5 Best Social Media Management Tools
With so many software options, it can be difficult to decide which social media management tool is right for you. The best way to choose the right tool for you is to start by clarifying your social media priorities and goals. How consistently can you realistically create social media content? How many hours a week do you want to devote to social media? How much of your budget are you willing to spend on social media?
Once you answer this question, it will be easy for you to find software features that match your priorities.
IMPORTANT FEATURES
Its social media management tools will help you attract new followers and attract existing ones. To do this, you need to post often and know when to post at the best time. There are several features to help you with this.
- Platform integration. Tracking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and other social media is just too hard. When looking for social media management software, make sure it allows you to manage all your social media platforms from a single dashboard.
- Content calendar. A visual content calendar helps you plan all your social media posts and campaigns for a specific period of time. Save time, organize your social media marketing plan, track how your content is performing on social media, and keep posts consistent. This will help you plan your social media content for the week, month, or even year.
- planning tool. Planning tools are one of the most important features of good social media management software. Once you've determined what you'll be posting over a period of time, it can help to schedule those posts one at a time. Automated post scheduling ahead of time allows you to focus on creating compelling content.
- Post-optimization tool. Planning for great content won't work if you don't post it when your ideal audience is online to see it. Because social media audiences vary, create the best posting times for your specific social media audience. Finding a social media management tool that can share your content at the time that works best for your unique audience ensures that your content is shown to as many people as possible. possible.
- Analysis and reporting tools. Analytics are the key to determining which social media strategies are working and which are not.
- Keyword tracking. No one can be on social media all the time, and this is where keyword monitoring tools come in. Keyword monitoring allows you to find all the conversations that mention your brand so you can join those conversations if you want.
Type and number of managed accounts
Today, most social media management software companies integrate with major social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn. SocialPilot was one of the first to integrate with the popular video sharing platform TikTok, but slowly but surely, most other software platforms have followed suit.
Not all social media management software platforms are integrated with the WhatsApp cross-platform messaging app. While some platforms like Buffer and SproutSocial allow users to schedule and automatically send text, images, audio, video and PDFs to their WhatsApp followers, other platforms like Zoho Social do not.
Company Size/Team Size
The size of the company will help determine the features you need in your social media management software. For example, if you're a freelancer managing Instagram and TikTok accounts, you'll need very different software than a social media manager managing eight different social networks. Platforms for 10 different brands.
Individual entrepreneurs or marketing managers in charge of their company's social media channels are looking for a software platform with a wide range of automation features. Automation tools save time by scheduling posts, automatically publishing new blog posts on your favorite social media platforms, and customizing posts based on social media platforms.
Along with “set it and forget it” social media planners, accessibility is also important for small businesses. Some social media management software, such as Buffer, has robust free plans that are perfect for solo entrepreneurs or small businesses to manage their social media accounts.
Social media managers who manage large accounts or manage multiple company or brand accounts tend to work in teams. If this is your case, it's important to find social media management software that allows team members to work together without getting in the way or duplicating their efforts. Here are some features of team collaboration when comparing social media management software:
- Assign roles to different team members.
- Assign tasks to different team members.
- Account permissions to grant different levels of account permissions to team members
- A conflict detection tool to avoid situations where multiple team members send duplicate responses or conflict when responding to the same message.
Reports and analysis
If you're going to spend time and energy creating social media content, it's important to find out if social media content is right for you. Most social media management software includes reporting and analytics tools.
These tools can help you understand the ROI of your social media strategy. You can answer questions such as whether to post on Twitter, which social media posts generate the most activity, how many Facebook followers you get per month, and which networks get the most activity. More knowledge to launch specific products.
Hootsuite's reporting capabilities are some of the best. The platform gives users a 360-degree view of all social networks from a single dashboard where you can set performance benchmarks and track improvements over time. Hootsuite users can create customizable reports, get updates on the best time to post to maximize results, and easy-to-read charts on how their social channels and campaigns are generating leads. conversions and sales.
Sprout Social is another platform with powerful analytics and reporting tools. This software allows users to define specific demographics and geographies to measure how their audience interacts with their content. Sprout can track keywords across all social networks, notifying users when they name them, analyzing audience growth, demographics, engagement, and impressions across all social media platforms.
Sprout Social even allows users to compare their social media performance with competitors.
Free or paid software
Some of the major social media management software platforms, including the ones we reviewed here, have lifetime free plans. As a rule, these packages have limited features and functionality. This may limit the number of social media accounts you can post to, limit the number of users allowed in your plan, or restrict access to analytics. For example, the forever free Buffer plan allows users to schedule content across three social media channels.
Zoho Social's free plan is even more advanced, allowing users to post to seven social media channels, as well as the Zoho Social browser extension, zShare, and the ability to add team members to your Zoho Social portal.
These limits are not a problem when you first start, but they can limit your scaling options until you upgrade to a paid plan.
When subscribing to a free plan, it's important to look into the paid software packages. Do they have features that you think are essential to growing your business? How affordable is the basic plan compared to the most expensive plan? As you put together your business plan for the next five years, when do you think you should upgrade to paid social media management software, and what features of the software do you consider most important to your business? Try to find software that currently has a free plan but also has a paid plan to help you reach your future business goals.
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