The afternoon evaluation: one real post, start to finish

What you need before you start

Gather four things. Using a real post matters most. A made-up one lets you skip the awkward parts, and the awkward parts are what you are measuring.

• One post you really intend to publish this week, not a placeholder.
• The raw material for it: a photo or clip, the facts, the link.
• Logins for the networks you use.
• A timer and a sheet of paper with three columns: minutes, hand steps, problems.

The script

Run the same five steps for every option, including the way you post today. Your current method is the baseline.

• Connect. Link your accounts. Note any network you could not connect.
• Prepare. Get the post from idea to ready. Start the timer here.
• Review. Read it as a customer would. Try to change one thing for one network only.
• Publish. Send it to every network. Stop the timer when the app says it is done.
• Verify. Open each network and look at the live post.

What to write down

In the minutes column, put the time from idea to published. In the hand-steps column, make a mark for every action you took yourself: each upload, each caption typed, each crop, each login. In the problems column, note anything that went wrong or looked wrong on a network.

Three numbers per option is enough. A large gap in hand steps shows where your week would go.

Reading the results

Each column points at a different weakness. Read the sheet like this.

• Many hand steps before 'Prepare' ends means the app delivers but does not help you make the post.
• Problems at 'Verify' mean the app's idea of a finished post differs from the network's.
• A network missing at 'Connect' is a coverage gap. Decide whether you can live with posting there by hand.
• No way to make the 'Review' change matters if your networks need different captions.

Running it in a vendor demo

When an option is available only through a demo, bring the same post and ask the presenter to follow your script in your order. Keep your tally sheet, and ask to see the confirmation step and the live post on at least two networks.

Where Link AI fits

Our pick, Link AI by Linkme, is offered through a demo, so the script above is how we suggest you judge it. Going by Linkme's published description, 'Prepare' is the step where it differs most, because the agent writes the draft and makes the image or video and your job is to approve. 'Publish' runs through Post to All, whose queue reads 'Published to all' once Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn each have the post.

Post and tally sheet ready, book a demo to try Link AI. Afterward, set the three numbers beside your baseline.

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Questions & answers