Introduction
Maintaining a blog is no easy task these days. It’s no longer sufficient to just ping off an article and wait for the clicks to roll in. You’ve got to keep the content coming, all while gathering views through an ever-increasing roster of essential social media sites. And it doesn’t take long for the stress to set in as the browser tabs keep opening. CoSchedule helps relieve some of that stress by positioning itself as your ‘command centre’ – your one-stop, fully-integrated calender and marketing tool. Here’s how it works:
Main Features
CoSchedule lets you integrate all your web activity – sites, social media and email – into one place. From here, you can do everything – write and schedule blog posts, run social media and email marketing campaigns and collaborate on projects with co-workers. Some more key features include:
- Calender
The Calender is the core of the CoSchedule suite. You can opt for a basic Editorial Calender, which handles blog posts and social media, or a much more expansive Marketing Calender. Simply pick a day and choose what project you’d like to schedule – a blog post, a social campaign etc – and CoSchedule handles the rest.
- Tasks
Within these projects you can assign tasks to your co-workers, keeping everything nice and streamlined. Attach a due date, and everyone in your team will know what they need to do when – no need to chase people with nagging emails. For tasks you find yourself assigning often, CoSchedule lets you create task templates, saving you time and effort.
- Marketing Campaigns
Running a modern marketing campaign can be a headache at times. You’ve got to ensure a whole bunch of wheels be kept spinning simultaneously, all to a strict deadline. Thankfully CoSchedule’s Marketing Campaigns feature lets you run your whole campaign right there in your calender. Simply create your campaign, add whatever content you need to, and let CoSchedule handle the rest.
- Team Performance Reports
CoSchedule provides plenty of easy-to-read data on how your team is handling their workload. You can filter your data by team or by project, and CoSchedule will provide you with nice, crisp graphs showing just how on-task everyone is.
Plans and Pricing
CoSchedule offers three pricing plans, plus the inevitable 14-day free trial. Although none of the plans may scream value-for-money at first glance, CoSchedule’s website confidently ensures prospective buyers that they can expect a sizable return on their investment, to the tune of an average $50,000 per year. The three plans available are the basic Blog Calender, the Marketing Calender and the comprehensive Marketing Suite:
– Blog Calender
- $19 per month/$14 per month (annually)
- Real-Time Blog & Social Calender
- WordPress Integration
- Bulk Scheduling of Posts
– Marketing Calender
- $39 per month/$29 per month (annually)
- Real-Time Marketing Calendar
- Full-Time Social Media Management
- Custom Calendar Views
- Sharable Read-Only Calendars
– Marketing Calender
- Contact Sales for price
- All Marketing Calendar Features, plus:
- Manage Marketing Requests
- Automate Team Workflows
- Sort Calendar by Team
- Store Assets & Files
- Track Team Progress
Pros:
– Everything In One Place
There’s no denying the fact that CoSchedule is a wonder for efficiency. With everything right there in your ‘command centre’ – blogging, marketing, social media and email – there’s no need to drown yourself in open browser-tabs ever again.
– Useful Automation Tools
CoSchedule provides you with a bunch of useful features for automating some of the more tedious aspects of your work. In addition to the task templates we’ve already mentioned, there are also social templates which can be reused for later social campaigns. The immensely useful Requeue feature also automates a lot of your social media campaign, automatically sending messages out at the best times for your audience.
– Extensive Analytics
With features like the Team Performance Reports, it’s a piece of cake to monitor the progress and success of your projects and team members. All that accumulated data is presented in clean, crisp and easy-to-understand charts, so you can see in a glance where your strengths and weaknesses are.
Cons:
– A Little Expensive for Solo Bloggers
Although most small business owners are insistent that a tool like CoSchedule pays for itself in the long run, its features may be a little too much for solo bloggers who are running on razor-thin margins. It’s only really worth the money if you’re running a fairly large operation.
– Only WordPress Support
Currently CoSchedule only works with WordPress, so you’re out of luck if you use a different CMS. It’s possible that future updates will amend this, but until then you might be better off looking at some of the other alternatives.
– Customer Support Can Be Lacking
CoSchedule’s customer support has received mixed reviews online, with some customers complaining of contradictory information from company reps. Others have encountered issues with pricing, particularly when it comes to renewing subscriptions.
Wrap-up
If you’re a small business owner or running a large blog, CoSchedule is likely to be a lifesaver. With everything in one place, there’s no need for headache-inducing tab-swapping and the automation features help reduce some of the drudgery inherent in marketing campaigns. However, its extensive features and relatively steep price might be a little much for solo bloggers.
