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Twitter is a social media tool where things happen in real-time and it’s almost expected that you’re tweeting at a given moment. So what happens when you’re not going to be available and need to tweet? It’s time to schedule tweets!
By scheduling tweets, you can be in two places at once. For example, you could be sending out tweets, while you are meeting with business partners or attending an event.
Is scheduling tweets bad?
When you schedule tweets, it isn’t a bad thing, provided it’s not something you are doing all of the time. Successful Twitter users schedule tweets for those times when they are not going to be available. When they are available, they take the time to respond in real-time to tweets and engage with their followers.
If you plan to schedule tweets just so you can say that are on another network, I would reconsider why you are using Twitter to begin with.
Tools to schedule tweets
There are literally hundreds of tools you can use to schedule tweets. Today, we’re focusing on free services you can use to schedule tweets.
What we’re focusing on today are Twitter tools that are free and have a good track record, meaning they won’t close up shop next week.
Note: some of the tools we recommend to schedule tweets offer both a free and a paid version. Depending on how much you use Twitter and the features you want, such as analytics or being able to incorporate all of your social media channels into one tool.
Remember, while there are hundreds of tools, we have selected our favorites. If you have another Twitter tool you use to schedule out tweets, please leave in the comments below.
5 free services to schedule tweets
1. Twuffer
Twuffer is a no-frills tool for scheduling tweets. What I like about it is the clean interface.
One unfortunate side to Twuffer is that if you need to edit your tweets, you need to delete them and reschedule them. Otherwise, is a great tool if you want to schedule out your tweets.
2. Later Bro
Later Bro is similar to Twuffer in that it’s free and you can schedule out your tweets.
Where it is different is that you can edit your tweets and even schedule posts out to Facebook. Not bad for a free Twitter tool!
3. Tweetsqueue
Keeping with the minimalist theme, Tweetsqueue does exactly that. You can create and schedule out your tweets.
While Tweetsqueue is yet another free tool to schedule tweets, it does not currently offer the ability to select which times you want your tweets to go out.
Instead, you just queue them up – as the name suggests, and they will be sent out.
4. BufferApp
Buffer is one of my absolute favorite tools to schedule tweets and even LinkedIn and Facebook updates.
They offer a free and paid version, which runs just $9.99 per month. In addition, you get a great analytics package with either version to tell you how well your tweets are doing. Buffer also provides three ways to schedule tweets; share now, the date picker, or you can create a custom posting schedule.
If you opt to go with the custom posting schedule, I recommend using this in conjunction with FollowerWonk, which can tell you the best times to be tweeting and integrates with Buffer.
Additionally, Buffer also has a great mobile app and browser extensions to make scheduling tweets easy – from anywhere!
Buffer free vs. Buffer paid
As I mentioned, there is a free and paid version of Buffer. The free version is just limited by the number of items you can buffer so if you use the tool and find yourself wanting to buffer more things, this is something you should definitely consider.
5. HootSuite
The last of our 5 free tools to schedule tweets is HootSuite. Like Buffer, they offer a free and paid plan and do a terrific job scheduling tweets. You can select your own date or get a recommended date to post a tweet. If you make a mistake, you can also edit your tweets. The one thing that separates HootSuite from these other free tools to schedule tweets is that they offer a dashboard so you can follow your favorite blogs and schedule tweets from within the dashboard.
When comparing the free and paid version, with the paid version (which is 50% off right now), you get another team member seats, meaning if you work with someone else, you both have your own accounts to use and you can assign tasks to one another. Also, with the paid version of HootSuite, you can add up to 100 social accounts, advanced scheduling, and analytics to tell you how you are doing.
This is currently the tool that I use to manage tweets on a daily basis.
Decision time
While I cannot select the tool you should use to schedule tweets, hopefully this has got you thinking about the social media tools you want in your toolbox.
Remember, these are all free Twitter tools, so you can try them out and see which ones you don’t like.
Are there tools that I left off this list? If so, I invite you to leave a comment below.