Even if you are working as a Social Media Manager, a Content Creator or something else that requires a Social Media tool, it can be hard to navigate the jungle of which Social Media Management tool is the best!
I have been working with social media and marketing for almost 5 years and it feels like I have been around the blok of social media and marketing tools - which is why I will now try to navigate you so you can pick the Social Media Management tool that's right for your needs!
I will highlight each tool, their features, pros and cons and their pricing, and I will of course link each one so it's easy for you. Some of the links are affiliate links, so I would appreciate it if you sign up, that you sign up through my link - at absolutely no extra cost for you other than helping me out :-)
Now, let's get to it!
Agorapulse
I'm starting off with my personal favourite. Agorapulse is what I currently use for my clients, simply for their Power Reports alone! Their Power Reports were a GAME CHANGER for me when I first discovered it! It's a little bit more expensive than some of the other tools, but the reports are worth it!
The Power Reports can be scheduled to automatically be sent to your clients every month. They are sent as a professional looking PDF with great insights and graphics. They even show the ROI (Return On Investment), which is really valuable as a Social Media Manager, when you want to show you client that the account is making money on the ads they're running and that YOU are worth the investment.
Agorapulse also lets you share the scheduled content calendar with the client for approval and it's so smart! They don't even have to be on Agorapulse, you simply type in their email and they will get the content calendar sent. They can then simply approve the scheduled content and even make small notes if they want something changed on the specific content!
Pros:
Power Reports (x100!)
Bulk scheduling
Easy switch between clients and profiles
Shared calendar
Cons:
More expensive
No Instagram feed preview
No scheduler for first comments
No "content bank" for uploads
Pricing
As you can see the smallest subscription for Agorapulse is €79 a month, which is a bit expensive compared to some other tools. This lets you add 10 social profiles.
Agorapulse also have an extensive blog where they daily share valuable content, that I can recommend you to check out.
If you want to give Agorapulse a try, you can check them out here.
Later
One of the most well known Social Media tools on the market is Later. I used Later for my clients before I came across Agorapulse and I still use it for my personal profile.
Later makes it easy to schedule your content with their "content bank". You simply upload the content to Later one time and it's stored in the content bank, from where you can easily drag and drop it onto the calendar.
Later also offers Instagram grid view, as well as scheduling of the first comment, which is why I use it for my personal profile. I like to post the hashtags in the first comment and you can save different bloks of hashtags on Later and then easily schedule it as a first comment.
As one of the only tools on the market, Later also offers scheduling for TikTok, so if you have clients that are on TikTok, Later will definitely be beneficial to you.
Unfortunately, one of the main reason I switched my clients from Later was because of the poor reports. Later does give you reports and insights with graphics on the platform, but you can only export is as an Excel file, which half the time does not work (at least for me). You can of course screenshot the graphic insights into your own document, but I was in need of a more professional solution.
Pros:
Free plan
Content bank
First comment scheduler
Instagram feed preview
Cons:
Unprofessional Excel report
Only one social set per subscription
No shared calendar
No bulk scheduling
As you can see Later offers a free plan (which is why I use it for my personal profile). However you can only have one of each social media profile on all subscriptions and you need to pay to add more. The price can therefore quickly become a bit expensive.
Most people probably know Later from their social media, where they have more than 270k followers. They also have a blog on their website, that I always look for when I need the latest news and updates on social media.
If you want to give Later a try, you can check them out here.
Hootsuite
I think Hootsuite was what I used when I first started out in my first 9-5 job almost 5 years ago. Hootsuite has a different platform to the other tools, where you can quickly glance at all your social media accounts at once - also comments, competitors and so on. You can set up your Hootsuite "feed" completely as you wish.
I haven't worked with Hootsuite outside of 9-5 jobs, as I've always chosen one of the other tools for myself, but Hootsuite is a pretty good tool and I know many Social Media Managers who swears by it!
Hootsuite has a great report and insights tool, where it's also possible to see your ROI. You can also export the report and send it to your clients, like with Agorapulse. However, since I haven't used Hootsuite for years, I can't tell you how professionally looking their reports are.
Pros:
Reporting tool
Customizable feed
Easy content approval process
Cons:
No Instagram feed preview
Messy platform view (just my opinion)
No first comment scheduler
Hootsuite smallest subscription starts at €25 a month and offers 10 social profiles, which makes it cheaper than Agorapulse. However, I have not worked enough with Hootsuite within the last few years to confidently recommend it more than other tools.
If you want to give Hootsuite a try, you can check them out here.
Sprout Social
I haven't personally used or worked with Sprout Social, but I know many Social Media Managers and agencies who loves them, so I figured I would include them.
Sprout Social also offers scheduling and calendar sharing with clients, as well as extensive reporting. I came across an Social Media Management Agency who had beautiful looking reports, I asked what tool they used, and they said Sprout! So I might keep an eye on them myself for the future.
Pros:
Good professional reports
Content bank
Cons:
No Instagram feed preview
No first comment scheduler
More expensive than other tools
As you can see the smallest subscription with Sprout is $99 a month with only 5 social profiles, making it significantly more expensive than some of the other tools.
Again, since I haven't personally worked with Sprout, I don't feel like I can confidently recommend it over the other tools.
If you want to give Sprout a try, you can check them out here.
This is some of the best and most popular Social Media Management tools out there! I hope this can help you make a better decision on what exact tool fits you and your needs the best.
Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about them - or let me know which one you use and why! :-)
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