When it comes to social media, simply posting whenever you feel like it isn’t enough anymore. Whether you’re a blogger, or you’re investing in tools to boost your company’s page, social media management programs are your one stop solution.
From creating content, publishing your post, marketing, analytics, and more, the number of tasks needed to complete per day can get overwhelming.
Never fear, social media management programs are here to encompass all the most beneficial tools you need to stay on top of your game.
Best Social Media Management Tools For Instagram:
- Sprout Social: Best Social Media Management Tool Overall
- Buffer: Best Affordable Social Media Management Tool
- IconoSquare: Best Social Media Management Tool For Account Reports
- MeetEdgar: Best Social Media Management Tool For Scheduling Posts
- Loomly: Best Social Media Management Tool For Collaboration Within a Marketing Team
1. Sprout Social: Best Social Media Management Tool Overall
PRICING:
- ANNUALLY:
- Standard: $89.00 per user / per month
- Professional: $149.00 per user / per month
- Advanced: $250.00 per user / per month
- MONTHLY:
- Standard: $99.00 per user / per month
- Professional: $169.00 per user / per month
- Advanced: $250.00 per user / per month
SproutSocial has been rated the best overall social media management tool by a variety of content creators due to its extensive features enabling publishing, scheduling, and data reports. SproutSocial enables clients to track the health of their profile and make adjustments accordingly. By being able to see what is working, and what isn’t, SproutSocial can take your Instagram to a new level.
KEY FEATURES:
- Content Publishing
- Content Planning
- Content Performance Tracking
- Content Reports
- Multiple Social Media Profiles
- All In One Social Media Inbox
- Draft Folder
- Queue Folder
REASONS TO BUY:
- All information is organized in one place
- Messages from followers appear in one stream, no matter how many social media profiles are linked
- Message filters
- Ability to see followers twitter profiles
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Expensive pricing
- Youtube and other visual social media platforms are not supported
- Lack of Facebook group publishing
- Unified inbox can be a turn off for some users
- Limited filtering options
2. Buffer: Best Affordable Social Media Management Tool
PRICING:
- Free
- Essentials: $5.00 / per social account / per month
- Team: $10.00 / per social account / per month
- Agency: $100.00 per social account / per month (for companies with 10 or more accounts)
Not only does Buffer offer a free 14 day trial, their plans start at only $5 a month. Quite a leap from competitors like SproutSocial. Buffer is an ideal option for small businesses, businesses just starting out, or those with few employees. Their free plan even offers up to 3 social media accounts!
KEY FEATURES:
- Browser Extension
- Clip and Que Text and Images Tool
- Content Scheduling
- Content Queue
- Graph Of ‘Most Active Hours’ Of Your Followers
- View and Track Your Most Popular Posts
- Hashtag Optimization Tools
REASONS TO BUY:
- Free option
- Low cost
- Works for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest
- Mobile app access
- Ability to monitor multiple accounts
REASONS TO AVOID:
- No monitoring tools for mentions, searches, or other hashtags
- Not as many key features as other competitors
- No data analytics
3. IconoSquare: Best Social Media Management Tool For Account Reports
PRICING:
- Pro: $50.00 per month (billed annually)
- Advanced: $80.00 per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise: Custom – call for a quote
In order to maintain a healthy, active profile, you need to have all the data about your followers at your fingertips. This means getting real-time reports on engagement rates, profile clicks, and visibility factors. IconoSquare is ideal for Instagram bloggers or business owners trying to grow their accounts and increase follower engagement with their posts.
KEY FEATURES:
- Profile reporting
- Data analytics
- Comments and likes count
- Post performance updates in real time
- Data filter tool
- Follower growth reports
- Followers gained / lost
- ‘Instagram Story feature’
REASONS TO BUY:
- Monitor content performance
- Gives you the information you need to grow your account
- Easy setup
- Helps you predict what kind of content to post
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Mobile version has problems
- Glitches within the platform
- Pricing can be expensive
4. MeetEdgar: Best Social Media Management Tool For Scheduling Posts
PRICING:
- ANNUALLY:
- Eddie Annual Plan: $300.00 / year ($24.91 a month)
- Edgar Annual Plan: $500.00 / year ($41.58 a month)
- MONTHLY:
- Eddie Monthly Plan: $29.99 / per month
- Edgar Monthly Plan: $50.00 / per month
MeetEdgar falls into the’cloud-based’ social media management tools ideal for teams that collaborate remotely. Users can organize, publish, and schedule content from multiple different social media platforms. Small businesses can benefit from MeetEdgar as it allows users to automate scheduled posts, giving more time to business owners to focus on, well, their business.
KEY FEATURES:
- Content automation
- Easy share buttons
- Easy follow buttons
- Repeat post tool
- Category organized content scheduling
REASONS TO BUY:
- Helps increase profile traffic
- Boosts visibility
- Generates brand awareness
- Helps to increase follower engagement
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Expensive
- Repetition features can be too much
- Need an extensive library of posts to fully utilize the repeat tool
- A solid understanding of social media marketing is recommended
- Only works with Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
5. Loomly: Best Social Media Management Tool For Collaboration Within a Marketing Team
PRICING:
- ANNUALLY: (save 25%)
- Base: $312.00
- Standard: $708.00
- Advanced: $1,548.00
- Premium: $3,228.00
- Enterprise: Call for quote
- MONTHLY:
- Base: $35.00 / per month
- Standard: $80.00 / per month
- Advanced: $172.00 / per month
- Premium: $359.00 / per month
- Enterprise: Call for quote
If you’re looking to manage your social media accounts with the help of a marketing team, Loomly is an ideal choice for you. Get notifications and real time updates when a member of your team updates, or comments on a post. Email, push, Slack, and Microsoft notifications keep team members collaborating more efficiently and allow for everyone to stay on the same page at all times.
KEY FEATURES:
- Post idea tool – suggestions given based on trends
- Library to store and organize ideas
- Asset view
- Tools to create both content and ads
- Marketing analytics
- Automated publishing
- Keyword filtering
- Multi-account ability
- Content scheduling
REASONS TO BUY:
- Never run out of inspiration with their idea tool
- Post and ad previews generated so you can view before publishing
- Collaborative review
- Improves team workflow with review and approval tools
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Customer support is minimal
- Calendars can lose connection to social media accounts
- Notification glitches
- Some users found they had to consistently reconnect accounts
Frequently Asked Questions:
What Are The Four Main Types of Social Media Management Tools?
Depending on what exactly you’re trying to achieve, there are four different main types of social media management tools you can use to improve your online platform:
- Content Curation Tools: Not only is it important to create content, it’s important to share content as well. This is content curation. The more content you share with others, the higher your visibility will become. Content curation tools can help you decide what kinds of content your followers want to see.
- Social Media Scheduling App: Life is busy. Life is chaotic. If you’re dedicated to growing your social media, you know that remaining consistent is key. It can be incredibly easy to forget to post in a timely manner, so utilizing social media scheduling apps can save time and sanity. Just load in what you want to schedule, and when you want it to post, and you’re done!
- Content Creation Tools: Keeping your content fresh, exciting, and original is extremely important if you want to gain more followers. You can spend hours trying to figure out what to post, or you can use a content creation tool. Content creation tools allow for photo editing, professional stock photos, or graphic design to enhance your profile.
- Social Media Analytics Tools: In order to keep your account not only surviving, but thriving, you have to punch the numbers. Social media analytic tools show you the data of what is working, and what isn’t. In addition, you’ll be able to see any followers you’ve gained or lost in a specific time period, which can help you better understand your target audience.
Why Is Social Media Management Important?
Attracting an online presence is beneficial for freelancers, bloggers, influencers, and both big and small businesses alike. Social media management helps grow your account, which in turn can result in brand deals or paid advertisements. It creates a reputation for yourself or your brand in the way you want it to. This is crucial for small, beginner businesses to get their name out there and increase visibility.
Should I Hire a Social Media Manager?
While this is entirely a personal decision, if you don’t feel confident in your ability to manage your social media account effectively, or promote your business the way you’d like, it can be extremely beneficial to hire a social media account manager. Social media managers are professionals who understand the logistics behind what it takes to run a successful account. From what content to post, to how to increase engagement, gain followers, and ultimately gain a spot in Instagram’s algorithm, this frees up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.