Logging into Instagram or Facebook for a few minutes, to post an update or two, won’t cut the mustard today. You need a consistent on-brand presence. Social media managing tools get this done optimally.
These micro-tasks need to be completed every day, in some cases. But you can simplify your workload. The key to avoiding ‘burnout’, in the race for better engagement, is to minimize energy out and maximize ROI.
The best SMM tools handle your entire social media presence. They reduce complexities and keep your activities in line with your strategic vision:
Schedule posts, gain engagement metrics and keep tabs on the competition – whether as a small online creator or burgeoning business.
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Best Social Media Management Tools in 2021
We sifted through the most trusted data, to bring you a summary of each best social media management software, with strengths and weaknesses.
These tools, which include the best free social media management tools, streamline every key aspect of your social media management campaign:
From getting deeper insights into the numbers to smoothing out the posting and scheduling process and engaging with your followers.
#1 Hootsuite
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Specifications:
- Schedule Unlimited Messages
- Up to 10 Social Profiles
- Auto Scheduling/Publishing
- Publishing Calendar
- Content Creation Apps
- Reports on Standard Plan
Pros:
- Central Social Inbox
- Specialist Product Training Available
- Ad Spend: Boost Organic Posts
Cons:
- No TikTok Integrations
Our Verdict
Hootsuite is a specialist social media management platform where you can see, manage and grow all of your social profiles in a single dashboard.
Trial: limited free plan
Scheduling
Hootsuite’s Auto Scheduling gives you around-the-clock social media presence. Set a schedule and fill in as you go. Hootlet is a very handy accompanying browser extension.
Post using content you come across as you browse the internet. Share content right from your browser window, selecting a slot that’s yet to be filled in your scheduling calendar.
Reports
A default reports template that gives you key analytics for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
If you pay for the Team plan level, you’ll be able to customize these reports, visualizing and organizing this data in a way most relevant to your team.
Networks/Engagements
HootSuite has 20+ integrations including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Popular Plans
The Professional plan gives you the essentials for $19/mo: 10 social profiles and unlimited scheduling.
It’s one of the best social media management tools for small businesses. For $99/mo on the Team plan, this increases to 20 social profiles, with custom reports.
#2 Buffer _________________________________________________________________
Specifications:
- 8 Social Accounts
- 100 Scheduled Posts/Month
- 5 Major Social Integrations
- Schedule Calendar View
- Tailored Post Composer
- Quick Sharing: Browser Extension
Pros:
- iOS/Android Apps
- Use Zapier: 60+ Integrations
- Self-Service Knowledge Base
Cons:
- No Engagements Dashboard
- Starter: No Instagram Stories
Our Verdict
If you primarily want post scheduling and do not need a single dashboard to see all of your social network engagements, Buffer is a great choice.
Trial: 14-day (free)
Scheduling
Buffer has exceptional planning and scheduling mechanisms. Create a posting schedule with a calendar of you using the Tailored Posts composer which quickly customizes each for the social network you are targeting.
The calendar view lets you toggle between a month/a week, see engagement metrics at a glance (of what you’ve shared), and move posts around/edit.
Reports
See basic information about what you have posted, when they were posted and how well they performed. Overall, Buffer is not exceptional for engagement metrics but enough for a basic idea of your progress.
Networks/Engagements
Buffer’s main social integrations: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Zapier can be linked, for even more integrations.
But they do not yet have an engagement dashboard, which they are working on as a future update called ‘Grid View’.
Popular Plans
The Pro plan gives you what’s needed to get started – for $15/mo gets 8 social accounts and 100 scheduled posts per month. This increases to 2,000 scheduled posts for $65/mo with two users instead of one.
#3 Sprout Social
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Specifications:
- 5 Social Profiles
- Central Inbox
- Schedule and Draft Posts
- Calendar for Social Content
- iOS/Android Mobile Friendly
- Advanced Reports
Pros:
- CRM Integrated
- Buy Premium Analytics Addon
- Long Free Trial
Cons:
- Standard Plan: Limited Reports
- Expensive
Our Verdict
One of the top best social media management tools for teams of any size, with deep analytics that can be added even to the standard plan for an extra cost.
Trial: 30-day (free)
Scheduling
Draft, schedule, queue and publish posts to each network using the browser extension or mobile/web app. Their ViralPost feature advises you on optimal times to post, for max engagement.
And set permissions, so that individual team members have schedules to draft/submit posts, with a managerial approval pipeline.
Reports
They have exceptionally detailed social analytics. See key insights on your network, profile, and message-level activities for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Track your team for KPIs: individual responsiveness/engagement scores.
Networks/Engagements
You’ll get integrations for Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Popular Plans
The Standard plan gives advanced essentials for $99/mo, which comes with 5 social profiles. This increases to 10 social profiles on the Professional plan for $149/mo. No credit card is needed for the 30-day free trial.
#4 Hubspot
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Specifications:
- Publish Directly to Social
- Build Landing Pages
- Schedule Posts
- Best Posting Time Suggestions
- All-in-One Social Inbox
- Contact Activity History
Pros:
- Comes with Integrated CRM
- Superb Marketing Automations
- Ready-to-Go Social Reports
Cons:
- For Burgeoning Companies (Very Expensive)
- A General Marketing Tool
Our Verdict
HubSpot’s solution is for middle to large companies – it’s more than a social media marketing tool:
It is a powerful sales and marketing tool, providing streamlined tools for driving traffic and engagement like conversion-optimized landing pages.
Trial: 30 days (free)
Scheduling
Schedule posts in a central messaging hub, for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
Reports
Manage contact information in its CRM: see every interaction you’ve had. Use this data to inform your campaigns. See all of your brand mentions and track conversations.
Engagements are automatically sent into your dashboard. Link to and build landing pages, and manage your leads, to drive more traffic to your website and services/products.
Networks/Engagements
HubSpot makes key suggestions. Schedule your social posts to be published not only at the right time but to the right people.
HubSpot even suggests ways and provides design templates to keep your content engrossing: consistent formatting, tips on relevancy/engagement and optimizations for sales funnels.
Popular Plans
If you want social media management capabilities – which includes 50 connected accounts, 10,000 posts/mo and post scheduling for up to three years in advance – you’ll need to get onto the Professional plan which costs $800/mo.
#5 AgoraPulse
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Specifications:
- 10 Social Profiles
- Addon Profiles
- Smart Inbox with Filters
- Leave Internal Team Notes
- Unified Multi-Team Calendars
- FaceBook ROI Calculator
Pros:
- Integrated With YouTube
- Growing SMBs to Enterprises
- Social CRM Integrations
Cons:
- Expensive for Newer Businesses
Our Verdict
A powerful solution for growing SMBs all the way up to agencies and Enterprises with very large teams and many profiles – also has integrations with YouTube.
Trial: 28-day (free, no cc)
Scheduling
Schedule content in advance using a specific date/time. You can also set posts to go out every hour, day, week or month. For content that is evergreen, the queue feature lets you share it repeatedly.
Reports
Using AgoraPulse, you can see detailed performance insights. Eliminates the need to log into social media to check analytics. One of the best social media management tools for this.
See conversion rates, community growth, customer service, engagement, response rates, and your reach.
Filter it down to a specific date range, such as the last month. And you have the option to download reports to PowerPoint, with white-label custom branding.
Networks/Engagements
See engagements on a central dashboard for your entire social media, which is integrated with YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.
Popular Plans
The Medium plan gives growing small businesses powerful solutions for $99/mo: 10 social profiles, 2 users, unlimited scheduled posts.
This increases to 25 social profiles/4 users on the Large plan for agencies at $199/mo. The Enterprise tier ($499/mo) supports up to 60 profiles/20 users.
#6 Sendible
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Specifications:
- 12 Platforms/Services
- Up to 10 Queues
- Bulk Scheduling
- Central and Priority Inbox
- Set Google Alerts
- Evergreen Recycling
Pros:
- Group Training Sessions
- Posting Time Suggestions
- Live Chat (9am-8pm GMT)
Cons:
Our Verdict
Using one dashboard, manage and monitor your brand and key KPIs – making engaging with your audience simple.
Trial: 14-day (free, no cc)
Scheduling
Schedule content in bulk or individually. It’s then placed onto an interactive calendar, where you can drag-and-drop posts, moving them around to the best-suiting position.
If you have a particularly well-performing piece, use the repeating schedule to recycle it.
There’s also a content recommendation feature that checks current trends and suggests the content that’s most likely to engage.
Use the RSS Auto Posting to select appropriate quality material to post at consistent intervals during the day.
Reports
Use the premade templates in order to distribute reports for team members and clients. You’ll get a precise look into your social media activity, customizable using more than 250 modules.
You’ll also be able to send them automatically via email.
Networks/Engagements
There are a lot of social media integrations, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. The upper levels even let you publish instantly to Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr.
Popular Plans
The Starter plan gives you essentials a solopreneur would need, on the Starter plan for $29/mo, letting you manage 12 different accounts for 1 user.
This increases to 48 accounts for 3 users on the Traction plan, for $99/mo. The most popular tier is the Growth plan, which gives you 105 accounts for 7 users at $199/mo.
#7 SocialPilot
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Specifications:
- 25 Social Profiles
- Web Reports
- 2 Facebook Ad Accounts
- Content Discovery/Curation
- Bulk Scheduling
- RSS Feeds
Pros:
- 200 Posts per Day
- 2,500 Posts in Queues
- 3 Team Members
Cons:
Our Verdict
An efficient social media management platform for SMBs and small agencies.
Trial: 14-day (free)
Scheduling
Add up to 2,500 posts for the Starter plan. Assort them into a queue. Draft your posts until they are in the publishing stage.
Reports
Save yourself invaluable hours by publishing your social analytics into a PDF that can be white-label branded. The downloadable PDF is only available after the Starter plan, but you can view your results on the web.
Networks/Engagements
The content curation and discovery tool analyzes all of your activities to find the most evergreen content that could repeatedly generate high engagement levels.
Popular Plans
The Professional plan gives you essential tools for $30/mo with no credit card required for the free trial: get 25 social media accounts for three members.
This increases to 50 social media accounts for five team members at $50/mo on the Small Team plan.
The Agency level costs $100/mo with 100 social media accounts for ten team members. There’s also an Enterprise option that requires you to speak to the sales team.
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