I am not exaggerating…
…Without using social media calendar tools, you might never be able to streamline your social media marketing campaigns.
Here’s the deal: To increase the efficiency of your campaigns, you need ample planning.
You need to determine in advance what to post and when to post your content.
You also need to pre-plan other details about your posts, such as the narrative, intent, content type, etc.
You can’t just be winging this.
You especially shouldn’t just try to remember things.
As a social media manager, you are FLOODED with things to do. You will most likely forget things if you don’t write them down.
That’s where social media calendar tools shine.
The right tool lets you clarify and organize your posting strategies while streamlining and even automating your social media initiatives.
What you’ll learn
- What is a social media calendar tool?
- What should you look for when choosing a social media calendar tool?
- The top social media calendar tools for agencies
- FAQs about social media calendar tools
- Why is Vista Social the perfect social media calendar tool?
- Leverage social media calendar tools to master your social media strategy
What is a social media calendar tool?
Social media calendar tools are software or online tools for planning, scheduling, and managing social media content across platforms.
Must read: Maximize Your Agency’s Potential with Social Media Calendar Tools
The tools provide a centralized calendar where you can efficiently organize and visualize your clients’ social media content, activities, and campaigns.
Think of social media calendar tools as personal assistants that make managing your social strategies much easier.
The tools give you a bird’s-eye view of all your clients’ campaigns and posts, lined up and ready to go.
What should you look for when choosing a social media calendar tool?
When looking for a social media calendar tool, consider the following key features to ensure it meets your unique needs.
- Ease of use. A complicated calendar interface will confuse and frustrate your team and even cause delays. Opt for an intuitive and easy-to-navigate tool to ensure you can use your tool without a hitch
- Collaboration features. Ensure your calendar tool supports essential collaboration features for your team, including content approvals, task assignments, and shared calendars
- Advanced scheduling options. Opt for calendar tools with advanced scheduling features, such as optimal posting times and bulk uploads, that allow you to manage and schedule your clients’ content efficiently
- Supported integrations. Check whether your chosen social media calendar software integrates with your current tools, such as your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, for seamless data integration and workflows
The top social media calendar tools for agencies
Start your search for the right solution for your team with the top social media calendar tools below.
1. Vista Social
Price
Vista Social offers cost-effective pricing plans with a 14-day free trial.
- Standard: $39/month (Save more with $374/year)
- Professional: $79 (Save more with $758/year)
- Advanced: $149/month (Save more with $1,430/year)
- Enterprise: Starts at $379/month (Starts at $3,638/year when billed annually)
The platform also offers a free plan with essential social media management features.
Vista Social is a modern social media management platform with everything you need to manage and optimize social media profiles, posts, and campaigns, including a collaborative and shared content calendar.
Notable social media calendar features
- Shareable view-only calendar that you can export to PDF and CSV or share via a link
- Calendar view options: large preview, small preview, without preview, and condensed view
- Post approvals within your shared calendar
- Shared links history (active and expired)
- Collaboration features such as Internal and external comments for posts for review within your calendar
- Publishing calendar filters
- Bulk delete posts
- Options to directly integrate social events and holidays into your publishing calendar
- An option to start your calendar week on Monday or Sunday
Pros
- Modern and user-friendly interface
- Comprehensive features, from social media calendars to post scheduling and analytics
- Offers advanced features such as the AI Assistant, bulk scheduling, and workflow automation
- Includes collaboration tools for seamless teamwork
- Provides great value for money with its affordable pricing plans and robust features
- Offers a free plan with basic features
Must read: When to Automate Social Media
Cons
- The free trial is only for 14 days
2. SocialBee
Price
SocialBee offers a 14-day free trial.
The tool’s Bootstrap plan starts at $24/month when billed annually.
SocialBee is an AI-powered social media management software that streamlines critical tasks, including creating, scheduling, recycling, analyzing, collaborating on, and approving posts.
Must read:
Notable social media calendar features
- Category-based content calendar for easy planning and management
- Content calendar view options
- Pause or reschedule content for publishing in bulk
- An option to set posts to expire after reaching the optimal amount of posting times
- Collaboration tools such as workspaces and role assignments
- Check, edit, and approve posts before they go live
Pros
- Bulk and category-based scheduling saves you time and effort
- AI-powered content creation streamlines the creation of content
- The content categorization feature simplifies organizing your clients’ posts
Cons
- It only allows you to view one profile at a time in the social calendar
- The tool’s pricing plans can be steep for individual users or small businesses
3. Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s plans come with a 30-day free trial.
The Professional plan starts at $99/month (annual billing and excluding applicable taxes).
Hootsuite is a social media marketing and management solution with features that include a smart social media calendar.
Notable social media calendar features
- Visual calendar view
- Content creation tools such as built-in Canva templates and stock images
- Heat maps that show when to post to reach your specific goals
- OwlyWriter AI to quickly generate post captions and ideas
- Approval workflows, including task assignments and shared calendars
- Bulk post scheduling
Pros
- Provides essential social media calendar features
- Includes options to draft posts based on trends
- Offers a free trial
Cons
- A lot of the tool’s more advanced features are only available with the Enterprise plan, which is expensive
- You need to pay extra to get features such as review management and social customer care
4. Sendible
Pricing
Sendible includes a 14-day free trial with its paid plans, except for the Advanced and Enterprise plans, which require booking a demo.
The tool’s Creator plan is $25/month (billed yearly).
Sendible is a social media management solution that offers content scheduling, engagement management, and reporting features.
Notable social media calendar features
- Centralized compose box to plan and tailor posts to each social media platform
- Team member assignments
- Imported designed media from Canva (available with a Pro account)
- Content sharing with clients for approval
- Post scheduling for auto-posting
Pros
- Offers essential social media calendar features, from a visual calendar view to collaborative tools
- Includes a Canva integration
Cons
- No AI writing feature
- Designed more for agencies, not content creators
5. Later
Pricing
Later’s pricing plans are categorized and priced based on who they’re best for (Individuals, small teams, growing teams, agencies, and multi-brand businesses).
Must read: The Best Social Media Management Tools for Franchises [2024]
The platform’s Starter plan is $16.67/month (billed annually and excluding taxes).
The pricing plans (except Enterprise) include a 14-day free trial.
Later is a social media management and influencer software that helps you manage and schedule your clients’ posts more effectively and efficiently.
Notable social media calendar features
- Visual planner
- Bulk scheduling
- Collaboration tools, including a shareable content calendar, options to leave feedback, and approval management
- Media library
- Caption writer
Pros
- Clean and user-friendly interface
- Includes a wide range of content planning, creation, and scheduling features
- Has a visual planner
Cons
- Limited features with the free plan
- Higher-tier plans can be expensive, especially for small businesses and users who want access to more advanced features
6. Pally
Pricing
Pally offers a free-forever plan.
For individual users, the monthly fee is $20 per social set when billed annually ($25 per social set when billed monthly).
For teams, it’s an additional $29/month per user.
Pallyy is a social media management tool with scheduling, publishing, social media inbox, and analytics features.
Must read: 20+ Social Analytics Tools in 2024: Free And Paid
Notable social media calendar features
- Drag and drop social media calendar
- Media library
- Grid view
- Post preview within the calendar
Pros
- The tool’s calendar features are best for content creators
- Easy-to-use interface
- Simple pricing plans
- Fully drag and drop calendar
Cons
- Features are not designed for reposting evergreen content
- Limited analytics since it only supports Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook
7. ContentStudio
Pricing
All of ContentStudio’s pricing plans include a 14-day free trial.
The Starter plan for freelancers and solopreneurs starts at $20/month when billed yearly.
ContentStudio is a unified social media management tool for managing all your clients’ social activities, content, profiles, and campaigns from one platform.
Must read: Social Media Management Tools for Churches
Notable social media calendar features
- Multiple calendar view options
- Visual and intuitive social media calendar
- Shareable calendar via links
- Collaboration tools, including multi-tier approval workflows and live feedback
- Publishing queues
Pros
- Flexible social media calendar
- Includes information about the post within the calendar
- Rich filtering options
Cons
- No monthly calendar view option
- The interface can be a bit clunky
8. SmarterQueue
Pricing
SmartQueue offers plans for solo users, businesses, agencies, and users with custom needs.
With annual billing, you can start the Solo plan for $24.99/month (subject to VAT).
SmarterQueue is a smart social media scheduling tool with a visual calendar that makes planning and scheduling content a breeze.
Notable social media calendar features
- Custom posting plan by adding time slots to your content calendar
- Category-based post scheduling
- Post recycling
- Content curation
Pros
- Offers content scheduling based on categories
- Includes automation features
Cons
- No free plan (only a free trial)
- The UI isn’t as easy to use compared to similar tools
9. MeetEdgar
Pricing
MeetEdgar offers only two pricing plans (billed annually):
- Eddie Plan: $24.91/month
- Edgar Plan: $41.58/month
MeetEdgar is an AI-powered social media management platform for creating, scheduling, publishing, and automating content.
Notable social media calendar features
- Automated social media calendar
- Limitless content library
- An option to import content from RSS feeds
Pros
- Easy-to-use
- Simple pricing plans
Cons
- The free trial is only for seven days
- It doesn’t offer as many features as similar tools
10. CoSchedule
Pricing
CoSchedule has a free plan with basic features.
The Social Calendar plan for individuals and teams is $19/user per month (billed annually).
CoSchedule is an all-in-one marketing calendar for efficiently planning, scheduling, and publishing online and social media content.
Notable social media calendar features
- AI-powered social calendar
- Drag and drop rescheduling
- AI Social Assistant
- Social Composer
- Social Message Optimizer
- Social templates
Pros
- Includes AI tools
- Offers a range of features beyond simple content calendar tools
Cons
- Analytics are not as robust as similar tools
- It can be pricey for individual users and small businesses
- Limited free plan
11. Agorapulse
Pricing
Agorapulse provides a 30-day free trial with its paid plans.
The tool’s Standard plan starts at $79/user per month with annual billing.
Agorapulse also offers a free plan with limited features.
Agorapulse is a social media management solution that streamlines managing your clients’ social inbox, content, publishing, and reporting.
Notable social media calendar features
- Interactive publishing calendar
- Team collaboration tools such as approval workflows
- List, week, grid, and month social media calendar views
Pros
- Flexible and feature-packed content calendar
- Includes handy collaboration tools
Cons
- Expensive with higher pricing points than similar tools
- Not ideal for individual users and small teams with a limited budget
Social media calendar tips from marketing leaders and influencers
Check out the insights and tips from social media marketing pros and experts below.
- How to Create an Effective Social Media Content Calendar by Neil Patel
- 15 Ways a Social Media Content Calendar Helps Your Business by Pam Moore
- From Social Posts To Weekly Content: Create Your 3-Month Content Calendar Step-By-Step by Amy Porterfield
FAQs about social media calendar tools
Why should you use social media calendar tools?
Social media calendar tools offer many benefits, including saving time, maintaining a consistent posting schedule, and ensuring well-organized content for easy management.
The tools also streamline collaboration and strategic content planning.
Can you access your social media calendar on your mobile device?
Yes.
Many modern social media management platforms, such as Vista Social, offer a mobile app that allows users to access their content calendar and other features.
What essential automation feature should social media calendars have?
Some of the key automation features that social media calendars should have include the following:
- Bulk scheduling
- Optimal posting times
- Other bulk actions, such as deleting and reposting content
Why is Vista Social the perfect social media calendar tool?
Vista Social is like a Swiss army knife for social media management.
It has everything you need, from a collaborative content calendar to social media publishing, scheduling, analytics, and reporting features.
With Vista Social, you get the complete package to amplify your social media management and optimization efforts.
Vista Social’s other core features include:
- Social Inbox for centralized and seamless engagement management
- AI Assistant that can generate and enhance your post captions and message replies
- An option to boost posts for better visibility and reach
- Social listening tool
- Link in bio tool with customizable landing pages (Vista Page)
- Review management
- Employee advocacy
- Automated post approval workflows
- Hashtag suggestions and generator
- Custom templates and In-depth reports, including content performance and sentiment analysis, that you can easily share via shareable links
Must read: Social Media Sentiment Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide
Leverage social media calendar tools to master your social media strategy
The right social media calendar tools can facilitate effective and efficient content planning.
Find the best tool that fits your needs, starting with the top solutions in this guide.
Opt for tools like Vista Social, which offers an all-in-one social media management platform with advanced and sophisticated features.