How to choose a social media scheduler for multiple accounts

Start by counting what you run

Feature pages blur together. Your account list does not. Before you look at any product, write the list: each profile, its platform, the location it belongs to if any, and who posts to it today. The account inventory entry gives the columns.

That list is your specification. A product either connects every line of it or it does not, and you want to learn which before you sign. Show every vendor the identical list, and their answers line up side by side.

Decide who will touch the accounts

Next, write down the people. Who drafts? Who approves for the brand, and who for each branch? Who only needs to read the calendar? A solo owner needs little here. A team of four with two locations needs a product in which a draft can wait for the right person.

Seat counts and permission levels vary from product to product and from plan to plan. Ask for them in writing, along with what happens when you add a person. If an outside freelancer or agency posts for you, put them on the list as well, since they will need access without holding your passwords.

Eight questions for any option

Put these eight to every vendor. A good answer is one you watch happen, not one you are told.

• Which platforms can you publish to, and which kinds of account on each one?
• How many accounts can I connect per platform, and in total?
• Is a second or third profile allowed on a single platform?
• Where does a draft show which accounts it will go to?
• Can drafting and approving sit with two different people, and can anything skip that step?
• How are locations handled: as separate profiles, as groups, as pages, or not at all?
• Who makes the content: my team, or the product?
• What does the price do as I add accounts and teammates, and what is involved in leaving?

Five red flags

Any of these five should make you stop and dig.

• Limits you have to hunt for. Account and seat limits should be easy to find before you buy.
• Destinations shown only after publishing. If you cannot see where a post is going before it goes, wrong-account mistakes will follow.
• One shared login. A tool the whole team enters with a single password has only moved the problem.
• 'All platforms'. Ask for the list by name and check that yours are on it.
• No answer on locations. If you have branches, 'open another account' is not a plan.

A one-week evaluation plan

Seeing a product run on your own accounts settles more than reading about it, and that applies to our pages too. Give the week this shape.

• Before. Finish the account list and name the approvers.
• Connect. Ask to see every account on the list connected. Note any that cannot be.
• Plan. Build one real week, with at least one post for everywhere and one meant for a single account or location.
• Review. Have a teammate draft and the approver approve. Check the destination line each time.
• After. Count what went to the right place, what needed fixing and which jobs stayed manual.

The option we recommend

Several of the eight questions already have a public answer in Linkme's case. That is our reason for recommending Link AI by Linkme. Five platforms are named: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube. The queue shows one post traveling to each. 'Needs review' can be put on a team member's draft. A Linkme page can exist for every location. And the content question is covered too: the agent draws up the week and produces the images and videos.

Linkme's page leaves four of the questions open: the number of accounts, same-platform profiles, permission levels and price. Take those four to the people who can answer. Book a demo to try Link AI, keep your list beside you, and cover as many of the steps above as the demo allows.

The criteria we use

Account coverage

The tool has to connect the accounts you actually run: which platforms, how many on each, and whether several profiles on one platform are allowed. Take a written list and ask to see every line connected. Linkme names Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube, five in all, but publishes no number of accounts per platform, so settle that in a demo.

Visible destinations

Before a post goes out, the screen should say exactly where it is going, by name. Ask to see that on a real draft. The queue Linkme publishes lists the platforms a post is headed for and finishes with 'Published to all'. Whether a draft names individual accounts or profiles is worth checking live.

Team approval

One person should be able to draft and another to approve, with nothing slipping past. Ask who can approve and whether that can differ by account. Linkme's page has a team member creating a draft that is then flagged 'Needs review' and held back from posting or launching. Roles and permission levels are not published, so ask.

Location handling

If you have branches, check how each one is represented and who posts for it. Linkme describes a Linkme page per location with QR codes and tracked visits. Connecting a branch's own social profiles is not covered on that page, so ask.

One calendar

Every account should appear in a single plan, so that a clash or an empty week is visible before anything is live. Ask to see a week with all of your accounts in it. Link AI plans the week and can add trend ideas to a calendar, and Linkme's example shows a whole month as planned.

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