Below is a non-sponsored SmarterQueue review, a tour around the dashboard, and some quick facts to help YOU decide if this is the social media management & automation tool for YOUR blog or business. I’m a loyal paying customer now 🙂
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Raise your hand if you have ever DREADED filling up your social media sharing queue?
Me too.
We all know blog marketing is important…but automating, managing, and maintaining your channels can be tiring, boring, and even frustrating.
Well, SmarterQueue is here to save the day.
Right off the bat, you can use my affiliate link here to SmarterQueue and get a double-length free trial! Your first entire first months is free 🙂
What is SmarterQueue? (SQ)
SQ is a social media management and automation tool. Most bloggers use these tools to load “share queues” with their blog content (and other people’s content), to pre-schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
In addition to scheduling content to be shared, most tools like SQ come with built-in analytics so you can judge which pieces of content perform, at what times, to which platforms, etc.
SQ has incredible analytics AND evergreen content recycling, making it one of the most powerful social media tools I’ve seen.
Why I switched from Buffer to SmarterQueue
Full disclosure: Throughout my blogging career, I’ve used Hootsuite, Buffer, AND Hootsuite. I’ve been around the block, social media wise.
For the past 2 years, I’ve been paying $110/year for Buffer Pro, which I was more or less satisfied with.
- The UI is ok (not fantastic)
- The Buffer Chrome extension is great.
- The features were pretty standard.
Overall, Buffer worked out well, but there was a huge issue: it still took A TON of my time every week to add content to my queues and keep things updated.
2 months ago I got sick of it, and started shopping around again.
After grumbling at the $50/month price tag of MeetEdgar for about an hour, I eventually some random blogger mentioning they switched to SmarterQueue.
Right off the bat, I noticed they had the core feature I was looking for in a social media automation tool: content re-queueing (or recycling, or evergreen, or whatever you’d want to call it):
From their features page…
And what’s the next page I generally look at?
Duh. The SmarterQueue Pricing page:
Last but not least, the free trial sold me. I decided to pause my Buffer queue and try out SQ for a few weeks to try it out.
That was 3 months ago, and now I’m a paying user 🙂 🙂
Here’s my SmarterQueue review, walkthrough and tutorial
First, if you’d like this in video form, watch it below!
1 – First, you add your social profiles
Easy. Connect the social media profiles you want to share to. They currently support…
- Instagram (they also have DIRECT to Instagram scheduling now, which is super awesome)
- Pinterest (!)
Their Pinterest scheduling actually works really well, and COULD be an entire replacement for Tailwind (saving you even more cash per month probably).
If you’re staying up to date on current Pinterest marketing trends, you’ll know that Pinterest wants “fresh” content more than ever.
This means “less spamming the Pinterest platform” really, which is what Tailwind was really good at.
In my opinion, this puts Smarterqueue 100% on par with Tailwind now. It has less fancy features–but those fancy features aren’t needed as much anymore.
2 – You set your categories
I have separate categories for my own content, other people’s content, random comments, and even client posts. You could totally choose categories based on…
- different blogs you run
- categories of your blog posts
- normal content vs. sponsored content
- etc
3 – You set your sharing schedule
This is where SQ REALLY shines.
Here’s the Buffer scheduler:
You have do set this for every single social profile. It’s annoying.
Here’s the SmarterQueue schedule:
You can either drag-n-drop different categories/social profiles straight to the calendar, click within the calendar, OR have SmarterQueue analyze your social profiles and create a custom schedule automatically.
Um wait what?
Yup. When you first sign up and connect your social profiles, SmarterQueue can dig back through your old content on Twitter, Facebook, etc, and create a schedule for you!
It’s magic.
4 – You add content!
There are a few different ways to add content to your queue:
- From any page on the internet via the “bookmark link” (see below)
- From the menubar in your dashboard
- Add in bulk via an RSS feed OR a .csv file….from within the dashboard! Super sweet
While SQ doesn’t currently have a Chrome extension, they DO have a link you can bookmark, and simply click to share from any website.
In addition, the ability to add and save RSS feeds for adding content is absolutely amazing.
Check out the add-content dashboard within SQ itself.
5 – You check analytics! (In 3 really cool ways)
For the price, SmarterQueue’s analytics are FAR superior to that of both Buffer and MeetEdgar.
1- You can analyze any social media account on the web. Not just yours. This provides an incredible amount of insights.
What types of tweets get more retweets, those with pictures or those without? Those with links or those without? Which hashtags get me the most likes and engagement?
All of THOSE question. It’s insanely useful.
Here’s an example from my own Twitter account. What other blogger mentions get me the most retweets?
2 – You can analyze every single post/share/tweet
Most social media tools have this, but SmarterQueue’s is by far the most user-friendly and helpful I’ve seen. You can either:
- Scroll through your past posts in queue (filtered by clicks, retweets, or time), or
- View each evergreen post and compare cycles!
Below is a Facebook post I’m recycling:
3 – Last, you can run reports
I.e. you want to see some fancy graphs and statistics over a set period of time. I.e. My Instagram page over the past 3 months.
No screenshots needed, but it is pretty handy.
[NEW] SmarterQueue Engage
This is a really new feature they just added!
Basically, it’s a dashboard for…
- Tracking conversations on Twitter & Facebook that you’d like to be a part of…
- And engaging right from here.
So if you run a dog grooming service and blog, you might input some sources related to dog grooming (top pages on Facebook, or famous dog groomers on Twitter).
From this dashboard, you’ll be able to dive into their tweet threads and conversations, inserting your blog/brand right there 🙂
So if I were trying to stay on Pat Flynn’s radar, I might follow his stuff.
I can like and comment on his tweets from here!
SmarterQueue vs MeetEdgar
The draw to both of these platforms is the ability to RECYCLE content automatically, so you don’t have to log-in to the platform every day to schedule your content.
It’s an amazing feature, and one people are generally willing to pay more for. But how much more??
MeetEdgar is a flat $50 a month, and provides the following advanced features:
- Content recycling
- Categories
- Import via RSS
- Browser Extension
- Direct video uploads
- Auto-expiring content
Sweet! BUT SmarterQueue has all of these too starting at $16 a month, PLUS some features MeetEdgar doesn’t have, such as…
- Instagram, Pinterest, and Google + supported (MeetEdgar only has Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Advanced analytics
- “Choose your own features” pricing
- Did I mention way better pricing?
SmarterQueue vs Buffer
Not even close.
Buffer is the old dog in this fight, and has had good market share for years. However, their dashboard and features haven’t gained much in years.
Drawbacks to Buffer:
- No content recycling (this should be enough)
- advanced analytics costs extra
- basic scheduler (no categories, etc)
Pros to Buffer:
- They have Pinterest and Google+ available now (SmarterQueue is coming soon)
- They have a free version (which is quite limited)
That’s about it. In a SmarterQueue vs Buffer vs MeetEdgar showdown, SmarterQueue will get the knockout every single time.
Why does SQ get my full recommendation for bloggers? What are my favorite parts?
Straight-up, evergreen content recycling will save bloggers a LOT of time…without breaking your bank account.
Period.
It’s still a user-friendly dashboard anyone can navigate, while still providing an incredible amount of features for the price point.
So, is SmarterQueue right for you?
SmarterQueue is absolutely right for you IF
- You find yourself dreading going into your sharing platform and SCHEDULING stuff. So much time :/
- You can reasonably spend $16-22 a month to market your blog
- You’re looking for a little bit more growth out of your social media marketing
SmarterQueue is NOT right for you IF
- For whatever reason, you like manually scheduling posts over and over again
- You don’t want to spend any money for blog marketing (totally valid reason)
That’s it, really!
If you’re looking to step up your game with advanced analytics and scheduling flexibility, and want to save time on scheduling, it’s an absolutely steal at their price point.
I’m a power user now, and have no intention of trying anything else.
Question for you, are you going to give SmarterQueue a try? Comment below!
23 Responses
I am really going to look into it as I too have struggled with Buffer a little bit but then again I only have the free plan. It seems like this tool would help me bridge some scheduling issues I currently run into that just are very time-consuming. However, what I can’t tell from your post is there a mobile app that can be used to create content to share later or does it all have to be done via the Web App.
There IS a mobile app. I have it downloaded, but haven’t actually opened it yet to check it out lol
Edit: Ok apparently the mobile app is mainly just to release your Instagram queue at the moment, thought opening SmarterQueue on your phone’s browser does work (i.e. is mobile friendly, can edit the queue, etc).
Wow – so I actually read this review with no intent of trying out SmarterQueue… but now I’m thinking about trying it. I’ve used Hootsuite before, but stopped using it after they reduced social media scheduling from unlimited to 30 (I like to schedule in batches).
Thanks!
ew ew ew!
Hootsuite is probably my least favorite, though it’s really just a different set of features. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Thanks! Signing up with your 30 day trial now!
I used Hootsuite for awhile but I hated the notice on each post that says “posted by hootsuite.” I have a new social media management responsibility and am looking for a more genuine looking way to schedule posts. Something that looks like it was posted organically within facebook, not automated. Does Smarterque add their name to posts like Hootsuite did? It’s a dealbreaker for me.
Honest to goodness I don’t know. I don’t THINK so, (Check this screenshot).
This is really great! Thank you for the review, the explanation, and the video that made it easier to understand. I’m now setting up a few new things in my blog, and once I’m done, this will be perfect! Thank you again 🙂
But of course Narkis! Thanks for coming here 🙂
Hey Pete, I started the free trial and I really do like it.
I have an issue and I’m wondering if there’s anything I’m missing.
When I search for content in SQ, I can share the post but then it’s copying the text to twitter\facebook. It’s not doing a “retweet” or regular share on FB. Do you know if there’s an option to schedule a share and retweets? I don’t like the copying text thing. It looks a little weird on Twitter, and on Facebook, it doesn’t even show the original page that I shared it from.
Thank you in advance!
I’m afraid I’m not quite following Narkis 🙁
Are you referring to putting separate text for the different social platforms? You can definitely customize for each.
And what do you mean “search for content in SQ?”
FYI – SQ support tends to be on their game in my experience, so I’d recommend reaching out to them via their site! https://smarterqueue.com/contact
Thank you, I’ll check with their support.
I didn’t mean editing the text for the different platforms.
What I meant: When I choose “add content” in the top bar and then choose “find content” I can search for a facebook page (other then mine) for example. Then I get results, which I can click the share button on each result and then choose “share full post”, but all that does, is copying the image and text. When it gets posted, it doesn’t look like I shared a post from someone else. It looks like I uploaded their picture and wrote my own text.
If I go to FB and share someone else’s content from FB itself, it’s displayed with their info, their page, the option to like their page etc.
As for Twitter, SQ copies the text, and creates “via @username”. It’s not in a form of a retweet. So there’s no differentiating what I wrote and what the original text is.
So my problem is that it looks like I’m copying from someone, not sharing their content. Even if I link\mention them, it doesn’t look like a share\retweet but that’s what I would like for it to be.
Sorry for the long explanation…
Thank you for trying to help and I would reach SQ as well.
Just wanted to let you know and anyone who might be reading this that they sent me the guide on how to share and retweet:
https://blog.smarterqueue.com/faq/how-do-i-share-someone-elses-facebook-post/
ooooo ok this is perfect.
Wow! This is great detail on this platform! I have a ton of content that I’ve organized and is ready to start rolling out, but once I create all the variations, I’m worried I’m going to get lost in it and not have things post. This might be the perfect tool. I’m curious, a lot of people are now talking about the direct upload vs through a service and that your algorithm is affected when it’s not a direct post. Have you been affected?
Not that I’m aware.
I also make sure to engage directly on (most) of my social platforms anyways outside of scheduling tools, so hopefully that helps 🙂
Love your blog! I’ve got to ask though – even on autopilot, is it still worth the hassle of doing all this for less than 3% organic reach on FB?
hey thanks Mark!
Worth the hassle in general? Of course. You can use SQ (or other platforms) for whatever channels do work for you 🙂
For FB pages specifically? Probably not.
However, you can also schedule to private groups you run as well. Handy for group engagement.
I mainly use for Twitter, IG, and Pinterest nowadays.
Pete, just discovered your podcast and loving it! Keep up the good work. Wondering if you’ve tried Smarterqueue’s Pinterest features yet? Not sure when they released it, but wondering how it compares to Tailwind. I’m a pretty new blogger and was going to do Tailwind, but I’m wondering if Smarterqueue is comparable (yet) that I could just go with Smarterqueue. I haven’t used either service before yet.
It’s actually pretty strong, but still not a replacement.
Unless SmarterQueue has changed in the last 2-3 months (last time I used it for Pinterest), you weren’t able to schedule ONE pin to MULTIPLE boards–just one at a time.
Which FYI–might actually be good for Pinterest algorithms–but at the time that’s why I stuck w/ Tailwind. That, and Tailwind Tribes are strong 🙂
Wow, this is an awesome piece of article, This helped me fo figure out what I was looking at. Thank you for your guidance.
It’s now 2020 when I’m reading this article. Would you still stick with SmarterQueue even today, or have you switched to a different scheduling tool?
I’m trying to decide between SmarterQueue, Sendible
hey Kem!
I’m still using SmarterQueue 100% 🙂
I’ve never heard of Sendible, but I also know lots of people using Later for Instagram (and of course there’s always Tailwind for Pinterest/Instagram)