Expert Roundup: Do You Queue or Schedule Your Social Media Posts?

Queue or schedule… it’s an age long question!

Or at least, a question going back as far as the inception of social media scheduling tools.

Which one should you use for managing your client’s social media accounts? Is there a “right” one depending on the type of content you post or is it just a matter of preference?

We’ve asked some experienced social media managers to share whether they queue or schedule (and why) so you can figure out which one is right for you.

Charli Day, Charli Says

I’m a scheduling girl! Probably due to the higher degree of control I can have over the day and time my content goes live. I want to know that both my clients in Australia and Europe are going to see my content so I schedule repeats for different time zones and days. My guilty secret, of course, is that I love to see a packed calendar one month in advance and am eternally optimistic that seeing this means I can go on vacation anytime I like.

Rivka Hodgkinson, Meet Rivka

Definitely more of a queuer! I find building evergreen content queues a fantastic way to diversify content, while also making sure that more people see my best stuff. I do schedule for holidays, and specific things, but am more likely to post live for up to the minute things anyway. My theory is generally that if it is good enough to schedule, it is probably good enough to queue! The exception to that would be things that I want a few times for a short burst, for example, if my client is at a conference and I want to post about the conference a few times. Then I will schedule that.

Ana Gotter, Ana Gotter

I’m a scheduler. I like full control over what content is posted when, and even though I still technically have that with the queue, I like to see how everything interacts together on the schedule. For some of my clients, a definitive schedule lets me establish long-term agendas better, and more efficiently divide up different types of posts with different objectives so that nothing feels too one-note. It allows me to be just a little more strategic, which works well in my favor. That being said, I still have a list of evergreen posts in my queues for whenever they’re needed.

Amanda Webb, Spiderworking

I’m a queuer and a scheduler. I guess my instinct is always to schedule. If I’ve got something to promote I’ll schedule it out for the next X number of days on Twitter to ensure it’s being covered. Queuing can be helpful if you have a lot of things you want to promote and space them out. You can also add in the curated content to even it out.

So I guess you’d have to say I’m sitting on the fence on this one.

Loren Bartley, Impactiv8

I enjoy the best of both worlds. I queue my evergreen blog posts and podcast episodes, as well as a few engaging quotes and then schedule those posts that are more timely.

Queueing my evergreen content allows me to get more mileage out of content I have created in the past that is still hugely valuable to my audience, as well as allowing me to be continually sharing content that demonstrates my expertise– without constantly having to produce new content. That’s a massive win for me. 🙂

However, I couldn’t live without scheduling content either, as I am not very good at remembering to post about things in a timely manner. I much prefer to look at what’s coming up during the week or month ahead and batch out a few posts that will be shown at the perfect time, such as a workshop promotion or celebration of a special date in the calendar.

Using both of those strategies takes the stress off always having to think about the next post or having to make time to post during busy periods. It also allows for a good balance of content to get shared. As well as queueing and scheduling, I also supplement that with “live” in-the-moment content that goes out as and when things are happening. This is also super important, as you don’t want to hold back on that stuff, as I find that live content is usually the best way to generate meaningful engagement with your audience.

What about you? Do you queue or schedule? Or do you embrace a mix of techniques, depending on the type content? Tell us in the comments!