5 Social Media Management Tools to Fit Everyone’s Needs

When it comes to managing your social media, there are lots of different tools to choose from. Depending on your needs, you could get away with using free tools or pay anywhere from $9.99 to $1,100 monthly for more professional level features. Here are some of the top social media management tools used by marketing professionals to get the most out of your social media marketing campaign. Everyone from personal enterprise users will find something that fits their needs in this list.

TweetDeck

If you just need to manage multiple Twitter account plus your personal Facebook profile, then TweetDeck is a simple, free tool to use. You can download it to your desktop (PC or Mac), use it on the web, or use it as an app in Google Chrome. It allows you to create multiple columns to view your timeline, interactions, mentions, keyword searches, Twitter lists, direct messages, favorites, and other activity. You can also schedule tweets to publish at a later time.

HootSuite

Need something a little more robust? Say hello to HootSuite. HootSuite allows you to manage multiple social networks including Twitter, Facebook (profiles & pages), LinkedIn, Foursquare, Myspace, WordPress, and Mixi. If you only need to manage up to five social profiles, you can use it for free, otherwise it is $9.99 a month for an account with unlimited social profiles, Google Analytics integration, and other features. The benefits of HootSuite over TweetDeck is that Pro account holders can have multiple team members manage social profiles, and instead of just columns, you can create tabs with up to 10 columns each which makes organizing streams from multiple social profiles much easier to manage. You can use it on the web or on mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Keitai.

Buffer

Looking for a simple solution to keep your social media networks constantly updated? Then Buffer might be a good choice. With Buffer, you can create a custom time schedule for your Twitter, Facebook (profiles & pages), and/or LinkedIn account. Then simply add updates to your accounts using the Buffer dashboard or the Buffer bookmarklet. The updates will be sent out at the next available time slot on your schedule. You can use the account for free to schedule 10 updates for one Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn account, or you can use the $10 per month Awesome Plan which gives you unlimited updates to up to 12 social profiles plus two team members to help you manage your accounts. You can also see basic analytics for your Twitter updates including retweets, clicks, mentions, favorites, and impressions per tweet.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social allows you to monitor your brand, quickly review your social conversations, publish & schedule updates across multiple networks (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), manage team members, and see your social media results through comprehensive reporting and analytics.  You can manage up to 10 social profiles for $9 per month, up to 20 for $39 per month, up to 40 for $59 per month, or unlimited for $899 per month. Use this tool on the web or via mobile apps.

ArgyleSocial

Large businesses, corporations, enterprises, and agencies who need the ultimate social media management solution will want to check out ArgyleSocial.  This tool goes beyond just allowing you to publish and schedule updates. You will learn more about your brand’s engagement across your main social networks, get in-depth analytics, measure social ROI, integrate social sharing into your website, and much more. Plans start at $300 and go up to $1,100 per month. Agencies can also look into a white-labeled solution for their clients.

Even More Social Media Management Tools

While the five tools listed above are industry favorites, they are certainly not the only fish in the social media management sea. Here are some additional social media management tools that allow you to manage at least two or more social networks.

About the author: Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, professional blogger, and social media enthusiast. You can follower her on Twitter.