social media management platform top 3 comparison
Social media has become an integral part of business strategy, and recent statistics show that about 3.196 billion people, 53.6% of the total world population, use Social Media actively. These figures imply that half of the world can be reached online via social media platforms. It is no wonder that most businesses leverage various social media platforms to reach their potential and existing customers.
The Role of Social Media Management Platforms
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards digital platforms, making effective social media management more crucial than ever. As businesses adapt to remote work environments, maintaining a strong online presence has become a cornerstone of survival and growth. This is where social media management platforms come into play, offering businesses the tools they need to efficiently execute their social marketing strategies.
There are many benefits of using Social Media Management. With Social media management platforms, you can:
- Improve your brand’s online visibility.
- Manage and improve your online business reputation.
- Improve your brand’s organizational skills with the aid of scheduling and content management tools.
- Easily collect and report essential data.
- Manage multiple social media accounts.
- Improve customer engagement.
- Save time.
The advantages of investing in social media management software are worth considering. Businesses are using numerous social media management platforms across the globe. However, this article discusses and compares 3 of the best (in our opinion) social media management software for small businesses. The features, advantages and disadvantages of Hootsuite, Zoho and Publer are focal points in this article. You will also learn about what to consider when selecting a social media management software.
| Hootsuite | Zoho Social | Publer.io |
|---|---|---|
| Best Analytics | Best in All-in-One | Best Value |
| Rating: 8.8/10 | Rating: 9.1/10 | 9.2/10 |
| Price: Very High | Price: Moderate | Price: Low |
| Hootsuite Features Link | Zoho Pricing Link | Publer Plan Link |
platform REVIEWs
ZOHO SOCIAL
Features
- Bulk Scheduler.
- Publishing Calendar.
- Repeat post.
- Automated publishing.
- Conversion Tracking.
- Content management.
- Post Scheduling.
- Multi-account management.
- Keyword filtering.
- Social Analytics and reporting.
Description
Zoho Social, a standout product from Zoho’s suite of over 40 business tools, is a comprehensive social media management platform designed to help businesses streamline their social media presence. This all-in-one solution offers a robust set of features that cater to the diverse needs of social media marketing and product promotion. One of Zoho Social’s strengths lies in its advanced automated social analytics capabilities. These tools allow businesses to gain deep insights into their social media performance, identifying areas for improvement and growth. Moreover, Zoho Social enables organizations to track revenue generated through social media marketing efforts, providing a clear ROI picture.
The platform’s collaborative features are particularly noteworthy, allowing team members to work together seamlessly in managing brand accounts across various social media platforms. The automated publishing feature and scheduler ensure consistent content delivery, allowing businesses to plan and execute their social media strategy with precision. You can schedule many posts on various social media accounts for a long duration. With Zoho Social, you can monitor conversations on many social media accounts and respond quickly to your audience. Zoho Social’s real-time monitoring capabilities enable businesses to stay on top of conversations across multiple social media accounts, facilitating quick and effective responses to audience engagement. The platform’s integration with Zoho CRM further enhances its value, providing a powerful tool for lead generation and customer relationship management.
PROS
- It is easy to use.
- It has user-friendly interfaces.
- It allows multiple users collaboration.
- Its pause post feature gives users the flexibility of abruptly pausing posts.
CONS
- It does not have a visual planning tool.
- Although it allows you to monitor your mentions, it lacks social listening features.
- Its calendar view does not support viewing a published post.
- Its analytics and reporting capabilities are not as good as some of its competitors.
- It doesn’t support the latest social media channels, but a lack of Pinterest integration is the most noticeable.
PRICING
Zoho Social offers a tiered pricing structure to accommodate businesses of varying sizes:
- Standard Plan: $13 per month (1 team member, 1 brand, 7 social media accounts)
- Professional Plan: $38 per month (1 team member, more advanced features)
- Premium Plan: $50 per month (3 team members, additional features)
Additional team members can be added to any plan for an extra cost. Zoho Social also offers a free trial for businesses to test the platform before committing.
Hootsuite
Features
- Contact and content management.
- Supports multiple account management.
- Supports keyword filtering.
- Analytics and reporting.
- Automated publishing.
- Bulk scheduler.
- Social listening.
- Customer targeting.
DESCRIPTION
Founded in 2008 by Ryan Holmes, Hootsuite has established itself as a veteran in the social media management space. With over a decade of experience, Hootsuite has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of businesses in the digital age. One of Hootsuite’s standout features is its extensive network integration. The platform connects to more than 20 social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest. If you choose the free version and need to post to Google My Business (now Google Business Profile), you can add it as a network for free as an App. This wide-ranging support allows businesses to manage their entire social media presence from a single dashboard, streamlining workflows and ensuring consistent messaging across all channels.
Hootsuite’s analytics capabilities are particularly robust, offering detailed insights into social media performance trends. Users can customize reports to focus on the metrics that matter most to their business, making it easier to track growth and ROI. The platform’s bulk scheduling feature is another time-saving tool, allowing users to plan and schedule multiple posts across various platforms simultaneously. In addition to its core features, Hootsuite offers content suggestion tools to help businesses maintain a steady stream of engaging posts. This feature can be particularly valuable for small businesses that may struggle with consistent content creation.
Hootsuite’s commitment to global accessibility is evident in its 24/7 live chat support, available in multiple languages including English, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Italian, and French. This multilingual support can be a significant advantage for businesses operating in diverse markets.
PROS
- It offers excellent analytics to monitor the performance and trends of a post.
- Excellent monitoring of mentions, hashtags and competitor accounts.
- It works well to launch campaigns.
- Good technical support.
- It integrates many other social media platforms.
- It allows for collaborative use by team members.
- Used to publish posts across several channels at a single click.
CONS
- Limited features are available on its free plan.
- The team plan is quite expensive.
- The bulk scheduling feature cannot be paused.
- Poor management of social inbox.
- It is costly to get some add-ons.
PRICING
It has a free trial that lasts for 30 days. Its free plan allows for the management of only two social media profiles.
Hootsuite offers a range of plans to suit different business needs:
- Free Plan: Manage up to 2 social media profiles
- Professional Plan: $49 per month (1 user, 10 social media profiles)
- Team Plan: $129 per month (3 users, 20 social media profiles)
- Business Plan: Starts at $599 per month (5+ users, 35 social media profiles)
Hootsuite offers a 30-day free trial for users to test the platform. Note that while Hootsuite is a Canadian company, all pricing is in USD.
publer
Features
- Content management (in a nice calendar)
- Analytics and reporting
- Image and text editing
- Post suggestions for each day of the month
- Posts and publishes scheduling
- Supports multiple account management
- Allows for video posts.
- Activity dashboard.
- Publishing automation.
- Social media monitoring.
- Available in more than 14 languages.
DESCRIPTION
Publer has positioned itself as an ideal solution for small to mid-sized businesses and individual users seeking an efficient, budget-friendly social media management tool. The platform’s strength lies in its ability to simplify social media marketing and content promotion across multiple channels.
One of Publer’s standout features is its flexibility in terms of user access and usage time. This makes it particularly appealing for growing businesses or those with fluctuating social media management needs. The platform offers robust content creation and publishing tools, complete with scheduling features that allow users to plan their social media content calendar well in advance.
Publer supports posting across a wide range of social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. To aid in content creation, the platform provides templates and suggestions, helping users maintain a consistent posting schedule even when inspiration is running low.
The platform’s integration capabilities allow it to work seamlessly with other social media applications, enhancing its versatility. Publer’s multilingual support—available in languages including German, Dutch, Portuguese, Ukrainian, French, Spanish, English, and Russian—makes it accessible to a global user base.
Publer’s calendar management feature provides users with a comprehensive overview of scheduled events and posts, making it easier to maintain a cohesive social media strategy across multiple platforms.
PROS
- Versatile
- Simple to use
- User-friendly interface.
- You can view scheduled posts.
- It provides 24/7 customer support.
- It is available in different languages.
- Easy to customize
- Its primary package is free.
CONS
- No step-by-step video guide for beginners.
- It only provides basic statistics without detailed information about publications.
- It does not support work uploading images at a single click.
PRICING
It has a free trial that lasts for seven days after registration. The free plans give you access to social networks like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Slack, Facebook, WordPress and Telegram.
The professional plan starts at $19 per month. It allows connection to WhatsApp, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, WordPress, Slack, Telegram and GMB business accounts.
What to consider in selecting a social media management software There are many social media management platforms used by businesses today. However, choosing one from so many excellent social media management tools can be taxing. Different tools have their own unique features, but there is no perfect tool to meet everyone’s expectations. Here are some criteria to consider before picking a social media management tool. Available features Social media management products have free and paid features. Define the features that are essential to your business. Find out if you would have to pay for the features that you do not use. You also need to consider the size of your business and the features that would support scaling in the event of sudden growth. If you want team members to use the tool, ensure that tool has features that support team collaboration. Use a tool that allows you to set limits, access and permission levels with ease.
- Security and accountability: Research and inquire about third-party policies of the product you are considering if you are handling sensitive details. Check out the security features provided by the tool to avoid instances of data breaches. Ensure that the selected tool is secure before using it to access your social media accounts.
- Integration: Select a product that allows integration with other products. You might need to passes data between social media tools. Ensure that the product you select supports integration or will enable you to create your integration.
- Price: The cost involved in using a social media management product is a criterion to consider before settling on it. Check the flexibility of the product’s payment plan. Some products offer a monthly payment structure, while some offer annual payment plans. Also, you need to check if the pricing would change if you need to add more team members, social media accounts and updates.
- User Experience: When selecting a management software, you have to consider its user experience. Is it easy to use? Do you or your team require training before being able to use the software? A social media management tool that is not user-friendly would leave you and your team confused before you can get the hang of it. Imagine the time and energy that would be wasted in the process.
- Analytics and reporting: Some social media software does not have insightful social analytics and reporting features. This translates into investing extra time and effort before analyzing data. Some Softwares have advanced analytic and reporting features that give detailed reports. These reporting features can be used to compile relevant data that can help you in decision-making. Information on the trends, demographic and content engagement of your audience can be inferred from analytics tools. Defining the quantifiable metrics you need to monitor and report would help you choose a social media management product that best meets your needs.
Final verdict Managing your brand’s social media presence across various social media accounts can be very tasking. However, with the aid of social media management tools like Zoho Social, Hootsuite and Publer, you can create, schedule, publish posts across many social media networks. Other benefits of these platforms include social listening, customer targeting, and engagement to help users attract customers and improve their online presence. The best part is that these features are automated, thereby saving the time and energy of users. Zoho social is our best all-in-one social media management tool. A good middle-road, if you need some CRM integration and a clean interface for all of your social media publishing. For low-budget users and agencies, a Publer is an ideal choice due to the free subscription and you never need to worry about another cost again for social media content management? This is what we use and although it might not have all the bells and whistles that Hootsuite offers, we are quite happy using it at Oi Marketing. Hootsuite offers the best in analytics and reporting.