Since entering the blogosphere solo, I’ve been on the hunt for different programs to consolidate much of what I do to stay active online, but ensure it didn’t become my world. With a bit of research I came upon CoSchedule.
CoSchedule is a startup that created a way for you to pre-schedule when your content is sent out to all your social media platforms. It’s like a social media manager, but not a human being…and cheaper. For those of you who know HootSuite, it’s almost similar but uses more advanced algorithms. (Actually, I haven’t used HootSuite in five years, so they too could have advanced with the times… who knows.)
They offer four different advanced packages starting at $30 a month and two standard calendars starting at $15 a month. I use the very basic $15 calendar, as my needs are just that – posting stories to social media during the most optimal times and tracking how well different posts do.
For example, one of my first stories was about my awkward encounter with model Irina Shayk in Barnes and Noble. It reached over a thousand people from posting on Facebook alone, and still garners traffic today. CoSchedule was able to send the the link out via Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook on varying days, during a time that most users would be online based on the platform. I still pre-schedule directly on Facebook to properly tag the key components of the story, but CoSchedule, using the stories URL is still able to trace the impressions under Top Content Report. Information like this is valuable to blogs that base future stories off of which do best. For me this only comes in handy when PR firms want specific data on posts concerning their brands. Plus, it allows me to be present in everyday moments like walking on the street or spending time with friends and family.
Sounds like the ideal tool for budding bloggers, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. (Of course there’s a gripe! This is Tillie you’re talking to.) You can post on Instagram, but it’s not the way many of us do. In all honesty, it doesn’t post at all. Through the app (yes there is an app and online feature) you include the image or video, caption, and scheduled time of post. CoSchedule then sends you a reminder at the scheduled time, to post to Instagram. Seems like a headache, but if your content is prepped in advance, it’s saving lots of time having everything ready to go. And the capability of posting to Instagram is not because CoSchedule doesn’t have the know-how, it’s because Instagram doesn’t allow any third-party applications to publish content directly to Instagram. Doing so is actually a violation of their terms and agreement. So, it’s not that CoSchedule doesn’t want you to be great; Instagram won’t let you.
Along with being your personal social media expert, CoSchedule sends out multiple emails weekly offering tips on SEO Optimization, free webinars with well known gurus in the field of social media, and links to recent blog posts demonstrating different ways to set-up future posts more efficiently.
I’m sure many of you have seen that for writing a review, you receive 50% off a year of CoSchedule, and don’t worry, that’s not why I’m posting this. Originally, I was going to but CoSchedule has this 1000 word minimum. Say what? Yeah, I know. Many personal essays and feature stories aren’t even 1000 words, let alone a review, which, by the way, are typically only around 400 words. At this point, this post is 591 words. Could you imagine reading double this? Hell to the fuck no!
BUT, I can hook y’all up with up two free weeks to test it all out, and if y’all stay on, I get 10% off my rate. I mean 10% doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up! (Sign up here.) You can also get two weeks free by simply going to their webpage and signing up… either way, try it out!