Over the past 18 months, the dynamic landscape of social media has witnessed transformative shifts, encompassing the evolution of Twitter, the ubiquity of artificial intelligence (AI), the advent of Threads, and the potential resurgence of platforms like Mastodon. In the midst of this ever-changing terrain, one constant remains: social media’s unparalleled influence on businesses.
Despite the chaotic metamorphosis, leveraging social media effectively demands a toolkit tailored to the challenges at hand. In our detailed exploration titled ‘Best Social Media Management Tools: Hootsuite Alternatives,’ we delve into seven exceptional solutions meticulously designed to streamline and enhance your social media management strategy.
These cutting-edge platforms, handpicked for businesses, go beyond the conventional, offering seamless automation, comprehensive monitoring capabilities, and robust management features. Uncover the transformative potential of these tools and elevate your approach to social media management.
5 Best Social Media Management Tools
Note:- (Our ranking of the ‘5 best social media Management Tools’ is conducted through thorough and unbiased evaluation. We prioritize objective criteria and user experience to ensure fairness and accuracy in our recommendations. Our goal is to provide you with genuine insights into the most effective tools for social media management without any bias or influence. Your trust in our assessments is paramount, and we strive to maintain transparency and impartiality throughout our rankings.)
This ranking of social media management platforms involves overseeing your brand’s presence across various platforms, a task not limited to large corporations but equally essential for small businesses and individual creators.
This multifaceted responsibility encompasses strategic planning, post-scheduling, engaging with followers, addressing queries, staying abreast of trends, and evaluating performance metrics.
Considering the magnitude of these tasks, leveraging technology, specifically social media management tools, becomes indispensable. These tools offer a range of benefits, including:
- Creating and scheduling posts in advance
- Streamlining responses to comments and DMs across multiple profiles
- Tracking analytics seamlessly across various accounts and platforms
- Generating and sharing comprehensive performance reports
- Automating audience and industry research through social listening and brand monitoring
- Organizing and making creative assets accessible to the entire team
- Enhancing social customer support processes, response times, and satisfaction scores
A social media management tool can vary from a simple photo editing app to an all-encompassing dashboard – cue the cough Hootsuite. In our upcoming blog, ‘5 Best Social Media Management Tools: Hootsuite Alternatives,’ we’ll explore top-tier options designed for business, covering aspects like social media tools, monitoring, and comprehensive management platforms.
1. Sprinklr
While Sprinklr stands as one of the pricier options in the realm of social media management tools, its robust capabilities make it a worthwhile investment for maintaining an organization and fostering an active social media presence.
Key Benefits of Sprinklr:
- Unified Posting: Similar to Hootsuite, Sprinklr allows you to seamlessly post across all your social media networks from a single interface.
- Social Media Inbox: Enjoy a unified inbox for monitoring incoming messages across diverse channels, ensuring efficient communication management.
- Analytics Dashboard: Leverage a comprehensive analytics dashboard to track and analyze your social media performance.
However, where Sprinklr truly shines is in its unparalleled social media listening tool, second only to Hootsuite’s. Powered by AI, Sprinklr’s social listening software enables you to monitor millions of daily conversations. Dive into insights by tracking keywords, phrases, hashtags, and more, gaining valuable information about your brand and industry.
In comparison, Hootsuite, while offering similar social listening capabilities through Streams and Hootsuite Insights (powered by Brandwatch), comes with a more budget-friendly price tag.
Explore the best in social media tools for business, social media monitoring, and top-notch social media management platforms with Sprinklr at the forefront of innovation and efficiency.
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2. Buffer (Web, iOS, Android)
Buffer, a long-standing player in the social media management arena, comes with its set of pros and cons that cater to different business needs.
Key features
– User-Friendly Scheduling: Enjoy a straightforward scheduling process for all your social media accounts.
– Cost-Effective Options: A decent free tier and per-channel pricing make it budget-friendly for small businesses.
Buffer, evolving over time, supports a range of platforms including Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Mastodon, Pinterest, and Google Business Profile. The Essentials plan, priced at $6/month per social channel, unlocks detailed analytics and engagement features, but limitations arise when managing more than three social accounts.
While the free plan suits smaller businesses, those seeking a comprehensive solution or managing additional accounts may find the Essentials plan necessary. Bringing team members on board further escalates the cost to $12/month per social channel.
Beyond core features, Buffer introduces Start Page, a ‘link in bio’ service, facilitating the creation of a mobile-friendly website. However, Buffer’s AI Assistant, while integrated, may not fully grasp instructions for content generation.
Despite its AI capabilities, Buffer faces criticisms, and users may find that it falls short in certain aspects. However, its compatibility with Zapier allows seamless integration with other services, enhancing its overall utility.
3. Later
This social media management platform boasts tools for analytics, and scheduling, and stands out for its emphasis on visualizing and previewing content.
Key Features of Later:
- Instagram Feed Planner: Unleash creativity with a unique Instagram feed planner, allowing users to visualize and plan the aesthetics of their grid, enhancing overall branding.
Analytics Focus:
- While Later provides tools for monitoring various channels, its analytics excel particularly on Instagram. Gain insights into the performance of grid posts, Reels, and Stories for strategic planning and optimization.
Later provides a user-friendly interface akin to Hootsuite, making it an attractive option for those seeking an intuitive platform. For businesses looking to enhance their visual appeal on Instagram and streamline scheduling, Later stands as a noteworthy Hootsuite alternative and an efficient tool in the realm of social media tools for business and social media management platforms.
4. Planable
Planable is a social media management tool designed for teams who value collaboration and visual content planning. Built with agencies and marketing teams in mind, it streamlines the approval process and makes content creation more efficient. Unlike Hootsuite, which can feel overwhelming with its extensive feature set, Planable focuses on simplicity and collaboration-first design.
Key Features of Planable:
Real-Time Collaboration: Planable excels at team collaboration, allowing multiple team members and clients to collaborate on content simultaneously. Better than Hootsuite’s traditional comment-based workflow, Planable provides a shared workspace where teams can create, review, and approve posts together in real-time, eliminating endless email chains and version control issues.
Visual Content Calendar: The intuitive grid and feed views allow users to visualize their entire content strategy at a glance. Like Hootsuite, Planable offers multi-platform scheduling, but with a cleaner, more modern interface that makes content planning feel less cluttered and more intuitive.
Universal Content: Create content once and adapt it for different platforms without starting from scratch. Planable’s universal content feature saves time by allowing you to customize posts for each social network from a single starting point.
Approval Workflows: Streamline your content approval process with customizable workflows. Unlike Hootsuite, which requires add-ons or higher-tier plans for robust approval features, Planable supports multiple approval levels out of the box, making it ideal for agencies managing client accounts or brands with strict review processes.
Planable supports all major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Google Business Profile, Threads and Pinterest. The platform offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies complex workflows, making it particularly appealing for teams who struggle with traditional, less intuitive management tools.
While Planable may not have Hootsuite’s comprehensive reporting suite, it compensates with its superior collaboration features and clean, intuitive design. For teams prioritizing seamless collaboration and efficient approval processes, Planable stands out as an excellent Hootsuite alternative in the social media management landscape.
5. Loomly
Loomly, our top choice for the best social media management tool for custom sites, offers a unique feature that sets it apart.
Loomly Pros:
- Custom Social Network: Post to virtually any service through Zapier, giving you unparalleled flexibility.
- Separate Scheduling Calendars: Each social network can have its dedicated scheduling calendar.
Loomly Cons:
- Limited Advanced Features: While functional, it may not be the most advanced or polished app in comparison to others.
Loomly is a competent social media tool with a standout feature – the ability to create a custom social network, expanding your posting possibilities significantly. Apart from standard scheduling, a multi-service inbox, and basic analytics, Loomly excels in this particular feature.
With Loomly, you can manage multiple scheduling calendars tailored to your diverse social media needs. Each calendar supports popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok, along with a unique Custom Channel.
The Custom Channel, powered by Zapier, acts as a backend, enabling you to post on various services such as Reddit or even send emails, unlocking a realm of possibilities. Loomly positions itself as a versatile tool, making it an excellent alternative for those seeking a broader spectrum of social media management options.
Conclusion
Five standout tools have been explored – Sprinklr, Buffer, Later, Planable, and Loomly, each offering unique strengths tailored to different business goals and team workflows. From enterprise-grade analytics and social listening to visual planning, collaboration, and flexible integrations, these platforms cover the full spectrum of modern social media management needs.
Sprinklr stands out for organizations seeking advanced analytics, AI-powered listening, and large-scale social media operations. Buffer remains a popular choice for small businesses looking for simple, cost-effective scheduling and publishing. Later excels in visual planning and Instagram-focused strategies, while Planable is an excellent solution for teams and agencies that prioritize real-time collaboration, streamlined approvals, and efficient content workflows. Loomly rounds out the list with flexible integrations and the ability to manage custom social channels.
Ultimately, the right tool depends on your business size, workflow, and social media objectives. Exploring these Hootsuite alternatives will help you find the platform that best supports your strategy and enables long-term social media success.
