Sunday June 30th is Social Media Day. Are you someone who makes a marketing or social media calendar? Or do you just wing it? Planning out your social media calendar for the month can not only save you time and stress, but can also help you set goals to grow your followers and client base. There are lots of tools out there to help you with a social media calendar and it really depends on what social media platforms you use, how you like to plan out your calendar and what your goals are. There are free tools you can use as well as paid subscriptions or memberships.
- Planoly can be used for Instagram. If you are just using Instagram as your only social media platform, Planoly is an easy tool to use. There is a free and paid version. Planoly is a social media management tool that a lot of Instagram influencers use because it works well with certain filters like VSCO, you can plan out stories and plan out your Instagram grid. If you are someone who really needs a visual for how you want your Instagram filter to look while you are planning and scheduling your posts, this is the tool for you.
- Trello is a free tool you can use for your social calendar as well. With Trello, you can create boards and lists and include all of the images you would like to use as well. It is a great planning tool, but it does not schedule out posts for you. Trello can be used for other aspects of your business like creating to-do lists and keeping data like emails and contact information.
- Hootsuite is one of the most popular social media management tools out there. You can use Hootsuite with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube and Pinterest. With Hootsuite, you can pay (starting at $29/month) for a version to allow more social profiles and more options OR you can use their FREE plan which includes managing three social profiles in one place, scheduling 30 posts in advance and generating leads with social contests. Hootsuite is user friendly and has a dashboard with every social media platform right there for you to look at all at once which makes planning posts and responding to messages a breeze.
- Buffer’s paid plans start at just $15/month. It allows up to 8 social posts and 100 scheduled posts. You can use Buffer to plan for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. You can schedule posts, see a calendar view, and see your Instagram grid.
All of these platforms allow for FREE trials. We suggest you research and try them out to see which ones work best for you.