How to Schedule Social Media Content with Metricool

Planning and scheduling your social media content is essential to carry out a successful social media marketing strategy.

An active profile on any social network allows users to get to know your business well and interact with you. Even, it increases the chances that they become customers.

When you develop and design a social media strategy, most companies or users launch in more than one network, helping them reach more customers and gain more visibility.

Social Media scheduling with Metricool

With Metricool, you can plan and program your social networks effectively, and in this post, we’ll tell you everything about it. You have two options:

▶️ ️ FREE version: you can schedule your social media content of all the social profiles associated with one brand and up to 50 publications per month.

▶️ ️ Premium version: You can connect more than one brand and program up to 2,000, 5,000, or 10,000 publications per month, depending on the premium plan chosen. 

What social networks can I plan with Metricool?

With the Metricool planner, you can schedule content on the main social networks weekly, monthly, and even annually.

Here are the specifications of each social network that you can program with Metricool:

⚡️ INSTAGRAM

If you want to connect Instagram and schedule content on your account, your profile must be professional (business or creator accounts).

If you intend to schedule your content and have it published directly on Instagram, you can do so if you have a Business or Creator account.

On Instagram, you can post in two different ways:

• Schedule posts with a video, photo, Reel, Story, or carousel, automatically. 
• Schedule long videos with notifications.

To plan on Instagram with Metricool you have to access the planner section and choose Instagram, where you can see your best times according to your followers activity.

Choose what type of post you want to upload (feed, story, reels or videos) and import the content to Metricool.

🔀 Geolocate your Instagram posts and tag other accounts: you can add a place to your Instagram posts and tag people by clicking on the image where you want to add the tag.

🔀 Find the most popular hashtags with the Metricool hashtag search engine and succeed with your content on Instagram: find the best-positioned hashtags while you schedule your posts. 

🔀 Product tags feature in the Metricool inbox allow you to tag products from your Instagram shop directly to your posts.

✓ In the case of automatic publication it can be an image, video, Reel, Story, or carousel.

Images must be in JPEG format and meet the following requirements:

• Maximum file size: 8MB
• Aspect ratio: Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range
• Minimum width: 320 (will be scaled up to the minimum if necessary)
• Maximum width: 1440 (will be scaled down to the maximum if necessary)
• Height: Varies, depending on width and aspect ratio

Videos must be in MOV or MP4 format and meet the following requirements: 

• Container: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
• Maximum size: 100 MB
• Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
• Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.

Carousels can include images, videos or both formats combined:

• They must have the same aspect ratio as if they were single images or videos.
• The content tag only works on the first image you upload: not on the video or other images.

Reels:

• Container: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
• Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
• Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.
• Aspect ratio: 9:16 to avoid cropping or blank spaces.
• Duration: 90 seconds maximum, 5 seconds minimum.

If you activate the auto-publish option, you can select a video frame and use it as a cover photo. Metricool opens this option automatically as soon as you click on the ‘auto’ button when scheduling an Instagram post.

If your posts don’t meet these requirements, the planner will warn you that something is wrong. So don’t worry, you will have everything under control.

✓ Push notification: you can plan videos longer than one minute via push notifications through the Metricool app or by email. Also, remember that if your Instagram account is not business, the option to auto-publish is not available either.

⚡️ FACEBOOK

Plan and schedule all your posts from Metricool. Pay attention to some indications to make it easier for you:

• If you want the preview of a link to display, then you can’t add an image. The link will preview regardless of where it goes in the text. If there are two links, it will preview the last one.
• If you want to change the photo that appears in the link, it can only be in your domain. Also, verify the link in the Business Manager to help Facebook prevent fake news from being published.
• You can mention other pages from the planner by manually adding the page name with the @ in front. When you want to mention an account, Metricool will help you by auto-filling the words.
• If you want to locate your Facebook post, you can do it from Metricool. When you write the post, in the ‘Location’ button, type the address, Metricool will suggest the location so you can select the one you want.

These are the specifications for multimedia files:

✓ Images:

• Must be in JPEG or PNG format
• Maximum file size: 30 MB
• Square publication size: 1200 x 1200 px
• Horizontal posts: 1200 x 900 px
• Linked images: 479 × 246 pixels on computers and minimum 320 pixels wide on mobiles.

✓ Videos:

• File type: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Maximum file size: 4 GB
• Maximum length: from 1 second to 240 minutes maximum.
• Aspect ratio: 1:1 (for PC or mobile) or 4:5 (mobile only).
• Video settings: H.264 video compression, square pixels, fixed frame rate, progressive scan and stereo AAC audio compression from 128 kbps.
• Resolution: 1080 x 1080 pixels minimum.
• Animated GIFs: Minimum height and width of 120 px

✓ Reels:

• Container: MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file.
• Audio codec: AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo).
• Video codec: HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.
• Frame rate: 23-60 FPS.
• Vertical format
• Duration of 4 to 90 seconds.

⚡️ TWITTER

On Twitter, you can also plan the content ahead of time from Metricool according to the best hours when your community shows more activity on this platform. 

When you want to plan content on Twitter, you can also:

• Mention other accounts by manually adding the account’s name with @ in front.
• Tag up to 10 users in a tweet that includes images.
• Schedule threads on Twitter: schedule threads with up to 40 tweets, choose the time and date, and Metricool will post it automatically for you.
• If you want to publish audiovisual content on Twitter, these are the specifications to follow:

✓ Images:

• Must be in JPG, PNG or GIF format.
• Image size: up to 5 MB
• Dimensions: 1024 x 512 pixels

✓ Videos:

• Format: MP4, MOV or GIF
• Maximum file size: 512MB
• Maximum length: 2 minutes and 20 seconds
• Recommended video codec: H264 High Profile
• Recommended frame rates: 30 FPS, 60 FPS
• Recommended video resolution: 1280×720 (landscape), 720×1280 (portrait), 720×720 (landscape), 720×720 (square)
• Recommended minimum video bit rate: 5,000 kbps
• Recommended minimum audio bit rate 128 kbps
• Recommended audio codec: AAC LC
• Recommended aspect ratio: 16:9 (landscape or portrait), 1:1 (square)

Animated GIF recommendations:

• Resolution should be 1280×1080 (width x height).
• Number of frames: 350
• Number of pixels (width x height x number of frames): 300 million
• File size: up to 15 MB

⚡️ LINKEDIN

With LinkedIn, it is possible to publish a preview of the link or a clickable image. To do this, you must take into account when posting that:

• If you add the link, wherever it is, without the attached image: the link will be previewed.
• If you add a link within the text and attached image: the image will be displayed (not clickable).
• If you add a link at the end of the text and an image, the image will be clickable and lead to the link. 

Audiovisual content on LinkedIn has these recommendations:

✓ Images:

• Format: PNG or JPEG
• Weight: max. 5MB
• Size recommendation: pixels 552 wide x 276 high
• Ratio: from 3:1 to 2:3 (width/height). If the ratio is higher the image is centred and cropped.

✓ Videos:

• Format: MP4 or GIF (MOV is not supported).
• File size: minimum 75 KB and maximum 512 MB
• Video length: minimum 3 seconds and maximum 15 minutes.
• Dimensions: minimum 256×144 pixels and maximum 4096×2304 pixels.
• Aspect ratio: 1:2.4 – 2.4:1
• Frame rates: 10 fps – 60 fps
• Bit rates: 192 kbps – 30 Mbps

⚡️ GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

You can also schedule posts for your Google My Business listing. In this way, when a person searches for information about your company on Google, they can access your publications.

Also, keep in mind that the posts you make on Google My Business have an expiration date, so planning and programming the content from Metricool will ensure that the information is always available on your profile.

From Metricool, you can publish both for the Posts and Photos section. Depending on how you schedule the content, it will be published differently: 

• Text: the post is published.
• Text + link: post with button and link preview.
• Text + image: post with an image.
• Text + link + image: post with image with button.
• Image (without any text): Photo post type.

⚡️ PINTEREST

From Metricool, you can also schedule your content on Pinterest to be posted on your profile. To do this you have to upload an image or video and add it to an existing board or create a new one from Metricool.

Keep these requirements in mind for Pinterest images and videos:

✓ Images in .PNG or .JPG format and a maximum of 20 MB. It is also recommended that you use a 2: 3 ratio or 1000X1500 pixels.

✓Videos: MP4 format, if you use a different format our planning tool will convert the file. The duration must be between 4 and 15 seconds and have a maximum size of 500 MB.

⚡️ TIKTOK

No more keeping up with TikTok videos. With Metricool, you can schedule your content on TikTok. This type of planning is semi-automatic. That is, you have to take the final step to post the video.

We recommend that you have the TikTok and Metricool app notifications activated to receive all the information relative to the post process of your video.

Ensure that your videos meet these requirements:

✓ Videos: size less than 50Mb, the duration must be between 3 and 60 seconds, MP4 format (if you upload it in .mov format, the platform transforms the video automatically), and a resolution greater than 540p.

⚡️ YOUTUBE

In Metricool you also have the YouTube scheduler with which to schedule your video content and Shorts.

Both can be published automatically, so you won’t need to keep an eye on them. Just set the date and time you want to publish your video or Short and that’s it.

These are the requirements you have to fulfill for your videos.

✓ Videos: longer than 60 seconds and with rectangular orientation, 1:1 format.

✓ Shorts: videos shorter than 60 seconds in portrait orientation: 1:1 or more vertical.

How Metricool Planner works

Now that you know what social networks you can plan with Metricool and all the requirements and specifications to do it successfully, it’s time to get down to work and let us show you how the planner works to save you time and improve your organization.

First, access the Metricool Planning section on the main menu at the top, where you will find the calendar.

Let’s review it in detail. We’ll explain everything about our planner so you get the most out of this section.

✅ CREATE NEW POSTS

As soon as you access the Metricool planner, the first thing you find at the top right is the option to create a new post.

Go for it!

Click here, and you will find everything you need to create a post on any social network connected to Metricool.

• You can select the social network in which you want to share this publication, and you can choose one or several platforms to publish simultaneously.
• Select the time and day you want to schedule this post.
• Do you want to add a GIF, image, or video? Add them at the bottom.
• If you want to hide the URL if, for example, it’s too long, you can use the Metricool shortener.
• Remember that by adding the UTM parameter to your scheduled Metricool posts, you can measure the traffic sources of your links more accurately.
• You can schedule the first comment of your post to add extra information: links, data, call to actins, etc. To do this you just have to click on the comment icon inn the options bar and Metricool will show you a pop-up where you can add your text in the box and adapt it to each social network.

From the planner, you can create a post template and then edit the content according to the social network in which it will be posted to.

Click on the window of the social network you want to edit and without leaving the post, change the parameters to suit each of the rules.

On the right, you can see the preview of the post that you will plan to see how it’d look on your networks once it publishes. You can see how it’d display both on desktop and mobile.

You can filter the social networks to see how the post would display on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

If you want, you can check the ‘Publish now‘ box and have your content posted at the moment and without having to schedule it at any other time.

✅ IMAGE EDITING

If an image doesn’t suit you, you don’t need to leave Metricool. You have an internal editor to adapt your image to your needs.

This option is available for all the social networks on which you publish with Metricool.

What can you modify?

💥 Crop to another layout.

💥 Edit: Brightness, exposure, contrast, etc. editing options.

💥 Add filters.

💥 Include stickers: You can add logos or images on the photo.

💥 Draw on the photo.

💥 Frame: They are applied on or around the image.

💥 Crop: Possibility to pixelate the selected part of the image.

💥 Resize: change the width and height pixels to resize it.

✅ IMAGE BANK

Find the photo you need in Metricool’s image stock within the planner.

The page where the multimedia content comes from is Pexels, an image bank with a large library for you to get the ideal photo for your post without the need to leave Metricool.

• Find the ideal photo with Pexels recommendations.
• Search by keyword according to the content of your post.
• Filter by dominant color by typing the color code.

Wait!

Not sure whether this is the final post to share on networks? Save it as a draft and retrieve it whenever you want.

💡 Bonus track!

You can also use the drafts to leave the posts pending for review of someone else on your team to take a look before scheduling them. 

On Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter you can add ALT text to help visually impaired users understand the content you share.

Upload an image, click on the three dots in the file and enter your alt text.

✅ BEST HOURS TO PUBLISH ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Let’s go back to the calendar. In the upper right corner, you will see a section called: Best Time On.

You will discover your best hours to post on your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account.

Metricool calculates your best hours based on the activity of your audience. The darker the color hue, the better the time to post. So we recommend that you select the darkest box and create your new publication from there. 

If you prefer, you can see it through the percentage of active followers you have at any specific moment.

✅ CALENDAR WITH ALL YOUR POSTS

In the calendar, you can organize all the content of your social networks.

• Visually organize the planning of each network and overview all of them.
• Change the time zone to view the best times adapted to the country’s time to which your publications are directed.
• By clicking on the planned posts, you can edit, delete, copy and drag them to another day.

You can view your content day by day, monthly or weekly.

✅ FEED PREVIEW

Do you want to control your future posts and make sure they fit well in your Instagram feed?
With the Instagram feed preview feature, you can do it.

• Keep your feed organized with your next scheduled posts (including drafts) with Metricool’s help. Schedule your content and preserve a harmonious Instagram feed.
• Change in time the post that you were going to upload to Instagram if you are not convinced of how it looks in the feed.
• Check how your scheduled and draft posts will display on Instagram. If you like how the feed looks, go ahead!

✅ HISTORY

Wait, the planner doesn’t end here. Do you see the menu that appears on the left side column? Click on the history section.

• Filter by the social network or post status. Select posts that have already been published, are still pending, drafted, or with a publication error.
• In the search bar, you can find any publication using keywords.
• Delete the publications that you have created in Metricool and that you have not liked or that have been an error from this section.

✅ DESIGN WITH CANVA

If you usually use Canva for your social media designs, you’re in luck. With the integration of Metricool with Canva you can design your content and integrate it into Metricool from the same tool.

This way, you save time searching for the image or video you have created. When you have your design ready, click on ‘Share’ > ‘More’ > Metricool.

Canva uploads your design and gives you the option to take you to the Metricool scheduler with your copy created and your multimedia content ready to schedule.

Date and time, done!

Social Media planning tips

Now that you know about the ideal tool to plan your content on social media, before launching we have prepared a series of tips to use when planning content: 

• Define the strategy of your content.

Who are you targeting? Who is your target audience? These are the first questions you should ask yourself before starting to plan your social media content. 

If you don’t stop to think about these first steps you will be blind, lose time and possibly money that you invested. 

• Create a publication calendar. 

Almost as essential as the social media marketing strategy. With a calendar where you have all your posts in draft, you will speed up all your tasks. Simply copy the post you have in your calendar and paste it into the Metricool planner. 

In Metricool we have a template for you to use as your own calendar.

Download the Metricool content template for FREE here. 

• Use external tools for your content. 

There are apps that every social media will be happy with – tools like Drive, where you have all your content in the cloud, accessible from anywhere, WeTransfer is great if you need to send a file, and Canva in case you have to modify a design before it is published.

It is recommended that you use all the tools within your reach so your strategy can succeed. 

• Analyze and measure your results

What do you expect from your new winning strategy and social media planning? You need to measure the results you’re getting with your strategy. 

With Metricool you have the option to analyze across all the social networks you work with, in addition to planning your content. Connect your networks, choose the period of time to analyze and measure the success of your strategy. 

Benefits of social media planning 

Why work with your planned networking strategy? Precisely for that. To keep everything under control and avoid all possible scares. 

Working on organization and leaving no improvisation will be one of the biggest advantages of using a social planner. 

It will help you have a better content strategy. But there are many more benefits: 

• Save time having all your content planned.
• Have everything more organized and in place. 
• It will be easier to publish the same content to different networks, at the same time and thus, ensure that your message is consistent across all social networks. 
• You’ll activate your social networks in the most stressful moments with Autolists, so your networks are always active. 

Now you know how easy it is to plan on social networks and the many advantages it has. With Metricool you can start trying this new strategy for free. 

Sara Martín , 16 May 2023