But what should you be on the lookout for? In this blog post, we’ll share 11 tools for you to consider. Some include basic functionality and other more advanced features. 

Instagram Scheduler Tools to Post on Instagram:

  1. Loomly Loomly was developed for social media managers. In fact, it’s the brainchild of two former social media managers who couldn’t bear the inefficiencies of the tools they used. So, they set out to create something that would get the job done.  And we think Loomly’s worth trying out. Some of the most attractive features we’ve seen in the tool include: A media library for storing assets like photos, videos, notes, links and post templates RSS feeds based on trends, dates and events for content inspiration Integrations with tools like Slack and email  One other feature we found useful was the ability to fine-tune posts for a specific social platform. If you’ve created content for more than one platforms, you know that variables like text character counts and image dimensions tend to make the process a little more time-consuming.  Loomly’s fine-tuning solution allows you to create posts and tweak them for each platform you’ll post to. The result? Tailored social posts that look perfect every time. Features list: Unlimited calendars, content exports, live analysis, automated publishing, advanced analytics, post preview, post ideas and unlimited file uploads. Plans: Base, $25/mo Standard, $57/mo Advanced, $119/mo Premium, $249/mo Enterprise, Contact for pricing Read our complete review of Loomly. 4.5 out of 5 stars This cloud-based marketing solution works best for freelancers, influencers and social media managers looking to best manage content on social media platforms. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.1 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.7 Overall Score 4.5 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContact ManagementCustomer TargetingKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingCustomer EngagementMulti-User CollaborationReporting/Analytics Price starting at:$26 Pros and Cons Intuitive management tool Inexpensive Easy to learn platform Requires additional integrations for some social publishing Too many bots may bother users Calendar function may be hard to access Best for: Agencies, freelancers, startups, non profit organizations, influencers & individuals 4.5 out of 5 stars This cloud-based marketing solution works best for freelancers, influencers and social media managers looking to best manage content on social media platforms. View 2. AgoraPulse Agora Pulse’s clean design is likely the first thing you’ll notice. It makes it look and feel like an easy platform to use, especially if you’re looking for a less complex alternative.  And easy it is. Running social media on more than one platform is a challenge and Agora Pulse, like many other platforms, know this. They offer the ability to post to all your accounts at once. And while that seems very convenient, we can’t help but wonder when the ability to tailor posts for each platform will become a feature. Wish lists aside, Agora Pulse allows you to schedule posts and also choose those to be recycled (think evergreen content). You also get an inbox that shows all incoming posts, comments and direct messages, making it easier to handle engagement across more than your Instagram account. Features list: Team members collaboration, social inbox, listening, publishing, reporting, user profiling, competitor analysis, ads per profile and team workflow. Plans:  Medium, $99/mo Large, $199/mo X-Large, $299/mo Enterprise, $499/mo Read our complete review of Agora Pulse. 4.5 out of 5 stars Agorapulse is a social media management platform stocked full of features for individuals, businesses, and enterprises. Their added listening tool helps users monitor brand mentions. Features include a variety of ways to publish content, reporting, analytics, and more. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.8 Overall Score 4.5 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContact ManagementContent ManagementConversion TrackingKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingReporting/AnalyticsSocial Media MonitoringCompetitive AnalysisSchedulingSocial Media CalendarSocial Media ManagementTeam Workflow & CollaborationSocial Media Listening Price starting at:$49 Pros and Cons Easy social media management Simple platform Makes it easy not to double reply etc Lack of post editing features Limited third party integrations Engagement platform can be difficult to use Best for: Mid-sized agencies, mid-sized businesses and some enterprise brands. 4.5 out of 5 stars Agorapulse is a social media management platform stocked full of features for individuals, businesses, and enterprises. Their added listening tool helps users monitor brand mentions. Features include a variety of ways to publish content, reporting, analytics, and more. View 3. Brandwatch (Formerly Falcon.io) Brandwatch aims to give brands a definite competitive advantage by offering the best and most accurate data to make informed decisions.  It includes a unified calendar, with posts scheduled by date and clearly identifiable by social platforms. You can plan, schedule, edit, and post across multiple networks. With Brandwatch’s Campaign Planner, you can develop social campaigns in collaboration with team members across all your social platforms. Brandwatch supports image, video, Instagram Stories, and Facebook carousels. You store your content in Brandwatch’s version of a shared media library called the Content Pool, which integrates with your digital asset management tool and your favorite cloud storage platform. Brandwatch encourages collaboration with a set of roles, approval processes, and an audit trail to boost quality. These streamline content planning and creation and ensure everybody meets quality standards.  You can promote posts through Facebook and Instagram ads within Publish, Brandwatch’s clean and intuitive tool that manages all ads in one place. Brandwatch includes social listening tools that let you track trends, monitor your brand, create custom queries, track sentiment, and monitor multiple languages. Features List: Analytics, automated publishing, content management, keyword filtering, multi-account management, post scheduling, and social media management Plans: Essentials, $129/mo Full Suite, Contact for pricing Read our complete review of Brandwatch 4.8 out of 5 stars A consumer intelligence platform, a social media marketing platform, and an influencer marketing platform were all acquired and forced to play well with each other—and they do! Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 5.0 Ease of Use 4.5 Support 5.0 Overall Score 4.8 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContent ManagementKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingSocial Media MonitoringHashtag TrackingSentiment AnalysisReputation ManagementSocial Media Management Price starting at:$108 Pros and Cons Consumer Intelligence product uses social listening to help brands understand what people want Audience tools give deep insights into the aggregate AND individuals Newly added TikTok support goes further than you’d expect Confusing array of products and services from three different companies No multi-channel posts; you have to add a post to a channel one at a time Best for: Small, Medium, and Large businesses 4.8 out of 5 stars A consumer intelligence platform, a social media marketing platform, and an influencer marketing platform were all acquired and forced to play well with each other—and they do! View 4. Sendible Sendible was founded back in 2008, and they’re still going stronger than ever. Clients include Pan Macmillan, PWC and the Queensland Government.  Sendible has also evolved its solution over time. Today, they offer 23 integrations to help streamline social media management. Integrations include Google Analytics, Google Drive, Canva, Dropbox and Slack.  When it comes to tools to schedule posts on Instagram, Sendible makes for a good choice. You can plan and collaborate around content, making it a dream for busy social media teams. Sendible’s model for social media management is slightly different from all others. In fact, we haven’t come across anything quite like as yet. They see the ability to publish and receive social content as two unique actions that are called services. You, therefore, require one service to publish a post on Instagram and another to read an Instagram direct message. Beyond services, everything else about Sendible makes it an easy tool to use. They offer a well-structured and useful education hub for clients. It includes all you’ll need to know how to use Sendible like a pro in no time. Features list: Content publishing & workflows and engagement & monitoring. Plans:  Micro, $24/mo Small, $84/mo Medium, $169/mo Large, $254/mo Read our complete review of Sendible. 4.5 out of 5 stars Sendible’s SaaS solution helps businesses manage their social media strategies. Sendible supports multiple platforms for larger businesses; the integrated dashboard helps users build a samless workflow for their company. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.6 Ease of Use 4.5 Support 4.5 Overall Score 4.5 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContent ManagementKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost Scheduling Price starting at:$29 Pros and Cons Excellent social scheduling features Content recommendation tools Social engagement platform Brand monitoring Social listening feature can be slow Clunky organization of the platform Best for: SMMs, corporate marketing teams and digital agencies 4.5 out of 5 stars Sendible’s SaaS solution helps businesses manage their social media strategies. Sendible supports multiple platforms for larger businesses; the integrated dashboard helps users build a samless workflow for their company. View 5. Iconosquare Iconosquare is primarily an analytics, management, and scheduling platform. It provides in-depth analytics and gives you a range of easy-to-read graphs that display brand performance. It then offers detailed statistics relating to your community, content, engagement, reach and impressions, profile activity, page performance, detailed post analytics, Stories analytics, industry benchmarks, tags and mentions, hashtags, competitors, and much more. Iconosquare comes with a customizable dashboard, which you can build to capture insights important to your brand and campaigns, and each social profile you manage. You can export your dashboards as reports, which you can share with team members and clients. With Monitoring, Iconsquare lets brands listen to and engage with their audiences. You can respond to, moderate, and export what’s being said on your posts. You can break down your mentions on Instagram using metrics like mentions by type (either photo, caption, or comments), mentions by post type, mention history, and more. Iconosquare includes a versatile and easy-to-use post scheduler. Posts offer previews to ensure your content is optimized before publication. You can add photo and video posts automatically to Instagram and Facebook. Features List: Analytics, automated publishing, contact management, keyword filtering, multi-account management, post scheduling, and social media management. Plans: Pro, $59/mo Advanced, $99/mo Enterprise, $179/mo Read our complete review of Iconosquare 4.4 out of 5 stars Manage your social media and your analytics all in one place with Iconosquare. Businesses and agencies can easily manage the performance of their content as well as analytics, posting, and more. The platform supports Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.4 Ease of Use 4.4 Support 4.4 Overall Score 4.4 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContact ManagementKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingSocial Media Management Price starting at:$49 Pros and Cons Evolving functionality Industry benchmarks Competitive analysis features Excellent automated posts Customer support may not be helpful Some features may glitch Some platforms are not included Best for: Brands and Agencies 4.4 out of 5 stars Manage your social media and your analytics all in one place with Iconosquare. Businesses and agencies can easily manage the performance of their content as well as analytics, posting, and more. The platform supports Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. View 6. PromoRepublic Promo Republic is one of the more visually appealing platform designs we’ve ever seen. And while beautiful to look at, it doesn’t fall short of the functionality you’ll need in a tool to schedule posts on Instagram.  You’ll have access to smart posting which is Promo Republic’s scheduling and post automation feature. All posts are displayed on a content calendar for easy viewing.  Something that caught our eye was their range of editable templates. These are the perfect solution for busy designers or copywriters. They can easily be edited and scheduled to help keep your social profiles alive and filled with great content. And yes, that means you can edit these templates or build your own post from within the tool.  Besides its heavy design focus, you’ll still be able to get specific through their reporting feature and export your data in easy-to-read PDFs. Features list: Add team members for collaboration, workflows and approvals, content reporting, post scheduling, content calendar, post ideas library, graphics editor, time slots, basic post statistics. Plans:  Solo, $9/mo Standard, $49/mo Professional, $99/mo Advanced, from $182/mo Read our complete review of Promo Republic. 4.4 out of 5 stars PromoRepublic is an all-in-one marketing platform for global businesses and marketers. The easy-to-use platform helps improve visibility, boost sales, and eliminate inconsistent communication. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.5 Overall Score 4.4 Features & Pricing Automated PublishingContent ManagementMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingBrand TrackingMulti-User CollaborationReporting/Analytics Price starting at:$49 Pros and Cons Excellent automation for scheduling Saved post functionality Free educational resources No bulk upload feature Lack of third party plugin and app integration No collaboration feature for clients Best for: Franchise and Multi-Location Brands, Direct Sales Organizations, Marketing Agencies, Small Business Owners, Marketers. 4.4 out of 5 stars PromoRepublic is an all-in-one marketing platform for global businesses and marketers. The easy-to-use platform helps improve visibility, boost sales, and eliminate inconsistent communication. View 7. Socialoomph Looking for a no-frills tool to schedule posts on Instagram? Try SocialOomph. It debuted in 2008 and comes packed with many of the features you’d expect from a social media management tool, and others that will make you raise your eyebrows.  For example, post queues are common, but have you heard of self-destruct posts? These posts can be created in SocialOomph and set to disappear after a certain period of time.  The rationale? Outdated information confuses followers, but if they no longer exist, you don’t have to worry about incorrect or misleading information about your brand, products or services.  In addition to scheduling, bulk uploads and the ability to send social posts to Discord, Mastodon, Pinterest, Twitter and more, you can also create post tags. Post tags help group post together, making it easier to locate them later. Features list: Multiple social profiles, blogs, RSS feeds, queues, webhooks, scheduled posts, can add additional associate and additional team. Plans:  Personal Suite, $0/mo Advanced Suite, $15/mo Professional Suite, $25/mo Business Suite, $55/mo Read our complete review of Social Oomph. 3.7 out of 5 stars SocialOomph is a social media scheduling platform for businesses. This solution helps schedule posts for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. In addition, you can monitor your posts and engagement. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 3.4 Ease of Use 4.0 Support 3.8 Overall Score 3.7 Features & Pricing Content ManagementConversion TrackingKeyword FilteringPost Scheduling Price starting at:$55 Pros and Cons Extensive integrations Lifetime free account Competitive features for post publishing and use Bulk scheduling feature Fast billing cycle every 2 weeks ​Basic reporting features for some platforms Best for: Social media users 3.7 out of 5 stars SocialOomph is a social media scheduling platform for businesses. This solution helps schedule posts for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. In addition, you can monitor your posts and engagement. View 8. Later Imagine being able to plan a week worth Instagram posts in just 20 minutes. Sound like a dream, right? Well, that’s exactly what Later helps you do. It’s a social media management platform geared towards Instagram.  In fact, the process of creating a social post mirrors Instagram’s. You start with an image, then add text. And while that may seem a little weird and almost counter-intuitive, it’s something you’ll quickly get used to. Later features a visual content calendar with drag and drop functionality (very helpful for anyone trying to shave time off their post scheduling process). You’re also able to source post content from Dropbox, your desktop and Google Drive.  Something we think makes Later special is its ability to collect user content and repost it. This a feature less than a handful of other platforms offer.  It’s smart and makes sense.  Building a strong community means interacting and shining a spotlight on followers. Being able to do so with a social media management tool as intuitive as Later makes the process a breeze. Features list: Analyse content performance, engage with Facebook fans, plan and schedule content, work with team contributors, collect and share content from any URL on the web. Plans: Free, $0/mo Plus, $9/mo Premium Business, $19/mo Starter Business, $29/mo Brand Business, $49/mo Read our complete review of Later. 4.3 out of 5 stars Later is a calendar-focused social media scheduling platform with a drag-and-drop interface. Their planning and scheduling tools make it easy to visualize your social media management. Features include photo editing, publishing for stories, and more. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.5 Support 4.3 Overall Score 4.3 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContent ManagementMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingReporting/Analytics Price starting at:$18 Pros and Cons Easy to use, simple interface and media gallery Competitive pricing plans “Best time to publish” feature Lack of eCommerce integration You need business accounts on social Limited features compared to competition Free version has basic features Best for: Businesses of all sizes 4.3 out of 5 stars Later is a calendar-focused social media scheduling platform with a drag-and-drop interface. Their planning and scheduling tools make it easy to visualize your social media management. Features include photo editing, publishing for stories, and more. View 9. Buffer Team collaboration, workflows, content scheduling and a content calendar are all features you’d come to expect from a social media management platform. And Buffer has it all.  It also comes with the ability to tailor posts for each social platform (like Loomly) and packs a strong performance data tool called Analyze (sold separately) to help you track how effective your social efforts are. If the idea of data analysis being sold separately makes you feel uncomfortable, there’s more you should know. Buffer offers its solution as three products. These include:  Publish: plan, collaborate and publish Instagram posts. Reply: reply to social media conversations using a shared team inbox Analyze: gives performance data on your social activity Three products may seem like too much, and possibly even a little unconventional. Competitors offer all of the above as one solution, and for bargain finders, Buffer may be a hard sell. Features list: Directly Schedule Posts, create a posting schedule, calendar view, custom video thumbnails and create, manage draft posts and invite additional users. Plans: Free, $0/mo Pro, $15/mo Small Business, $99/mo Medium Business, $199/mo Large Business, $399/mo Enterprise, $Custom/mo Read our complete review of Buffer. 4.4 out of 5 stars Buffer is one of the most popular social media scheduling platforms. This software helps drive engagement and traffic on social media with the help of their scheduling, engagement, and analytics tools. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.0 Ease of Use 4.6 Support 4.5 Overall Score 4.4 Features & Pricing Automated PublishingContent ManagementMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingReporting/Analytics Price starting at:$5 Pros and Cons Simple cross-posting Straightforward calendar view Integrates with almost every social platform Buffer Analyze may be too basic for some Buffer may glitch with Instagram Arbitrary character limits for Facebook, Twitter Pay-as-you-go packaging Best for: Publishers, mid-stage startup teams, non-profits, higher education, sports teams, e-commerce, solopreneurs, businesse 4.4 out of 5 stars Buffer is one of the most popular social media scheduling platforms. This software helps drive engagement and traffic on social media with the help of their scheduling, engagement, and analytics tools. View 10. Sprout Social Beyond being one of the more intuitive and easy-to-use tools around, Sprout Social also comes with a set of valuable features. For example, you get a media library, tagging functionality to quickly locate assets, and the ability to collaborate with team members. But that’s not all.  Sprout Social also comes with analytics and listening capabilities. These help you measure the performance of your Instagram account(s) and derive meaningful insights through quantitative, qualitative and contextual analysis. You can track hashtags, keywords and topics and use your findings to strengthen your social presence. Features list: Post scheduling tools, tasking and CRM tools, competitive reports for Facebook, incoming outgoing message content tagging, scheduling for optimal content send times, Spike Alerts for specific mentions or keywords, digital asset and content library, and chatbots with automation tools. Plans:  Standard, $99/user/mo Professional, $149/user/mo Advanced, $249/user/mo Read our complete review of Sprout Social. 4.4 out of 5 stars Sprout Social is a popular social media management platform that offers schedule, analytics and engagement tools. Manage your social media from one place with their all-in-one platform and get insights to understand your audience and your KPIs. Data-driven ingiths help businesses improve responsiveness. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.5 Ease of Use 4.4 Support 4.3 Overall Score 4.4 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContact ManagementContent ManagementConversion TrackingCustomer TargetingKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingBrand TrackingReporting/AnalyticsSocial Media Monitoring Price starting at:$249 Pros and Cons Easy to navigate interface User-friendly publishing calendar Robust reporting Competitive analysis features Expensive price tag Support can be slow Lack of native support for some social networks Best for: Brands and organizations of all sizes 4.4 out of 5 stars Sprout Social is a popular social media management platform that offers schedule, analytics and engagement tools. Manage your social media from one place with their all-in-one platform and get insights to understand your audience and your KPIs. Data-driven ingiths help businesses improve responsiveness. View 11. Hootsuite Hootsuite’s been around for a while. And in their time, they’ve built one of the most competitive social media management tools around. Beyond a tool to schedule posts on Instagram, Hootsuite also offers monitoring to help you gauge what people are saying about your brand and products.  Why is monitoring a big deal?  Well, we’ve spent time reviewing many social tools and we’ve spotted a trend in the way platforms have begun to think about analytics and data. Concepts like sentiment analysis are no longer only within the sphere monitoring tool. Hootsuite proves that you can get them as additional features with some social media management platforms.  We’re all for the idea of monitoring. It enables brands to gain more intelligence and use it to build better social marketing campaigns.  Because of Hootsuite’s age and ingenuity, they’ve pretty much found the perfect mix of features and functionality. Automated post scheduling is a given, so are analytics, team collaboration and content curation. Features list: Automated post scheduling, key performance metrics, team message assignments, analytics, exportable reports, flexible approval workflows, onboarding and ad spend to boost posts. Plans: Free, $0/mo Professional, $29/mo Team, $129/mo Business, $599/mo Enterprise, $custom/mo Hootsuite Insights, $custom/mo Read our complete review of Hootsuite. 4.6 out of 5 stars One of the first platforms designed to streamline social media management, Hootsuite continues to be one of the market leaders. Ratings Features & Pricing Pros and Cons Ratings Features 4.8 Ease of Use 4.8 Reporting 4.3 Overall Score 4.6 Features & Pricing AnalyticsAutomated PublishingContact ManagementContent ManagementConversion TrackingCustomer TargetingKeyword FilteringMulti-Account ManagementPost SchedulingBrand TrackingCustomer EngagementMulti-User CollaborationReporting/AnalyticsSocial Media Monitoring Price starting at:$49 Pros and Cons Customizable feeds show you all the social posts you need to see—no filler Highly flexible post composer and scheduler, with a bulk option, drastically simplifies the most challenging part of the job Inbox consolidated every message, comment, and mention—you’ll never miss a conversation No demo- or psychographic data for the audience Best for: Small, Medium, and Large Businesses 4.6 out of 5 stars One of the first platforms designed to streamline social media management, Hootsuite continues to be one of the market leaders. View

Conclusion

If you’re searching for a tool to schedule posts on Instagram, you’ll find that many offer similar functionality. With the exception of extras like graphics design capability and social media monitoring, most tools will help you get the job done.  And we think Loomly’s worth trying out. Some of the most attractive features we’ve seen in the tool include:

A media library for storing assets like photos, videos, notes, links and post templates RSS feeds based on trends, dates and events for content inspiration Integrations with tools like Slack and email 

One other feature we found useful was the ability to fine-tune posts for a specific social platform. If you’ve created content for more than one platforms, you know that variables like text character counts and image dimensions tend to make the process a little more time-consuming.  Loomly’s fine-tuning solution allows you to create posts and tweak them for each platform you’ll post to. The result? Tailored social posts that look perfect every time. Features list: Unlimited calendars, content exports, live analysis, automated publishing, advanced analytics, post preview, post ideas and unlimited file uploads. Plans: Base, $25/mo Standard, $57/mo Advanced, $119/mo Premium, $249/mo Enterprise, Contact for pricing Read our complete review of Loomly. And easy it is. Running social media on more than one platform is a challenge and Agora Pulse, like many other platforms, know this. They offer the ability to post to all your accounts at once. And while that seems very convenient, we can’t help but wonder when the ability to tailor posts for each platform will become a feature. Wish lists aside, Agora Pulse allows you to schedule posts and also choose those to be recycled (think evergreen content). You also get an inbox that shows all incoming posts, comments and direct messages, making it easier to handle engagement across more than your Instagram account. Features list: Team members collaboration, social inbox, listening, publishing, reporting, user profiling, competitor analysis, ads per profile and team workflow. Plans:  Medium, $99/mo Large, $199/mo X-Large, $299/mo Enterprise, $499/mo Read our complete review of Agora Pulse. It includes a unified calendar, with posts scheduled by date and clearly identifiable by social platforms. You can plan, schedule, edit, and post across multiple networks. With Brandwatch’s Campaign Planner, you can develop social campaigns in collaboration with team members across all your social platforms. Brandwatch supports image, video, Instagram Stories, and Facebook carousels. You store your content in Brandwatch’s version of a shared media library called the Content Pool, which integrates with your digital asset management tool and your favorite cloud storage platform. Brandwatch encourages collaboration with a set of roles, approval processes, and an audit trail to boost quality. These streamline content planning and creation and ensure everybody meets quality standards.  You can promote posts through Facebook and Instagram ads within Publish, Brandwatch’s clean and intuitive tool that manages all ads in one place. Brandwatch includes social listening tools that let you track trends, monitor your brand, create custom queries, track sentiment, and monitor multiple languages. Features List: Analytics, automated publishing, content management, keyword filtering, multi-account management, post scheduling, and social media management Plans: Essentials, $129/mo Full Suite, Contact for pricing Read our complete review of Brandwatch Sendible has also evolved its solution over time. Today, they offer 23 integrations to help streamline social media management. Integrations include Google Analytics, Google Drive, Canva, Dropbox and Slack.  When it comes to tools to schedule posts on Instagram, Sendible makes for a good choice. You can plan and collaborate around content, making it a dream for busy social media teams. Sendible’s model for social media management is slightly different from all others. In fact, we haven’t come across anything quite like as yet. They see the ability to publish and receive social content as two unique actions that are called services. You, therefore, require one service to publish a post on Instagram and another to read an Instagram direct message. Beyond services, everything else about Sendible makes it an easy tool to use. They offer a well-structured and useful education hub for clients. It includes all you’ll need to know how to use Sendible like a pro in no time. Features list: Content publishing & workflows and engagement & monitoring. Plans:  Micro, $24/mo Small, $84/mo Medium, $169/mo Large, $254/mo Read our complete review of Sendible. Iconosquare comes with a customizable dashboard, which you can build to capture insights important to your brand and campaigns, and each social profile you manage. You can export your dashboards as reports, which you can share with team members and clients. With Monitoring, Iconsquare lets brands listen to and engage with their audiences. You can respond to, moderate, and export what’s being said on your posts. You can break down your mentions on Instagram using metrics like mentions by type (either photo, caption, or comments), mentions by post type, mention history, and more. Iconosquare includes a versatile and easy-to-use post scheduler. Posts offer previews to ensure your content is optimized before publication. You can add photo and video posts automatically to Instagram and Facebook. Features List: Analytics, automated publishing, contact management, keyword filtering, multi-account management, post scheduling, and social media management. Plans: Pro, $59/mo Advanced, $99/mo Enterprise, $179/mo Read our complete review of Iconosquare You’ll have access to smart posting which is Promo Republic’s scheduling and post automation feature. All posts are displayed on a content calendar for easy viewing.  Something that caught our eye was their range of editable templates. These are the perfect solution for busy designers or copywriters. They can easily be edited and scheduled to help keep your social profiles alive and filled with great content. And yes, that means you can edit these templates or build your own post from within the tool.  Besides its heavy design focus, you’ll still be able to get specific through their reporting feature and export your data in easy-to-read PDFs. Features list: Add team members for collaboration, workflows and approvals, content reporting, post scheduling, content calendar, post ideas library, graphics editor, time slots, basic post statistics. Plans:  Solo, $9/mo Standard, $49/mo Professional, $99/mo Advanced, from $182/mo Read our complete review of Promo Republic. For example, post queues are common, but have you heard of self-destruct posts? These posts can be created in SocialOomph and set to disappear after a certain period of time.  The rationale? Outdated information confuses followers, but if they no longer exist, you don’t have to worry about incorrect or misleading information about your brand, products or services.  In addition to scheduling, bulk uploads and the ability to send social posts to Discord, Mastodon, Pinterest, Twitter and more, you can also create post tags. Post tags help group post together, making it easier to locate them later. Features list: Multiple social profiles, blogs, RSS feeds, queues, webhooks, scheduled posts, can add additional associate and additional team. Plans:  Personal Suite, $0/mo Advanced Suite, $15/mo Professional Suite, $25/mo Business Suite, $55/mo Read our complete review of Social Oomph. In fact, the process of creating a social post mirrors Instagram’s. You start with an image, then add text. And while that may seem a little weird and almost counter-intuitive, it’s something you’ll quickly get used to. Later features a visual content calendar with drag and drop functionality (very helpful for anyone trying to shave time off their post scheduling process). You’re also able to source post content from Dropbox, your desktop and Google Drive.  Something we think makes Later special is its ability to collect user content and repost it. This a feature less than a handful of other platforms offer.  It’s smart and makes sense.  Building a strong community means interacting and shining a spotlight on followers. Being able to do so with a social media management tool as intuitive as Later makes the process a breeze. Features list: Analyse content performance, engage with Facebook fans, plan and schedule content, work with team contributors, collect and share content from any URL on the web. Plans: Free, $0/mo Plus, $9/mo Premium Business, $19/mo Starter Business, $29/mo Brand Business, $49/mo Read our complete review of Later. It also comes with the ability to tailor posts for each social platform (like Loomly) and packs a strong performance data tool called Analyze (sold separately) to help you track how effective your social efforts are. If the idea of data analysis being sold separately makes you feel uncomfortable, there’s more you should know. Buffer offers its solution as three products. These include: 

Publish: plan, collaborate and publish Instagram posts. Reply: reply to social media conversations using a shared team inbox Analyze: gives performance data on your social activity

Three products may seem like too much, and possibly even a little unconventional. Competitors offer all of the above as one solution, and for bargain finders, Buffer may be a hard sell. Features list: Directly Schedule Posts, create a posting schedule, calendar view, custom video thumbnails and create, manage draft posts and invite additional users. Plans: Free, $0/mo Pro, $15/mo Small Business, $99/mo Medium Business, $199/mo Large Business, $399/mo Enterprise, $Custom/mo Read our complete review of Buffer. But that’s not all.  Sprout Social also comes with analytics and listening capabilities. These help you measure the performance of your Instagram account(s) and derive meaningful insights through quantitative, qualitative and contextual analysis. You can track hashtags, keywords and topics and use your findings to strengthen your social presence. Features list: Post scheduling tools, tasking and CRM tools, competitive reports for Facebook, incoming outgoing message content tagging, scheduling for optimal content send times, Spike Alerts for specific mentions or keywords, digital asset and content library, and chatbots with automation tools. Plans:  Standard, $99/user/mo Professional, $149/user/mo Advanced, $249/user/mo Read our complete review of Sprout Social. Why is monitoring a big deal?  Well, we’ve spent time reviewing many social tools and we’ve spotted a trend in the way platforms have begun to think about analytics and data. Concepts like sentiment analysis are no longer only within the sphere monitoring tool. Hootsuite proves that you can get them as additional features with some social media management platforms.  We’re all for the idea of monitoring. It enables brands to gain more intelligence and use it to build better social marketing campaigns.  Because of Hootsuite’s age and ingenuity, they’ve pretty much found the perfect mix of features and functionality. Automated post scheduling is a given, so are analytics, team collaboration and content curation. Features list: Automated post scheduling, key performance metrics, team message assignments, analytics, exportable reports, flexible approval workflows, onboarding and ad spend to boost posts. Plans: Free, $0/mo Professional, $29/mo Team, $129/mo Business, $599/mo Enterprise, $custom/mo Hootsuite Insights, $custom/mo Read our complete review of Hootsuite. If you’re looking for more than just the ability to automate posts, then gauging social media sentiment and in-depth reporting should be items on your list. Together, these advanced features will help your brand find new ways to strengthen your message in a loud and often distracting social media world.