The ultimate guide to social media management tools

Nowadays, social media is a powerful business tool that helps businesses and brands reach millions of people worldwide. With an executing social media strategy across social media platforms, you will see different companies with multiple accounts on different platforms, to engage with their community and expand their reach.

So social media presence is an essential part of marketing today and is just as important as a physical presence for most brands. But social media management isn’t as simple as it may sound, there’s a lot more to it than just making time to post on social media. It can be a challenging task, a big-time drain, and is no longer a one-person job.

Luckily, when it comes to social media management tools, there are literally hundreds out there to choose from. There are too many options, each with its own bells and whistles, making it difficult to know which one to choose. In this blog, we have listed the best social media management tools available today, along with an explanation of what they are and what they can do.

Let’s get started!

Outline:

• What is social media management?
• Why is social media management important?
• What are social media management tools?
• How to choose the best social media management for your business.
• Best social media marketing tools in 2022.
  

What is social media management?

The process of developing and releasing content, tracking interaction and mentions,  reporting and analyzing the results, as well as building a community of customers and influencers, across multiple social media platforms, is referred to as social media management.

Social media management is a challenging task that necessitates a high level of human understanding, immaculate writing, analytical thinking, and great organization, and which goal is to spread online content effectively so that it can be seen by the target market.

Why is social media management important?

In this time and age, Internet has taken a large part of our lives. Not just that, but most people around the world have social media accounts. To be more specific,

84% of people with internet access use social media. And that's a huge number of potential customers you can reach through these social networks no matter where they are on the planet.

Besides that, there is a range of reasons for social media management, varying from time savings to proper messaging, brand awareness, customer service, and consumer insights.

What are social media management tools?

Social media management tools are software that allows the user to publish, monitor, and manage one or more social media networks from a single interface. This makes it easier to share and schedule the content throughout all the social media networks from a single place. It can also make it easier for teams to manage one or many social streams jointly, and reply to consumers' comments, questions, and even DMs.

Social media management tools may also offer different features which differ from one platform to another. From social media scheduling and planning tools to analytic and monitoring tools, those tools are made to help the users’ experience more effortless.

read more about media management tools and their basics here: Social Media Engagement: The Basic Steps to Improve It.

How to choose the best social media management for the business:

With so many social media management platforms out there it's so hard to choose. Yet, each platform is unique and is here to help.

Still, the majority of people give up and sign up for one of the most popular tools when they have to choose.

Sometimes that may work, but most of the time it does not. Why? because it’s not the right one for their business.

Here few things people should consider when reviewing  social media tools:

• How big is the brand or agency?
• Which Social media networks are supported?
• What is your monthly social media marketing budget?
• What are your social media needs and goals?
• How easy it will be to schedule, post, and engage with your posts using the tool?
• Does it have a great user experience or not?
  
  

The best social media management tools:

Now, it’s time to dive in to look into the best social media management tools on the market and their features.

Note that the tools aren’t in any particular order, and they each are unique in their own way.

1. Post Planner:

Plans: Starter, Solo, and Business.

Pricing: Plans start at $6 per month for annual billing to manage up to 3 social media profiles, with a 7-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest.

Some Features: Scheduled Posts, Content Library, Bulk Uploads, Content Search Engine, Content Recycling, Social Analytics, Social Management Dashboard, and Email Opt-in.

2. SocialPilot:

Plans: Small Team, Studio, Agency, Enterprise.

Pricing: Plans start at $25  per month for annual billing to manage up to 25 social media profiles with 3 users and a 14-day free trial.

Supported Social networks: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumbler, TikTok, Google My Business.

Some Features: Social Media Scheduling Calendar, Bulk Scheduling, Custom Feeds, Content Suggestions, Client Management, URL Shortening Integration, Social Media Analytics, Browser Extensions, Advance Post Scheduler, Teams & Collaboration.


3. Buffer:

Plans: Free, Essentials, Team, Agency.

Pricing: Free for 3 social media profiles, and Plans start at $5 per month for annual billing per social channel connected and a 14-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+.

Some Features: Informative social analytics, Profile management, Agency/business planning, Multi-media format sharing, Customized scheduling, RSS feeds connectivity, Standard buffering, and Team collaboration.

4. Sprout Social:

Plans: Standard, Professional, Advanced.

Pricing: Plans start at $89 per month for annual billing to manage up to 5 social media profiles and a 30-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+.

Some Features: Smart Inbox, Social Media Monitoring, Reporting/Analytics, Campaign Management, Content Library, Social Advertising,  Social Media Team Management.

5. Coschedule:

Plans: Free, Business, Pro.

Pricing: Starting from $29 per month for annual billing per user, with a 14-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Some Features: Activity Planning, Automated Publishing, Content Management, Customer Engagement, Budgeting/Forecasting, Campaign Analytics, Campaign Management, Asset Library.

6. Hootsuite:

Plans: Professional, Team, Business, Enterprise.

Pricing: Plans start at $49 per month to manage up to 2 social media profiles, and a 30-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Some Features: Social Publishing, Social Reporting, Report Exporting, Campaign Optimization, Social Engagement, Social Ads, Competitor Analysis, Post Performance.

7. Sendible:

Plans: Creator, Traction, Scale, Expansion.

Pricing: Plans start at $25 per month for annual billing to manage up to 6 social media profiles and a 14-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+.

Some Features: Content Management, Brand Tracking, Multi-User Collaboration, Customer Engagement, Multi-Account Management, Posts Scheduling, Social Media Monitoring.

8. Later:

Plans: Starter, Growth, Advanced.

Pricing:  Plans start at $12.5 per month for annual billing to manage 6 social media profiles, and a 14-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest.

Some Features:  Social Publishing, Social Analytics, Follower Analysis, Content Calendar, Content Library, Shared Inbox, Post Performance, Paid Campaign Tracking, Attribution, Competitor Analysis.

9. AgoraPulse:

Plans: Free, Pro, Premium, and Enterprise.

Pricing:  Plans start at $79 per month for annual billing to manage 10 social media profiles with two users and a 15-day free trial.

Supported Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+.

Some Features: Social Analytics, Social Publishing, Campaign Optimization, Social Engagement, Competitor Analysis, Follower Analysis, Post Performance, Content Calendar.

Final Thoughts:

Social media management tools are solutions to a lot of problems. And these solutions come in all shapes and sizes, and what suits you best depends on your social media network needs and goals.

I hope you have enjoyed this guide and I hope I've mentioned at least one tool that could be useful for you. Of course, this also may not meet your needs, so feel free to look for more options online.

So here you go, it’s your turn now to start saving your time and energy and make your business bloom!

Good luck!