Social media plays an important role in any marketing strategy.
To stand out, you need social media management tools that make it easy to handle marketing campaigns while freeing your team to focus on growth-related tasks.
According to research, 53% of brands automate their social media management. That’s where these tools come in handy.
With social media management tools, you can post updates with ease, manage audience interactions, and find new opportunities to boost reach. They support your digital and social media strategy while helping ensure you gain tangible results from your efforts.
Another study found that marketers automate social media marketing processes, including scheduling, advertising, engagement, and post creation.
Image via Social Media Today
That brings us to the next question:
Which social media management tools are great for automation? In the next section, we’ll discuss the best social media management tools out there.
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.
Social Media Management Tools: Features, Pros, Pricing, & Usability
For all the popular tools, we’ve compiled the pros, cons, key features, and pricing plans. Take a look at all the listings before you decide on the best social media management tool for your business.
1. Sprout Social
Image via Sprout Social
As one of the best social media management tools, Sprout Social helps you with everything from publishing, managing social conversations, and tracking performance.
With it, you can automate conversational tasks and create unique social media marketing experiences.
Key Features
- Social CRM tools, social commerce integrations, and helpdesk
- Detailed reports for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
- In-depth analytics and reporting
- Ability to compare performance across social media platforms
- Customized solutions for agencies, small businesses, enterprises, and various industries
- Ability to listen in on social conversations
- Audience discovery function
Pros
- Feature-rich automation and team collaboration tools
- Custom workflows that are easily accessible from a single dashboard
- Automated link tracking
- Numerous reporting options
Cons
- It can get expensive to get access to advanced features
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Standard Plan: $99 (monthly billing) with a 30-day trial or $89 (annual billing)
- Professional Plan: $169 (monthly billing) with a 30-day trial or $149 (annual billing)
- Advanced Plan: $279 (monthly billing) with a 30-day trial or $249 (annual billing)
2. Agorapulse
Image via Agorapulse
This social media management tool features advanced functionalities including intuitive publishing, listening, a unified social inbox, and insightful analytics.
Basically, it’s among the best social media management tools that enable you to manage conversations, build visibility, and track performance.
Key Features
- Unified inbox to manage all incoming messages
- Social listening to help you discover brand insights and industry trends
- Insightful analytics on which of your social media marketing hacks work
- Collaboration tools for teams to schedule posts, approve and publish with ease
- In-built content creation tools to help you crop images, customize thumbnails and preview social media posts
- Great social media management program for agencies
Pros
- Detailed reports
- Allows bulk scheduling
- Great social CRM tools
Cons
- Supports only Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
Offers 30-day free trial
- Free plan available
- Pro Plan: $79 per month
- Premium Plan: $159 per month
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
3. Crowdfire
Image via Crowdfire
Crowdfire is a social media management tool that makes it easy for digital marketers to create content for social media, track mentions, publish and analyze performance.
Additionally, it connects with your Etsy, Shopify, YouTube account easily. That enables you to schedule video announcements or product updates right from the marketing platform.
Key Features
- Curate content and images easily from social accounts, RSS feeds, and ecommerce stores
- Schedule posts and publish them on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- Customize times to post social media content
- Advanced analytics you can customize depending on crucial data points
- Ability to analyze competitor strategy
- Track customer conversations and reply from a single inbox
Pros
- Custom professional reports
- Single dashboard to manage major social networks
- Image curation and competitor analysis feature
- Chrome extension available
Cons
- Bulk scheduling is only available on top-tier plans.
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Free plan available
- Plus Plan: $9.99 per month
- Premium Plan: $49.99 per month
- VIP Plan: $99.99 per month
4. Zoho
Image via Zoho
Feature-packed social media management tools like Zoho can enable you to build a strong online presence, reach the right audience, and manage multiple accounts.
With it, you can schedule, monitor, publish, respond, and analyze your performance in real-time. It's among the top social media management tools that you can leverage to manage social media accounts.
Key Features
- Intuitive content calendar to manage your content pipeline
- Curate content with the zShare browser extension and RSS tool
- Monitor brand keywords, @mentions, reviews, trends, and industry conversations
- Collaboration features for team members
- In-depth analytics on followers, content preference, and brand performance
- Lead Ads integration to monitor leads on LinkedIn and Facebook pages in real-time
- Zoho CRM to collect social data and helps sales teams improve sales conversion rates
Pros
- Powerful customized reports
- Agency support
- Supports multiple social media platforms
- Great team collaboration and monitoring features
Cons
- May be difficult to understand for beginners
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Zoho offers a 15-day trial that moves you to a forever-free plan with limited features
For Businesses
- Standard Plan: $15 per month
- Professional Plan: $40 per month
- Premium Plan: $65 per month
For Agencies
- Agency Plan: $320 per month
- Agency Plus Plan: $460 per month
5. SocialBee
Image via SocialBee
Automating your social strategy is easy if you leverage social media management tools like SocialBee. It allows you to curate content, collaborate, and track performance.
Key Features
- Social media posting on platforms including Google My Business, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram
- Upload content from multiple sources including CSV uploads, RSS import, and Pocket
- Customizable URLs and tracking features
- Collaboration and audience building features
- Concierge services with a dedicated specialist to help with social media content creation, ads, and audience growth
- Tailor-made performance reports and analytics
- Repost evergreen content, refresh recycled content, and ensure time-sensitive content remains relevant
Pros
- Intuitive layout
- Easy scheduling features
- Concierge services
- Great client workspaces
Cons
- Ability to monitor social media is missing
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Bootstrap Plan: $19 per month
- Accelerate Plan: $39 per month
- Pro Plan: $79 per month
6. Eclincher
Image via Eclincher
Eclincher is among the best social media management tools you can leverage when growing your brand.
And guess what?
It offers specialized solutions to startups or small businesses, medium businesses, agencies, or enterprises.
Key Features
- Visual calendar to plan and schedule content across multiple pages and networks
- Ability to choose from a library of visuals, edit and publish
- Social listening to protect brand reputation
- Engage your audience from one social inbox in real-time
- Track social ROI across social media channels
Pros
- Competitor benchmarking
- Great social listening tools
- Collaboration features for team members and agencies
- Integrations with Yelp, Instagram, Twitter, Google My Business, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Cons
- Competitor benchmarking is only available in high-tier plans
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Basic Plan: $59 per month
- Premier Plan: $119 per month
- Agency Plan: $219 per month
7. Sendible
Image via Sendible
Social media management tools like Sendible help you execute strategies that drive social media traffic, grow your business and effectively manage client accounts.
What's more?
Their agency feature makes them stand out among social media management tools. With it, you can migrate clients for free to Sendible and leverage the many specialized features that help you scale your agency.
Key Features
- Powerful scheduling and publishing features
- One social inbox with the ability to engage, monitor activity and prioritize messages
- Social listening to track keywords, brands, sites, sentiments, etc.
- Compose multiple posts, bulk upload, and manage multiple social media campaigns.
- Supports networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google My Business, LinkedIn, Pinterest, WordPress, and YouTube
- Easily create content for Instagram through scheduling the first comment to publish with every post while also ensuring hashtags don't exceed the limit
- Integrates easily with Google Drive, Dropbox, and Google Analytics
Pros
- Collaboration features for team members
- Custom reports and live report sharing
- Priority inbox
- Cloud integration for images
Cons
- Real-time comment monitoring is only available on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Usability
- Easy to use
Tool Level
- Beginner
Pricing
- Creator Plan: $21 per month with a free trial
- Traction Plan: $65 per month with a free trial
- Scale Plan: $145 per month with a free trial
- Expansion Plan: $299 per month with a free trial
FAQs
Q1. What kind of tools do you use for social media management?
A. Social media management tools can help you automate social tasks, manage conversations from audiences, monitor brand mentions, and analyze performance. Some of the most popular social media management tools include:
- Sprout Social
- Agorapulse
- Crowdfire
- Zoho
- SocialBee
Q2. Which is the best social media management tool?
A. The best social media management tools include:
- Sprout Social
- Agorapulse
- Crowdfire
- Zoho
- SocialBee
- Eclincher
- Sendible
For details and features about these social media management tools, check out the details in the post above.
Q3. What are social media tools?
A. Social media tools make it easy for social media managers to publish, perform competitive analysis, listen to conversations online, and analyze performance.
Q4. Should I use a social media management tool?
A. Yes. The best social media management tools make it possible to do the following activities:
- Manage all your social accounts
- Stay on top of brand, industry, and trending conversations
- Manage your social media from one location
- Schedule and publish with ease across social media channels
- Monitor competitors and track keywords
- Analyze performance across social networks
- Prove ROI
Q5. Which tools does a social media manager need?
A. Tools that social media managers need include:
- Content calendars
- Graphic design tools
- Camera or stock photo sites
- Scheduling and listening tools
- Competitive analysis tools
- Audit tools
Q6. Which is better: Buffer or Hootsuite?
A. It depends on what you need social media management tools to help you with.
Hootsuite is ideal for scheduling, publishing, replying to messages, and monitoring performance. It also offers collaboration tools, management of team members, and integrates other third-party apps. However, it’s among social media management tools that require paid plans to access the most advanced functionalities.
On the other hand, Buffer is great for scheduling, publishing, and analyzing performance. It has a more robust analytic feature than Hootsuite, but it's also available at a higher price than Hootsuite.
Q7. Why are social media tools important?
A. Social media tools can help you:
- Get targeted traffic
- Curate social content
- Automate the scheduling and publishing process
- Listen to conversations and respond
- Analyze performance
- Compare brand performance with competitors
Q8. What is social media automation?
A. Social media automation refers to leveraging software that helps you handle time-consuming tasks needed to grow your social media presence. These can include tasks like curating content, scheduling, publishing, getting performance reports, etc.
Q9. Which social media management tool has the best analytics?
A. Social media management tools with great analytics include:
- Sprout Social
- Agorapulse
- Crowdfire
- Zoho
- SocialBee
Q10. Are there any free social media scheduling tools?
A. Free scheduling tools include:
- Agorapulse
- Crowdfire
- Buffer
- SocialOomph
Which Social Media Management Tool Will You Choose?
Your brand can easily manage multiple social accounts, save time, organize, and manage conversations with the best social media management tools.
Additionally, social media management tools allow you to monitor keywords, competitors, sentiments, and performance.
It's, therefore, crucial to cautiously choose a social media management tool that suits your business needs. It should have the features that make it easy to grow your online presence while also staying within your budget.
Do you have any questions about any of the social media management tools mentioned above? Please feel free to share them in the comments section.
Disclaimer: This content contains some affiliate links for which we will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you). This is to ensure that we can keep creating free content for you.
