It took me a long time to realize the truth: you don’t necessarily need the most expensive, best schedulers to get what you want posted effectively, and with ease. Today I’ll help you look at what to look for in a social media scheduler, how I schedule my content, as well as what I recommend using. We’ll talk about both SEMRush and Tailwind, my two primary social media schedulers.
When I think about all the time and money I wasted setting up and trying out various schedulers…
(head to desk moment)
…oh that hurt.
Listen, from a blogger who has invested hundreds into Sendible, has used HootSuite for various clients, Sprout, TweetDeck, ContentCal, Buffer, Edgar, etc. there have been only two that I have stuck with long-term for my own accounts. (I feel like I’ve literally tried them ALL out, and sometimes within 30 seconds I know if it’s going to be a good fit or not).
One is SEMRush, and the other is, obviously, Tailwind.
Why these two? What makes them so special?
How I Schedule Content
When I resolve to use my schedulers as I should (I took a big, long break in 2019-2020), looping posts, pins and content with a scheduler builds the business and grows the email list. I tend to keep things evergreen, using posts and content that fosters grow while weaving in new content as I publish.
Use Evergreen Content
Obviously, evergreen content is key for Pinterest, so that comes naturally. But from time to time you may need to schedule time-sensitive promotions and that’s where SEMRush can help (even with looping campaign pieces).
Evergreen content can be looped through your scheduler again and again until you feel that you’ve posted it ‘enough’. For example, I might revive an older post that is still relevant if it’s seasonal. Or, I might loop posts that are intended for ‘spring revival’ or ‘spring cleaning’ each and every spring as it’s appropriate.
Use a Scheduler When You’re Busy
I tend to use schedulers more when I’m going to be busy with some writing projects. (Uh, I have another book coming out soon). As part of my resolution for 2020, I’m “resolving” myself to using my SEMRush scheduler more consistently with the upcoming writing projects.
Honestly, I’d rather be writing than posting, and not have to worry about creating posts to schedule, so SEMRush and Tailwind are two fairly inexpensive systems that help me accomplish goals to get the writing done. Instead of having to upload new posts and schedule new stuff all the time, I can loop content and gradually weave new stuff in when I have a moment.
But I know that from time to time you might want to see what I find useful or something new in the shop, and that’s when I think sharing and being present is important.
Thoughtful, Balanced Scheduling
Thoughtful, balanced scheduling keeps the traffic coming in from all channels, even though Pinterest is my #1 source, and allows people to pick their favorite channels and still hear from me. (Although I tend to be an introvert.)
By doing this same thing, you can please your existing crowd with new content while sticking to content you know works and converts. SEMRush also gives you an opportunity to mix up the media automatically on re-post. Many schedulers do not feature a loop, and require you to either post/schedule/upload new content all the time. Just speaking from experience, this can be a huge time suck and waste of it, as well.
Schedule in Bulk
I tend to schedule things in bulk that I know are appropriate for the time frame, celebrate the various holidays I like to mention (even National Popcorn Day), and keep my audience interested. Scheduling in bulk on Tailwind is pretty easy
I know that scheduling systems are a matter of personal preference and based on one’s own personal/business needs, but if you are looking for a recommendation and want to know what I use and why these two work for my own blogs, give both of them a try. (When you click on the links you’ll receive a free month or credit on me at no extra cost to you.)
Why SEMRush is Awesome
SEMRush is a cool social media scheduler because it helps you achieve balance in content by segmenting post type (articles, your own blog posts, promotional, tips, questions, etc.) via color tabs, and it’s perfect for more visual users so you can see your blend of overall content.
Social Media is an increasingly popular platform that allows companies to expand their brand online. It’s a great way for you to easily build your brand awareness and help bring in more visitors.
Utilizing social media effectively and efficiently can make all the difference in elevating yourself up from your competition’s position. Follow these next steps to learn how to schedule your social media posts like a pro!
Social Media Calendar
After setting up your Social Media Poster in SEMRush, you’re going to want to utilize the calendar to help set up your posts. With Social Media being such a fast-paced medium, being able to maintain a clear and organized schedule is incredibly useful.
Your Social Media Poster calendar can be viewed in a weekly or monthly view. This can help you easily understand your short term and long term plans.
You are even able to set goals for your campaign which will determine the number of times you are posting per day. Change your goal in the settings to align with your current campaign needs.
Observe Your Competitors
If you aren’t exactly sure where to start for engaging content when it comes to posting on your social media platforms, you can look into some of the strategies of your competitors, simply by using the SEMRush tools to observe them. Looking at your competitors is easy.
All you need to do is include them when configuring your Social Media Tracker. You are able to add up to 20 different competitors so you can analyze a wide range of different strategies that you could use.
Once entered, you can use the tabs within Social Media Tracker to analyze your competitor’s social media strategy through each of their different platforms. You can analyze all of their profiles or narrow it down to a specific medium like specifically Twitter or Facebook.
You will be able to identify how frequently they are posting and see how much interaction they are receiving from their audience. You can see this data by navigating to any of the tabs in the report. Each tab is broken up into its specific social media platform.
Compare this data with your own to see the areas that you could look to improve.
Use the SEMRush Analytics Tab
Within the Social Media Poster is the Analytics tab which can become your best friend. Not only will you be able to see analytics for your posts, such as total page likes, but you can also see when your fans are online. This is incredibly helpful because you can see exactly when your fans are most active.
Look at this information and plan out your posts accordingly. If you see that your audience is peaking on Tuesdays and Wednesday then you should try to have your most important posts go live at these times. This data is also broken down by hours so you can really hammer home the perfectly timed post.
Use Tailwind – Best Scheduler Pinterest
I’ve written a lot about Tailwind and how it’s one of the best schedulers for Pinterest in the Pinterest Marketing book, but just in case you’re out there, pinning posts to Pinterest and not looping them, know that your Pinterest game could get so much better if you started looping with Tailwind.
I use Tailwind exclusively for Pinterest, and SEMRush for everything else. These two systems together are my dynamite duo. I like to keep things simple, cost effective, and be able to spend my time creating rather than working “on” my business.
Conclusion
So if you are the same, and are looking for a duo to help you grow your traffic, achieve balance with posts, and do less “scheduling” by looping more of your content, these two software apps will do the job. Highly recommend both.
