5 Social Media Planning Tools Every Agency Should Try

Key's in the ignition, seatbelt buckled, starting to pull out of your parking spot when BAM - you realize you forgot to post or publish that one thing.

Social media planning tools, to the rescue!

Agencies are crazy busy environments that rarely ever follow a schedule. Between meetings, projects, and clients, scheduling your posts for social media might not be at the top of your extended to-do list. All clients are different - their size, what social platforms they use, and even what content they produce. Keeping that in mind, we're going to highlight 5 social media planning tools to help organize your social workload.

1.Google Sheets

Google Sheets is the ultimate choice if your agency is working with clients via spreadsheets. Collaboration is made easy since many users can work on the same spreadsheet at the one time. There's also cloud storage, which some people may overlook, but it's always a convenient feature if you're working from a laptop and move to a desktop. It's the ultimate business spreadsheet tool.

2.Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a tool for social business focusing on scheduling, publishing, and analyzing. Organization is also a breeze since a single inbox keeps all notifications tidy, and analytics help measure engagement. Scheduling of social media posts is available for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. Sprout Social is the go-to option for management and engagement for a social business.

3.Buffer

Buffer is an easy and simple way to schedule posts across your social media channels. Working as a queue, Buffer works by 'dripping' out your posts at predetermined times. Bufferapp measures analytics so you can keep track of the engagement and reach of your posts. What's also neat about Buffer is their extension, Pablo - their own photo editing and creating plugin! All photos created within Pablo are compatible with any social channel.

4.Hootsuite

Hootsuite manages social media channels via a web-based dashboard, including an app directory. From scheduling and planning, to analytics - Hootsuite offers a wide variety of features. Users range from start-ups all the way to enterprises. Hootsuite also has an auto schedule feature which automatically schedules times for posts based on what appears to be to best time for posting to social. This gives you more time to focus on what content to produce, rather than when you'll post it.

5.HeyOrca

HeyOrca is the 'ultimate sandbox' when it comes to social media planning and approvals. What makes HeyOrca different is the incorporation of stakeholders through a shareable link, as well as an export feature to spreadsheets. The shareable link allows real-time collaboration throughout content creation and all the way to publishing. Social media posts can be organized among 3 different views - Campaigns, Timeline, and Social Media Calendar. Once scheduled and approved by stakeholders, content is published straight to any of your social media channels.

Working in an agency environment can be crazy, so why not consider using a social media planning tool?

Learn more about how HeyOrca makes social media planning and approvals seamless!