No matter how big your business scale is, not utilizing social media is clearly a huge mistake in an era like today. Even if you are running a non-online business, taking advantage of social media can help you reaching wider audiences to get your company known by more people.

The problem with taking advantage of social media as a marketing tool is it can sometimes be overwhelming if you just follow the trend without having the proper knowledge and tool as well.

Thankfully, the massive growth of social media is also followed by the growth of social media management tools. Social media management tool is a mandatory gear for anyone responsible to handle social media accounts for business purposes. However, choosing the proper social media management tool can be a bit complicated since there are so many tools out there. This article aims to narrow your choice by enlisting the best ones.

List of the best social media management tools

1. PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic is a white label social media marketing platform that helps agencies and freelancers improve collaboration with their clients and drive better results by streamlining the content approval process.

PromoRepublic allows inviting your clients into a limited client’s interface where they can only leave comments and suggestions for their social media content without peeking into bulky spreadsheets. No need to have dozens of extra files, all updated client’s requests will be conveniently organized in one place.

You can build the authoritative agency’s image in the eyes of your clients by branding this social media management platform with your logo, colors and hosting it on your own web domain.

2. HootSuite

Many social media managers agree that HootSuite is one of the currently best social media management tools. With HootSuite you can manage nearly all of social media platforms from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn to Instagram. Additionally, you can also use this tool to manage your YouTube as well as WordPress account. HootSuite is really a versatile tool. The interface of HootSuite is also easy to learn. Some of the things you can do with this tool include scheduling your social media posts, monitoring your social media performance via its built-in analytics tool and so on.

While you can use HootSuite for free, upgrading your account can give you a huge advantage. Free account only allows you to schedule 30 posts at the same time. The number of social media accounts you can add is also restricted. HootSuite also makes it possible if you want to collaborate with your team. If you are working on a digital agency firm, HootSuite would be your best gear.

3. TweetDeck

Before be acquired by Twitter in 2011 TweetDeck used to be a favorite social media management tool widely used by social media managers. Apart from Twitter, we used to be able to add Facebook pages and manage them through TweetDeck. But today, TweetDeck can only be used to manage Twitter account. No other social media is supported. Unlike HootSuite which is a freemium tool, TweetDeck is a completely free tool. The main service of this tool is to help you to schedules tweets.

TweetDeck also allows you to work as a team since you can add other member to manage a certain account. If you add a certain Twitter username to be a team member, the man behind the username will be able to tweet, manage schedules and send direct messages. Interestingly, you don’t have to share your password. The downside of TweetDeck is it has no analytics tool.

4. Buffer

Buffer is also considered as one of the best social media management tools. Although you can use this tool for free just like HootSuite, the use of Buffer will be more optimal if you upgrade your free account, particularly if you use it to manage social media accounts of your clients instead of yours. Free account is limited to one profile per platform. Which mean, you only allowed to add one Twitter account, one Facebook Fans Page, one Instagram account, respectively. Other social medias that you can manage through Buffer include Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+.

Just like two social media management tools above, Buffer also allows you to schedule social media posts, including Instagram. But once again, free account has a tight restriction. If you use free account you will only be able to add 10 scheduled posts per profile. Buffer also features an analytics tool.

5. MeetEdgar

Currently, MeetEdgar only supports three social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The focus of this tool is to help you schedule social media posts. As of today, this tool doesn’t offer an analytics tool. In MeetEdgar you can add as many contents as you want and save them to Library. You can put together all of the related contents into the same category to ease your job in finding them when you need them. There are 6 categories offered by this tool. MeetEdgar is a fully paid tool but you are given a free trial period to try it out.

6. Sprout Social

Sprout Social tends to ideal for digital agencies although you can also use it to manage the social media profiles of your own business. Sprout Social is a complete tool where you can add scheduled posts, monitor the social media performance through its analytics feature and also build conversation with your audiences. You can also use Sprout Social as a collaboration tool by adding members to work together in managing social media accounts. Currently, there are five social media platforms that are supported by Sprout Social including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+. Before deciding to use this tool you can take advantage of the offered 30-day trial to figure out how powerful this tool is.

7. Iconosquare

Some businesses prefer to make an efficiency by focusing on a single social media platform. Os a social media platform with the most massive growth, Instagram is often chosen by businesses if they have to focus on a single platform. If your business also focuses on Instagram then Iconosquare is the social media management tool you are looking for. This tool is similar to TweetDeck which is only focus on a single social media platform, Instagram. You can do such thing as scheduling Instagram posts, looking for influencers on your business field, monitoring the performance of the Instagram accounts you are handling and so on.

Iconosquare also features a media manager which you can use to manage the images you want to post. Images can be added whether from local storage or online storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. Please note that Iconosquare is a fully paid service. You are given a 14-day trial period to try it out.

8. Socialoomph

Socialoomph is also a tool which you can use to manage your social media accounts. There are four social media platforms that are supported by this tool. Starting from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to Pinterest. However, the free account is only allowed to add Twitter accounts. Socialoomp doesn’t have a fancy look like other tools above, but it is capable of scheduling your social media posts as well as do lots of things such as following back new followers automatically, purge the Twitter DMs, purge Twitter tweets and lots more.

9. Everypost

There are three major social media platforms that are supported by Everypost. They are Facebook, LindkedIn and Twitter. If you are currently running a self-employed business you probably need Everypost to manage your social media accounts. You can use this social media management tool for free so that you can save your budget. Premium account is also available if you need more features and capabilities. Just like other tools above, you can also use Everypost to schedule social media posts to save you time so that you can focus on other tasks on your daily basis. Currently, the Everypost team is working on an analytics feature.

10. Tailwind

Tailwind focuses on two image-based social media platforms, Pinterest and Instagram. If those two social media platforms are become your focus in growing you business then Tailwind is the tool you need. The main feature of this tool is not far different to all tools above. It allows you to schedule new posts. A Chrome extension is required if you want to schedule new Pinterest pins using this tool. There is also a Insight feature to allow you tracking the performance of your pins. Tailwind also enables you to add collaborators so that you can work together with your friends or colleagues.

You can use Tailwind for free but with very limited features. The paid version of Tailwind offers a number of powerful features. Including the ability to benchmark your Domain pins.