Social media is constantly evolving; we are accessing social media through new technology and for many different reasons. Tablet and mobile technology has provided a stage for new forms of social media platforms, apps and plug-ins. Consequently it has become harder to keep up with our expanding networks across all these new channels. It is especially important for businesses to utilise multiple social media channels for effective marketing campaigns. But which are the best social media management tools for business?
Hootsuite is one of the most popular social media management tools, and users include McDonalds, Sony and Virgin. Basically, it’s a free a tool that enables you to integrate a broad range of networks including Twitter, Facebook, linkedIn, Google Plus Pages and WordPress. You can schedule updates to your various feeds and the WordPress publishing tool allows you to create blog posts and update them straight to your website. Hootsuite allows you to choose between quick and custom analytic reports with over 40 different modules to select. These reports allow users to measure campaigns and track conversations.
Social Oomph is all about saving time and maximising efficiency when managing multiple professional accounts. This tool is compatible with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plurk net and App.net. You can schedule updates as well as publish blog posts across multiple pages. Ideal for teams Social Oomph allows multiple employees to feed the account via email. Therefore there is no need to keep logging into the site. The basic version of this tool is free there are monthly plans available to access an auto-follow facility.
Buffer puts emphasis on its ability to maintain your social media presence through efficient sharing. This tool allows you to store content that is then scheduled and shared throughout the day or week. Buffer is ideal for limiting information overload if you have lots of content to share. It’s limited to Tweets, LinkedIn Posts and Facebook Updates, although it can integrate multiple profiles. Buffer is free however there are monthly plans that include analytic services.
TweetDeck by Twitter is an application that can be downloaded straight to your desktop for free. Initially the app was designed just to work with twitter however is now compatible with MySpace, GoogleBuzz, LinkedIn, and FourSquare. TweetDeck allows you to schedule tweets across multiple twitter accounts. You can customise how your account appears on your desktop so you can see both your activity and brand interaction simultaneously. The app also has a filtering system as well as an alert notification so you can keep up to date with what is relevant. Ultimately this tool was designed to save time when managing multiple twitter accounts and does not interact well with Facebook. You can access your stats with TweetDeck but they are not concluded into a report.
Similar to TweetDeck, Sprout Social allows you publish, schedule and monitor messages across multiple Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. However Sprout Social interacts more efficiently with Facebook. Sprout Social has a Team Content feature so you can share and review messages across multiple users. Sprout Social has a great analytics facility where you can produce reports, which include customised branding – ideal for presentations.
By content assistant, Emma Wyatt
Edited July 2020
