Life used to be so much simpler…meet, date, marry, have a few kids, buy a house in the suburbs. There was a clear progression towards a specific goal. But today’s world is a lot more complicated. Social media doesn’t just change how we interact with one another while dating…it changes how we conduct business and communicate with colleagues, friends and family members. Social Media Tools for Business looks at how social media impacts all areas of our lives and offers practical tips to use social media effectively in business.
A practical, hands-on guide to help you discover the potential of social media to grow your business or organization. The Tools for Business book takes you through the stages of setting up your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles for your business. We show you how to convert these profiles into high performance tools geared specifically to achieving your goals.
Later
#1 marketing platform for Instagram
Prices: $9, $19, $29, $49 per month, and enterprise pricing
Description: Unlike most social media management tools, Later focuses mainly on Instagram (though you can also connect your Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter profiles).
Unique value: The strength of Later is its visual content calendar, where you can easily drag-and-drop images to schedule them. It also has a free link tool that you can use on your Instagram profile to link to a shoppable Instagram feed or various websites and blog posts.
Oktopost
Social media management platform for B2B enterprise
Oktopost is a social media management platform catered for B2B marketers who want to generate leads through social media and quantify the business value of their social media efforts. From social media management to promotion to employee advocacy, Oktopost has all the tools most B2B marketers would want.
HubSpot
All-in-one inbound marketing software
HubSpot’s social media management tools are part of their all-in-one marketing software, which starts at $1,120 per month. As HubSpot integrates all your marketing efforts (such as social media, email, SEO, and CRM) into a single platform, you can easily compare your results across your marketing channels and measure your social ROI.
Buffer
Buffer scored well in our ranking because their plans start at just $5 per month. You can try any Buffer plan free for 14 days, and there’s a free plan for one user that lets you access three social channels and create 10 scheduled posts.Pros
- Plans start at $5 per month
- Free 14-day trial available
- Free plan available
- Works for Instagram, Meta, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest
Cons
- Doesn’t integrate with as many major platforms as competitors
- Free plan limited to three social profiles
Buffer is the best budget option for small businesses with few employees that want to manage social media without a pricey management plan. They offer a free plan that lets one user access three social channels. For an extra $5 per month, a Team Pack upgrade allows for unlimited social channels and unlimited users.
Either way, you can use a 14-day trial to get started, and all plans let you directly schedule posts on the platform. Other core benefits of Buffer’s plans include a posting scheduling tool, a link shortener tool, and optimization tools for hashtags, tags, and mentions across platforms. All plans also come with a browser extension, access to a mobile app, two-factor authentication, social media and email support, and access to the Buffer community.
Hootsuite (Web, iOS, Android, Chrome)
If you’re looking for a complete solution to all of your social media management needs, Hootsuite will cover all your bases. The app is compatible with over 20 social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. More network connections are available through the Hootsuite app directory, though they can be hit or miss.
Hootsuite includes a full scheduler for queuing posts at times of your choosing. You can create your own schedule or use the AutoSchedule function to schedule your updates at optimal engagement times. By uploading a CSV file with prepared updates using the Bulk Composer, you can fill your queue for days, weeks, months, or the duration of an entire social campaign. Once you’ve filled up your queue, it’s easy to view your outgoing posts from the Planner and reorder your update schedule with a simple drag and drop.
One of Hootsuite’s strongest areas is analytics, though you need one of the more expensive plans to get the full suite of them. The tool helps you understand social results by drawing on more than 200 metrics to measure performance. Once you’ve generated reports, you can export them as Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and CSV files for use within your organization. You can run similar reports to measure team or individual performance.
Hootsuite can also help you monitor the social web with custom social streams. These customizable feeds let you watch the social web for mentions, new followers, search terms, hashtags, engagement, and more. You can construct precise streams that include or exclude specific keywords, post types, locations, and languages. As an example, if you’re in the business of selling custom portraits, you could target the search term portrait :( filter:images to find negative posts that mention the word “portrait” with an attached image. You could then target these users with your own business.
For bigger businesses, you can assign different levels of access to various team members to avoid handing out passwords. Your team can use Hootsuite’s included content library to compose updates with on-brand assets of your choosing. Hootsuite includes free stock photos and GIFs courtesy of GIPHY, or you can connect Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive to draw on your own resources, or your paid account with services like Adobe Stock. You can even assign tasks to your team members (like responding to comments or incoming messages), then approve the outgoing responses before they’re sent.
Hootsuite also integrates with Zapier, so you can do things like automatically thank new Twitter followers or create new messages directly from your task management app.
Hootsuite Price: Free plan includes one user, three social profiles, and 30 scheduled updates; from $39/month (billed annually) for the Professional plan that includes one user, 10 social profiles, and unlimited scheduling; team plans start at $129/month (billed annually).
Conclusion
Looking for a way to manage your social media more effectively? This practical guide is perfect for newcomers to the world of social media, as well as experienced businesses who want fresh new ideas and effective tools. Learn more about how to use different platforms to reach your target market, and the most effective ways to increase your brand’s visibility. This helpful guide will show you how to harness the power of various social media tools, both old and new, for your business.