How many social networks do you have? How many times a day do you visit Instagram or Twitter? How many times have you bought from Instagram? How many times have you tried a café or restaurant because an Instagram influencer recommended it? How about Facebook or Pinterest? Social media has become an integral part of our lives.
This means that social networks are powerful. We all know that they are getting stronger every day. Because they add to their facilities and capabilities every day. For example, Facebook can make photos 3D. A feature that Facebook seeks to improve and improve. The power, possibilities and popularity of these networks have turned them into a tool for digital marketing.
These networks provide whatever the digital marketer wants. He can communicate directly with his target group. Introduce business goods and services at a much lower cost. This is a big plus even for small businesses and freelancers. Those who can do marketing and advertising with their Instagram or Facebook or Pinterest account even without paying for their page admin.
Of course, if a business wants to have an account in more than one social network and regular activity, it is a difficult task. Because social networks should be used as digital marketing tools with a specific strategy and plan. Therefore, companies have built and marketed tools or platforms or software to manage social networks.
Tools or software that have different capabilities and help businesses manage their accounts on multiple social networks. The subject of this article is the introduction of the best social network management tools. Because there are many of these platforms and each one has its own features and facilities, it may be difficult to choose a tool to manage social networks (especially for small businesses and startups). For this reason, this article has been written to make this choice easier for digital marketers.
Table of Contents
Social network management tools (software).
The question that needs to be answered before anything else is why do businesses need to operate on multiple social networks for digital marketing? Because each of the social networks is suitable for a work and purpose and attracts some people to them. It means that not all people have accounts in all social networks.
Therefore, businesses should consider the type of products and goods they offer, the digital marketing strategies they have for their work, as well as marketing personas; first, choose which social networks they should work on. For example, LinkedIn is for professionals and those who want to connect with employers around the world. So, a business that makes homemade cookies doesn’t need LinkedIn.
But digital businesses that offer digital goods and services definitely need a large presence on social networks. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the minimum. Social the signal that these businesses get from social networks, as well as the visitors that are directed to the site from social media, are very, very effective in the SEO of the site of these businesses.
It is for this reason that the discussion of social network management arises. What types of posts should be posted in each network? How many posts should be posted in that network per day? And there must be someone to answer the comments and questions. When the business uses several social networks, it is not possible for one person to achieve all these tasks.
What is social media management?
Social media management is the process of analyzing social media audiences and developing a strategy that’s tailored to them, creating and distributing content for social media profiles, monitoring online conversations, collaborating with influencers, and monitoring, measuring, and reporting on social media performance and ROI .
Features of a good software (tool) for managing social networks
As it is clear from the definition of social network management, it is not easy at all. Especially if the number of followers in each network is high. This shows why small and large businesses need to use software (systems) for managing these networks. Using these systems means saving money. Because they themselves do the work of several people and maybe a team. Also, the work of checking and analyzing the statistics related to these networks becomes better and more accurate with the help of these tools.
Before introducing the best social media management platforms, we need to know what makes a good social media management platform. A good platform should
- be able to manage several social networks (at least Facebook, Twitter and Instagram);
- Enable automatic publishing for scheduled posts;
- be free or cost-effective for small businesses;
- Provide the marketer with detailed data and reports of the performance of each network and feedback to each advertising campaign and post.
Introducing the best social media management platforms (social networks)
Various sources categorized social network management tools based on the criteria we mentioned. The important thing is that none of these platforms are free. Of course, most of them have free offers.
1. Buffer
The cheapest social media management platform is Buffer. This tool is free to use for 14 days. After that, the marketer can choose an option from this platform that starts from $5 per month. The good thing about the paid option of this software is that more than one user (digital marketer) can manage the accounts of all social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest) for $5 per month. There is also a free option on this platform that only one user can use and it only allows managing 3 social networks. In addition to the possibility of automatic publication of timed posts and analysis, this platform; tools to optimize tags, hashtags and mentions; and it also has a faster response to important comments.
2. Zoho
This software doesn’t just do one thing for a digital marketer. Zoho has the ability to become a CRM. A tool that allows a digital marketer to perform all activities, from managing projects and emails and accounting to managing social networks, in one platform. Of course, it is possible to purchase social network management programs separately. This tool has a free option that can be used for a single user or a brand. The cheapest option is $10 per month. But still a person or a brand can use the tool. There is also a special option for large businesses that starts at $230 per month.
3. MeetEdgar
MeetEdgar is much more advanced than the previous 2. Because it allows the digital marketer to do marketing automation. That is, you can give social network accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram) to this tool and make the necessary settings and it will do the rest. This system may be configured to automatically share the latest content. The cheapest option is $19 per month and only allows you to manage 3 accounts. One of the best features of this tool is its content library. The software can select and post content from the content library on your behalf.
4. SocialPilot
This tool is ideal for small businesses. It has 4 suggested options starting at $25.5 per month. Its cheapest option allows a user to manage 10 accounts in social networks and publish 200 posts per day. This tool, in the cheapest option, has the possibility of automatically publishing posts and also analyzing networks. The big disadvantage of this platform is that you have to buy the $25 option for one year. It means that the 306 dollars must be paid first.
5. Hootsuite
The last tool I introduce is the most expensive and of course one of the best for analyzing data and performance in social networks. This tool provides the most comprehensive and also the most detailed analyzes to the digital marketing team. With this digital marketer can customize the reports they want. For example, he can ask this tool to give him a report about the creativity of those campaigns by analyzing the performance of social media campaigns. The cheapest plan in this tool is $49 per month and allows one user access and management of 10 accounts. With this program, you cannot access all the analyzes and features of this program. However, some more detailed reports and analyzes can be purchased separately. The most expensive plan costs $599 per month.