​Full disclosure: I was given a free Post Planner account in connection with other social media writing, and am a registered affiliate for Post Planner. My commitment is to always give you my honest opinion so you can make your own decision about what is best for you!

Now that is out of the way, let's dive in. 
​

On the most basic level, Post Planner is a social media scheduling tool. Similar in ways to other tools like Buffer and MeetEdgar. Depending on your plan size you can connect multiple social media accounts, schedule and create content, and monitor results. So far pretty standard. You can also create your own custom RSS feeds like you can in Buffer or a tool like Feedly. There are a few features that make Post Planner worth checking out though, even if you use another tool already. 
​​

The biggest feature that Post Planner has is that it does not simply schedule content that you think of out of your head, it suggests content for you based on a wide variety of criteria. It pulls popular content from around the web and rates it if you want to share links or viral images. Want to post text status updates instead? You can choose from a large library of already created posts and then customize them. 

If you struggle with creating content day in and day out, this feature alone will make Post Planner pay for itself. I was really impressed with the breadth of content available. (And that is saying something!) 

Another thing I like is that you can decide what types of content gets sent out when in your schedule. While not quite as advanced as the Meet Edgar tool, you can at least plan when you want links, text updates, or pictures being published. 

I also have to add that their support team has been amazing. While it is possible I get preferential treatment, I doubt it because I go through the built in help tab when I have questions. Response time is fast and personal. 

Other features I love (though it took me a little playing with it to find them) are the ability to schedule recurring posts, and the Canva integration. 
​

Overall, Post Planner is a unique tool that adds some things to the landscape of content creation and scheduling. 

However, I wouldn't recommend it as a stand-alone social media tool. You will still need tracking and analytics from something like Buffer (or a more robust tool like Agorapulse). It does not provide any monitoring options (again, loving Agorapulse for that, review coming soon). The one thing that was most notable in my workflow though was the lack of a browser extension. While Post Planner is create for suggesting content, if I happen across it on the web I have to manually add it if I want to use Post Planner for scheduling.
​

Post Planner is a great addition to my social media arsenal, when I make the time to go in and browse the library for content. Like any other tool, you will only get out of it what you put into it. 
​
If you have trouble being creative and coming up with content, then definitely give Post Planner a try. It's price point is very accessible even for a small business with only a couple social media accounts. An important note is that it only connects with Facebook and Twitter right now. That is fine for many businesses, but if you want to schedule to Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, or LinkedIn you will need another tool. 

Have you used Post Planner? Are there other social media tools that I should be reviewing? I would love to hear about your experiences. 

Overview:
​
Meet Edgar is a fundamentally different platform in how it approaches content scheduling. In fact, when I first saw it I got pretty excited because it goes hand in hand with the concepts of post types that I cover in my book What to Post. 

Basically the idea is that you create evergreen content and set a schedule based on the type of post rather than specific content pieces. Then Edgar randomly chooses one of those types to post to that social media account. 

For example, you might have blog posts go out at 9am on Monday, promotional posts at 2pm on Wednesday, and funny posts at 4pm on Friday. You decide which account each post in the library is assigned too. 

Pros: 

Reuse Evergreen Content
What I love most about Edgar is that it allows you to get more out of your evergreen content. Many of the blog posts that I write, or that I write for my clients, are beneficial for their audience any time, not just in the few days after creation. It was always a struggle to remember to reload older blog posts and videos back into the schedule on a regular basis. It is also a fantastic tool for adding in my promotional posts and making sure they are balanced throughout the feed. 

Recurring content is a feature that no other scheduler has, and it is pretty fantastic. This will be best for businesses and organizations that have been creating content for a long time, and so have a large pool to draw from to get started. You should go into it with the mindset that the first month or two there will be a big upfront investment of time to build a solid library of material. Otherwise you risk your content feeling old and outdated quickly. 

Use the Power of Post Types
The other thing of course is that it is such a good fit for the model of content creation that I am already using - post types. This is an idea I haven't seen many other places, and am excited that Edgar is getting people to think about their business in a more systemic way.  

Measure Your Results
Another unique feature of Edgar is its Analytics. You can sort by account, date, or even by the piece of content itself. This allows you to figure out what you need to improve to get better results, and how the same piece of content performs across platforms. 

Cons: 

The Learning Curve

As with any new system, there is a learning curve to using Edgar. Overall it was fairly intuitive to me, but I use programs like this every day. The biggest challenge was navigating back and forth between different accounts. While you can turn on and off different views in the schedule for example, whenever you save one new time slot it reloads to the whole calendar again, and you have to start all over to add the next time. I am guessing this will improve over time as more people use Edgar and provide feedback. 

Cost

Edgar is not a cheap platform to use. They do not have a free version like BufferApp and Hootsuite do, and the most basic account starts at about $50 a month. If you are just getting your business off the ground and are not clear on how to use social media to generate income, this can be a fairly significant expense. But if you are spending hours a month rescheduling your evergreen content (or paying an assistant to do it for you), the cost savings is a no brainer. Be sure this is the right tool for you before you jump in, and don't feel like it is something you have to have at the beginning. 

Platform Support

As a newer scheduling tool, it doesn't have support for quite as many platforms as the other major scheduling tools out there. At the time of writing this review it only supports Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Over time I suspect that list will expand as well, and what they currently offer will be enough for a lot of businesses, but be aware of the limitations and have a plan for any other platforms you are using. 

Is It Right for You?

If you are at the very beginning phases of using social media, then Edgar may be a more powerful tool than you need. In order to be able to create evergreen content at all you need a general idea of what types of content to try in the first place. 

As I already mentioned, you want to make sure that you can take the time to build up a good library in the beginning or you are missing out on the most important feature. 

Another important note - make sure you schedule time to review your library from time to time and make sure it is all still relevant and what you want to be posting. Things change. 

For me personally this does not replace my business level BufferApp account - I use both. Edgar is perfect for the evergreen content, and I use BufferApp for the up to the minute news and reactions. Balancing both tools in scheduling means I am able to deliver consistently engaging and unique content for my clients every day. 

Questions? 

Anything I didn't cover in the review that you want to know? Post a comment below! 

First, a little bit of background. The MySpace that most people think of was defunct by 2011. No one was using it and a bunch of money was being spent on staff without revenue coming in the way it was expected when Rupert Murdoch bought the site for $580 million in 2005. 

In 2011 is when Justin Timberlake (and a few other investors) purchased the brand for $35 million. Now, this might seem crazy until you think about what MySpace was all about in the beginning and what Justin Timberlake primarily does for a living - music. 

MySpace was officially relaunched by Timberlake in June 2013, in the process getting rid of the old site completely. And it is a beautiful thing. 

As a competitor to Facebook, MySpace clearly lost. But it is not a competitor to Facebook any more. In fact, you can use your Facebook (or Twitter) credentials to log in if you want. 

In the new re-imagined world of MySpace Justin Timberlake created a competitor to Pandora or Spotify, and in my opinion a real competitor. I had used the paid version of Pandora for a couple years at this point. But MySpace is just better in my opinion. Here is why: 

• It is free
• Yes, there are ads, but compared to the ads on the free version of Pandora they are much fewer and less intrusive
• You have complete granular control. No longer do I have to pick broad genre and artist categories and hope that I get songs I like, I can find each and every song I love and put them exactly where in the playlist I want. 
• I get music and pop culture news and articles that are totally unique
• It is easy to find related artists, songs, and even friends (by genre only or by searching things like location to find people near me that like the same music - concert buddy anyone?)
• Because it started as a music platform there is a LOT of music there - I have yet to find a song or artist that I can't find 

So yeah, basically if you like listening to music suck it up, get over the eye rolls you will get, and check out MySpace. Seriously. And yes, you will have interesting conversations with your friends like this one I had on Google+ (read the comments, you will laugh): 

And yes, I did just reference Google+ as well, but that is a subject for another post. 

Okay, so you are not a musician. Other than listening to great music, what does MySpace have to do with you, right? 

Well, it has a lot to do with you if you want to use social media effectively. Let's go over a few of the finer points: 

• Don't assume. Social media grows and evolves every day. What worked a year ago does not work today in a lot of ways. 
• Know your audience. Where MySpace took a wrong turn was when it started to try to appeal to the masses instead of keeping its core strength - what Justin Timberlake is trying to get back to. As a business in the Internet age don't be afraid of specialization. Don't be afraid of owning your niche, and most importantly don't be afraid of losing people. Better a core group that is in love with you than a whole bunch of people who are lukewarm. Know what makes you special and own that 100%. 
• Stuff changes. MySpace was at the top of the social media pile for a while. As much as I love the new platform, Rupert Murdoch definitely lost a lot of money betting that it would stay that way. The nature of business (and life) is change. Especially now. Those who succeed the best will be those who can change the best (while remaining authentic at their core - yes it is the paradox of the new world). 

So what do you think? Are you going to give MySpace another chance? How will this make you look at your business and social media strategy differently? I would love to hear about it!