Social media is a great communications tool for businesses today. Connecting with consumers through platforms like Instagram and Facebook is beneficial for brands across various industries.
However, using social media for business often requires more than simply having a profile; you need a solid strategy to provide consistent, relevant content to your followers. One way to make this process easier is by using a social media management platform. We asked a panel of Forbes Communications Council members to share their preferred tech tools for managing social media accounts and why they’re fans of the service.
Members of Forbes Communications Council share their preferred tech tools for social media management.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.
1. Sprinklr And Spredfast
I’ve had the opportunity to use multiple enterprisewide social media management tools. Most recently, one I’ve found to be comprehensive and valuable is Sprinklr. Sprinklr has all the bells and whistles and allows you to listen, respond, manage assets, publish and report. It’s easy to collaborate among team members. Another tool, Spredfast, has similar capabilities. They are both great. – Lizzie Roscoe, Meraki.Social
2. Hootsuite
I am a complete fan of Hootsuite. I have found it meets my needs effectively for organizing multiple campaigns across every platform. I also like the prompted suggestions it provides for content as well as the monitoring features. However, being able to simply just click the owl when you organically find content online is key. – Cynthia Salarizadeh, KCSA Strategic Communications
3. Buffer
One of my favorite tools for managing social posts is Buffer. It’s lightweight yet contains some incredibly powerful features, and it works across platforms. It has a great mobile app that makes it easy to create and schedule content wherever and whenever inspiration strikes. Keeping a consistent cadence of content posted throughout the week takes less than an hour using Buffer. – Scott Schoeneberger, BlueWater Technologies Group, Inc.
4. Sprout Social
Our team really enjoys the experience of working with Sprout Social. Sprout provides all of the tools that have become table stakes in today’s environment—management of all mainstream social networks, ability to easily schedule and manage content, analytics support—in an easy-to-navigate interface. More importantly, their team has been incredibly responsive to and supportive of our specific needs. – Colby Reade, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
5. Clearview Social
It’s critical to have a tool that helps organizations spread and amplify messages on social media as well as track and quantify engagement. This has become a crowded space in marketing tech. Most solutions are offered by juggernauts, and few of these offer personal support and reasonable prices. Clearview Social is scrappy and dedicated, and their tool works. – Adam Giffi, Alexander Mann Solutions
6. Hubspot
We recently switched over to Hubspot for our social media management. As we were vetting tools for our email marketing, we realized the capability that Hubspot provides in connecting all of our channels was so valuable that we chose to move as many of our strategies as possible under one roof to better track our efforts and have all of our reporting in one place. – Maria Juan, Peerfit
7. MarketBeam
One of my favorite tools is MarketBeam. It allows me to manage multiple social media accounts (executives and employees), and each post can be randomized. This helps because I manage 200-plus people on the platform, as well as multiple groups. Also, there is a feature that enables me to customize a post per person without having to create separate posts. – Parna Sarkar-Basu, Brand and Buzz Marketing, LLC.
8. Plann
I am a longtime Hootsuite user but have just recently discovered the Plann app. Easily integrated with an iPhone, it has plenty of creative flair available for Instagram posts, including overlays and frames. The app is a great all-around tool that allows me to plan out content weeks in advance and stay organized on the go. – Jennifer Brantley, The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar
9. Muck Rack
Muck Rack gives insights that uplevel our communications strategy. It enables us to go beyond seeing who shared an article and view, in real time, conversations from the media that matter most. Thanks to Muck Rack uncovering a passion point that aligns with a specific campaign or brand overall, we’ve developed meaningful relationships with the press that we never would have discovered. – Courtney Love Gavin, Studio71
10. Google Data Studio + Supermetrics
If you can’t benchmark performance, you cannot optimize. This is why our team is a huge proponent of Google’s Data Studio for social strategy. Our clients love having real-time access to their data through easy-to-digest dashboard reporting. Supermetrics is a great tool for creating templates in Data Studio that organize your marketing data seamlessly for Facebook Ads, Instagram Insights and more. – Amelia Castellanos, Grass Monkey
[“source=forbes”]
