduler, including content curation suggestions, RSS support, and an excellent content calendar.
There are two major things that sets Hootsuite apart. First, they have an excellent approval and compliance process. This helps ensure that brands are protected from careless posting and legal compliance issues. Finally, they have a great content curation tool.
Sprout Social is great for its content calendar. While this is a feature of any decent Twitter scheduler, the one Sprout is offering has the extra benefit of being collaborative. So, if you have a large team then this is one of the better options.
This one focuses on Instagram publishing. However, it’s really easy to use for Twitter as well. You can schedule quite far ahead. If you pay for extra features, you can also use Buffer to develop your Twitter posts. Or, use one version for Twitter and another for different networks.
ContentCal says that they were developed by agency marketers for agency marketers. One way that this Twitter scheduler delivers for them is a unified social media inbox. This makes it easy to monitor and engage with accounts for multiple brands in one place.
Loomly is great as a Twitter scheduler, because of its Twitter hashtag analytics tools and tracking of Twitter trends. In addition, you can use the platform to compose Tweets. If you’re using Twitter to distribute content, then this is a great tool because everything is in the same place.
Are you just starting out? If so, you should know that Planable is a FREE Twitter scheduler. In addition, it helps you collaborate, plus post on many other social platforms. The developers also pride themselves in how easy it is to use. Solopreneurs and freelancers take note.
This one is designed to get the most engagement possible. As part of this feature, PostPlanner grabs the best content for all over the web for possible curation. In addition, they heavily support evergreen content.
With PromoRepublic, you get more than just a Twitter scheduler. Their focus is building a content calendar, then automatically posting everything. What really stands out, though, is the ability to simultaneously post on multiple social networks and Google My Business. This is different from what most management tools do, because they typically require you to drag and drop into each network’s posting field.
If you like to “keep it simple” but still have your bases covered, then check out SocialOomph. This tool helps you schedule posts on most social networks, publish an RSS feed, and certain websites including WordPress. At the same time, they’ll tell you when and where to post for maximum effect.
For small business owners, Thryv is a purpose-built social media management tool. It does a lot more than just provide a Twitter scheduler or content calendar, though. It’s really an all-in-one customer experience management tool. That means that they help with payments and generating reviews, as well.
No matter how large or small your business is, if you’re active on social media (you should be) then you’ll need a Twitter scheduler. As you can see, the options vary widely from specialty tools owned by Twitter itself, all the way to comprehensive social media management suites. Which one you choose should depend on what you need, how easy it is to use in your context, and whether or not you can get good value for money.
Hero photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash