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Later
What Is Later?
SMM solution that helps businesses of all sizes and agencies managing social media marketing platforms use the drag-and-drop interface to plan and schedule content such as posts, videos, and stories for Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest on a monthly basis. The system lets managers share user-generated content, drive traffic, and gain insights into the post's performance. Later also suggests personalized post creation strategies and hashtags to create a phenomenal feed and attract viewers.
Who Uses Later?
Designed for businesses of all sizes, Later is a visual social marketing platform that helps manage and grow their social media.
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Reviews of Later
Gave me My Life Back!!!
Comments:
Later has legitimately changed the way I do business and how I think about social media as a whole. Social media is not a burden anymore, but something that I am very intentional with, I keep my media organized, I get it scheduled, I find it joyful and not a drag to deal with and I owe this all to Later.
Major kudos to the Later team for making such an amazing platform!
Pros:
Later is unbelievably EASY to use! Whether you choose weekly or monthly view, , scheduling with Later could not be any easier!! I have Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram, plus you can connect Twitter as well. They now have scheduling for Insta Stories which is a REALLY BIG DEAL!!! The analytics tools are pure gold because they will help you see exactly how your posts are performing and focus on how to steer your campaigns moving forward. The newly released hashtags analytics will also let you see exactly how well each and every hashtag you're using is performing, so you'll know if you should be using them or research more and replace those hashtags with new ones. Especially if you are handling multiple accounts across a multitude of platforms, and you want to stay on top of your social media, Later is ABSOLUTELY a tool that anyone with a business should use nowadays!!!
Cons:
I started using Later about two years ago and I can already tell how much they have evolved in just the two years since I've been a user. in the beginning they did not have a placeholder for images, just in case I just had an idea and had the text/copy, but would add the image later. Well, they just rolled this out. So this is just one example of one shortcoming I used to not like about the software, but they are making huge huge strides in constantly improving the platform!
I Save Time with Later
Comments: This review is based on the free version of Later, although I am highly considering upgrading to a paid plan because I like the program so much and I will likely use it to schedule videos. Later has freed up my marketing time by posting to multiple social media sites, all from one program. The free plan gives many options, including posting to four social sites, storing an unlimited number of photos in the medial file, saved captions to use later, and calendar and photo planning. The paid versions offer the ability to add more social sets - great for those with multiple Instagram accounts. The paid versions also offer video (videos on social sites are huge now) and story scheduling, more in-depth Instagram analytics, and special suggestions for when to post.
Pros:
Later saves me so much time. I love that I can add photos directly from my mobile device for Later use on other devices. The calendar view gives me a nice portrait of what I have scheduled, and the preview shot lets me see how things will look on my Instagram account once it goes out. There is even a Saved Captions ability available, so I don't have to copy and paste. The program integrates wonderfully with all the social sites, and I feel confident that posts go out when I need them to. Since the posts contain pictures, the app can edit the picture for each site's correct dimensions.
Cons:
Later (all versions) only links to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. There are more social sites than those in marketing, and having the option to pick some of them would be nice. The free plan only offers 30 posts/month for your four social sites. That's not too bad if you only post once in a while to all, or frequently to one, but it adds up quickly. The analytics are limited in the free version and only really offer an extended review when you purchase the middle tier of the three paid options. Since I was most interested in my Instagram and Facebook analytics, I can those from Facebook's Business Manager for free.
Alternatives Considered:
More a scheduling app that anything else
Comments:
I think it's a good tool to schedule posts os stories that you have previously designed and edited. It'd not very helpful when it comes to tag or mention a large number of people which is quite important if you collaborate with lots of different teams and accounts in your business.
Overall, it'd be more helpful if the usability was a bit more similar to what you find on Instagram, however I guess it's just a question of getting used to it (although the predictive keyboard would be a great help).
Pros:
Later is quite useful to have an idea of what your progression is in terms on followers and reactions. What I like the most about it is the preview option that lets you have a better idea of how your posts would look like . There aren't many other apps that offer you such a useful view. Obviously we also like the fact that lets you schedule all your posts and in general is very intuitive and easy to use. I like how it relays on visual structures to plan your feed. It doesn't overcomplicate things which is very handy. Customer service is also really good.
Cons:
All the analytics part of it is really helpful. However, I think it would improve if it could give more details about the overall engagement of our profile. This means it would be great if we could have graphics that sum up all the reactions ( reactions for our stories, posts and clicks on our link all together). One thing I would also improve is to allow the option of uploading more than one still per post. At the moment every time we want to post a few pictures together we need to do it through out phone. I'd also add predictive text when it comes to tag or mention any of our contacts (at the moment you have to enter the full name of everyone, an it takes way longer than doing it though Instagram, specially when you need to tag a lot of people). I'd also like to have the option for adding text to our stories. At the moment Lates lets you crop or apply filters to your stories but it doesn't let you add text or gifs as you would do directly on Instagram.
Alternatives Considered:
The best scheduling platforms!
Comments: I have used other scheduling platforms in the past and Later is by far my favorite and has an number of great features. I would highly recommend using this software for both small and large organizations. It is a great way to collaborate with a large marketing/digital Strategy team or for an individual whose role is posting on social media. It will save you a lot of time and allow you to be creative with the preview and calendar feature.
Pros:
Using Later you are able to schedule post throughout the week that will automatically be added to your feed. Another great feature is you can create a visual Instagram planner to see how content will look aesthetically and if it is on brand before posting. One of the best features with this software is you can link urls to photos that you are posting on your feed. Instead of having to change the link in you bio every time a new event or new article is posted, you can put the later link in your bio and every photo you put a link on using Later will show up. This has been an amazing feature for all the different events our company has going on that requires a customized url. Also very user friendly and easy to teach to new employees.
Cons:
Currently we use Later for only Instagram, but our Facebook ad Twitter is also linked to the app as well. I have not tried posting onto these platforms yet using this software. One con is that it is tailored to work best with Instagram from what I have seen so far. It would be great for the app to work across all social media platforms.
See Ya LATER, Competing Apps!
Comments: Overall, Later's been a great app to utilize. We tried Buffer, which didn't appeal to our experience style. Later's made it easy for us to post on multiple accounts and customize the scheduled posts. Later's helped us maintain a consistent social media presence in my organization's off-season time when our programming is spread out but we wanna show our relevance in the community.
Pros:
How easy it is to use, that it's an industry standard, and the extra features in the subscription are actually worth the price. The free version is accessible to people new to social media marketing, which makes it easy for anyone to get social media marketing/communications experience. The interface makes it easy to visualize when posts are scheduled, which photos have or haven't been used yet, and which social networks the posts are scheduled for. On top of that, I love that each post can be customized based on a platform's post guidelines and, if you have different demographics for each network, you can tailor your first caption to whatever audience you're trying to appeal to.
Cons:
The only issue I ran into with Later is trying to authorize Later to log into Facebook mostly because we have multiple admins on the organization's page. We ended up resolving it by finding out the only person allowed to authorize the two apps to combine info is the person with the email address tied to the Later account. It's a hassle to keep in mind, but a small one that can be relieved easily.