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The Top 3 Social Media Scheduling Tools and Why 

The Top 3 Social Media Scheduling Tools and Why 

by | Jun 13, 2023 | Social Media

Are you struggling to find the perfect social media scheduling tool for your business?  

With so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to know which one to choose. Each platform comes with its unique set of benefits at various price points, which is why we’ve put together this blog piece to help you choose the right platform for you.   

We will be reviewing and evaluating the following top 3 social media scheduling tools: 

  • Planable – CREATIVE in TiME’s favourite!  
  • Later  
  • Sprout Social  

Here, you will find a breakdown of the platforms, what they offer and what makes each one unique for a more informed decision for your social media scheduling. Or, of course, you can get in touch with CREATIVE in TIME, and we can take the stress of social media marketing and scheduling away from you.  

Planable  

If you’re looking for social media planning software that offers a comprehensive and collaborative approach, look no further than Planable.  

This user-friendly tool allows businesses to schedule their social media posts in advance, with the added bonus of creating, previewing, and approving content for multiple platforms in one place. But what sets Planable apart is its unique collaborative features, which allow team members and clients to work together in real-time, providing feedback and suggestions on content before it goes live. However, please be aware that when more than one person is commenting etc on the platform, it will increase your monthly cost. This makes it an excellent option for agencies and businesses with multiple stakeholders involved in the social media planning process.  

Compared to Sprout Social and Later, Planable offers a more comprehensive and collaborative approach to social media planning, making it a top choice for businesses with a presence on multiple platforms. While Later is great for scheduling Instagram posts, it lacks the same level of collaboration and feedback options as Planable.  

And while Sprout Social offers similar features, it provides a different level of collaboration and integration options, making Planable the go-to choice for businesses looking to streamline their social media planning process. 

Later 

Later is the social media planning software you’ve been searching for to take your Instagram presence to the next level.  

With Later, you can easily schedule your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest posts in advance, all in one place. Plus, you’ll get access to a visual content calendar and Instagram Stories scheduling, making it easier than ever to plan your social media content. 

And if you’re a small business or an individual with a limited social media presence, Later has you covered with a free plan that allows you to schedule up to 10 posts per month. With features like a drag-and-drop interface, media library, and hashtag suggestion tool, Later is a comprehensive social media planning tool that won’t break the bank. 

While Sprout Social offers similar features, it can be costly for small businesses, with plans starting at $249 (around £199) per month. However, Sprout Social does have more integration options, including LinkedIn and YouTube, making it a better fit for businesses with a presence on these platforms.  

And while Planable provides a more collaborative and comprehensive social media planning tool, Later’s Instagram-specific features make it the perfect choice for businesses looking to up their Instagram game.  

So, if you’re ready to streamline your social media planning process and take your Instagram presence to the next level, give Later a try. 

Sprout Social  

If you’re looking for a comprehensive social media planning tool, Sprout Social could be the one you’ve been searching for. 

This software allows businesses to manage and schedule their social media content across multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. With features like a content calendar, social media inbox, and social listening tool, Sprout Social provides everything you need to stay on top of your social media game. 

What sets Sprout Social apart is its focus on social media analytics. With detailed insights into social media performance and audience engagement, Sprout Social provides businesses with the data they need to make informed decisions about their social media strategy.  

However, this level of sophistication comes at a cost, with monthly plans starting at $249 (around £199) per month, which may be a drawback for small businesses. 

While Later offers a more affordable option for businesses looking to manage their Instagram presence, Sprout Social offers integration with a broader range of platforms and a more extensive suite of features, making it a better option for businesses with a more significant social media presence.  

And compared to Planable, Sprout Social offers a more comprehensive social media management tool with a focus on analytics and reporting. Does Sprout Social sound like the ideal tool for you? 

How To Know Which Social Media Scheduling Tool to Use 

Choosing the right social media scheduling tool is crucial and should align with your availability, business goals, and budget.   

Consider the most important features to you, such as team management, scheduling capabilities, and analytics.   

You should also choose a tool that fits your budget and provides the features you need to achieve your business goals. By selecting the right tool, you can streamline your social media management and achieve success on your social media platforms.  

Social Media Scheduling Tool Roundup  

So, we’ve gone over a lot right now and we know it can be overwhelming so here is a more digestible table going over the key differences between the top 3 social media scheduling tools.  

Feature  Planable Sprout Social Later 
Social Media Platforms Supported Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest 
Content Calendar Yes Yes Yes 
Social Listening No Yes No 
Analytics Basic Advanced Basic  
Collaboration Yes Yes Yes 
Approval Workflow Yes Yes Yes 
Hashtag Recommendations Yes Yes Yes 
Bulk Scheduling Yes Yes Yes 
User Permissions Yes Yes Yes 
Customer Support Email, Live Chat Email, Phone, Live Chat Email, Live Chat 
A table showing the differences between Planable, Sprout Social and Later with their set list of features.

Take Your Social Media Stress Away with CREATIVE in TiME 

While there are social media scheduling tools out there that can make your life much easier, our marketing agency can make it a whole lot easier. Yes, with scheduling tools, the act of actually getting your posts out consistently becomes more manageable, but formulating a social media marketing plan, creating the graphics, sourcing the written imagery, writing the captions, finding the hashtags…it’s a lot of work. But it doesn’t have to be.   

CREATIVE in TIME is a creative digital marketing agency that has been developing effective social media marketing campaigns for years with a proven track record of boosting engagements and driving traffic to company websites using social media platforms.   

As a full-service marketing agency, we don’t just specialise in social media marketing; we do it all! From Search Engine Optimisation and Content Marketing to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Website Development, CREATIVE in TIME have the knowledge and expertise to streamline and up-level your business’s overall marketing strategy. 

Get in touch today, and we can get started on making the best out of your business’s digital presence.   

5 Reasons Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy 

5 Reasons Why You Need a Digital Marketing Strategy 

by | Nov 18, 2022 | Digital Marketing

If you’re not sure why you need a digital marketing strategy, then you’re in the right place! 

Digital marketing can be a very tricky thing to navigate.  

A digital marketing strategy is a plan that outlines how your business will achieve its marketing goals via online channels like search and social media. 

Digital marketing covers many forms such as social media to email marketing, website SEO and strategy. In practice, any marketing which uses electronic devices is digital marketing. 

Luckily, there are lots of tools and resources available to help small businesses get started with their digital marketing efforts.  

In fact, many of them are free! Here are some reasons why we think every business should have a digital marketing strategy in place: 

1. It lets you understand where your customers are online 

A digital marketing strategy is essential to making sense of the world of online marketing. It lets you understand where your customers are online, how they interact with you and each other, as well as what kind of digital experience they want from you. 

Currently, there are more social media platforms available than we can count on both hands, this means that you need to understand where your customers are to ensure that you are posting content on the right platform. 

A good digital marketing strategy will help you see trends in customer behaviour and identify areas for improvement or innovation. This is especially useful if your product/service is a seasonal item which will naturally have peaks and troughs in engagement. 

You can also use this information to develop a content strategy that matches your audience’s needs and interests. 

2. It helps you to understand what your customers are looking for 

A digital marketing strategy helps you to understand what your customers are looking for.  

This can be achieved through customer research, customer feedback and insights. 

Each step along the way will help you to better target your audience and create more relevant content that meets their needs. 

Producing content for the sake of producing content is not a viable marketing strategy. If your audience is not interested in the content you are producing, then you are wasting valuable time and energy which could be better placed elsewhere. 

3. It will help you to become more focused with your marketing activities 

A digital marketing strategy is a plan that helps you to focus on the right activities. It also allows you to measure the success of your efforts so that you can improve them over time. 

It’s important to focus on the right things because if you don’t, then you won’t be able to achieve your business goals or meet customer expectations and this could end up costing you money and customers! 

Focusing on the wrong marketing activities, or not having a focus at all, can result in poor marketing performance overall. An example of this is keyword research. 

Keyword research is vital for SEO efforts to ensure you are ranking for the correct keywords. If you do not focus on keyword research, you may rank for keywords which no one is searching for, or you may not SEO optimise your website at all. 

4. You’ll be able to make improvements in real time 

The beauty of digital marketing is that it’s so flexible. Unlike traditional marketing strategies, you can make changes on the fly based on feedback from your customers.  

With digital marketing, you’re not committed to any one medium or channel—you can use paid advertising such as Facebook ads, or organic strategies like blogging and email marketing. 

If something isn’t working for you, stop doing it!  

After all, what’s the point of wasting money if it doesn’t work? This is why having a digital strategy helps so much: You’ll be able to see what works and what doesn’t by looking at your analytics and feedback from customers.  

Plus, if something isn’t working well enough yet but could be improved upon with more resources (like more content creation), then you won’t need to invest in other channels until these efforts eventually bear fruit. 

5. It helps create a consistent message across all of your channels 

When you have a digital marketing strategy in place, it helps you create a consistent message across all of your channels. This is important because consistency builds trust with your audience and helps build your brand and authority. 

Similarly, to using the same branding colours, logo and slogans across your channels, it is also important to use the same tone of voice in all of your writing to ensure your brand remains consistent. 

A great way to ensure your content stays consistent across all of your digital marketing channels is to repurpose content. For example, if you create a blog post, you could then split that blog post into 5 social media posts!  

In summary, you need a digital marketing strategy because it will help you to grow your business. The more focused and consistent your message is, the more likely people will be to engage with your company. 

If you want a digital marketing strategy but need help to create and execute it successfully then get in touch with CREATIVE in TiME now to find out how we can help you. 

Is Digital Marketing Right For Me? 

Is Digital Marketing Right For Me? 

by | Aug 4, 2022 | Digital Marketing

When running your business, your main focus is often how to get people in the door, whether literally or metaphorically if you are an online business. 

Just like the old faithful dress which you have had since you were 17, many people will turn to the failsafe traditional forms of marketing such as posters, newspaper adverts and flyers. 

Others may believe in their product/service so much that it is just a matter of time before customers fall at their feet, lucky for some! 

Now, people who follow these strategies will find some customers and gain a trickle of business, but this is totally unsustainable! So, “Is digital marketing right for me?” I hear you ask…

No matter how old or new your business is, digital marketing is a great way to generate leads and turn these leads into loyal customers. 

Are you ready to be out with the old and in with the new? We’ve got a sneaky feeling that you are!  

Though you might need to know the answers to these questions first: what is digital marketing? How can digital marketing benefit me? And how you can start your digital marketing journey today! 

What is Digital Marketing? 

Digital marketing is referring to all marketing efforts which take place on the internet.  

We’re talking: 

  • Social Media 
  • Email Marketing  
  • SEO 
  • Blogging 
  • PPC 
  • Website Development 

Your digital marketing could involve all of these or just a couple. There is no right or wrong way to do digital marketing, every business is unique and will have a different goal. 

Digital marketing doesn’t just have to bring in customers, it can be used to achieve various goals such as building brand authority in your industry, keeping customers returning and rebranding your business. 

You may be thinking, “brand authority, what’s that?” but it’s more common than you think! 

Let me guess, if you think of trainers, do you think of Nike? They have made their Swoosh (yes, that is the technical name for that tick) a renowned icon and their business is one of the most well known in their industry. THAT is building brand authority. 

Did you know that 72% of marketing budgets in the UK wen on digital marketing? 

There’s actually more to digital marketing than you may think! Wayyyy too much to cover in here, if only there was somewhere else you could check it out… (pssst! Here!) 

How Can Digital Marketing Benefit Me? 

Digital marketing can benefit you and your business in many ways. First of all, the number of potential customers you can attract online is a much larger number than any you could attract using local (traditional) marketing. 

Let’s look at an example: 

If you run a business selling shoes, you may put out a poster on a street advertising your brand. This poster will only be seen by people who walk down that specific street and consciously look at the poster. There is no guarantee that on any given day a person who is intending on buying shoes will see your poster. 

Now, imagine you are the same company, but instead you decide to set up a website. You can make that website SEO-friendly (more on this here) and immediately your brand is more likely to be found by the right audience.  

By having marketing that is directed toward your ideal demographic, you are ensuring that none of your marketing efforts is wasted on people who would never buy your product in the first place!  

Now that you have read our example, let’s take a look at some of the other benefits of digital marketing which you could achieve: 
  • Remove geographical boundaries: Traditional marketing techniques are often focused on a small geographical area whereas digital marketing can target anywhere in the world. 
  • Personalisation: You cannot personalise a flyer or poster for every single potential customer however, you can personalise an email campaign to include the recipient’s name, fancy! 
  • Tracking: One key benefit of digital marketing is the ability to see your marketing analytics. You can track how many people visit your website, how much engagement your social media posts receive and even where someone clicks on your email campaigns! This allows you to edit your marketing strategy in real-time to maximise these statistics. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a nerd to appreciate a good graph every now and again. 

Here’s a statistic for you right now! 

75% of agency marketers rated email marketing as the most effective means of digital marketing in terms of return on investment (ROI) 

How To Get Started 

Now that we have shown you the magic of digital marketing, we bet you are rearing to get started but where should you begin? 

Well, this truly depends on the amount of time you are able to commit to digital marketing. Whether you can spend 1 hour a month, 1 hour a week or 1 hour a day, any time spent doing digital marketing will be worthwhile! 

Most of us already are familiar with social media, this is a great place to start when it comes to digital marketing. Of course, any business can use any social media, however below are our top recommendations for social media platforms. 

For B2B businesses (business-to-business) we would recommend using: 

  • LinkedIn 
  • Instagram 

For B2C businesses (business-to-customer) we would recommend using: 

  • Instagram 
  • Facebook 
  • Pinterest 

In 2022, social media marketing is more important than ever and giving your business a stellar online presence could give you an edge on your competition. Do you want to find out more about social media strategies to use in 2022?  

Most businesses will also benefit from using a video-based platform such as TikTok. You may think that TikTok is only for young people doing dances in skimpy outfits (technically, they are there, but that’s not all of TikTok, we swear!) but, trust me, you can find any and all business types on there; even CREATIVE in TiME! 

Is Digital Marketing Right For Me? 

So, after all this, let us answer “Is digital marketing right for me?”

We think that digital marketing is for EVERYBODY! 

The brilliant thing about digital marketing is that it is not one-size-fits-all, when you use a digital marketing agency such as CREATIVE in TiME you will get a bespoke marketing strategy to suit you and your business. 

If digital marketing just isn’t your style, it is definitely ours! 

“Andrea, Fred and the team are not only experts in the marketing field, but approach businesses with the enthusiasm and drive that you would expect from a leader within your own team. They truly care about their clients and you can really feel that in all that they do.” 

It’s no secret that Marketing Agencies don’t have a great name. The common complaint is that they just don’t return value. We believe that the missing link time and time again is understanding. 

Understanding your business and your goals, understanding your customers and understanding your expectations. Because we spend the time in the beginning asking the ‘right’ questions, we can provide you value and achieve deliverables in record TiME. 

Get in touch now to find out how we can help get your business up and running in the world of marketing. 

Why Is Digital Marketing Important 

Why Is Digital Marketing Important 

by | May 12, 2022 | Digital Marketing

We all know that the internet is big right? Right?! So, what if I told you that the number of people who go on the internet every day is STILL increasing? 

That’s right, “constant” internet usage among adults has increased by 5% in the past 3 years. This has also meant that people are shopping and purchasing more online than ever! 

You need to market to where your customers are looking, which means if you aren’t already, it’s time to go DIGITAL with your MARKETING. 

Digital marketing is important for a variety of reasons because it connects your business to your online presence and your ever-growing digital customer base.  

Digital marketing is effective in all industries and all businesses should utilise it as such, if you aren’t using digital marketing then it is time to jump onto the bandwagon and get rolling! 

Utilising digital marketing allows you to connect with ideal customers through search engines such as Google using search engine optimisation, through social media using social media marketing and through email using email marketing. 

So Why Is Digital Marketing Important? 

1. Affordability 

If you want bang for your buck, then digital marketing is for you. It is considerably less expensive than more traditional forms of marketing, however, this is dependent on what you are doing, but generally, overall spending tends to be lower with a higher impact. 

It is also more affordable as you can narrow down where your money needs to go by selecting the correct platforms. If your followers are most active on Instagram, then you should focus your efforts there and not on Twitter. If you are looking to advertise to other businesses, then try LinkedIn rather than Facebook.  

Digital marketing can save you time and money by excluding people who would never buy from you and digital marketing agencies can often be more affordable than hiring a marketing team for your business. 

2. Mobile-Friendly 

Mobile-friendly - Why is digital marketing important?

Did you know that over 48 million people in the UK use their mobile phones to go about their business such as mobile shopping and social networking? If you are looking to reach this large audience, then you will need to hone in on this mobile market. 

When someone is interested in your niche, business or product, the first thing they will do is take to the internet to research you. In the age of mobile phones, this can be done with just a few taps on a screen making it even more important to take care of your online presence. 

If your customer can’t find you online or finds you have a subpar online presence then they may assume your business is illegitimate, inactive or just not worth buying from. 

You need to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly so that visitors can experience your content easily. You do not want large blank areas or cut off text boxes, no one likes having to scroll to see full images or menus. This may involve creating a different page structure for desktop vs mobile. 

Look at your website from a user perspective, what would you change? 

3. Flexibility 

When you market yourself digitally, you open a wide range of possibilities for strategies, and with your marketing strategy at your fingertips, you can make real-time changes such as stopping poorly performing campaigns. 

You can make tweaks and changes depending on the interest you receive; this is something you would not be able to do if you used a different form of marketing such as using paper leaflets. 

Flexibility also means that you do not have to wait to produce leaflets, flyers and posters. You can create content and post it immediately, perfect for keeping up with special dates, doing flash offers and even amending typos. 

4. Creativity 

Creativity - Why is digital marketing important?

If you are looking for creativity, then digital marketing will steal your heart! You have the opportunity to create banners, email campaigns, social media posts, blogs, and the list goes on and on! With digital marketing, you have the creative freedom to bring your visions to life using your brand colours and style. 

Your creativity should flow across all of your digital marketing streams to create a cohesive brand image. When a user views your social media or a blog post, they should instantly know it is your business. If you are interested in creating a social media strategy, then click here to find out the best strategies for social media marketing in 2022. 

Top Tip: Avoid using different names, colour schemes and writing styles as this can give the impression of different businesses which have the same/similar names. 

5. Tracking 

As well as connecting and communicating with customers, digital marketing allows you to track their activities. You can see how many people open your email campaigns, how many people engage with your social media platforms, where people spend time on your website and how they get to your website amongst other things. 

This is valuable information to hone in on your target audience and find out what is or isn’t working and adjust your strategies accordingly. 

When dealing with an audience, a marketing strategy which you think will do amazing could flop or vice versa so it is vital to keep track of how each part of your strategy is performing. 

Digital marketing is a valuable asset to any business and is important in all the previously mentioned ways, it can however be time-consuming to get right especially since you will need to research and implement an effective digital marketing strategy to get the full potential out of your marketing. 

Yes, unfortunately, digital marketing isn’t a one-hit-wonder and needs constant work! 

If you are a business owner who wants to improve their digital marketing but doesn’t have the time or expertise, that is where digital marketing agencies such as CREATIVE in TiME come in. 

We understand the people, the resources, the processes, and the tools that go into making your business run smoothly and we get the struggles which businesses experience in the world of digital marketing. 

Do you need help with your digital marketing? Get in touch now to find out how we can help you.