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, 50% 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.
In fact, 88% of business leaders agree that social media management software is critical to the success of their social media marketing efforts.
So, which are the best social media management tools for 2024? Let’s explore.
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.
How We Choose The Best Social Media Management Tools
When creating this list of the best social media management tools, we kept the following factors in mind.
- Features and functionality: The features of a social media management platform determine its capabilities and effectiveness in helping you manage your social media presence. That’s why the social media management tools we picked offer essential features, such as scheduling, managing multiple accounts, social listening, analytics, content creation, collaboration, and more.
- Analytics and Reporting: For effective social media management, you should be able to assess the effectiveness of your social media strategy. The social media management software on this list allow you to track metrics such as engagement, reach, follower growth, click-through rates, and conversions. This helps you understand your audience's behavior, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.
- Integration: We understand that you use other marketing and productivity tools to manage your marketing campaigns. That’s why the social media management tools on this list seamlessly integrate with other tools to help you streamline your workflows.
- Scalability: As your business grows and your social media accounts multiply, you need a tool that can handle the increasing workload. The tools on this list can efficiently manage a large number of social media profiles, allowing you to effectively handle multiple accounts from a single dashboard.
- Value for money: We believe that price should never be an impediment to choosing any tool. That’s why we’ve assessed the features, functionality, and pricing of different tools to find a balance between the cost and the capabilities you need. The tools on this list provide the necessary features at a reasonable price, without you overspending on unnecessary functionalities.
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.
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
Pricing
- Standard: $249/mo with each additional user costing $199/mo
- Professional: $399/mo with each additional user costing $299/mo
- Advanced: $499/mo with each additional user costing $349/mo
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Image via Sprout Social
Usability
Tool Level
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
Pricing
Offers 30-day free trial
- Free plan available
- Standard: $69/user/mo
- Professional: $99/user/mo
- Advanced: $149/user/mo
- Custom: Custom pricing
Image via Agorapulse
Usability
Tool Level
Pricing
Offers 30-day free trial
- Free plan available
- Pro Plan: $79 per month
- Premium Plan: $159 per month
- Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing
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.
Pricing
- Free plan available
- Plus Plan: $9.99 per month
- Premium Plan: $49.99 per month
- VIP Plan: $99.99 per month
Image via Crowdfire
Usability
Tool Level
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
Tool Level
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
Image via Zoho
For Agencies
- Agency Plan: $320 per month
- Agency Plus Plan: $460 per month
Image via Zoho
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
Pricing
- Bootstrap Plan: $29 per month
- Accelerate Plan: $49 per month
- Pro Plan: $99 per month
Image via SocialBee
Usability
Tool Level
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
Pricing
- Basic Plan: $65 per month
- Premier Plan: $175 per month
- Agency Plan: $425 per month
Image via Eclincher
Usability
Tool Level
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
Pricing
- Creator Plan: $29 per month with a free trial
- Traction Plan: $89 per month with a free trial
- White Label: $240 per month with a free trial
- Custom Plan: For large teams and agencies
Image via Sendible
Usability
Tool Level
Image via Hootsuite
A user-friendly interface and robust features make Hootsuite one of the best social media management tools for streamlining your social media marketing efforts.
A noteworthy feature of Hootsuite is its ability to centralize multiple social media accounts in one convenient location. So, you don’t need to keep logging in and out of various platforms.
Additionally, this social media management software provides an array of tools to schedule and publish posts across different social media platforms simultaneously.
Key Features
- Hootsuite's scheduling feature allows you to plan your content in advance to maintain a consistent posting schedule
- Offers comprehensive analytics and reporting features that help you track and measure key metrics such as engagement, reach, follower growth, and more
- Hootsuite provides team management tools that facilitate collaboration among team members
- Discover and curate content from various sources, including RSS feeds and suggested content
- You can create, manage, and track your social media ad campaigns directly from the Hootsuite dashboard
- Hootsuite integrates with a wide range of third-party applications, extending its functionality
- It provides mobile applications for iOS and Android devices, allowing you to manage your social media accounts on the go
Pros
- Manage multiple social media accounts in one place
- Real-time monitoring allows you to engage with your audience effectively
- Collaboration features facilitate teamwork and coordination
- Seamless integration with various third-party applications
Cons
- Hootsuite's extensive feature set can be overwhelming for new users
- Some features, such as analytics and reporting, are only available on higher-tier plans
Pricing
Hootsuite offers a 30-day free trial. The paid plans are as follows:
- Professional: $99/month
- Team: $249/month
- Business: $739/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Usability
- Involves a learning curve for new users
Tool Level
Image via Buffer
Buffer is a powerful social media management tool that has gained immense popularity among individuals and businesses alike. With its intuitive interface and comprehensive features, Buffer simplifies the process of scheduling, publishing, and analyzing social media content across multiple platforms.
With Buffer, you can create a content calendar to efficiently manage your online presence across major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
It also provides robust social media analytics tools that enable you to track the performance of your social media posts.
Let’s look at the features that make it one of the best social media management tools.
Key Features
- Buffer allows you to schedule posts in advance to multiple social media platforms.
- Collaboration features allow you to get input from other team members
- AI assistant helps you generate social media content ideas instantly
- RSS feed integration to automatically share content from your favorite websites or blogs
- Create customized posting schedules tailored to your audience's preferences
- Mobile app provides on-the-go access to Buffer’s features
Pros
- Clean and simple layout
- Free plan available
- Buffer offers Pablo, a free image-creation tool
- Offers a Chrome extension along with the mobile app
Cons
- Limited analytics
- Does not support niche social media platforms
Pricing
- Free: Up to 3 social media channels
- Essentials: $6/mo for 1 channel
- Team: $12/mo for 1 channel
- Agency: $120/mo for 10 channels
Image via Buffer
Usability
Tool Level
Image via Sprinklr
If you want to create personalized customer experiences online, then Sprinklr is one of the best social media management tools to do it.
With Sprinklr, you can do a whole bunch of things. For starters, it offers robust social media monitoring features. It also makes it easy to publish content on multiple social media channels from a single platform.
Its robust analytics capabilities help you understand how effective your social media marketing strategies are.
Advanced listening and monitoring features help you keep track of keywords, hashtags, and mentions related to your brand so you can stay on top of the latest trends, monitor customer sentiment, and even address issues.
Let’s look at some of the features of this social media management platform.
Key Features
- Sprinklr uses AI to automate tasks and personalize experiences
- Social listening to track and analyze social media conversations
- Create, publish, and manage content across all social media networks
- Plan, execute, and track marketing campaigns across all channels
- Comprehensive analytics on customer engagement, campaign performance, and more
Pros
- Provides a wide range of features, including social listening, social engagement, content management, employee advocacy, and more
- It is a scalable platform that can grow with your business
- Robust analytics capabilities
- Social advertising capabilities to help you create, manage, and optimize social media ad campaigns
Cons
- Learning curve due to its extensive range of features
- It is a premium tool and may be expensive for small businesses
Pricing
- Advanced (Self-service only): $299/seat/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Image via Sprinklr
Usability
- Advanced features may involve some learning
Tool Level
Image via Later
Later is one of the most popular social media management tools among individuals and businesses alike. It has become a go-to platform for scheduling, analyzing, and optimizing social media content across various platforms.
Besides content scheduling capabilities, Later also provides an intuitive visual planner that allows you to preview your social media feed before publishing. It’s an incredibly useful feature for Instagram users who want to curate a visually appealing and cohesive feed.
With Later, you can drag and drop images to rearrange the order of your posts. You can also upload images or videos, add captions, stickers, and other engaging elements, and schedule them to be published at specific times.
Later is, without a doubt, one of the best social media management platforms for content creators and social media marketers.
Key Features
- Simplifies the process of creating and scheduling Instagram Stories
- Provides in-depth analytics and insights to track the performance of social media posts
- Linkin.bio feature allows users to create a shoppable landing page for their Instagram profile
- The Conversations feature helps you manage and respond to comments and direct messages from a unified inbox
- Offers tools for curating and showcasing user-generated content
- Hashtag suggestions help you use hashtags better to improve content discoverability
Pros
- This social media software has an intuitive and user-friendly interface
- Supports scheduling and management for multiple social media platforms
- Provides detailed analytics and insights
- Integrates with a wide range of platforms
- Affordable
Cons
- Analytics capabilities are somewhat limited
- No native LinkedIn support
Pricing
- Growth: $40/month
- Advanced: $80/month
- Scale: $200/month
Image via Later
Usability
Tool Level
Image via MeetEdgar
If you’re looking for cloud-based social media management tools that can be accessed from anywhere, you need MeetEdgar. It offers several tools for effective social media management and to improve your social media performance.
You can create a library of content that you can schedule to post on any social media platform. This means that you can create a stockpile of content ahead of time, so you don't have to worry about coming up with new ideas every day.
There’s more.
The smart composer can help you write social media updates that are engaging and informative. You can also repurpose your old content, which is a great way to keep your social media feed fresh and engaging.
Which are the features that make it one of the best social media management apps? Let’s take a look.
Key Features
- MeetEdgar allows you to create a library of evergreen content that can be reused and recycled.
- Category-based scheduling to organize your posts
- MeetEdgar offers unlimited scheduled posts from one tidy dashboard
- Automatically generates social updates for your content
- Tracks the performance of your posts, including clicks, shares, and impressions
- A/B test your posts to see what performs best
Pros
- Easy to use, even for beginners
- Affordable, especially when compared to other social media management tools
- Offers a wide range of features
Cons
- Limited analytics
- No Pinterest scheduling
Pricing
MeetEdgar offers a 7-day free trial. The paid plans are as follows:
- Eddie Monthly Plan: $29.99 per month
- Edgar Monthly Plan: $49.99 per month
Image via MeetEdgar
Usability
Tool Level
Image via Planable
Planable is one of the best social media management tools that helps streamline your social media workflow. It centralizes all social media content and collaborations in one place, which eliminates the need for scattered spreadsheets, email threads, and multiple tools.
The intuitive content calendar in Planable provides an overview of all scheduled posts, making it easy to visualize and plan your social media strategy.
Collaboration is at the heart of Planable, enabling teams to work together efficiently. You can invite team members, assign roles, and define permissions, ensuring smooth collaboration without compromising security.
What features make this social media management software so popular among digital marketers? Let’s take a look.
Key Features
- Built-in image editor makes it easy to create and edit social media photos
- You can create a scheduling calendar and add posts to specific dates and times
- Create approval workflows for social media posts
- Multi-platform publishing helps you connect and manage numerous social media accounts from one place
- Offers accurate post previews before publishing
Pros
- Easy to use
- Powerful collaboration features
- Scheduling calendar
- Approval workflows
- Free plan available
Cons
- Can be expensive for large teams
- Not as many integrations as some other social media management tools
Pricing
- Free: For up to 50 posts
- Basic: $13/user/month
- Pro: $26/user/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Image via Planable
Usability
Tool Level
Image via Oktopost
Oktopost stands out as one of the best social media management tools, especially for B2B marketers. It offers a comprehensive feature set, a user-friendly interface, and social media analytics capabilities.
It also provides social media analytics tools that give detailed reports on your social media marketing efforts. These reports show you how many people are seeing your posts, how often they are engaging with them, and where your traffic is coming from.
Oktopost goes beyond basic social media management by offering robust employee advocacy features. It allows businesses to harness the power of their employees' social networks by encouraging and enabling them to share branded content.
Key Features
- Schedule social media posts in advance
- Tailor and optimize content for specific social media platforms for maximum impact
- Advanced analytics to track the performance of your social media campaigns
- Leverage employee advocacy to amplify brand reach
- Seamless integration with third-party tools
- Prioritize data security and compliance with features such as user permissions, two-factor authentication, and data encryption
Pros
- Comprehensive set of features for B2B marketers
- Detailed social media analytics reports
- Social media listening capabilities
- Employee advocacy tools
Cons
- Lacks some features that are available in other social media management tools, such as hashtag management and social media advertising
Pricing
- Not available on the website. However, you can book a demo for custom pricing
Usability
- Advanced features may involve a learning curve
Tool Level
Image via Post Planner
Post Planner is a powerful social media management tool that simplifies and enhances the process of creating, scheduling, and analyzing content across various social media platforms.
One of the standout features of Post Planner is its content discovery capabilities. It provides users with a vast library of curated content, including articles, images, and videos, sourced from reputable and relevant sources.
The scheduling functionality of Post Planner is a major time-saver. Another noteworthy feature of Post Planner is its ability to automate repetitive tasks. Users can create reusable post templates, saving time and effort when creating similar content or running recurring campaigns.
Key Features
- Post Planner has a powerful content discovery engine that helps you find top-performing content from across the web.
- Easy to schedule your social media posts in advance
- Post Planner offers in-depth analytics and reporting tools
- The tool allows users to automate repetitive tasks
- Post Planner helps you categorize your posts into different buckets
- The media editor allows you to create and edit images for your social media posts
Pros
- Provides a curated library of engaging articles, images, and videos
- Multi-platform scheduling, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest
- Choose specific dates, times, and frequency for your posts
- In-depth analytics and reporting tools to track engagement metrics
Cons
- The free trial is very limited
- Not as user-friendly as some other social media management tools
Pricing
Post Planner offers a 7-day free trial. The paid plans are as follows:
- Single: $5/mo
- Starter: $11/mo
- Growth: $39/mo
- Business: $69/mo
- Enterprise: $239/mo
Image via Post Planner
Usability
- May involve a learning curve
Tool Level
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 with 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
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- Sprinklr
- Later
- MeetEdgar
- Planable
- Oktopost
- Post Planner
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
- Improve 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, and 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
- Zoho
- Planable
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 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.