Digital marketing is an evolving means of creating awareness and increasing sales for your brand. Social media, in particular, is gaining more popularity in online marketing. However, maintaining an active social presence is a tough task. You will encounter some challenges along the way. However, with proper knowledge and tools, you can take advantage of your social platforms to develop your business. These help you to solve the challenge of scheduling and managing several profiles simultaneously. They are also perfect in facilitating teamwork.
Nevertheless, with the many social media management and scheduling tools available, deciding which one to go for can become tricky. The media expert in medical clinic, Jessica Lin reveals 5 of the best social media tools for growing teams and agencies.
1. Hootsuite
Being among the scheduling tools that were introduced first, Hootsuite has the most users. If you want to organize and analyze social media campaigns across more than one platform from one centralized hub, this tool is what you need.
Pros
- You can increase the number of managers with ease.
- You can prepare contests on the social networks.
- It possesses features such as RSS integration, content curation, robust analytics, and organizations scheduling that are crucial for any good tool.
- You can post your content from various social media platforms.
Cons
Like any other tool, Hootsuite has some shortcomings.
- It doesn’t post automatically.
- Lacks the social inbox feature.
- Overpriced compared to others.
- Not easy to use.
- It has outdated scheduling and planning functionality.
Pricing
It has multiple packages that allow a 30 day free trial.
Professional plan – $19/month – allows for 3 users, ten profiles, and unlimited posts scheduling in advance.
Team plan – $99/month – 3 users, 20 profiles, and unlimited posts scheduling.
Business plan – $599/month – 5 users, 35 social media profiles per month with continuous posts scheduling.
2. Buffer
Similar to Hootsuite and has been around for a long time too. Buffer integrates many social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Pros
- Buffers’ UI is intuitive and can be navigated easily.
- Posts for individual platforms can be customized.
- Customers are supported effectively.
- You can post at the best time for the audience.
- It analyzes and clearly tells you what is successful and what is not.
Cons
- Limited scheduling for all its plans. It has 2000 scheduling posts/month/social profile which is quite a few especially for teams and agencies.
- It lacks content curation features.
- It requires you to pay additional costs to enjoy some of its best features like Buffer Reply, Buffer Analytics, and Buffer Publisher.
Pricing
Buffer has plans that you will find to be very wallet-friendly and affordable.
Small plan – $99/month – allows for six users, twenty-five social accounts, and 2000 posts per profile.
Medium plan – $199/month – allows for eleven users, fifty social accounts, and 2000 posts per profile.
Large plan – $399/month – allows for twenty-six users, 150 social accounts, and 2000 posts for each profile.
3. Sprout social
Another powerful social media scheduling tool that makes it easier to organize and manage posts across different platforms on one dashboard. It’s integrated with Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn Twitter, and Google+. It is the most suitable tool for digital agencies.
Pros
- You can monitor how each piece of content is performing through its social listening feature.
- It has unique abilities to promote collaboration among team members.
Cons
- Sprout plans are expensive, especially for small and medium businesses.
Pricing
Standard – $99/month, 1 user/month, 10 social accounts/month.
Professional – $149/user/month, 1 users/month, 10 social accounts/month.
4. Agora pulse
One of the scheduling tools that has won the heart of several agencies for its numerous benefits.
Pros
- You can upload content on social networks using a single dashboard.
- Agora Pulse has wallet-friendly plans, especially for growing teams.
- Its social media inbox helps you to monitor brand mentions across all channels.
- It has an in-built CRM feature that is very effective.
- With Agora Pulse, you gain a bird’s eye view of how the content you posted is performing.
Cons
- It is not easy to use for beginners because of its extensive features list.
- Limited features compared to other tools at a similar price.
Pricing
Medium – $99/month – three users and 10 social media profiles.
Large – $199/month – six users and 25 social media profiles.
Enterprise – $299/month – 12 users and 40 social media profiles.
5. Sendible
It is one of the best social media management tools for agencies. With Sendible, you can schedule and manage posts from various social media platforms all from one centralized dashboard.
Pros
- Has features such as an inbuilt CRM, social media inbox, and social listening.
- You can share posts on your social media platforms.
- It suggests to you what content will be relevant to your audience and the best time to post it.
Cons
- Not easy to use when you are a beginner.
- The pricing plan is way overpriced compared to others with the same features.
- Its response system has a tendency to delay.
Pricing
3 users at $99/month
7 users with unlimited posts scheduling for $199/month
12 users with unlimited scheduling for $299/month
Over to you
There you have it! You need to decide which features your team or agency needs and then choose the tool that is best suited for you. All of the above tools have impressive features. However, your social media scheduling strategy doesn’t need all of them. If you are still facing difficulties in making a choice, there is no harm in trying different tools until you find “The One”. The idea is to not only choose the best tool, but also choose the right one for your growing team.
