So I've been running this vintage clothing shop in Austin for about two years now and honestly the social media side of things is actually killing me lol. I spend like three hours every night just trying to edit reels and write captions that dont sound like a robot wrote them and its getting to be too much. I really need to automate this whole thing for 2024 because I want to actually enjoy my weekends again instead of worrying about engagement rates and hashtags.

I did some digging online and saw people mentioning Buffer and then Jasper for the writing part but honestly I'm kinda confused how people are tying it all together. Buffer just seems like a glorified calendar to me? Like it doesnt actually make the content it just holds it until it needs to go live. And Jasper is cool for writing but its like 60 bucks a month just for text and I still have to find photos and videos myself. Plus some reviews say the AI sounds super repetitive after a while which is the last thing I want for my brand and its vibe.

My budget is probably around $50 to $70 a month tops since I'm still a pretty small operation but I need something that can handle a few specific things:

• AI image or video generation for quick reels
• Auto-scheduling to Instagram and Pinterest mostly
• Maybe something that can reply to basic comments or DMs?

Ive got a huge spring drop coming up in ten days and I'm desperate to get a system in place before then so I'm not glued to my phone while trying to ship out orders. Are there any actual all-in-one tools that handle the creative side and the posting side without me having to jump between five different apps? I heard about Lately or maybe Ocoya but the pricing and features seem all over the place and I dont want to waste money on something that wont actually save me time...