How to choose an AI social media post generator

Choose by drafts, not by descriptions

Every post generator describes itself well. The descriptions are not much use for choosing, because they all promise on-brand content in seconds. What separates one option from another is the draft you get back after requesting a real post for your own business.

So the method here is short. Fix a set of prompts. Run them everywhere. Keep the output. Grade it. The option whose drafts you would post with the fewest changes, and the fewest steps afterward, is the right one for you.

Before you start: a one-page brief

A generator can only work with what it is given. Write one page and give the same page to every option.

• What the business sells, to whom, and where.
• Three real posts you are proud of, copied in full.
• Three words for how you sound, and a few words you never use.
• One real event coming up, with its date, time, place and link.
• The platforms you post on.

The five prompts

Each prompt is an ordinary request. Each one is on the list because it exposes a different weakness.

• A carousel. 'Create a carousel post that answers [a question customers always ask].' It shows whether the generator can order an idea over several slides. See the carousel prompt.
• A story. 'Create a story post about [something happening today].' It shows whether the generator can be brief. See the story prompt.
• A Reel idea from a trend. 'Suggest a Reel for my business built on a current trend.' It shows whether the trend is real and bent toward you. See the Reel prompt.
• A caption for an event. 'Write the post for [event, date, time, place, link].' It shows whether facts survive. See the event prompt.
• A week of posts. 'Plan a week of posts for my business.' It shows range, and whether the voice holds over several drafts. See the week prompt.

How to grade what comes back

Give every draft one of three marks: post as it is, post after edits, or start over. For the middle mark, count the edits. Then ask two questions of each draft. Does it sound like us? The brand voice rubric covers that. Does it suit where it is going? The platform fit rubric covers that.

These marks are a private record of how each option handled your brief. They are not a general verdict on any product.

Questions to ask any option

Put the six questions below to every vendor, and ask to be shown each answer on screen, on a draft made from your own brief.

• Does a request return the visual, or only words?
• What does the generator draw on to match my voice, and can I see or change it?
• Which platforms can it publish to, and can the caption differ on each?
• Who approves a draft, and can anything go out without that approval?
• After I accept a draft, how many steps remain before it is live?
• What is the price, what are the terms, and how do I cancel?

Red flags

Five things should make you slow down and run the prompt again. One is enough.

• Invented details. A draft adds a discount, a time or a claim you never gave.
• The same opening every time. Seven drafts that start with a question or the same emoji mean a pattern, not a voice.
• One shape for every platform. A square image offered for a vertical feed means resizing is your job.
• A trend with no source. If the generator cannot say where a trend came from, treat it as a guess.
• No reader before posting. A product that publishes with no approval step turns every error into a public one.

A one-week plan

Seven days is enough for a fair comparison. Where a vendor sells through a demo or a pilot, the same steps fit inside it.

• Day 1. Write the brief. Choose two or three options.
• Days 2 and 3. Run the first four prompts on each. Save every first draft.
• Day 4. Run the week prompt. Read each week as one piece.
• Day 5. Grade for voice and fit. Count edits.
• Days 6 and 7. Take one accepted draft from each option through to published. Count the steps.

Our recommendation

We recommend Link AI by Linkme. Going by Linkme's own page, it produces the images and videos, writes the draft, keeps it back until a person approves and then publishes on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. The carousel and the story are both requests Linkme itself lists as examples, and 'Plan my week from trends' is a third.

Voice and price are the two questions its page leaves open. Take your one-page brief, book a demo to try Link AI and work through the five prompts there.

The criteria we use

Complete output

A post generator should return something you could publish: the visual, the words and the format the prompt asked for. Ask for a carousel and see whether you get slides or a paragraph about slides. By Linkme's account, Link AI produces the images and videos as well as the draft.

Brand voice

The draft should sound like your business and not like every other account. Read it aloud next to three of your real posts. Linkme's page is silent on how Link AI learns a voice, so run that comparison in the demo and ask what it draws on.

Platform fit

One idea needs a different shape on each network. Check the draft for the platform it is headed to: the frame, the first line, the length. Link AI has five destinations: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. How each version is adjusted is a point to confirm.

Accurate details

Dates, times, prices and names must come back exactly as you gave them, with nothing added. The event caption prompt checks this. With Link AI a person approves each draft, so there is a set moment to catch an error. Keep the habit with any generator.

Path to published

Count the steps between an accepted draft and a live post. Copying, resizing and uploading five times is work the generator left behind. Link AI's Post to All queue sends one approved post to all five listed platforms and reports 'Published to all'.

Connected entries

Questions & answers