Since the pandemic hit the globe, more and more people are spending time on social media platforms. Smart sights has reported that there is a 43% spike in time people spend daily on social media since December 2019. This spike is not very surprising as everyone you know may be using social media and some even use multiple social media networks; some are even addicted to them.
Many new and small businesses are shifting their focus aggressively on designing their social media to get their services and products seen more. The problem arrives when you don’t know how to manage your social media profiles to boost your business, keeping everything in sync. This is where social media management software comes into the picture.
Table of Contents
What is social media management software?
As the name suggests, social media management software is your assistant which helps you monitor, publish and manage your social media profiles from one interface.
Not only does social media management software help you to schedule and share your content on social media, but it also assists in responding to the potential customers efficiently. It allows teams to work effectively on one or more social media networks.
How social media management software aids in boosting your business?
Everyone is aware of the power of social media. Especially if you are running a business, you might know the usefulness of it. All the major companies and important organisations (such as NASA) are using social media. Besides, more than half of the total population uses social media; therefore if you want your business to progress, you have to be active on social media. Using social media networks, you can drive the audience to your website, find new customers and make your product visible.
However, managing, updating and scheduling your content in all the platforms using their individual apps can be a tedious and time-consuming task. Therefore, if you need to run all the social media platforms efficiently, you need the right software and tools.
Let’s dig more in-depth as to how the social media management software works and helps in running a successful business on the different social media networks.
Manages various social media networks via one interface
Managing multiple social media accounts can get complex, and you may end up getting confused. Social media management software has one dedicated tool to solve this very problem in a matter of seconds. It can assist you in consolidating down to one login, a single user interface and other business-related features.
Never miss an important notification
One missed message from a potential customer can cost you not just money but a customer trust and relationship. The social media management software alerts you about any important notification. A big part of the management software out there has a unified inbox for all social media networks that saves you from the hassle of checking the inbox of every social media network separately.
Track and manage conversations
If you want your business to be visible in the multiple social media network, you need to be ‘social’, and inbox conversations play an essential role in this regard. However, remembering each and every conversation and keeping track of it can be a task of its own. This is where the management tool comes in handy. You can search for your conversation using a specific keyword. Remembering one word or name from the conversation is all that you are required to do.
Schedule posts
It is crucial to document a goal you wish to achieve, and when it comes to managing your social media marketing, it is necessary to schedule your posts. Using the social media management tool, you can plan your posts ahead of time, and this will help you align and schedule your goals beforehand.
Analyse the results
They say if you want to succeed, you need to plan and analyse your strategy. Social media management tools not only design your postings ahead of time, it also shows you the result of your published posts. For instance, you can track how many retweets your posts have received and how many visitors your social media posts have referred to your website.
Optimise posts using images
Posts with images or GIFs receive more attention on the social media platform because they are more eye-catching. Some social media management tools help you create attractive images that people wouldn’t resist ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’. So when they say ‘a picture says more than a thousand words’ they are right!
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The best Social media management software
There is various social media management software available in the market, claiming to provide the best services. However, choosing the one that caters all your needs among the pool of software can be confusing and time-taking. We have rounded up the best social media management software for your convenience.
Explore Hootsuite
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the widely used social media management software because of how simple it is to use and how effective it is to manage all the social media profiles in one platform.
Features
Supports following social media
— Facebook
— Twitter
— LinkedIn
— Instagram
— YouTube
— Pinterest
Easy start-up
Hootsuite provides free access to its software to everyone, this is a great way to get started for a low cost. All that you are required to do is to register, and you are all set to explore all the features that Hootsuite offers. After you have registered for a free Hootsuite account using your email ID, you can integrate various social media profiles to manage them collectively.
Dashboard settings
With self-explanatory features setting up your dashboard won’t be a complicated task. The main dashboard layout helps you open tabs of different social media networks for easy viewing. With the ‘auto-refresh’ option, you can refresh these pages after every two, five, ten, fifteen and thirty minutes.
Moreover, by clicking the ‘add social media’ option, you can add the social media profile that you wish to be managed right from the dashboard. What’s more appealing is that you can even add your WordPress blog with the free Hootsuite account. By doing this you can monitor and create your WordPress blogs, respond to blog comments, and you can directly share your blogs to your social accounts. Isn’t it great?
By using the ‘add stream’ option, you can choose to view the associated streams from the social media profiles you’ve added on the dashboard.
Messages composing
After the integration of social media profiles the next task is to compose posts. Just choose the text and images that you wish to post, the time and then you are good to go.
With the ‘auto-scheduler’ option, you can choose to schedule your posts at your desired date and time. This saves you from the hassle of remembering the time your post should be posted, and you can focus on your business.
Certain posts are for the specific demographic regions, and with the help of ‘targeting options’, you can target your posts to the audience of a particular country or region.
Hootsuite Pro
The free version of the Hootsuite has enough features to help small businesses get their visibility on social media platforms growing easily. However, with Hootsuite Pro, you can get access to the most advanced features that the free version lacks.
Pros
Hootsuite is a web-based software that means you don’t have to download it to use its features.
The basic version is free of cost, and the paid versions even offer the 30-days open trails before signing-up.
This software is compatible to use with mobile phones, and it can smoothly work on iOS and Android operating systems.
You can manage as many YouTube accounts from the dashboard you wish to. And with the custom search feature, you can even find relevant videos to post.
You can add the RSS feed of your blog along and enable the auto-sharing of the newest blog posts.
With a free add-on feature for Chrome, you can post your content from anywhere on the web.
Cons
The free plan offers only three social media platforms to manage.
Hootsuite supports an only limited amount of shortening your URL.
Pricing
Hootsuite offers a basic free version. If you want to get access to more advanced features, then Hootsuite offers four paid plans.
The professional plan is available at $29 per month which allows you to manage up to ten social media profiles giving access to one user only.
For $129 per month, Hootsuite offers a team plan that makes it possible to manage up to 20 social media profiles and 3 users will get access.
The business plan is available at $599 per month which allows you to manage 35 social media profiles and 5 users will get access.
If these plans are not enough, you can customise your plan using the Enterprise plan.
Verdict
With the pros over weighing the cons, Hootsuite is a must-try social media management software primarily for small business owners to get started on structuring their social media presence.
Explore Buffer
Buffer
It won't be wrong to say that Buffer is the most innovative social media managing tool. Why? Because Buffer offers the most straightforward features and integrates all the social media networks more swiftly and efficiently.
Features
Supports following social media
— Facebook
— Twitter
— LinkedIn
— Instagram
— Pinterest
Easy to manage dashboard
With a drag-and-drop feature for easy navigation and easy to use dashboard, Buffer is the most user-friendly social media management software. If you are working with a team, each member can track each other’s activity easily.
The dashboard can integrate seamlessly with over 60 other applications. The dashboard layout design is so simple that navigating anything is a piece of cake.
Works with other websites and applications
The easy collaboration with your WordPress and applications makes it more creative-friendly. The smooth integration with other apps and sites makes this social media management software a versatile one.
Smooth social media management
The integration and management of social media networks are very smooth, making Buffer a delight to use for beginners. The very top of the dashboard has the options of ‘publish’, ‘reply’, and ‘analyse’. The left-hand-side column shows the social media handles that are connected to the software. The intuitive layout makes social media management a breeze.
Pricing
Buffer offers 3 plans.
The Buffer pro plan starts at $15 per month with 8 social media profiles, 1 user access and 100 scheduled posts per month.
With a $65 per month premium plan, you can manage 8 social media profiles, schedule up to 2000 posts with 2 user access.
The business plan starts at $99 per month with 25 social media profiles and giving access to 6 users. You can schedule 2000 posts per month.
Pros
The management of social media networks is smooth and straightforward.
The intuitive drag-and-drop function makes scheduling easier.
Buffer extension for chrome is helpful in sharing pictures, links, and videos from any website.
Cons
Buffer can get expensive as you add more users to work with.
They charge differently for replying, analysing, and publishing. This will make the potential client a bit confused as they don’t understand what they are actually paying for.
Verdict
Buffer’s easy-to-understand dashboard layout makes it the most straightforward social media management app to use. It may lack some features available in Hootsuite and Sprout Social, but the creative freedom which Buffer offers partially compensates for the features lacking. If easy social media scheduling is your priority, then your search ends with Buffer.
Explore Sprout Social
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is one of the handiest social media management software when you are juggling with different social media networks at once. With the powerful analysing tool, Social sprout is increasingly becoming the favourite of small and big business owners.
Features
Supports following social media
— Facebook
— Twitter
— LinkedIn
— Instagram
— Pinterest
— YouTube
Integrated inbox
The one integrated inbox saves you from the hassle of juggling from one inbox to another. The smart inbox collects all the messages coming from all the social media platforms at one platform, making it easier to respond to every message in one place.
The statistics panel even notifies you the number of unread messages.
Automated features
With many automation tools, Social Sprout makes it easy for you to interact with your customers. The bot chat option responds to the customers automatically with your approved messages depending upon the customisable workflow.
Automated scheduling tools help you get engaged with your audience.
Effective publishing tools
Social sprout offers a visual calendar that helps to schedule and re-scheduling of tasks simpler than other social media management software. The calendar has titles, images and thumbnails of the content so that it is easy to navigate and schedule for you.
Pricing
Social sprout offers 3 plans, each with a 30-day free trial.
The standard plan starts with $99 per month for a single user only with 5 social media profiles.
For $149 per month, you can get a professional plan that offers 10 social media profiles for s single user only.
The advanced plan is offered at $249 per month for a single user with the management of 10 social media profiles along with several other features that the standard and professional plan lacks.
Pros
You can efficiently respond to all your customers using a single interface.
Social Sprout provides robust analytics reports across all social media platforms.
Cons
Social sprouting is more expensive than other social media management software.
Verdict
If you are looking for an all-in-one social media management tool that not only helps your social media management run smoothly but also helps in effective marketing of your brand then Social Sprout is the choice for you.
Explore Falcon
Falcon
Falcon is a social media management and marketing software combined. This software is the favourite of marketers around the globe due to its easy access to both social media management and other marketing tools simultaneously.
Features
Supports following social media
— Facebook
— Twitter
— LinkedIn
— Instagram
Mobile-friendly tools
Falcon works excellent on both iOS and Android operating systems. The mobile-friendly tools make this social media management software a breeze to use even with your mobile phone.
Works great with other tools and plugins
With easy integration to other tools like HubSpot, Lexalytics, smooch, and Zendesk you can easily expand your creative tools stash.
Impeccable social media marketing
The marketing features that Falcon has, no other social media management software offers. Falcon offers the most effective content publishing, engagement and customer data management.
Straightforward collaboration with the team
If you work in a team and want to collaborate effectively, then you won’t find a better option than Falcon social media management software.
Pricing
Falcon offers a single $129 per month package. It’s a fully-packed plan, however if you need more features and space they have the option for you to customise your own plan. The standard plan comes with a 14-day free trial.
Pros
Falcon is relatively cheaper than it’s competitors in the market.
The multilingual setting makes it easy to use for many non-English companies too.
The dashboard is convenient and straightforward.
Cons
The mobile version can be complex to use.
Not suitable for the smaller business.
Verdict
If you run a moderate to large running business, then you can easily count on Falcon for your social media management tasks. Many big names use Falcon and seem to be happy with it because of its outstanding marketing features.
Conclusion
There are so many social media management tools offered in the market that it is hard to choose one. However, when you are done with the choosing task, you can manage all your social media management tasks with this advanced software and tools. It will save you a ton of time, trust me on this one.
If you are a beginner, then Hootsuite’s free subscription can be your best choice. However, with an easy to manage dashboard, Buffer comes second on my list. Most of the marketers vouch for Falcon because of its efficient content publishing. Go for Falcon if you’re looking for that extra functionality.
Now, when you have found the right tool for you, then you have to decide whether you want to expand to more social media platforms? I always say that the more presence you have the better. Read my article about what social media platforms you should focus on, to gain knowledge on the subject.
FAQ
What is the best social media management tool 2021?
- Hootsuite
- Social Sprout
- Falcon
- Buffer
