When getting started with social media marketing it can be really difficult to keep from getting overwhelmed and to keep everything organized but luckily there are some great tools to help keep you from tearing your hair out. Social media management tools exist to help keep all of your social media accounts, posting calendar, content, database and more organized so you can spend less time worrying and more time generating more followers. I am going to show the top 10 examples for the best social media management tools below so whether you are a student and need some free resources to get started or you are looking to grow your social media marketing for your business, there will be great options to get you started below. While there are some great free resources below just keep in mind that they will not offer as much oomph or features as the paid options. The free options will be great for getting started in social media marketing and most of them will be able to scale into gradual paid plans as you increase your needs from the free access. For those who need to have everything in a single package right out of the gate, I have you covered as well with some wonderful options.
Why is social media management important?
When we think of social media marketing there are a lot of things that need to be considered and even more to keep track of. Eclincher.com lists “11 reasons why you need a social media management tool” to include some of the following:
Manage multiple social accounts
Ensure you never miss a thing
Schedule posts ahead of time
To analyze your results
Simplifies the content curation process
Makes uniformity and consistency easier
There will never be a perfect all in one solution that suits everyone but the right tools will help you be successful in your social media marketing while maximizing your time, increasing ROI, and minimizing your stress.
10 Best Social Media Management Tools
According to a blog by Alfred Lua, Product Marketer at Buffer
1. Buffer
Price: Forever free plan, $15, $99, $199, $399 per month
Description: Buffer is an intuitive, streamlined social media management platform trusted by brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals to help drive meaningful engagement and results on social media. We have a suite of products for publishing, engagement, analytics, and team collaboration. Our products are carefully considered and highly refined in order to help social media marketers and teams work more efficiently and effectively.
2. Hootsuite
Prices: Free plan, $29, $129, $599 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Hootsuite, probably the biggest social media management tool, is used by over 15 million people and more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies. There’s a good reason for their success: it’s an all-in-one platform that allows you to curate and schedule content, measure your social ROI, run social media ads, and more.
Prices: $99, $149, and $249 per user per month (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Similar to Hootsuite, Sprout Social combines several social media tools into one platform — from social media scheduling to monitoring, to reporting. Sprout Social is one of the few social media management tools that provides customer relationship management (CRM) features. Having a complete profile of your customers help you serve them better and build stronger relationships with them.
4. Agora Pulse
Prices: Free, $79 per month, $159 per month, plus enterprise options
Description: Like the social media management platforms mentioned above, Agora Pulse is also an all-in-one social media platform with scheduling, responding, and reporting features.
5. Sendible
Prices: $29, $99, $199, $299 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 30-day free trial)
Description: Sendible is a social media management tool built specifically for agencies with several clients. On top of most features that social media management tools provide, Sendible allows you to customize your dashboard according to your branding to attract new clients.
6. eClincher
Prices: $49, $99, $199 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: Like most social media management tools, eClincher allows you to schedule and publish posts, respond to social messages, and analyze your social media performance.
7. Social Pilot
Prices: $10, $24, $40, $80 per month, and enterprise pricing (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: I like how Social Pilot fit many of the social media management tools (such as scheduling and analytics but not monitoring) into a simple dashboard and offer it at very affordable prices. With its client management feature, I believe it’s great for agencies that work with several clients.
8. CoSchedule
Prices: Starting at $0 – 20, $40, $60, $210, $300, $1,200 per month (with a 14-day free trial)
Description: CoSchedule is more than a social media management tool; it’s a powerful calendar to manage many aspects of your marketing. With CoSchedule, you can manage and collaborate with your team to create your social media posts, content, events, and tasks.
9. MavSocial
Prices: Free, $19, $78, $199, $499 per month (with 7-day free trial)
Description: MavSocial is a social media management tool with a focus on visual content. For the higher-priced plans, it seems that you can also manage your Facebook ads with MavSocial.
10. Friends+Me
Prices: Free, $9, $29, $59, $259 per month (with a 15-day free trial)
Description: Friends+Me has a strong focus on Google+ but also allows you to schedule your content to the other major social platforms (except Instagram).
There are many more tools to choose from out there but these are the top ones to cover all the biggest needs for anyone looking to organize their social media and manage everything in one place. Students can use the free tools to learn more and start their journey of social media marketing. Business professionals and even small to medium size businesses can utilize the same tools above to maximize their social media marketing efforts and track everything with real time results and reports. If you need to really compare the above options in more depth you can click here to download a spreadsheet comparing prices, features, products included with each, and more provided by Buffer.
If you want to learn how to best use the tools above and to get the most out of all of your social media marketing efforts subscribe to our blog The SMMU where you get all the best information to be a social media marketing wiz.
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