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We kicked off the month chatting about timesavers for social media. And we couldn't round out the month without going in depth on one of the best scheduling apps. So teacher authors, go ahead and reheat that cup of coffee, because I'm your host, Cassandra Foster. And we're about to get schooled in socials. Welcome back to school and socials today is all about scheduling that social media content and getting it off your plate and into the world as easily as possible. So we're going to chat about what you should consider when choosing a scheduler for your teacher business. Because boy, there are about a zillion options out there. And then I'm gonna let you in on the good, the bad, and the ugly of a few schedulers I've personally used as a social media manager. Now, when choosing a social media scheduler that will meet your needs, there are a few things you want to consider. First is your budget. How much do you have to invest in social media for your business? And what could you allocate to a scheduling program? If the answer is Cassandra, I don't have any money to put towards a scheduler right now. That's okay. There are some free schedulers you can use. So you can still take advantage of the benefits of scheduling content. Now, if you have a budget to put towards social media and a scheduling program, you'll want to review a few different schedulers and see what each of their packages include and decide if those will suit your needs. For example, I currently only post on Instagram. So it would work for me to use a free option or a low cost scheduling package that only includes one social media platform. Now some of you may have different platforms that you're posting to such as Instagram, Facebook, tick tock, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. So to get the biggest benefit for your buck, you might consider a paid scheduler that allows you to schedule for each of the platforms you're using to maximize the time that you save. So this is the next consideration. How many platforms do you want to be able to schedule for some schedulers are only able to schedule to certain platforms or only one platform at a time. Another consideration is how often you plan on posting. A lot of schedulers whether you use a paid or free option have limits for the amount of posts you can schedule within a month. So if you're someone who likes to work far ahead, or you have several platforms you want to schedule to, you want to look at schedulers that have packages with larger amounts of posts each month. If you're like me, and only post to one platform a few days a week. Again, a lower post package or a free option could work well. The final consideration would be how often you want to be scheduling. Again, this goes back to the limitations that some schedulers have on the amount of posts that you can schedule at one time. So if you're looking to batch content and schedule them all at the same time, your ideal scheduler might be different than someone who wouldn't mind scheduling posts say like every week. So now that you know what you want to be thinking about when choosing a social media scheduler for your teacher business content, we should talk about some of the options that you can look into. And let's start with the free options. The first free option would be scheduling your post right within the Instagram app. This option works great if you're only looking to schedule to Instagram and not other platforms. Some other pros include that you can use all of Instagrams features easily, such as alt text, adding tags, location, music, etc. Now some of these features can be used in other schedulers. But they sometimes don't always work. So using the Instagram scheduler makes it a little easier to use those features. And you can also schedule reels with trending audio, which is not a possibility on other schedulers at this time. Some cons is that not everyone currently has access to scheduling through the Instagram app, at least at the time of this recording. So you would need to set up a post and go to the Advanced Features section to see if you are given the scheduling option. Also, I've used this with clients and it only lets me schedule out a few posts before it starts getting wonky and telling me it's not able to schedule the post. Though Instagram hasn't said that there any limits to scheduled posts. It seems like they might have a few bugs to work out so you would need to try it for yourself and see how many posts you could get to schedule at one time. Another free scheduler is meta business suite and you can access that right through Facebook. With meta business suite you're a able to easily schedule posts for Instagram and Facebook at the same time, you just have to connect your Instagram account with your Facebook account. And you can customize captions for each Instagram and Facebook. So they don't have to be exactly the same without having to create a whole other posts, which I really like. Because some of the conventions in Instagram and some of the conventions in Facebook are slightly different if you're using best practices. So that is a great feature to take advantage of. You can add both photos and videos, which means you can schedule reels on meta business suite. But the audio you want to use has to already be part of the real. So again, it lacks that ability to take advantage of trending audio. But for reals where you're talking, this works out just fine. One thing I find cool about using that a business suite is that the planner actually offers you ideas for posts in a right sidebar on the page. So if you're feeling a little tapped out, you can pop in there and get some inspiration. That's kind of just like a little extra cherry on top of using that scheduler. A major con, however, is that meta just updated how many posts you can schedule out at one time, it used to be that you could schedule posts out 75 days in advance. Now it's down to 29 days, which is unfortunate because it means you can't schedule a whole month's worth of content in one go, there will always be a few lingering posts you'll have to deal with. But if you don't mind coming back, and that's not a huge deal for you to take care of those few posts, then that could be a great option for you. Now, for me as a social media manager, it really irks me, because I try to batch my clients content and finish all their content in one day. So having to circle back makes a better business suite a little less ideal for me. There is so much pressure this time of the year to buy more stuff from Black Friday sales to Christmas ads. But I don't want you to buy more stuff, I want you to get the right things you need to uplevel your business in this season. So that's why I've opened up my mini Social Media Console scheduled for the next three months. So that we can make resources that are going to get stuck in your downloads and courses that are going to go immediately to your desktop graveyard like thing of the past. Instead, you're going to get my brain and your business for a focus 30 minutes so that you can make sure you have a solid plan moving forward. And you know, your social media will help you reach your business goals. This is not a one size fits all solution. Instead, you're going to get targeted advice that is focused on you and your business and for Black Friday. And until these spots sell out, you're going to be able to get it for $47 which is the lowest price point these mini consults have ever been. We're talking transformational advice that will make your social media work harder for you for less than a night out. This isn't stuff. It's the thing you need to get clarity and move forward with your social media marketing. You can grab your discounted spot right now in the show notes. But hurry, because once these spots that I've opened up for the next three months are gone, this price point will be gone too. I can't wait to make 2020 for the year that your social media marketing helps you reach all of your big business goals.

Let's switch gears and chat paid schedulers. Some general pros of paid schedulers are that they typically allow you to post to more than one platform making for a one stop scheduling shop. But price points across schedulers and ease of use can vary quite a bit. Now I'm not going to lie. There are a ton of paid options out there for schedulers. And I would never be able to review all of them for you. So I'm going to stick to the three social media schedulers that I've used most often with other teacher printers. The first scheduler that I see many teacher printers using is tailwind. A lot of teacher printers like that tailwind allows you to schedule on Pinterest as well. In fact, you can upload one image and have it post to Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest if you wanted. The scheduler also gives you suggestions for ideal posting times. So you can easily click on a date and time to schedule your post. And they're even starting to begin to integrate AI writing technology to help you write your captions, which is a pretty neat feature. The cons of Taylan and my opinion would be its workflow isn't very intuitive. There are a lot of buttons and clicks to get a post scheduled and there are new updates to schedule carousel posts can be a little confusing until you get the hang of it. I've also run into several glitches while using tailwind. This may be because they've recently changed their interface and are working on the kinks. But that has definitely been frustrating. When it comes to tailwind pricing, they do offer a free version, which is pretty appealing, and some pretty affordable paid options if you need more beyond the free package offers. The next scheduler is called HootSuite. And it is a great option if you have a lot of social media platforms you need to post to. It has the capability to schedule on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and tick tock. So if you're looking for maximum scheduling, Hootsuite can do the job. One of the other features I loved about Hootsuite is that on the Scheduling Calendar, you could see the posts that you had scheduled across all platforms side by side. And you can easily use the same graphic or image to create posts on different accounts. Now full disclosure, it's been a little while since I've personally used HootSuite. So just know that's a possibility. They've changed their interface a little bit, but I'm hoping that they've kept that capability. Because it's a great thing to be able to see what you're posting for content across all of your platforms at once. When it comes to pricing. They are the most expensive option though, that I've used with clients. But the capabilities and platforms it has to schedule as well as some of the analytics it has can be really helpful if those meet your needs. Finally, the last scheduler and my personal favorite scheduler is later. It has what I feel is the most intuitive interface I've used thus far as a social media manager. You simply drag your image or graphic into your library on the left side, and then drag each image onto the calendar on the day you want to schedule them on the right side. And it will pop up to allow you to add your caption and all of your other information. And being able to see all of your posts options and the calendar at the same time is so helpful. And you can view it by week or month. And then you can even preview what your grid will look like as you schedule. And if you want to change when a post is scheduled, all you have to do is simply drag and drop it onto the new date. Easy peasy which always makes me happy. Also, you're able to easily add your captions and hashtags a link to your bio, your location tags, you can tag people right within the scheduler. Plus like Hootsuite, you can schedule to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, tik, Tok and Pinterest. But they have some lower price packaged options, including a free option. So when it comes down to choosing a social media scheduler, make sure you are keeping it within your budget. You know which platforms you want to schedule to. And you know how many posts you want to schedule and how often you want to be scheduling them out. Once you have those questions answered, you can explore the options out there to find the best fit. I'll link the five options both free and paid in the shownotes that I chatted about today so you can easily get started. Also know that a majority of these programs have free trials. So don't be afraid to give a few a try to help you decide what works best with your brain current workflow and your business. Now, if the idea of choosing a scheduler for your social media content has your head spinning, or any other aspect of your social media marketing for that matter has your head spinning. It's okay. I'm here to help. I'm always here to help give you specific advice and one to one support with my mini social media consults. You can find the link in the show notes if you ever need me for more guidance. All right, cool coffee friends. Thanks so much for listening. If you're loving getting schooled in socials, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Also, I would love it if you left a review so that other teacher authors like you can start getting schooled in socials too. All right, I'll see you in the next episode.