It’s quite common for me to be asked which social media management and reporting tools I recommend outside the two or three everyone knows, but it’s not always easy to remember ten or more tools off the top of your head.
As a result, I’ve put this list together of vendors I’ve come in contact with to reference from this point forward.
This list should prove a valuable reference for the readers, too. Each vendor represented below helps brands, agencies and marketers scale, schedule and report on social media.
- Zoho Social– Gives publishing access to Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Provides for real-time listening, team collaboration and measurement.
- Sprout Social– Allows publishers to plan, organize, manage and measure social content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. Allows for team collaboration.
- Social Report– Robust publishing, team management, listening, automation, analytics and custom reporting functionality. It boasts the most connectivity of any of the tools on this list – Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, Google+, YouTube, Digg, Vimeo, Tripadvisor, Xing, eBay, Shopify, Etsy, Spotify, Klout, AddThis, SlideShare, Last.fm, Soundcloud, Foursquare, Meetup, Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, Yelp, Yahoo Local, CityGrid, Google Analytics, and a host of email marketing tools and link shorteners.
- SocialBakers– Provides for publishing, measurement, monitoring, reporting and optimization of social communication. Taps into Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram.
- Sendible– Self-identified as a unified social inbox for each brand, this tool provides for publishing, collaboration, reporting, and monitoring. Connects to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, Google My Business, YouTube, Blogger and WordPress.
- Tailwind– This tool focuses on Pinterest and Instagram exclusively. It enables scheduling, monitoring, content management and contests.
- Oktopost– Touted as a B2B-specific social media management tool, its functionality includes publishing, reporting, curation, monitoring and collaboration. It connects with Bit.ly and many marketing automation suites. Integrates with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
- MeetEdgar– Posts to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Offers social media scheduling via RSS feeds.
- Hootsuite– This is a scheduling, curation, measurement and monitoring tool. It supports Twitter, Facebook, Google+, WordPress, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.
- Buffer– Schedules, reports and publishes content for brands. It supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+.
- Agorapulse– Supports Google+, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Allows for publishing, engagement, listening, reporting and team collaboration.
The above is a list of social media management and reporting tools that I’ve ran into over my career. Pricing can vary greatly between them – for some of the more expensive ones, I haven’t been able to align features with their bloated cost, meaning much of the same functionality is available for much cheaper via some of the other vendors. As a result, I recommend you demo at least three before making a decision.
Download a free social media report template in PowerPoint format
Whether you’re a brand, agency or small business owner, these tools will help save time, energy and effort when implementing and executing a social media marketing strategy.
This article is a variation of a version originally published on Social Media Today.