Back in 2020, Nettle analyzed Hootsuite and Later and determined that Later was the better social media management system. But with recent changes to Later, it may be time to consider the Facebook Creator Studio more carefully.
What Changes Did Later Make?
Starting April 2022, Later changed their free plan from 30 social posts per month to just 10 per platform. This change can be very limiting for some businesses and creators, especially if you post daily.
The 10 post budget applies to both automatically posted content and content that sends a reminder to publish, so you are no longer able to plan your content for Instagram and manually publish it through Later’s reminder system.
What Can The Facebook Creator Studio Do?
The Facebook Creator Studio allows you to see all of the pages you manage on both Instagram and Facebook, schedule posts, and view your insights.
Advantages
- Free to use
- Allows scheduling of carousel posts, regular posts, and videos (formerly IGTV)
- View multiple social media accounts at once or separately — great for social media managers
- Content can be scheduled by anyone with page access without using a single login
- Tag locations, people, and products while creating the post
- Ability to stop news feed distribution for Facebook posts (ideal for limited time offers)
Disadvantages
- Obviously limited to only Facebook and Instagram
- No ability to preview your Instagram feed as you schedule
- No saved hashtags or captions
- No media storage — files will need to be uploaded each time you create a post
The Verdict
While there are certain features of Later that are preferable (especially to visually inclined people!), if you need to post a decent amount of content each month on a limited (or no) budget, Facebook Creator Studio is the solution.