[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1619550341463{margin-left: 15px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]In this time of social media marketing, there are hundreds of tools and software with features capable of helping you in managing your social media platforms. Social media management tools ranging from Buffer to Sendible can assist you with social media creation, collaboration, planning, scheduling, sharing, analysis, and more.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram have millions of users on a day-to-day basis. A cohesive social media presence allows businesses of all sizes to communicate to their customers where they stand. With so many platforms available out there, managing multiple social media platforms can be an absolute nightmare.
Business owners are required to invest a lot of time and energy in creating/writing a post and scheduling the right time to post content throughout the day. As a result, this is not feasible for businesses that operate with a handful of employees. With that in mind, businesses have now turned to social media management tools that permit them to create a comprehensive social media strategy where they can manage all platforms from one place.
Social media management is referred to as the process of handling or managing your social media strategy. It includes a variety of tasks from planning to publishing, engaging, strategizing, and analyzing your social media content across several platforms that your business uses to stay connected with its customers. It also incorporates the understanding of your social media strategy’s level of success to improve upon it.
Most of the social media management tools involve three key elements including:
- Engagement – a single dashboard where you can monitor all your social network messages and communicate with your audience.
- Scheduling – a calendar to schedule and recycle your content to each social network.
- Reporting – a method of analyzing and outlining how your content performs on each social platform.
In this post, we’ve collected 5 great social media management tools that will help you with everything from scheduling to automatically sharing old and new content, creating social media graphics, and analyzing metrics.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the best social media management tools that was founded in 2008 for creating and managing marketing campaigns. Businesses can manage and handle all social platforms including Pinterest and LinkedIn from a single dashboard, instead of doing it manually.
Moreover, Hootsuite’s dashboard allows you to schedule content and messages in just a few clicks, track the latest social conversations and brand mentions, measure your social return on investment (ROI), and run multiple profiles and other social media ads.
Pros:
- Free plan/Free 30-day trial
- It connects with 20+ social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest
- Over 18 million world’s social marketers use Hootsuite
- Offers free social media courses
- The professional plan starts at just $49 per month
Cons:
- Some analytics reports charge an additional cost
- Inclusions in the free plan are limited
- Plans can be costly if you have several social profiles or spend a substantial amount of money on ads per month
- Analytics and insights may lack depth for some users
- Hootsuite also offers some of the best and comprehensive analytics and social media tracking tools on the market today, including customizable reports and team productivity details that provide businesses with crucial information, which they can use towards their marketing efforts.
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SproutSocial
SproutSocial is a one-stop social media management tool that is best overall due to its ability to assist businesses with social listening, publishing, engagement, and analysis. This simple yet powerful platform offers all the basics to large organizations and teams known favorably for social media monitoring.
This social inbox tool is a great device for sharing relevant content on all social platforms as well as creating and sending personalized messages to prospects, customers, and followers which further increases brand awareness.
Pros:
- Free 30-day trial
- Trusted by 25,000+ global brands of all sizes
- Scheduling tools make creating posts effortless
- Analytics and reports help you manage your user engagement and ROI
Cons:
- The standard plan starts at $99 per user per month, which is considerably higher than competitors
- Restricts to how many social profiles you can manage
- Adding multiple users can get expensive for small and medium businesses
What makes SproutSocial a unique tool for businesses is its mobile app available on both iOS and Android along with its paid promotion tools that allow you to boost Facebook ads. Moreover, its Professional plan is most popular as it permits you to manage 10 social media accounts in one place while providing you with different features such as the ability to read your social media messages, view your social content calendar, response rate, and time analysis reports, and plenty of other valuable tools.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Sendible
Sendible is known to be one of the most powerful social media management tools for agencies who need to manage various platforms for multiple clients. It has earned a top ranking due to its ability to integrate or sync with all the top social media networks as well as popular tools like Canva, Google Analytics, and Slack.
This tool also has a Smart Queue feature that allows social media managers to repurpose their content. Businesses can also utilize its Social Inbox and Social Listening tools to monitor keywords, competitors, and brand mentions.
Sendible can also create an organized editorial calendar for your blog. The CRM system integrated within this tool enables users to interact with influencers and communicate with them in real-time.
Pros:
- More supported integrations than any other social media tool
- The starter plan starts at $24 per month
- Free 14-day trial – cancel anytime
- You can save 15% if you pay an annual cost upfront
- Comes with a handy mobile app
Cons:
- Basic plans are for one user only
- Adding services increases the cost
- Limited integration with third-party apps
Overall Sendible is a great tool for organizations as it not only allows them to collaborate with their team and clients by setting up approval workflows, but they can customize and preview posts on each platform.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Buffer
Buffer is a well-rounded and easy-to-use social media tool. It offers engagement, analytics, and team features while permitting you to publish social media posts with one queue. Buffer is an intuitive social media management platform trusted by many brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media channels.
Buffer provides several features to its users including a free plan that works well with many small businesses with a limited social media presence. Additionally, its unique calendar view feature adds a bird’s eye view of posting schedules.
Pros:
- Plans start at $15 per month
- Free 14-day trial
- More than 75,000+ companies trust Buffer
- Easy to use
- Basic analytics
- Post photos, articles, and videos on your social media handles easily
Cons:
- Doesn’t integrate major social media platforms like other competitors (eg., YouTube)
- Expensive plans only include up to six users
- Limited client management support system
All together Buffer is more than a social media management tool. It offers features like stories planner, first comment, Instagram tagging, hashtag planner, custom reports, and more which makes it distinctive from its rivals.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Zoho
Zoho stands out as an all-in-one tool for social media managers, small to midsize businesses, and agencies managing social media and brands. This platform allows businesses to run social networks in one place while simultaneously handling their email, projects, accounting, and webinars.
Zoho also offers comprehensive social media management software which you can buy individually or integrate for full all-in-one management.
Pros:
- Free 15-day trial
- Flexible scheduling that saves you time
- Provides a threefold approach to social media management with scheduling, monitoring, and calendar and analytics features
- Seamless CRM and Desk integration
- Offers multiple apps for Sales & Marketing, Finance, HR, and more
- The starter’s plan starts at only $10 per month
Cons:
- Plans for agencies start at $200 per month, which is a little more expensive than competitors
- Professional plans for both consumers and businesses only include two to three members, with more users requiring an additional monthly cost
Although Zoho’s free plan comes with limited functionality, its social media software, and its ability to allow businesses to publish and schedule posts across multiple platforms, access summary reports, and analytics, and access a Bitly integration and URL shortener make it a unique platform than other tools.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Final Words
Social media marketing has become an essential part of a marketing strategy for increasing traffic. However, you cannot execute a marketing campaign effortlessly without the perfect social media management tools. All together these tools make the social sharing process organized and make your work smooth.
With a variety of different social media management tools available in the market with different price points and a plethora of features offered amongst the best tools, we recommend choosing a partner that will save you and your team valuable time automating social media marketing processes, collaboration workflows, and actionable insights; as well as a platform that best fits your requirements, budget, and preference.
Retake a look at the post above to see which platform is most suited for your business, supports all the social media channels you need, and provides reports, analytics, and calendar features. With the help of one social media management tool, your business can not only generate traffic but can have conversations with its consumers in real-time while enhancing its brand awareness.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]