The Best Scheduling Tools For Hotel Social Media Management
One of the biggest challenges facing hotel marketing managers is juggling the needs of other departments and multiple business segments. Raise your hand if your F&B Director tends to swing by your desk and ask you to “throw this up on social.” 🙋♀️
It’s absolutely OK to deviate from your content calendar, by the way — or jump on a trending topic when it feels like a fit for your brand.
But scheduling the bulk of your content ahead of time can save you a ton of headaches. Personally, I find batch working one of the most effective strategies for staying organized and on-task as a hotel marketer.
Another key benefit of using a social media scheduling tool is the ability to manage multiple platforms from one central dashboard. Most scheduling tools also allow you to view analytics, giving you powerful insights into your audience and their behaviors.
Social media scheduling tools help hoteliers work smarter, not harder, which is always a good thing in my book! So let’s take a look at some of the most popular options available right now.
Top Social Media Management Tools For Hotels
After many years in the hotel marketing manager role, I’ve tried so soo many tools… This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I want to talk about just a few that I personally think best fit the needs of hotel marketers.
For each of the social media management tools below, I’ll list out a few pros and cons, as well as the different pricing plans available as of writing (November 2020).
Buffer — Best For Facebook and Twitter
This popular social media scheduling tool allows you to manage posts from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. Let’s examine some of the pros and cons of using Buffer as a scheduling tool for your hotel.
PROS:
User-friendly, with a smoothly-designed, easy-to-use central dashboard
Buffer has Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari extensions that allow you to scheduling and share content from anywhere on the web
Pinterest integration (not a feature commonly found on other scheduling tools)
Provides optimal posting times for each platform
It’s easy to customize your content for each social network — this means you can repurpose images, links, and other media to better fit different formats
Excellent, easy-to-use mobile app for scheduling on the go
Free users can connect up to 3 accounts
Buffer Analyze provides tons of engagement metrics, demographics, and more (but only if you have the budget to pay extra…)
CONS:
There’s a pretty large jump in price between tiers
Analytics features, while robust, are an expensive add on
No media library to store images for later use
No hashtag monitoring
Instagram integration is pretty limited
No calendar view available with the free version
Pricing (November 2020):
Buffer Pro
$15 per month
8 social media channels
100 scheduled posts
1 user
Buffer Premium
$65 per month
8 social media channels
2,000 scheduled posts
2 users
Business
$99 per month
25 social media channels
2,000 scheduled posts
6 users
Overall, I personally really like Buffer. It’s very easy to use, especially with the web browser extensions.
However, I find it most suitable for Facebook and Twitter — Instagram is a very important social media platform for hotels, and I don’t think Buffer has quite nailed Instagram management yet.
Later — Best For Instagram
Later started out as one of the earliest Instagram scheduling apps, Latergramme. (Which is how I first started using it, actually!)
Since launching in 2014 and rebranding as Later, it has grown significantly with over 4 million users. Later now offers scheduling for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Let’s weigh a few pros and cons.
Source: Later
PROS:
Posts directly to Instagram as opposed to using push notifications
Allows Instagram Stories scheduling
You can even schedule the first comment on an Instagram post — great if you’re someone who prefers to separate hashtags from your caption
Make it very easy to find and share user-generated content (UGC) using their Search and Repost features
Beautiful, easy-to-use dashboard
I especially like the visual, drag-and-drop planner (great way to see how your Instagram profile looks and ensure a cohesive brand aesthetic)
Built-in media library to store content
Generous free plan
Analytics available on all plans
Optimal posting time recommendations
CONS:
Later is heavily focused on Instagram, so features for other platforms haven’t been developed as much
Auto-publishing is not available for carousel posts (multiple images)
Analytics could be a lot more in-depth and robust
Images aren’t automatically resized for different platforms
Pricing (November 2020):
Free
$ 0 /month
1 Social Set
30 posts per social profile
1 user
Starter
$ 12.5 /month billed yearly 1+ Social Set
60 posts per social profile
1+ user
Growth
$ 20.5 /month billed yearly 1+ Social Set
150 posts per social profile
3+ users
Advanced
$ 33 /month billed yearly 1+ Social Set
Unlimited posts
6+ users
Personally, I think Later is the best Instagram scheduling tool for hotels — but there’s no denying that it still lacks those bells and whistles for other important platforms.
I strongly believe that when it comes to hotel marketing tools, less is more. BUT… if you’re on a tight budget, even the free plan from Later could be a useful way to organize your Instagram content strategy.
By the way, my Hotel Social Media Masterclass includes lessons on content planning, scheduling, measurement, and much more. Find enrollment details here or get a feel for what’s in store with my FREE class on writing captions for social media below!
Sprout Social — Best All-Rounder For Multiple Platforms
Moving away now from the more “budget-friendly” options, I have to sing the praises of Sprout Social.
It’s much more than a tool for scheduling content — Sprout is one of the most comprehensive social media management tools available to marketers right now. Here’s why I recommend it:
PROS:
Really comprehensive product suite for scheduling and publishing content
Integration with top reputation management platforms like Google My Business and TripAdvisor
The “all-in-one social inbox” is a central place for monitoring and responding to customer messages across ALL platforms
Great visual calendar to map out and plan your content
Allows you to create workflows for teamwork/collaboration
Social CRM, lets you share notes and keep track of context in customer conversations
Robust reporting tools at the group level, great for managing multiple hotels or outlets
CONS:
Media library only available at the top pricing tier
I’ve found that the user interface takes a little getting used to — not quite as intuitive as Buffer or Later
Mobile not quite as functional as other tools
Limited number of linked social media profiles
Pricing (November 2020):
Standard
$99 per user per month
Professional
$149 per user per month
Advanced
$249 per user per month
Sprout Social is a much more robust tool than Buffer or Later, so visit their pricing page to view the full list of features and tools for each package.
Now, Sprout certainly has a lot going for it, but it’s not the right choice for every hotel. Due to the limit on number of profiles you can connect, I believe it’s best suited for a small group of hotels or a hotel with many F&B outlets, each with their own social media presence.
Sprinklr — best for large brands
As a customer experience management platform, Sprinklr is in a league of its own.
The full product suite touches every point of the modern customer journey in a personalized way — social media management is just a fraction of what they do, but oh, do they do it well.
The following pros and cons focus on their social media management system only.
PROS:
Synchronization and customized “compliance rules” that keep content cohesive across channels and accounts
Access to over 20 different social media platforms (Including the biggest social media sites, plus other tools like Zendesk, Flickr, and SurveyMonkey.)
Excellent real-time collaboration across multiple devices (including mobile apps for iOS and Android)
Easy to format and repurpose content for different channels
Robust social advertising platform
Intuitive and in-depth social listening and customer feedback tools
Detailed data and analytics
High-end service from Sprinklr itself — every account gets a Customer Success Manager and product training
CONS:
There’s a steep learning curve; not the most intuitive
No Instagram Stories scheduling (yet)
High price tag
Pricing (November 2020):
With that many pros, there’s got to be a catch. Here it is!
Sprinklr does not publicly advertise their pricing — so common sense suggests that it ain’t cheap.
I’m still including Sprinklr for the many “pros” listed above. It’s a powerful platform used by large hotel brands, including my former employer. (And I don’t think it’s appropriate of me to share the price per hotel from that contract, so please don’t ask. 😉)
While many of you are independent hoteliers, I know I have a fair amount of readers who work for larger chains, too.
Sprinklr is an option that’s best explored at the enterprise level. Your corporate office is in a position to negotiate a contract that makes the pricing more accessible for individual hotels or regional clusters.
Final Thoughts
A common theme among all of these scheduling tools is: the more you need, the more you pay.
This isn’t an uncommon pricing structure by any means. However, it is important to assess what you really need in a hotel social media management tool. Are you mainly using Instagram? Are you managing multiple profiles for your hotel and other others? Are you responsible for marketing at multiple properties?
Again, this list was not meant to be exhaustive — but here’s what I recommend:
Small hotel on a budget: Use Later + Buffer (or Later + native scheduling on the other platforms)
Medium-large hotel with outlets: Sprout Social
Group of < 5 hotels: Sprout Social
Chains or bigger hotel groups: Sprinklr
These tools do more than just schedule content. Each one brings other features to the table — from scheduling Stories to managing guest reviews — that can make your life as a hotel marketer much easier.
Have you used any of these tools? What do you think are the best social media marketing tools for hotels right now? Let me know in the comments below!
By the way, my Hotel Social Media Masterclass includes lessons on content planning, scheduling, measurement, and much more. Find enrollment details here or get a feel for what’s in store with my FREE class on writing captions for social media below!