Best Tools For Content Planning

Published on 04.08.2026 by Chizoba T

If you are a content creator spending so many hours looking at a blank spreadsheet, trying to figure out what to post, it shows you lack a good social media content planning strategy. A good strategy can help to turn those random posts into goals and a purpose-driven strategy. When combined with social media time blocking, it can save you the stress of wondering what to post and minimize any last-minute stress.

To effectively do content planning, you will, however, need the right tools. In this article, we guide you on the best options out there that will make your content planning a breeze.

What are Content Planning Tools?

Content planning tools are software designed to help organize, schedule, and enhance your content marketing strategies. The tools enable users to brainstorm, create, and even publish content from a single place. They, therefore, help ensure consistency, better collaboration, and improved workflows for social media posting, thereby eradicating sporadic posting.

Why Use the Top Content Planning Tools?

There are several reasons to consider having the right social media content planning tool. This includes:

Good Workflow Management

The right content planning tool is essential in keeping everything well structured from the ideas to the drafts, and performance metrics in one location. Without one, it can be hard to post consistently across different social media platforms.

On the other hand, having the right tool can help you plan the team for each month, assign tasks to different users, and ensure that teams stay aligned. For instance, all team members can see what is happening, provide feedback, and move content through the approval process without endless versions or confusing messages.

TIme-Saving

With the right content planning tool, you don't have to keep rushing, wondering what to post. Instead, all you need to do is schedule your content in advance. The tool will also provide you with performance insights to help you identify what is working and adjust your campaigns as needed.

Better Decision-Making

The right social media marketing tool can enable social media users to remain consistent, have more efficient collaborations, and use data to improve their decision-making instead of guesswork.

Centralize Tasks in One Place

If you are on several social media platforms, it means you are creating content in different formats for different channels. That can easily cause difficulties making you to drift. However, with the right content planning tool, you can keep your social media posts, blog drafts, and supporting assets in one place.

This can eliminate the challenges of managing multiple versions arising from so many email threads and content-sharing drives. This is especially true when you have the right tools to manage your social media checklist tasks.

Have a Clear Pipeline

When you can visualize your pipeline, you can see any gaps before they turn into missed publishing dates. Calendar views, color-coded tags, lists, and feed view can help you see:

Where there is a thin coverage.
Where the content clusters are very tight.
Where there is a balanced mix in different channels.

This can cause smoother planning and fewer deviations.

Consistency During Scaling Up

As your team and the number of channels grow, maintaining consistency becomes harder. However, with the top planning tools, you can enforce different structures using:

Brand guidelines.
Shared templates.
Clear ownership and approval steps.

This can result in a more cohesive message, even when several people are publishing.

Less Manual Work

When you remove repeated steps, you can achieve greater efficiency. This is especially true when you have a tool with features, such as:

Bulk publishing.
Automation of scheduling.
Content repost.

The right tool will enable you to lower costs for creating high-volume content.

How to Choose a Good Content Planning Tool

Your choice of a content planning tool will depend on your individual needs. However, there are a few factors to consider when choosing one.

These include:

Structure of your team and approval process. If you have content formats that have to go through reviews from different parties, such as clients, executives, brand, and legal teams, having a content approval tool can work better compared to the general schedule.
Content type and number of accounts. The choice of tool will change as you add more content formats, accounts, and channels. If you are managing a blog alongside newsletters, emails, and social media, it's a good idea to select a tool that supports multi-format planning.
Integration with SEO. If one of the KPIs you will be tracking is organic website traffic, you need a tool that will help you track the performance of keywords.
Content collection and client access. If an agency needs to share its content for review before it's published, it needs a tool with a dedicated portal for client review and guest access.

Best Social Media Content Planning Tools

So, which is the best tool for your content planning? If this is your question, here are some of the top options:

StoryChief

StoryChief is a great tool option for marketers who want to ensure that every part of their content marketing process is synced. One of its strengths is that it integrates planning, writing, and content distribution into a single workflow. Users can, therefore, create an article, receive feedback, and publish it on different social media platforms directly from the app.

Another great feature you will love about Storychief is the content calendar. This can provide creators with an overview of their publishing schedules and help them identify overlaps or gaps. It can be especially helpful for managing teams across different campaigns and clients.

Pros

Clear and intuitive interface.
Makes it easy to publish on different platforms.
Fast and helpful support staff.
Built-in analytics and SEO dashboard.

Cons

Price is on the higher side.
The collaboration feature isn't very robust.
A basic analytics dashboard.

The SEO feature will provide clear on-page recommendations when writing content. While it's not as comprehensive as a dedicated SEO platform, it can help you align with SEO best practices.

SocialBee

One of the greatest pros of SocialBee is that it will enable you to keep your workflow organized. It also features a content calendar that offers a better view of all your content pieces, the covered platforms, and where space needs to be filled. You can use the tool to plan and schedule posts for Instagram, Threads, X, LinkedIn, and BlueSky.

SocialBee makes the whole process from idea to approval seamless. Users can brainstorm, write, design, get approval, and publish all at once without having to jump between apps. It features an AI tool that generates captions, hashtags, and images, improving the content creation process, particularly on busy days when you might not feel very creative.

Pros

Seamless content planning through the calendar.
Content categories for faster and more consistent posting.
AI tools for generating hashtags, content ideas, and captions.
Suggestions for the best time to post based on data.
Proper organization of client accounts using separate workspaces.
Integrates with various creative tools, such as Canva, Zapier, and GIPHY.

Cons

A bit difficult to set up.

HubSpot

HubSpot is a comprehensive marketing solution with a wide range of features, including ad management, website builders, social media management tools, and more. The tool features a drag-and-drop calendar for scheduling and rescheduling content. Additionally, it comes with a custom posting schedule that automates the content publishing each week.

HubSpot allows you to track social media conversations using a particular keyword on different networks. The platform will consolidate those conversations into a single place, enabling you to respond from a single dashboard. It also features an alternative for new messages through email.

Pros

Easy to use and beginner-friendly.
A wide range of tools, in addition to social media planning.
Multi-channel marketing reports.
Social media tools, such as an AI assistant to assist with replies, posts, and reports.
The composer features a wide range of cross-network posting.

Cons

Scheduler feature is only available on the paid version.
Social media tools not available as standalone features.

Co-Schedule

Co-schedule is another great tool for organizing your workflows and improving your overall marketing strategy. It features a marketing calendar that serves as a visual hub for planning and tracking your marketing activities from one place. The tool comes with a home dashboard that features checklist items, blog post timelines, and a sidebar for recent notifications.

Pros

A color-coded calendar that shows all content formats in a single view.
The social scheduling feature lets you publish directly to all major platforms from the calendar.
Outstanding reports and analytics.
Automated content recycling.

Cons

Not the best customer support.
High price.

Monday

Monday is a great tool tailored to how your team works, making it a strong content planning tool. You can use it to create a custom workflow for assigning owners, blog production, and visualizing the different strategies of your campaign. It has a visual project-tracking feature that lets you switch between calendar, Kanban, and Gantt views.

The tool also ensures smooth collaboration, as you can use the shared boards to assign tasks, provide deadlines, and see the status updates in real-time. There is also an automation option that eliminates so many manual steps.

Pros

Customizable dashboards tailored to different content workflows.
Advanced automation to eradicate task repetition.
Ability to integrate with different tools.
Built-in reporting and tracking.
Clean, intuitive design with essential templates.

Cons

The advanced features can be hard to learn.
A bit expensive for larger tools.

In Conclusion

The best content planning tool can make the entire content creation, posting, and analytics seamless. They can also help you save time as you don't have to keep doing the same thing. If you are wondering which are the top options, consider one of the above.