A Review of 25 Best Social Media Marketing Tools

Marketers are increasingly focusing their efforts online, where major social media platforms represent audience connection and market growth. For businesses, social media marketing tools are essential to navigate the dynamic online world of social media. 

Social media marketing tools can dramatically increase efficiency by automating social media posts, data collection, and connection. Social media tools can also increase the effectiveness of a social media marketing strategy, by providing analysis of demographics, competitors, sentiment, and trends. 

From content scheduling and creation to analytics and influencer outreach, each category of social media marketing relies on specialised tools that save time and improve results of marketing campaigns. 

In this article, we will dive into 5 major types of social media marketing tools, including their price and features. Whether you’re an individual looking to improve your social media presence or a seasoned marketer looking to diversify your social media strategy, this article is a great starting point to using specialized tools in social media marketing.   

Social Media Content Creation and Management Tools

Social media content creation and management tools are meant to streamline and organize your creation process. Every digital marketing strategy relies on good visual content, and content creation tools can improve your marketing material and increase the success of your campaigns. 

The following tools can help you manage your social media platforms, teams, and content calendars, as well as make eye grabbing professional content. 

Canva

Canva is a content creation and graphic design software. Users can access Canva to create content like graphics, presentations, images, and video.

Features: Canva has an extensive template library, with a variety of visual content to choose from. Canva’s sharing functionality is another important feature, as users have the option to download videos or share them directly to social platforms. It offers collaboration tools to connect users to other team members. 

Price: Canva has a free version with limited features. Their paid plan, Canva Pro, is USD 14.99 per month or $119 annually, and offers additional features and a larger media library. Canva for Teams, at $29.99/month, is for businesses with additional users.

Adobe Express

Adobe is well known for their content creation platforms, and Express is no exception. Adobe Express is software for creating and editing video and images. 

Features: A standout feature is their library of assets, which includes icons, templates, and graphics. And unlike more extensive Creative Cloud software, Adobe express is more simple and easier for beginners to use. 

Price: Adobe Express has a free version with basic content creation functions. Their Premium plan costs USD 9.99 per month and includes access to premium templates and more AI generation. They also have a Teams plan with more users, for a few extra dollars per month.

Loomly

Loomly is one of many social media management tools meant for content creation and publishing. 

Features: Loomly has an analytics dashboard, which tracks post performance and social media engagement. They also offer post suggestions based on trending topics and holidays. Loomly integrates with different social platforms, making posting seamless. 

Price: Loomly starts at USD 32 per month for their Base plan, which covers ten social media accounts and two users. For $60, users can add multiple accounts and users. There are also Advanced and Premium plans for larger companies. Each plan offers a free 15-day trial.

VistaCreate

VistaCreate, previously Crello, is a graphic design tool meant to streamline the content creation process with templates and a user friendly interface. 

Features: VistaCreate has a large library of templates for ads and posts, and users can access premium images and illustrations and design elements. Another feature is their animation tool, which lets users animate their posts and videos. 

Price: VistaCreate offers a free version with scaled down features. Their paid plan is USD 10 per month, with access to more premium design elements. It also offers a free trial.

Buffer

Buffer is a social media marketing tool that helps you schedule and track social media posts. It’s popular with smaller organisations who don’t need many extra features.

Features: Buffer has a social media calendar, where users can plan and schedule posts in advance. They offer basic analytics for mentions, likes, comments, and more. 

Price: Buffer offers a free version for individuals with up to three social media channels and some basic planning and publishing tools. For four or more channels, their pricing starts at USD 24 per month. 

Social Media Scheduling Tools

A social media scheduling tool offers an advantage to social media marketers by streamlining and automating the posting process. They allow users to manage their social media accounts by scheduling posts in advance, ensuring timely posting and adherence to a content calendar and marketing plan. 

Check out some of the most common social media scheduling tools below.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a popular social media management platform for planning and automating social media posts.

Features: Their Streams feature lets you monitor and manage different social media channels at the same time. Their social listening tools allow you to monitor for change in brand sentiment. Another feature is their OwlyWriter AI, which can generate captions on social media and provide you with content ideas. 

Price: Hootsuite costs USD 97 per month for their professional plan, with access to ten social accounts. For a larger brand, the $260 team plan includes three users and twenty social accounts. Each plan includes a free trial.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management software used to publish and schedule posts, develop a content calendar, and monitor engagement. 

Features: SproutSocial has direct publishing, which allows users to schedule and publish content over various social media platforms from a single place. Sprout Social also has AI marketing tools like chatbots, detailed analytics, and AI content suggestions. Their social listening allows users to track keywords and mentions. 

Price: SproutSocial’s standard plan is USD 199 per month, and includes five social profiles, and Facebook marketing tools. Their professional plan is $299 per month and includes unlimited social accounts. For advanced features like AI assist and chatbots, their Advanced plan is $399. 

SocialBee

SocialBee is a social media manager with an emphasis on social media scheduling, categorizing and recycling posts to improve users’ social media presence. 

Features: SocialBee has a categorization system, which lets users organize their posts by topic, increasing the cohesive feel of your social media accounts. SocialBee integrates with major social media platforms and offer collaboration tools like content approval workflows. 

Price: SocialBee’s Bootstrap plan is available for USD 25 per month and covers five social media profiles. For $40, users have access to ten social profiles and 2 years of data.

Zoho Social

Zoho Social is a social media management platform designed to manage online presence with scheduled posting, monitoring, and analytics. 

Features: Social media marketers can access Zoho Social’s monitoring dashboard to view brand mentions and keywords as well as sentiment and market trends. Their advanced analytics include data on post performance and engagement. 

Price: Zoho Social’s Standard plan is available for USD 10 per month, and covers nine social media channels. At $30, users have access to more features, while their Pro plan is $45 and includes YouTube as an additional channel.

Sendible

Sendible is a social media management platform with an array of tools for scheduling, publishing, monitoring, and analysis. 

Features: One key Sendible feature is their unified social media inbox, which allows users to manage messages, comments, and even mentions across their social media accounts. They have a detailed analytics dashboard to monitor performance and collaboration tools for teams. 

Price: The basic Creator plan is available for USD 29 per month and covers six social channels. Their Tractions plan is $89 and includes twenty-four social profiles. Businesses can also consider their White Label plans, for $240 and $750 per month, if they need more features.

Social Media Analytics and Reporting Tools

Collecting and analyzing data is a crucial component of digital marketing, where analytics tools can give insights on social media engagement, campaign performance, trends, and competition. Analytics and reporting tools enable informed decision-making and improves marketing campaigns. 

The following tools can give comprehensive insights on a host of factors and improve your social media efforts:

Meltwater

Meltwater is a social media management tool that provides analytics and social listening. 

Features: Meltwater has a media database of millions of sources for social media listening, so users can track bran mentions, sentiment, and keywords. They also have influencer identification and crisis management tools. 

Price: Meltwater offers a free demo and pricing is available on request.

Talkwalker

Talkwalker is one of many social media analytics tools, where users can track their presence and brand image online using social listening and sentiment analysis. 

Features: Talkwalker offers influencer identification, which connects users with influencers for social campaigns. Talkwalker also has crisis management features, so users can search for crisis terms and assign people to respond automatically to comments. 

Price: Talkwalker offers a free demo, and pricing is available on request. They have individual as well as business and premium plans with more functions.

Emplifi

Emplifi, previously Socialbakers, is social media management software that offers social listening tools, and allows users to create content, manage online communities, and collaborate with influencers. 

Features: One unique feature of Emplifi is their consumer intelligence platform, where you can access your CSET and NPS, and see real-time alerts. Emplifi has AI social listening tools to track trends and feedback, and users can route messages on social media to appropriate team members for action. 

Price: Emplifi offers tiered plans, with lower tiers for small organizations with fewer users and social profiles. They have a free demo available, and pricing is on request. 

Brandwatch

Brandwatch is a marketing intelligence platform with social media monitoring tools. Brandwatch users can analyze sentiment on social media, and track trends and mentions.

Features: Brandwatch features a separate dashboard for each network source, instead of a central navigation, creating a simple user experience. Their key feature is Brandwatch Analytics, which is useful for social media listening and influencer identification. 

Price: Brandwatch has different subscription plans for influencer marketing, analytics, and social media management. Their pricing is available on request. 

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a social media marketing tool used to search for trending content or influencers, as well as social monitoring for mentions and trends. 

Features: Buzzsumo has an analytics dashboard for performance and engagement. Buzzsumo users can set alerts for trending topics, mentions, and competitor activity. Their influencer identification feature helps businesses connect and collaborate with key influencers in their niche. 

Price: Their Content Creation plan starts at USD 199 per month. Their PR and Comms plan is available to five users and costs $299 per month. There are higher priced tiers for larger businesses needing more features and users. 

Social Media Influencer Marketing Tools

Influencer marketing is an important part of any social marketing strategy, as influencers can connect with their target audience seamlessly and increase a business’ market reach. Influencer marketing tools are essential to build connections and collaborate with influencers on marketing campaigns. 

Check out these popular influencer marketing tools:

Upfluence

Upfluence is an influencer platform that helps businesses identify and collaborate with influencers on different social media platforms to promote their products or services. 

Features: Upfluence has relationship management tools that include contracts and payment, to foster collaboration with influencers. Their campaign management tools help users plan, execute, and track influencer marketing campaigns. 

Price: Upfluence’s pricing is available on request. 

AspireIQ

AspireIQ is an influencer marketing platform that connects influencers and businesses for collaboration on content and marketing campaigns. 

Features: AspireIQ’s influencer search offers advanced filters and insights to narrow down the search for the right influencer. Their creator marketplace is available for businesses to list their campaigns, so influencers can reach out. Their content management tools allow users to approve of content before it’s released. 

Price: AspireIQ has tiered plans based on user needs, and their pricing is available on request. 

Heepsy

Heepsy is influencer marketing software used to connect with influencers on social media sites like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. 

Features: Heepsy’s analytics dashboard includes metrics like reach and engagement, and the ROI of users marketing campaigns. They have content approval workflows to vet content before it’s published, and relationship management tools like contracts and messages. 

Price: Heepsy has the option to pay for monthly or yearly subscription, and they offer a free version with limited features. Their Starter plan is USD 59 per month, while their plus plan is $169. 

Klear

Klear, which was acquired by Meltwater, is an influencer marketing platform with tools for discovering influencers and managing campaigns across different social media sites. 

Features: Klear’s campaign reporting comes in a downloadable PDF format and includes insights like performance and audience demographics. Their Monitors function helps users track hashtags and competitors. 

Price: Klear offers tiered subscription plans based on user needs, and pricing is available on request. 

Influencity

Influencity is an AI marketing tool used for influencer marketing with creator search functions and analytics tools to find and connect with the right influencers.

Features: One excellent feature of Influencity is their fake influencer detection, which helps you identify bots. Their audience demographics provides data on an influencer’s following, helping you make informed decisions. Influencity also has a campaign management feature, which provides communication tools, content briefing, and performance tracking. 

Influencity is available for a free trial. For USD 168 per month users can access Influencity’s Basic plan, which includes unlimited searches and 5000 monthly results. Professional and Business plans cost $348 and $698 per month, respectively. 

A good social marketing strategy makes room for social listening, which increases understanding of audience needs and opinions. Social media listening tools can monitor and analyze sites for sentiment, mentions, and keywords. 

The following social media listening tools can simplify the process of connecting with and understanding consumers:

Brand24

Brand24 is a social listening tool for analysis and monitoring. The user interface is organized into projects, each with a set of keywords to track. 

Features: Brand24 offers a Discussion Volume Chart, where users can see any decrease or increase in online social conversations about their chosen keywords. Brand24 also uses AI to automatically detect sentiment on social media. 

Price: Brand24 is available for USD 79 for an Individual plan, which allows access for one user. Their Team plan is $149 and includes seven keywords and unlimited users. Their Pro plan is $199 and has advanced AI features. Each plan has a 14-day free trial.

Awario

Awario is a social listening platform that monitors websites. They cover billions of sites every day, including social channels like YouTube and forums as well as all major social networks. 

Features: Awario’s alerts feature lets you choose and filter keywords to monitor in social conversations. Their advanced alert settings let you choose search locations and multiple languages. 

Price: Awario has tiered subscription plans. Their Starter plan is available for AUD 45 per month and includes 30,000 mentions and unlimited keywords. The Pro plan is $137 per month, and Enterprise is $339, with each tier offering more mentions and topics to monitor. 

Agorapulse

Agorapulse is a social media management tool with social listening and monitoring that’s perfect for social media managers. 

Features: Agorapulse has a post scheduler that allows users to share content calendars with their team. They also offer in-depth, actionable reports that summarize social listening data. 

Price: Agorapulse starts at USD 49 per month for a Standard plan. Their Professional plan is $79 per month and includes additional features like Instagram marketing tools and Canva integration. All plans are available with a 30-day free trial. 

Mention

Mention is marketing intelligence software used for media monitoring and social listening, where users can track mentions of brand, industry and competition. 

Features: Mention has crisis management tools, so users can respond to questions and negative sentiment. Their customizable team page allows users to add other team members and set permissions. 

Price: Mention has subscription-based pricing options. Their Solo plan starts at USD 41 per month, and offers two alerts and 5,000 mentions, great for a single user. Their Pro plan is $83 per month, and ProPlus is $149. Each plan is available with a free trial. 

Digimind

Digimind is a social media monitoring and competitive analysis tool used to track mentions in real-time across various social media networks. 

Features: Digimind’s Top Reputation tool lets users understand their brand image in real time. Users can access analytics reports that are presentation ready, using a variety of available templates. They also have social media engagement tools like direct publication and email alerts. 

Price: Digimind offers a free demo, and pricing is available on request. 

Social media marketing is an ever-changing landscape that requires in depth tools to save time and effort. Social media marketing tools can do everything from create content, schedule posts, analyze engagement, and connect with influencers. By using social media marketing tools, users can optimize their social media strategy and improve their reach and brand image.

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— Originally written by Tiffany Quinn —