Social media is a critical component of most omnichannel marketing strategies. For most brands, an investment in social media means an investment in at least one social media tool as well. In this article, we’ll cover the types of social media marketing tools there are. We’ll always highlight seven of the best options for marketers.
Scheduling Tools
These tools help you plan and schedule your social media posts in advance. Depending on how many social media networks you use, you may need multiple tools. If you just want to use one, Hootsuite works for the following networks:
Analytics Tools
These tools provide insights and data about your social media activity and performance.
Sprout Social is well-suited for those in need of cross-channel social media analytics. With its ability to provide in-depth analysis of performance on individual networks, as well as comparison of results across multiple networks, Sprout stands out as a top choice. Users can track a variety of social metrics, including Facebook Page impressions, Twitter link clicks, Instagram follower growth, LinkedIn engagement, and Pinterest content performance, among others.
The platform offers both templated and customizable reporting options, allowing users to easily organize and share data in presentation-ready reports tailored to their organization’s KPIs. Additionally, Sprout’s Advanced Listening tool provides valuable data related to audience demographics, industry influencers, campaign performance, share of voice, and consumer sentiment. Overall, Sprout’s user-friendly platform and comprehensive analytics make it a powerful tool for social media analysis and reporting.
Monitoring and Listening Tools
These social media marketing tools help you track and monitor mentions of your brand, keywords, or competitors on social media.
Social media monitoring and social media listening are often used interchangeably, but they are technically distinct concepts. The main difference between the two lies in the level of detail and scope of analysis. Social media monitoring involves the day-to-day management of social media platforms, such as responding to comments, engaging in conversations, and addressing customer feedback. On the other hand, social media listening is a broader analysis of social media trends and patterns to gain insights into customer behavior and industry changes.
By analyzing data from various social media channels, marketers and PR professionals can identify emerging trends, uncover new opportunities, and proactively manage potential crises. Successful companies often use both social media monitoring and listening to effectively manage their social media presence and make informed decisions based on a deep understanding of their customers and competitors.
Social Media Monitoring Tools
Meltwater is a social media monitoring suite is a comprehensive tool for businesses of all sizes. It offers features such as sentiment analysis, influencer management, and audience insights, all accessible through an easy-to-use interface.
The Meltwater social monitoring platform allows users to track real-time conversations across a wide range of social media networks, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube, as well as message boards, forums, blogs, podcasts, and broadcasts. With unlimited searches, users can filter through a vast amount of data to gain valuable insights into community sentiment and trends.
Meltwater also provides customizable reporting options, enabling users to refine their key performance indicators (KPIs) and create easy-to-understand visuals for presentation to upper management.
Social Media Listening Tools
BuzzSumo is a tool designed to enhance your social media content by providing insights on top-performing content and identifying influencers to promote your channels. One of its most powerful features is analyzing shared content to determine what performs best.
In addition, BuzzSumo offers the ability to track topics, brands, and keywords, search backlinks, and set alerts and notifications for important keywords. While BuzzSumo also offers social media monitoring capabilities, its main focus is on providing social media intelligence to improve your content strategy.
Reporting Tools
These tools help you generate reports and visualizations of your social media performance.
SocialPilot is a social media analytics tool that has been gaining popularity among marketers for its user-friendly interface and straightforward features. With SocialPilot, users can post on multiple social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google Business, Pinterest, Tumblr, and VK.
One of the key advantages of SocialPilot is its ability to track metrics for social media campaigns for each profile separately. This includes tracking content engagement, audience growth, demographics, and influencers, making it easier to analyze the performance of social media campaigns.
Additionally, SocialPilot allows users to plan, publish, promote, and create reports under social media banners, all in one place. The software automatically pulls in analytics data when users add an account, eliminating the need for a manual setup. SocialPilot also regularly updates its features to ensure users can get the most out of the platform.
Automation Tools
These tools help you automate certain tasks on social media, such as posting or responding to messages.
Sendible is a social media automation tool that offers a variety of features for scheduling, posting, monitoring, and analyzing social media activities, all while being budget-friendly. With Sendible, users can easily schedule individual posts on their content calendar directly from the dashboard or in bulk using CSV files. Additionally, Sendible allows for image resizing to fit the dimensions of each social media platform, saving users time and effort.
Engagement Tools
These tools help you engage with your audience and provide customer support on social media.
Statusbrew is a comprehensive social media engagement tool that supports a variety of platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and even Google My Business. With its versatile features, Statusbrew is one of the best social media platforms for engagement.
One of the standout features of Statusbrew is its unified Engage inbox, which empowers businesses to make each customer feel valued by responding quickly to customer queries across social media. The unified inbox streamlines communication by consolidating real-time updates about all conversations and messages from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn into a single stream.
Statusbrew also offers automated workflows that enable users to automatically hide, delete, reply, and assign conversations to their team based on their status, type, and social channel. This feature ensures that conversations are managed effectively and efficiently and that customers receive timely responses. Additionally, Statusbrew’s notification system notifies users instantly on the most convenient channel (such as Slack, Mobile, Desktop, and Email) for real-time responses.
Improve Your Social ROI with Social Media Marketing Tools
Social media marketing is an essential part of any business’s digital marketing strategy. With the continued growth of social media usage and advertising spending, it’s more important than ever to understand how to effectively use these platforms to reach and engage with your target audience. These social media marketing tools will help you make the most out of your efforts.