Free Social Media Scheduling Tools for Nonprofits
Unless you have a dedicated social media manager at your nonprofit, you know that routinely sharing your stories on social media can take up a lot of your time. And, if we’re all being honest, posting often doesn’t make it to the top of your to-do list. Which makes sense. You have programs to deliver, big goals to achieve, and more pressing priorities!
But skipping out on social media can mean that you’re missing out on an important opportunity to connect with your supporters.
Luckily, there are online tools that make it easy to schedule your social media posts ahead of time. These are the platforms that social media pros and big companies use—and that your nonprofit can use for free. You can take advantage of these tools to save time, post consistently, and build awareness for your cause.
While both Facebook and Twitter have fairly robust built-in scheduling tools, in this post we’re listing the top platforms that let you plan and schedule social media content for all your social media profiles from one place:
1. Hootsuite
The free version of Hootsuite lets you manage up to 3 social media profiles and schedule up to 5 messages at any one time. From the Hootsuite dashboard, you can create, schedule, and customize posts for all of your connected networks. Plus, using their AutoSchedule feature, you can let them choose the best time to post for the highest engagement. If you’re feeling especially ambitious, you can even bulk upload your social media posts all at once in .csv format and use their Bulk Composer to preview, edit, and add images before scheduling.
With Hootsuite, you’ll also be able to customize the feed on your dashboard to keep track of scheduled posts and see at-a-glance when people engage with your posts or mention your organization:
Social platforms supported by Hootsuite include Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest:
2. Buffer
Buffer is similar to Hootsuite in many ways; with the free version, you can connect up to 3 profiles and schedule up to 30 posts at any one time. Their dashboard is much more streamlined than Hootsuite’s and really only lets you schedule and view your posts (whereas Hootsuite gives you streams of all your content and engagements). And while their interface for creating and editing posts is much more intuitive and easy to use, it doesn’t include an auto-schedule feature.
If you want to bulk upload posts via Buffer, you’ll have to connect a third-party app to publish.
However, their platform is more straightforward overall and gives you only the information you need to get your job done well:
You can connect your Facebook, Linked, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Pinterest profiles to Buffer:
Where Buffer really comes to the rescue is when you want to schedule social media posts in advance that include links to your scheduled (as in not yet published) blog posts. In our experience, all of the other scheduling tools fall short, but Buffer is able to pretty reliably publish content that works and looks good.
3. Airtable
Since Buffer and Hootsuite let you schedule lots of content at once, you should consider using another tool in tandem that will let you plan your content and collaborate with others to create posts: Airtable.
It’s like a magic, interactive spreadsheet that can act as a hub for all your social media needs. Before you schedule your posts, you can use their Social Media Planning and Design template to organize your content. You can even have collaborators upload their images so one person can do the scheduling for your nonprofit:
Once you’ve created your content in Airtable, you’re able to download as a .csv and upload your posts to your preferred scheduling platform.
With free tools like these, you’ll have the resources you need to build a strong social media presence. The only ingredient missing now is your story!
Are you scheduling your social media content? What are your favorite scheduling tools? Let us know in the comments.
Selina Bradley
December 20, 2019Buffer is no longer free. I recommend updating the post.
Darya Gorlova
December 20, 2019Hi Selina, thanks for bringing this up! We looked into it, and it looks like they do have a free option, but you have to sign up for a free trial of a paid versions first. After the trial, you can downgrade to the free version – https://buffer.com/pricing/publish
Let us know if that helps!
Mayra Peña
September 9, 2020Good information, but I need to mention one that many may not know about, it is called polar suite, this app is quite useful and very good, I have tried many and I definitely stay with this one, I work with many social network profiles and polar suite helps me with all of them
Olivia Tsui
September 10, 2020Hi Mayra, thanks for sharing your suggestion!
Nirav K
December 4, 2020Thank you for sharing post, I prefer Hoosuite and second is Facebook own scheduling tool. It is also nice to use. What do you think?
Olivia Tsui
December 7, 2020Hi Nirav,
You’re very welcome. I totally agree with you—Hootsuite is such a great tool to use. We use Hootsuite ourselves and love that we can monitor and schedule on our platforms from one place.
Maria Baeza
February 15, 2021I am using buffer tool and it’s very useful tool for scheduling post. I think everyone should use this tool for social media activities. anyways, Nice blog. It will be very informative for readers.
Olivia Tsui
February 15, 2021Hi Maria. Yes, Buffer is a good one. I’m glad you found this informative!
Nix
March 5, 2021This is an awesome list, though I’d love to add in Convosight—a 100% free app that helps Facebook Group Admins manage, grow, and monetize their community. It’s free and I believe it’s perfect for non-profits. Do check it out at http://www.convosight.com. Hope it makes it to the list if it gets updated. 🙂
Sherie
April 22, 2021Came looking for more options as Hootsuite just started limiting their free version to 5 posts and that is hampering our presence. I will give Buffer a try.
Nathan Dennen
April 22, 2021Hi Sherie. Thanks for letting us know! I have updated the blog post. Let us know what you think about Buffer.
Isabel Romero
July 30, 2021Metricool is another great free social media scheduling tool.
Nathan Dennen
July 30, 2021Thank you for sharing your suggestion Isabel!
Maria C
August 6, 2021Does the free version of Buffer allow you to publish from a desktop? How many sites will it let you publish on (Facebook, Instagram, etc.?
Nathan Dennen
August 6, 2021Hi Maria, thanks for your question. With Buffer’s current free plan you can publish from a desktop, and you are allowed 3 social channels (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, or three separate pages on Facebook). You can see more about their current free plan here: https://buffer.com/pricing