Marketers say social media is the key to a successful inbound marketing strategy as it gives all businesses a platform to grow.
Social media presence is of utmost importance as the business potential of effective social media is massive. Brands leverage social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to achieve their objectives through either marketing online to raise awareness about the brand or by getting sponsored for their digital presence.
What’s great is that both of these can get extraordinarily rewarding if done right. But, having to market on so many social media channels with effective engagement, and regular posting can get tediously time-consuming as well as challenging.
This is when social media management tools come into use. The best way to get the most of your social media is by automating your social media marketing and adapting social media management tools to grow, market, and increase your sales.
But how will you know which is the best for you?
With so many amazing tools available in the market, it can get a little overwhelming and so we thought of picking out the top social media management tools that would be great for any type of business.
Luckily, some of the top picks don’t require you to break your bank or opt for credit cards. They are free with in-app purchases if your business requires them.
But, First Let’s learn What is Social Media Management?
Social Media Management is a process of managing the online presence on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook by creating, publishing, analyzing the content you post. Social Media Management also plays a vital role in managing the interaction and engagement with online users.
To manage your social media easily you have social media managers and a wide range of tools and services available in the market.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT TOOLS
Now that you are aware of social media management, you can better your experience and productivity with the help of social media management tools. These consist of paid and unpaid options that can help you manage your comments, content, and more.
The Top 20 Social Media Management Tools
1. BUFFER
As per the industry experts, Buffer is one of the best social media management tools available in the market. Buffer lets you post, publish, schedule, and analyze your social media performance.
Its been in the industry for a long and knows well about its customer needs. Buffer not only has its browser extension but also its very own mobile application which gives you the flexibility to do your deeds on the go without having to log in or sit in front of the computer.
Buffer provides insights and analytics of the engagement metrics like the comments, likes, mentions, shares, clicks, and retweets of each post also highlighting the top-performing posts.
The plus points of Buffer include –
- A user-friendly, simple, straightforward tool.
- The accessible interface allows the usage of multiple accounts.
- Allows customized scheduling.
- Ability to monitor activity and make suggestions.
- ios and android support.
Buffer pricing options –
- Provides free trial.
- Pro – $15 per month.
- Premium – $65 per month.
- Business – $99 per month.
2. HOOT SUITE
Like Buffer, Hootsuite is exceptional software that helps you easily create and manage business campaigns.
Hootsuite is a great software that allows you to access everything from one dashboard. If you are a user of cloud-based platforms such as Dropbox, Box file, or One Drive you can easily access the files stored here directly from the dashboard. Hoot suite also comes with its chrome extension.
The plus points of the hoot suite include –
- Allows you to monitor the activity of other team members.
- Gathers data as per mentions online and allows you to access multiple platforms.
- Integrated with 150+ apps
- Allows scheduling of up to 30 posts in advance.
- Measures the reach and engagement of the content as well.
Hootsuite pricing options –
- Provides free trial.
- Professional – $19 per month.
- team – $99 per month.
- business – $499 per month.
- enterprise – by quote.
3. AGORAPULSE
AgoraPulse is a real-time profile syncing tool that helps you keep your content fresh, relevant, and engaging.
It helps you to schedule, interact as well as generate reports with the help of a shared calendar. AgoraPulse gives you end-to-end control over all your social media posts and lets you customize your posts differently for each platform as per your requirements.
The plus points of Agorapulse include –
- Small business and user-friendly.
- Focuses on maintaining relationships with your loyal customers and doesn’t let you miss a comment, tweet, or mention from any of them.
- Provides advanced PowerPoint and CSV reports.
- Lets you discover trends about your brand and competitors and brand influencers.
AgoraPulse pricing options –
- Provides free trial.
- Pro – $79 per month.
- Premium- $159 per month.
- Enterprise – Custom.
4. SEMRUSH
SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool that covers all your e-commerce functions like SEO, pay-per-click, social media, content marketing, and market research. It allows you to analyze your social media and compare that to your competitors, providing insights as to what works better for your competitors.
It also provides suggestions helping you know what time is the best to post and with the use of its UTM tool you can know how well a campaign is performing.
The plus points of SEMrush include –
- Several scheduling options available that allow you to publish now or schedule later for multiple posts.
- Monitor’s your campaign success with all the deep insights you need.
- Allows you to post on multiple websites at once.
- Being an SEO tool, it gives your content the push it needs for a better and effective reach.
SEMrush pricing options –
BILLED MONTHLY
- Pro – $119.95 per month.
- Guru – $229.95 per month.
- Business – $449.95 per month.
BILLED ANNUALLY
- Pro – $99.95 per month.
- Guru – $191.62 per month.
- Business – $374.95 per month.
5. SENDIBLE
Sendible is best known for its automation in social media processes. It is an amazing software to manage multiple clients, especially for agencies.
Sendible has all the common features such as queuing, scheduling, calendar features for posting, optimizing, and previewing posts.
The plus points of Sendible include –
- A unique feature of posting existing content to get more views.
- Comes with a mobile app that shows you notifications when away.
- Provides the best Lead generation and management tools.
- Adapts to all marketing strategies easily and allows you to customize as per your marketing needs.
- Integrates with Canva for image designing and visuals.
Sendible pricing options –
- Creator – $29 per month.
- Traction – $89 per month.
- Scale- $199 per month.
- Expansion – $899 per month.
6. E-CLINCHER
Eclicher is said to be the most powerful cloud-based and advanced social media management tool. Eclincher comes with a chrome extension and pocket that gives you suggestions on what is trending on social media.
Eclincher is the perfect solution for all small and medium-sized businesses giving options to search feeds and engage with live social feeds.
The plus points of Eclincher include –
- Comes with a unique Smartbox feature that keeps all the communications from all channels in one place.
- Best tools provided to boost ROI and monitor campaigns.
- Suggests content and auto-posts after being scheduled.
- Has the most advanced scheduler, publisher, and visual calendar.
- All possible social media tracking analytics is available.
- Comes with an app and is integrated with Google Analytics, Canva, and much more.
Eclincher pricing options –
- Basic – $59 per month.
- Premier – $119 per month.
- Agency – $219 per month.
- Enterprise – Custom.
7. SPROUT SOCIAL
Sprout Social is an all-in-one listening tool that helps you build relationships with your audience. It believes in keeping the customer experience the same on all platforms, that is providing the best of customer service is one shortcut to a successful social media strategy.
Sprout Social comes with an integrated dashboard with ZenDesk and UserVoice CRM to track and manage all the concerns, feedback, and queries coming in from the customers.
The plus points of Sprout Social include –
- Provides complete social media management solutions.
- Helps you build everlasting relationships and establish a successful business.
- It is enterprise-friendly software.
Sprout Social pricing includes –
- Standard – $99 per month.
- Professional – $149 per month.
- Advanced – $249 per month.
8. FRIENDS+ME
Friends+Me is a platform that deals with Google+ features as it helps you customize your Google+ field and maximize your potential to Google+. It makes it easy to schedule, manage and share content on Google+ as well as other social media sites.
The plus points of Friends+Me include –
- It allows bulk scheduling and draft support.
- Provides SEO benefits as well.
- Comes with a mobile app and chrome extension.
- It’s mobile-friendly and supports the team to grow.
Friends+Me pricing options –
- Comes with a free trial.
- Individual – $9 per month.
- Small – $29 per month.
- Medium – $59 per month.
- Large – $129 per month.
- Extra-large – $459 per month.
9. CANVA
We all know visuals play an important role to attract customers online. Canva is a wonderful tool that lets you design graphics and manage visuals for your social media.
This tool is free to use and is very easy to use even for a newbie having zero knowledge about designing.
The plus points of Canva include –
- Comes with a wide range of in-built templates.
- The drag and drop feature makes it easy for all.
- Thousands of features available to create breathtaking visuals.
- Can also make flyers, ads, documents, and marketing material.
- The best solution for infographics, headers, and post customization tools.
Canva pricing options –
- Free plan available.
- Pro – $12.95 per month.
- Enterprise – Custom.
10. BUZZ SUMO
Buzz Sumo helps you to discover content that works the best with your social media channels. BuzzSumo provides the best features and tools to come up with a successful influencer marketing campaign by giving you a list of influencers in your niche as well as their most active channels.
Buzz Sumo also provides help with idea generation and content creation.
The plus points of BuzzSumo include –
- Unique keyword search bar.
- Brand monitoring tools available.
- Searches relevant brand content.
BuzzSumo pricing options –
- Free trial available.
- Pro – $99 per month.
- Plus – $179 per month.
- Large – $299 per month.
11. HUBSPOT
The Hubspot Social Media Software is a suite of all management tools available in the market. It is an all-in-one marketing tool that provides the best solutions for blogging, marketing campaigns, lead generation, social media, SEO, analytics, as well as CTAs.
The plus points of HubSpot include –
- Aims to save time by prioritizing the most valued social connections.
- Monitors brand mentions and connects with the ones that matter.
HubSpot pricing options –
- Starter – $45 per month.
- Professional – $800 per month.
- Enterprise – $3200 per month.
12. POST PlANNER
Post Planner as the name suggests, lets you optimize and schedule posts for each of your social media accounts. It also helps you recycle old content and keep your content up to date and evergreen.
The plus points of Post include –
- Analyzes the post-performance.
- Reschedules the top performers.
- Upload and organize by mixing the content available and your content.
Post Planner pricing options –
- Starter – $4 per month.
- Solo – $12 per month.
- Business – $24 per month.
13. IFTTT
IFTTT stands for If This Then That which suggests that a single activity is dependent on the happening of another activity. IFTTT is used to make connections between different apps and channels working on an action-reaction mechanism.
The plus points of IFTTT include –
- Comes with a mobile app that allows you to use tools through the mobile app.
- Allows automated sharing.
IFTTT pricing options –
- Free plan.
- Pro – $3.40 per month.
14. TRELLO
Trello is a great tool that helps teams collaborate using its boards, lists, and cards. Trello is a great project management tool that can be used by individuals and small or medium-sized businesses.
The plus points of Trello include –
- Easy drag and drop feature for editing.
- Progress meter available for tracking progress.
- Integrated with dropbox, google drive, and box file.
Trello pricing options –
- Free plan.
- Business-class – $10 per month.
- Enterprise – Custom.
15. GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics helps you with the analytics of your social media platforms, ads, and websites. It gives you insights into how much traffic your website generates and what is ROI. Therefore, helping you with what is working for you and what needs improvement.
The plus points of Google Analytics include –
- Helps you to determine the visitor’s location and the website traffic.
- It also gives insights into the visitor’s behavioral pattern, age, and interest area.
Google Analytics pricing options –
- Free and Paid Version with customization.
16. TWEETDECK
TweetDeck is a tool that helps to organize, track, engage and monitor Twitter users especially.
The plus points of TweetDeck include –
- It helps you with scheduling posts for Twitter.
- Auto-updates lists and provides monitoring tools.
- Gives Notification alerts.
TweetDeck pricing options –
- Free plan.
17. PIKTOCHART
When it comes to imparting knowledge to your audience, nothing but infographics is the solution and Piktochart is cloud-based graphic design software that creates the best infographics. From easily creating a professional format to beautifully visualizing the template, Piktochart does it all.
The plus points of Piktochart include –
- Hundreds of customizable templates.
- Makes the best presentation and reports too.
- Flexible designs that help you create charts and maps as well.
Piktochart pricing options –
- Free plan available.
- Pro – $24.17 yearly.
- Team – $21.67 yearly.
18. CROWDFIRE
With Crowdfire you can publish, schedule, and create posts. Crowdfire knows how important it is to have a blog for a business to be successful and therefore allows to connect and share blog posts to social media channels. Crowd fire also provides suggestions to stay on track and achieve the goals.
The plus points of Crowdfire include –
- Gives you an insight into your inactive users and non-followers.
- Works well with your marketing by helping you with 3 in 1 scheduler, hashtag tool, and a suggester for Instagram.
- Allows you to search by using location and keyword options.
- Comes with a mobile application.
Crowdfire pricing options –
- Free plan available.
- Plus – $7.48 per month.
- Premium – $37.48 per month.
- VIP – $74.98 per month.
19. MEET EDGAR
Meet Edgar is a management tool that automates the content being posted on your social media channel. Meet Edgar is a perfect solution for channels that have a problem coming up with engaging new content.
The plus points of Meet Edgar include –
- A/B testing feature available to know what works.
- Recycles content and allows resharing.
- A browser extension is available.
Meet Edgar pricing options –
- Edgar lite – $19 per month.
- Edgar – $49 per month.
20. FACEBOOK ADS MANAGER
Facebook Ads manager is a special tool that eases up the process of creating Facebook and Instagram campaigns. You can manage or add a specific goal that you wish to accomplish through this campaign.
Ads are a great way to reach a wide audience, increase conversion, and the number of clicks on the website.
The plus points of Facebook Ads Manager –
- Helps to create and manage content.
- Measures and provides detailed reports on your performance.
Facebook Ads Manager pricing options –
- $0.97 Cost per click.
- $7.19 Cost per thousand impressions.
- $1.07 Cost per like.
- $5.47 Cost per download.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There you have it, the top 20 social media management tools. these tools are designed to help your business to do greater things such as –
- engage effectively on social media.
- drive quality leads and traffic to your site.
- gain more followers
- and all of the above in a small period.
Make sure you go through the tools carefully and choose the ones that work the best for you. Lastly, choose your social media platforms wisely.
Which one of the above tools would you like to try first? Let me know in the comment section below!
Claire Mark is an investment and strategic planning consultant at Alcor, a global investment bank. She’s best known for her insightful blogs on business growth, startups, small businesses, and investments. Claire also has a good network in the Finance industry, especially the investors’ community. Apart from her work, she loves to bake and go out for gadget-free nature walks.