We’ve carefully researched and compiled just the top 10 social media management tools for your brand that can handle your social media needs and help you grow exponentially.
In recent times, social media marketing has been the buzz for online businesses and brands. More businesses are starting to realize the power and impact of social media on their businesses. This has caused a high increase in social media users for business in recent years.
Businesses are scared to miss out (FOMO) on the goodies that comes with social media marketing. As a business owner, I am sure you’ve heard all the advantages of using social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
If you’ve been on the internet lately, you must have come across at least one ad on your Facebook or Instagram feed on how one Entrepreneur went from $0 to 6 figures in revenue from social media. Or maybe a social media ad on a homeless man who went to generate 6 figures from Instagram – I’m sure you’ve seen similar ads like these.
Come to think of this…
How were these ‘success stories’ able to keep up the pace with social media for so long and eventually build a social media brand. How did a man go from a day job to earning 6 figures from Instagram without ‘going out of fashion’?
How did they keep staying relevant week in week out, month in month out, and even years later, which led to this social media empire you see today? What’s common between most of them?
The answer?
They used (and still use) a social media management tool (or application) that helped them push content consistently, engage with their growing followers and eventually turned it into the full-time business that you see today. Depending on what social media management tool they used, they were able to;
- Schedule and publish consistently.
- Plan content ahead.
- Optimize their social media pages for growth.
- Leverage analytics to grow even faster.
A good social media tool will basically help automate your social media processes so that you can have more time and freedom to focus on other important aspects of your company or small business without wasting time.
Talking about time management, a recent research reports that 64% of small businesses and social media marketers spend more than 6 hours weekly on social media management. As a matter of fact, a good percentage of the businesses surveyed reported that they spend more than 10 hours weekly on social media management – that’s a lot of time! And for this reason, businesses budget a heck load of money to hire social media managers (or marketers) to handle their marketing processes.
Here’s the thing about hiring social media agencies or managers…
Hiring an effective social media manager (or team) costs anywhere around $99 to $5,000+ on a monthly basis.
Sounds like a lot?
Well, businesses are more than willing to spend that much on social media marketing which shows the relevance of social media marketing on businesses in 2021 and the struggle to see that they get the most results of their social media marketing efforts without having to waste hours weekly.
This leaves most small businesses with the option to find and make use of an effective social media management tool or software that can handle and automate these social media tasks without having to face difficulties or pay huge sums of money regularly which I believe is the reason you are on this blog.
For the purpose of this week’s post, we’ve carefully researched and compiled just the top 5 social media management tools for your brand that will handle your social media needs and help you grow exponentially.
Here are some key stats we used when picking these tools:
- Effectiveness (functionality) – Effectiveness in terms of social media automation, content planning, content curation, profile optimization and social media growth. We’ve listed out the key tools that will give you the best results on your social media campaigns.
- Ease of Use – How easy is it to make use of these social media management tools? Do they have complicated dashboards that only pile up the tasks and cause your business to spend more time on social media management. The apps mentioned here are the best when it comes to ease of use.
- Pricing – Most times, pricing is a huge determinant to what tools business go for. We’ve also mentioned their prices so you can see which tool best fits your type of budget.
10 Best Social Media Management Tools for 2021
- The Uniclix Application
- HootSuite
- Buffer
- Meet Edgar
- Sprout Social
- Sendible
- Iconosquare
- Tailwind
- AgoraPulse
- CrowdFire
The Uniclix Application: The Unified Social Media Management Tool for Influencers and Small Businesses
Uniclix app is a comprehensive social media tool that offers a simple platform for influencers and small businesses to streamline their social media tasks. We offer relevant products and features that handle all the basic functions an influencer or small business may need.
Our products handle scheduling & publishing, social listening, content curation, Twitter growth and a simple yet effective analytics for your social media marketing campaigns.
We believe that influencers and small businesses must not spend 100s of dollars to get a reliable social media management tool.
Twitter Growth – With our unique mix of products and features, we offer easy social media growth. Our Twitter growth features allow influencers to optimize their Twitter profile by suggesting related keywords & hashtags and also relevant influencer accounts with your type of audience (followers). In fact, our very own Twitter growth feature has helped us grow our Twitter followers, @uniclix, to over 5000 in less than 2 months.
Content Curation – Uniclix offers a simple dashboard that finds and suggests relevant content from the internet that is ‘ready to publish’ and can go live on your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN accounts with just 2 simple clicks.
The app makes it even easier by optimizing the content for each social media network to which it is to be published. This means, you don’t need to waste time customizing content for each social network one by one – Uniclix handles this for your business.
Publishing & Scheduling – Uniclix has a powerfully built system for publishing and scheduling social media content. With this feature, we’ve made it super easy for influencers and business owners to schedule social media posts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for maximum engagements.
Prices – Forever free plan, $15, $30, and $60 per month (available with free trial).
Checked all the options and think Uniclix is the best choice for your brand? Sign up now for a free account and try our unique features!
HootSuite: The All-In-One Social Media Management Tool for Medium-Large Scale brands
Hootsuite is probably the largest and oldest social media management tool that was created more than a decade ago (2008). The software has since set a mark on the internet with over 15 million users and over 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies.
Basically, Hootsuite offers an all-in-one social media management interface to handle all your social media tasks effectively. With its robust features, users can manage, schedule, find prospects and mainly help you do more with your social media accounts.
Hootsuite offers a sleek dashboard which allows brands to manage their social media presence on all major social media networks. Think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest and 100s more.
Analytics – Hootsuite provides users with detailed social media analytics to measure their social media results, track performance and share insights with team members using its customizable easy-to-create social media reports.
Team Management – Hootsuite has set a unique track that offers medium to large scale brands, organizations and teams the best group management dashboard.
Apps and Integration – Hootsuite also offers probably the largest integrations with partner apps, tools and network on the internet. The software provides over 250 integrations and technology partners for its users.
Prices – $19, $99, $599 per month (with a free-trial)
Buffer: The Simplified Social Media Management Tool
With over 4 million users, Buffer is also one of the largest and most popular brands in the social media management space and have been around for quite a long period of time. The tools offer a streamlined and easy to use social media management dashboard for social media marketers, managers and agencies to help drive real engagements through effective scheduling on their social media accounts.
Buffer is primarily known for its simplicity, effective customer support, engaged social media followers and is also known for publishing valuable content for its audience.
Publishing – Buffer provides its users a quite simple and clean platform for publishing and scheduling social media posts. Most users always emphasize on how simple, friendly and easy it is to publish social media content using Buffer.
Team Collaboration – Buffer also focuses on medium to large scale brands that work with teams or in groups. This provides an efficient platform for teams to handle social media tasks easily and collaborate more effectively on social networks.
Prices – $15, $99, $199 and $399 per month (with a Free-Trial)
Meet Edgar – The Scheduling Tool For Small Businesses
MeetEdgar is a social media scheduling tool that makes it super easy to schedule and automate social media content on several social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. This tool mainly focuses on social media scheduling but does it in a unique way which its users appraise highly.
MeetEdgar helps its users focus on other aspects of their businesses while the system makes sure all feeds and accounts are kept active and keeps your social content fresh all the time.
Scheduling – With Edgar, users can easily upload or add social media content manually, using bulk import or setup an RSS feed which automatically imports blog content and schedules them on autopilot while keeping them organized.
Engagement – Edgar offers a platform for businesses that grows your engagement using consistent content which helps users maximize the reach of organic content on various social networks.
Price – $19, $49 per month (with a free trial)
Sprout Social: A Robust Social Media Solution for Brands
Sprout Social is a social media management tool that provides solutions to mostly medium to large scale brands, organizations and teams. Sprout is a bit similar to Hootsuite in functions and effectiveness. The platform stands unique by offering a social media solution to businesses that not only solves the problems of social media management but also helps marketers yield ROI from social marketing.
Content Planning – Sprout social provides a solution to stressful and unorganized content planning efforts. The software helps businesses and agency teams map content themes and optimize social content to deliver across social networks.
Campaign Management – Just like Hootsuite, Sprout also provides a robust dashboard for brands to streamline campaign management between teams and agencies. Users can monitor, prioritize, collaborate and respond to messages all from a single inbox.
Analytics – Sprout Social has cool analytics dashboards to optimize marketing campaigns with detailed reports, data, analysis and also provide customized reporting tools to measure social campaign performance.
Prices – $99, $149 and $249 per month.
Sendible: Best Social Media Management Tool for Lead Generation
Sendible is an all-in-one social media management tool that makes the process of planning and executing social media marketing campaigns flawlessly simple. Sendible claims to help businesses connect authentically with their target audience through their unique features.
Compatibility – Sendible is compatible with 10 social networks and blog services including Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, Pinterest. Sendible can also connect to Tumblr, Google My Business and Blogger, etc.
Scheduling – Users can queue posts for all the connected social media networks, blogs and mailing lists. With Smart Queue, it is easy to maximize engagement from your audience by adjusting the publication times. Moreover, you can set it to automatically post your evergreen content in the future.
Collaboration tools – Sendible also has excellent collaboration tools such as a shared media library. You can also delegate tasks to team members and give per-user or per-team permission to access your social media accounts.
Prices – $29, $99, $199, $299 per month
Iconosquare
Iconosquare stands out as one of the best social media management accounts for Instagram accounts. Unlike Sendible that is compatible with many social networks and blog services, Iconosquare is built mostly for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. With Iconosquare, you can publish and monitor any visual content on the web. The ease of use of its dashboard makes you feel like it was specially made for Instagram.
Scheduling – The Feed Preview feature allows social media professionals to determine how the scheduled Instagram feed would look like. You may change the appearance if your brand adheres to a specific set of standards.
It also has a media library that can pull images directly from DropBox or OneDrive and create a repository of content for your social media campaign.
Analytics – Iconosquare has a detailed analytics section on the dashboard where it displays the most important statistics of your campaigns. You can see charts related to engagement levels, age and gender of your audience and the level of reach of your posts on all the social accounts.
Prices – $29, $59, per month, Marketing agencies may have to approach them to negotiate the price.
Tailwind: The Best Social Media Management Tool for Pinterest
Tailwind is one of the best social media management tools for Pinterest and also does well for Instagram accounts because it has excellent visual management features. Tailwind provides a full set of tools for managing your brand on Pinterest and Instagram. For example, you can bulk drag and drop images from the desktop.
Scheduling – With the Smartloop tab on the dashboard, you can schedule a collection of Pins to go live on a specific date or on a specific idea. The scheduler also helps you determine the best time to post so as to maximize your engagement.
Analytics – Pinterest has efficient monitoring tools designed to help you make the most out of Pinterest campaigns. You can measure pin virality, engagement trends and number of followers gained over a period.
Prices – $15 per month.
AgoraPulse: The Social Media Management Tool With Excellent Functionality for All Users
AgoraPulse is a social media management tool that is compatible with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook groups. It comes with lots of features that make it suitable for both teams and individual social media professionals.
Content Management – AgoraPulse has a chrome plugin that allows users to save content they would love to share when they find it on the internet. You can also schedule your posts using Agorapulse features.
Tracking results – Agorapulse tracks engagement levels and reach of your posts on various social channels. It then prepares visually appealing reports that are easy to understand and analyze. You can even set up monitoring to track specific keywords related to your niche or campaign using Agorapulse.
Prices – $99, $199, $299, $499 per month.
CrowdFire: The social media management tool that cleans, engages and grows your audience
Crowdfire is a social media management tool that helps you to generate a buzz around your brand by scheduling your posts for suitable times. Its functionality is easy to master, allowing you to post a wide range of content across all your social accounts. It also claims to be first social media management app to integrate Tik-Tok which is important especially for brands with a youthful target audience.
Clean-Engage-Grow – Crowdfire employs this strategy to help its users grow their social media ROI. It involves cleaning your audience to eliminate unwanted and spam accounts, then the engage feature attracts your target audience so that they would talk about you with their friends. Growth feature focuses on helping your posts reach the right people which in turn expands your follower base.
Accessible for all types of users – Crowdfire is suitable for any type of user whether you are a social media marketing agency or an ecommerce seller. Even better, both Android and iOS users can access Crowdfire making it perfect for businesses targeting mobile users. It’s compatible with most social networks too.
Prices – Free, $10, $50, $100 per month.
FAQ Section
What is the role of a social media manager?
A social media manager plans and implements a company’s social media strategy to increase their brand awareness and attract more business. Literally, a social media manager’s work is to turn viewers into fans and then turn fans into customers. As for customers, they should turn them into ambassadors of your brand.
As a community manager, they should be able to engage with your customers on social media by responding to their questions and actively participating in related discussions. Social media managers are your company’s representative on social media, how they act when interacting with your prospects directly affects the image of your company.
What skills does a social media manager need?
To become an A+ social media manager, you need to know how to write, be data-driven, strategic, creative, a people-person and discerning. For example, you need to judge a comment to understand the intentions of the writer before deciding how to respond or even ignore it.
Social media managers should also be super-organized because they wrangle a lot of moving parts. They post on various social media channels per day and respond to multiple comments from prospects who may need different things. Social listening is also part of their job. So unless you are organized on how you conduct your activities, then you would fail terribly as a social media manager.
How do I become a social media manager?
The first step to becoming a social media manager is developing a strong social media presence of your own. Create accounts on all major social media websites and learn how to do graphic design, search engine optimization and write viral content.
The next step is to learn where your potential clients hang out online and share great content that stimulates conversations and drive traffic to your website. Attending networking events is also a great idea.
Learn advanced marketing skills such as how to optimize YouTube Videos, knowledge of webcasts, email capture forms, Google Hangouts, etc. Having extra skills make you stand out from your competitors when applying for a job because you are bringing something better.
What does a social media manager do all day?
Social media managers implement the social media strategy of the company they work for everyday by writing and scheduling posts on various social channels. They also respond to followers, and initiate a conversation with the company’s community, etc.
Are social media managers in demand?
Social media managers are high demand because companies are realizing the power of social media in the success of their objectives. Companies always want to nurture authentic relationships with their existing customers while attracting potential customers too and social media managers can help them achieve these two goals effectively.
How do I become a social media manager with no experience?
Learn the skills that companies are looking for in social media managers, then learn the basics. For example, you should build an online community around your brand and take an online social media marketing course to familiarize yourself with the skills required. Also learn how to use some of the best social media management tools available in the market.
The next step is to start networking online in person, interacting with CMOs and Marketing leaders of various companies. You may also volunteer as a social media manager for non-profit organizations to build your portfolio.
Conclusion
This is our personal list of the best 10 social media management tools for businesses in 2021 and beyond. If you’re looking for the one tool that’s easy to use, simple and handles your social media marketing tasks at an affordable rate, then we offer Uniclix, our unique social media application for small businesses and influencers.
Interested?
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The Ultimate Guide to Schedule Posts on Facebook and 6 Content Tips
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