Scheduling Tweets can be a game-changer for your brand.

That’s because when you schedule Tweets, you’re giving your audience a consistent stream of engaging content. (And that can help earn your brand new Twitter followers.)

You’re also keeping up with your social media calendar without having to be in front of your computer to manually send Tweets at odd hours — and you won’t forget to post on a particularly busy workday.

Plus, scheduling can help you plan out a great social media content strategy, as you can schedule Tweets days or weeks in advance.

In other words, scheduling can elevate your Twitter marketing strategy by saving you time and helping you engage your followers.

But a scheduling tool can help you do so much more than simply schedule individual Twitter posts in advance. With a social media management tool like Hootsuite, you can also schedule multiple Tweets at once, auto schedule Tweets, schedule recurring Tweets and discover the best time to post.

Consider this post your ultimate guide to scheduling Tweets. Let’s go!

How to schedule Tweets on Twitter

Yes, you can schedule Tweets natively (straight from your Twitter account).

If your brand only has a presence on one or two social platforms and you don’t use a social media management tool, scheduling posts natively might make sense. Scheduling directly on Twitter is an easy and free way to schedule Tweets.

Here’s how to schedule Tweets on Twitter:

Step 1: Click the blue Tweet button

When you open Twitter, you’ll see your timeline. To get started, click the big blue Tweet button at the bottom of the menu on the left side of the screen.

Step 2: Write your Tweet

Write your post and include any mentions, links, media and hashtags. You can also choose who will be able to respond to the Tweet: everyone, only the people you follow or only the people you mentioned.

Step 3: Click the calendar icon

This is the schedule button, or the fifth and final icon in the toolkit at the bottom of the Tweet composer.

Step 4: Choose your publishing date and time

Set the day and exact time you want the Tweet to go live. You can also specify the time zone.

Step 5: Click Confirm

That’s it! You’ve just scheduled a Twitter post.

How to schedule Tweets with Hootsuite

Here’s how to schedule Twitter posts using Hootsuite:

Step 1: Click on the Composer icon

When you’ve logged into your Hootsuite account, click the top icon in the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Select Post

Step 3: Choose which account the Tweet is for

You might have multiple Twitter accounts connected to Hootsuite — select the one you want to publish to.

Step 4: Write your Tweet

Also include any mentions, hashtags, media or links. Then, click the grey Schedule for later button.

Step 5: Set the day and time you want the Tweet to publish

Then, click Done.

If you’re struggling to figure out when to post, Hootsuite has a new feature to help.

The Best Time to Publish feature takes apart your account’s performance and recommends the best times to post for different goals: awareness or engagement.

Step 6: Click Schedule

That’s it! The Tweet is now scheduled to publish on the day and at the time you set.

How to schedule multiple Tweets at once

Using Hootsuite’s Bulk Composer, you can schedule up to 350 Tweets in advance. This is a great way to get the entire month’s worth of social content scheduled in one go.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Navigate to Bulk Message Upload

Click on Publisher (the fourth icon in the left hand menu), navigate to Content, then choose Bulk Composer from the menu.

Step 2: Upload your CSV file

Make sure you’ve included the date and time you want each Tweet to publish in column A and the post copy in column B. Keep the copy within the 240 Twitter character limit. Add a link in column C, if you want to include one in the post.

Remember to use the 24-hour clock format for time.

Note: Your spreadsheet must be saved as a .CSV file, not a .XLS file.

Step 3: Select which Twitter account the posts will publish to

Step 4: Click Review posts

At this point, you can also decide whether you want to shorten the links you included using Hootsuite’s URL shortener, Ow.ly, or keep them in full.

Step 5: Edit as needed

Click on the box to the left of a post to fix any errors, or to upload photos, videos or emojis. Here, you can also adjust the publishing date and time.

Step 6: Select and schedule Tweets

When all looks ready to go, click the box to the left of the Tweet to select it. Or choose the Select all option. Then, click Schedule selection.

Now, all the posts you’ve bulk scheduled will appear in your Publisher.

Find more information on bulk scheduling with Hootsuite here:

How to auto schedule Tweets

With Hootsuite’s auto schedule feature, the platform selects the optimal time for your post to go live. To set it up, simply toggle the AutoSchedule switch to On when you’re selecting a date and time for your post to go live:

You can also adjust the auto schedule settings —here’s how.

How to view scheduled Tweets

Want to know how to see scheduled Tweets after you’ve written them up? It’s simple:

Step 1: Go to the Publisher

This is the fourth icon in the left-hand menu.

Step 2: Choose your view

The Planner offers a calendar view of your scheduled Tweets.

You can also click Content, then Scheduled to view a list of your scheduled Tweets.

How to edit scheduled Tweets

Realized you scheduled a Tweet with a typo? Need to upload a different image or publish the Tweet at a different time? That’s okay — editing scheduled Tweets is easy.

Step 1: Find the scheduled Tweet you want to edit

Click on the Publisher icon, then find the Tweet in either the Planner or Content view.

Step 2: Click on the Tweet

If you’re editing via the Planner view, clicking on the scheduled Tweet brings up a larger preview on the right side of your screen. There, select Edit.

Step 3: Make the edits

Maybe you want to add a second photo, fix a typo or add more hashtags.

Step 4: Click Save edits

That’s it!

How to schedule a Tweet on mobile

Sometimes you’re working on the go. That means you might occasionally have to schedule Tweets from your mobile phone or tablet.

The process is the same as scheduling Tweets on desktop, but the dashboard looks a little different on mobile:

Step 1: Log in to your account in the Hootsuite mobile app

When you log in, you will see your Streams. From there, click Compose at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2: Write your post

And click Next.

Step 3: Click Custom schedule

Step 4: Choose your publishing day and time

And click OK.

Step 5: Your post is ready to go!

You’ll get a confirmation that everything worked:

And you’ll be able to see the Tweet you scheduled in the Publisher.

How to schedule recurring Tweets

If your brand wants to send the same Tweet out on multiple days, you don’t have to rewrite the same post over and over again. There are a couple of far easier alternatives.

Option 1: Bulk schedule

Use the bulk scheduling option outlined above. Instead of writing different captions in column B, copy and paste the same caption. Simply change the posting day and time in column A.

Then, upload the CSV file and you’ll see the recurring Tweet scheduled for different days and at different times in the Publisher.

Option 2: Duplicate the post you want to publish more than once

To duplicate a scheduled Tweet, click on it in the Publisher. Then, select More and Duplicate.

Everything copies over exactly, including the publishing day and time. To schedule a recurring Tweet for a new time, edit the publishing information but keep everything else the same.

When you’re done, click Schedule to save.

In the Publisher, you’ll see the exact same tweet set to publish at different times.

5 tips for scheduling Tweets

Before you set out to schedule a full calendar of Tweets, take some time to learn some scheduling best practices.

Location matters

Is your audience global or local? Keep time zones in mind when scheduling posts. For example, if your business is based in the United States but also gets high engagement from followers in Japan, consider scheduling posts at both 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST to reach both audiences.

Know your audience

Keeping on top of the latest Twitter demographics is important, but it’s also essential to know who your unique audience is. If you know who your audience is and when they’re more likely to be online, you can use that information to make well-informed scheduling decisions — that means posting your content at a time your audience is more likely to see it and engage with it.

If you need help sorting out your audience, check out our guide to creating audience personas.

Pay attention to Twitter analytics

Twitter analytics will tell you how your audience is engaging (or not) with your content. If you notice engagement dips for Tweets you’ve published in the evening, but peaks for posts published in the morning, schedule future posts to line up with when engagement is highest.

Learn more about the numbers (and what they mean) from our Twitter analytics guide.

Pick the best time to tweet

Scheduling Tweets at optimal times — or, when your audience is online — will increase engagement. Read about Hootsuite picks for the best posting times across social media platforms and learn how to use Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature.

Know when to pause your Tweets

Just because your Tweets are written and scheduled doesn’t mean you can forget about them. In fact, keep an eye on everything you’ve scheduled. The world moves fast and a Tweet you scheduled weeks ago might now be irrelevant, out-of-touch or even problematic. Whenever that’s the case, pause or delete scheduled Tweets to avoid any mishaps.

Use Hootsuite to schedule tweets, monitor relevant conversations, and engage your followers—all from the same dashboard that you use to manage your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

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