Which Social Media Management Platform is Right for You?

Now that Alex has explained all the perks of social media management platforms, you’re probably wondering, “That’s great and all, but which one should I choose?” This is a common question for businesses, small and large. With so many options, it can be difficult to choose the right one. We got you covered – we’re here to break it down for you.

The first thing to keep in mind that there are pros and cons for every social media management tool. Each has its unique purpose and niche, with completely different combinations of features. What’s right for a large agency may not be what’s right for a small boutique clothing shop. In this post, I’m going to touch on some of the biggest players in the industry.

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is the most popular social media management tool on the market. Social Media Today describes Hootsuite as a “a digital planner, it helps with visualizing your content calendar, shortens links, makes cross-channel promotion easy, figures out the best time to post and even offers in-house analytics.” And with good reason – when in doubt, Hootsuite is probably the best tool to go with for a couple of reasons. It’s built to integrate multiple social media channels all in one spot, with a feature where you can monitor feeds right from within the platform. You can schedule posts, analyze data and interact with consumers all from within Hootsuite. Many people find Hootsuite to be challenging to use at first, but with a little bit of practice, it’s a great tool for a wide variety of users.

Who we recommend Hootsuite to: Hootsuite is awesome for businesses that need a little bit of everything: scheduling, interaction, and want to dabble in some basic analytics.

2. Buffer

Buffer is a clean, easy-to-use platform that specializes in scheduling. Where Buffer excels is being an affordable, basic way for social media managers to schedule content. Emagine explains that Buffer may be more basic, but has a variety of plug-ins and extensions available. If your business is willing to go through a little extra trouble for separate analytics reports, and you have the means to interact with customers through each unique account, Buffer is a great option. Buffer does offer some basic analytics, but it mainly focuses on being one of the best schedulers out there.

Who we recommend Buffer to: If you’re new to social media management, or you work for a company that isn’t as focused on linking their scheduling to their analytics, give Buffer a shot.

3. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is one of the newer management tools that has received a lot of attention in recent years. Sprout was founded as a solution to some of the things people didn’t love about Buffer or Hootsuite. Sprout Social is similar to Hootsuite in the sense that it offers opportunities to schedule, interact and analyze data all within the platform. This platform does an amazing job at providing usable data to its subscribers. We Rock Your Web explains, “Unlike the other tools which just serve up stats, SproutSocial takes it one step further by analyzing them for you.” However, Sprout Social emphasizes analytics and many niche features. Sprout Social is always innovating and looking for new ways to improve the social experience for customers and content creators alike. It is difficult to use, and definitely the most expensive, but by far the most comprehensive.

Who we recommend Sprout to: As the most complex tool, Sprout Social is for people who value specialized features and analytics. This is the most advanced tool, but the extra effort can certainly pay off.

So there you have it: a brief summary of some of the heavyweights in social media management. Of course, there are dozens of other tools out there, but you should find something that will work for you in this group.

Let’s get social,

Brianna