Why A Consulting Agency Switched From ContentCal to Vista Social

Updated on October 8, 2022

5 min to read

Head of Marketing @ Vista Social

Published September 29, 2022

Why A Consulting Agency Switched From ContentCal to Vista Social
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Tired of confusing interfaces and expensive monthly pricing? That’s exactly what prompted Queen Bee Consulting to switch from ContentCal to Vista Social. 

As the president of Queen Bee Consulting, Danelle Brown worked with small businesses helping them identify and focus on their target markets to maximize their profits and get more clients while balancing work and family life.

The problem? Danelle trialed many social media management tools on the market to support her growing needs and struggled to find one that was a perfect fit. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Why A Consulting Agency Switched From ContentCal to Vista Social

From Hootsuite to ContentCal to Vista Social, Queen Bee Consulting finally found social media success.

So, how did Vista Social empower Queen Bee Consulting, and how can you benefit too? We’re breaking it all down below!

Table of contents

How to Choose The Right Social Media Management Tool?

Hootsuite is one of the most recognized social media management tools on the market. And for good reason, the platform launched back in November of 2008—before Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest were even born. 

This allowed them to have a leg up on getting their platform in front of a ton of businesses. The problem? Most agencies and small businesses can’t access all of the features without spending a lump sum amount. 

So, with Hootsuite off the table, Queen Bee Consulting tried their luck on a second social media management tool, ContentCal (recently acquired by Adobe Express and renamed Content Scheduler).

The Struggles with ContentCal:

  • A poor user interface that required you to watch loads of tutorial videos to get up and running.
  • It supported only a handful of social media networks.
  • There was limited analytics and reporting provided.
  • It had tiered customer support, which was super frustrating.

Although they were using a tool owned by Adobe, they found that it wasn’t helping them support their client’s growth goals and save time. Plus, if they ran into a problem, they didn’t have the help they needed to get it resolved in a timely manner. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Why A Consulting Agency Switched From ContentCal to Vista Social
(Read Danelle’s full review here)

Enter, Vista Social. In just a few clicks, Danelle was set up and ready to get back to amplifying her client’s reach and driving major sales!

Outsmarting Ever-Changing Social Media Algorithms

70% of Queen Bee Consulting’s clients’ sales come from social media alone! 

So, they needed an all-in-one platform that could help them do more with scheduling for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

While social media algorithms are continually changing and use a number of different ranking signals, one thing Queen Bee Consulting experimented with was Vista Social’s optimal time feature. 

Vista Social: when to post on social media based on your audiences engagement patterns

Now, they could schedule content for their clients across all major social networks at the same time—yet have them auto-publish at their best time for each network. 

Figuring out the best time to post on each social media network can be a total mystery! But there’s no need to channel your inner detective when Vista Social can intuitively do the work for you.

Vista Social’s publishing capabilities allowed them to clear their to-do list and get some much-needed downtime—hello, work-life balance! 

Bulk Scheduling: The Best Social Media Trick

You’ve probably heard of a content calendar, but what good is it if you have to then manually create and schedule each post one by one? This is where intuitive bulk scheduling comes in:

6 Ways to Bulk Schedule Your Posts in Vista Social

6 Ways to Bulk Schedule Your Posts in Vista Social:

  1. Importing from a CSV file: Using a spreadsheet like Google Sheets or Excel, you can plan your social posts in bulk and export them as a CSV file—which can then be imported to Vista Social.
  2. Importing from an RSS Feed or blog: Vista Social will pull up a list of blog posts from the RSS feed’s source, which can then be added to your posting queue. 
  3. Curating content in bulk from relevant sources: Search for relevant posts using keywords and send them to Vista Social’s Publisher. 
  4. Import Instagram hashtag: Find trending content based on an Instagram hashtag and import it for publishing.
  5. Import Instagram user: Find content by a specific Instagram user and import it for publishing.
  6. Import images and videos: Import and schedule multiple images and videos.

By being able to streamline their publishing process, Queen Bee Consulting had more time to focus on growing other areas of its business.

So, Why Did Queen Bee Consulting Choose Vista Social?

When evaluating which social media management tools would be best for their consulting agency, they needed a platform that would allow them to:

  • Get set up in minutes without a steep learning curve.
  • Easily add new social media profiles and entities on the go. 
  • Gain priority support without paying more.
  • Access advanced publishing capabilities to amplify their clients’ reach and drive sales.
  • Manage their client’s social media marketing without breaking the bank.

Vista Social vs. ContentCal

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Account Setup

ContentCal is more affordable than Hootsuite but more expensive than Vista Social. The interface is known by social media managers for being a bit confusing and requiring a steep learning curve.  

Since ContentCal has tiered support, most businesses can’t wait for slow response times and resort to watching tutorial videos—wasting valuable time.

Vista Social’s account setup was very simple, and Queen Bee Consulting had peace of mind knowing they had access to prompt support at any time if needed! 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Account Setup

Content Scheduling

Vista Social offered more detailed features for various social networks, such as bulk scheduling and Twitter thread scheduling

This provided Queen Bee Consulting with a seamless publishing process—without having to manually publish each post. 

Additionally, by having capabilities such as optimal time, the content reaches the right audiences to drive results. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Content Scheduling

Reporting & Analytics

ContentCal is known as a visual platform and offers limited analytics options to customers. 

All Vista Social users have unlimited reports and the ability to customize and automate report delivery. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Reporting & Analytics

Modern Solutions & Capabilities

With ever-changing algorithms, Queen Bee Consulting needed a tool that could get their client’s content to reach the right audiences at the right time. 

With 70% of their client’s sales coming from social media, it was imperative that they were using a tool with modern solutions to drive real results. 

They were surprised to find that Vista Social allowed them to do more than a tool owned by Adobe! Between being the first platform to offer Reels Scheduling to the many social network integrations available, they knew Vista Social was the right tool to empower their agency. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Modern Solutions & Capabilities

Price

Queen Bee Consulting tried their luck with Hootsuite but found that they couldn’t get the features they needed without paying a lump sum. 

ContentCal offered a more affordable option, but it lacked certain features like analytics and bulk scheduling—plus, it operated on tiered customer support. 

With Vista Social, they could add more social profiles on the fly without being hit by heavy costs—and had access to priority support without any premium fee. 

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Price

Queen Bee Consulting quickly found that Vista Social provided them with everything they were looking for in a social media management tool. 

Despite being a newer platform in the market, Vista Social has been the first to offer a number of solutions, such as TikTok direct publishingCarousel post scheduling, and Instagram Reels auto publishing

Has Vista Social Made a Difference?

From ContentCal to Vista Social, Danelle had previously spent a ton of time manually uploading each piece of content for her clients and scheduled the posts individually. 

With Vista Social’s bulk scheduler, she has been able to create a seamless publishing workflow—giving her more time to build relationships and grow her agency.

But, does using Vista Social result in real growth for their client’s social media performance? Queen Bee Consulting reported that 70% of their client’s sales come from social media, and Vista Social is a major part of that.

When Queen Bee Consulting Founder, Danelle Brown, was asked what she has to say to other agencies considering Vista Social, this was her recommendation:

ContentCal alternatives for agencies | Why A Consulting Agency Switched From ContentCal to Vista Social

Sign up today, and see why more agencies are ditching their current tool for Vista Social. A modern tool that’s first to market, with simple pricing and strategic integrations, is right at your fingertips!

About the Author

Head of Marketing @ Vista Social

Brittany Garlin serves as the Head of Marketing at Vista Social, the leading social media suite that's pushing the boundaries of innovation. Steering the platform to achieve an impressive milestone of over 2 million connected social profiles, Brittany's expertise has been acknowledged in a recent appearance on the Social Pros podcast, where she discussed making marketing to marketers more human-centered. With a knack for strategic disruption, Brittany also redefines what it means to be a woman in the tech sector. Her thought leadership is frequently highlighted in prestigious outlets like Forbes and HubSpot.

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