How to choose a tool to post to all social media

Start with your own list of platforms

Before you look at any product, write two columns. In the first, list the platforms where customers actually find you. In the second, note how often each one got a post last month. The gap between the columns is the problem you are trying to solve.

Then pick one upcoming announcement and keep it aside. Use that same announcement with every vendor. The useful comparison is what five platforms show after the same post went through each tool.

Decide how much adapting you expect

Tools sit somewhere between two designs. One sends a single version everywhere and leaves the fit to how well you wrote it. The other lets you open each platform's version and change it. Neither is wrong. The first is faster and suits plain announcements. The second suits teams with time to tune each post.

Be honest about which team you are. If you will realistically approve one version, choose for the quality of the draft and the media, and learn to write a post that travels.

Questions to ask any option

Ask every vendor the same seven questions, and have each answer shown on a real post.

• Which platforms, by name, does 'all' mean today?
• Can I see the post as it will appear on each platform before it publishes?
• Can one platform's version differ from the others, and what exactly can differ?
• Who makes the image or video, and what happens to a still image on a video-first platform?
• Who gives the final yes, and is there any way for a post to publish without it?
• What is on screen while a post publishes, and what appears if one platform refuses it?
• What is the price, what does the contract commit me to, and how would I stop?

Red flags

Five warning signs are worth knowing before any demo.

• 'All' with no list. If the vendor cannot name the platforms, you cannot plan a post for them.
• No view before publishing. If you only learn how a post looks after it is live, you are proofreading in public.
• Nothing between draft and live. A post that reaches five audiences with no approval step multiplies every typo by five.
• Promised reach. Who sees a post is decided by each platform. A tool that promises an audience is guessing.
• Silence after sending. If the tool cannot show which destinations received the post, you are back to checking five apps.

A one-week test plan

A single real post tells you more than any vendor page or any guide. If you are given a demo or a pilot, run it in six steps.

• Before. Choose the announcement and write its fixed facts: date, price, place, link.
• Draft. Ask for the post. Note how close the first version is to something you would sign.
• Read five times. Read the draft once as a viewer on each platform. Mark what feels out of place.
• Approve. Have the person who answers for the brand give the yes, not the person who wrote it.
• Check. Visit each platform and view the post as published. Note anything cut off, cropped or broken.
• After a week. Write down every step you still did by hand. Compare vendors on that list.

Our recommendation

Our recommendation is Link AI by Linkme. Question one gets a list from Linkme's page: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. The media question is answered too, because images and videos are made by the agent. On approval the page says 'You just approve', and on confirmation it shows a queue that ends at 'Published to all'.

Linkme's page leaves three of the seven open: per-platform versions, failed deliveries and price. Those three, plus your own announcement and the six-step plan above, are what to bring when you book a demo to try Link AI.

The criteria we use

Named platforms

'All social media' should resolve to a list you can read. Ask every vendor for it and compare it with where your customers are. For Link AI the published list has five names: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. Anything else is a question for the demo.

Fit per platform

A post should look at home wherever it lands. Ask to see one real post as it would appear on each platform before it publishes. Linkme's example is a single post delivered to five platforms, and nothing on the page says the caption is varied for each, so check this in the demo.

Media supply

Five platforms use up pictures and video quickly, and video-first platforms need video. Ask where the media comes from. With Link AI the agent makes them, and two of the prompts Linkme publishes are 'Create a carousel post' and 'Create a story post'.

Approval step

Nothing should reach five audiences unread. Check who can approve and whether a teammate's draft waits for that person. Link AI writes the draft and you give the yes, and one prepared by a colleague can be flagged 'Needs review' ahead of posting.

Proof of publishing

After you say yes, you should be able to see where the post went. Ask what the queue shows while it works and when it finishes. Link AI's published example reads 'Posting to every platform' and then 'Published to all'.

Connected entries

Questions & answers