Best Social Media Management Tools in 2022 (Ranked & Reviewed)

But which social media management tool should you choose for your business? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question as every business has unique needs. To make the choice easier, we compiled a list of the 5 best social media management tools that you can use in 2022.

We've also added some honorable mentions you might check out as alternatives if you don't partner with one of the top five.

Zoho Social

Zoho Social is popular social media management software that can be used to manage social media pages for small businesses, professionals, or large enterprises. It is the overall best tool on this list, thanks to its competitive pricing, reliable customer support, and the many features offered.

Zoho has a very cheap starter package, making it ideal for smaller businesses and individuals that are just getting started with social media management. It is also one of the social media management tools with the most positive reviews on almost every review website.

What social media channels does Zoho Social support?

The social media networks that Zoho Social supports include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

What are the key features of Zoho Social?

• Post scheduling
• Event monitoring across social media platforms in real-time including reviews, @mentions, and brand keywords
• Team collaboration with tools that enable teams to engage via chat, audio, and video calls
• Analytics and reports to analyze performance, including stats and analytics, custom reports, and social media scheduling reports

What payment options does Zoho Social support?

You can purchase Zoho Social monthly or annually. The annual option will save you anywhere from 25%-40% off of paying the monthly fee, depending on which paid plan you select. The new premium business plan offers a significant annual discount and 3 users.

What integrations does Zoho Social support?

Zoho Social supports many key integrations including, Facebook Lead Ads Integration, LinkedIn Lead Ads, zShare Browser Extension, Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, and Canva.

Pros

• Easy-to-use UI
• Offer a 15-day free trial
• Their business plans offer some of the best value for the money
• Reliable customer support
• They have packages for both SMBs and large enterprises
• They have added support for TikTok in all plans

Cons

• Some platforms like YouTube are only supported with the highest-priced plan
• The process of uploading multiple posts with photos is not intuitive
• No 24/7 support

Zoho Social User Reviews

Here's how software review sites are rating Zoho Social

Capterra – 4.7 out of 5, based on 2,567 ratings and reviews.

G2 – 4.6 out of 5, based on 2,300 ratings and reviews.

Zoho Social Pricing

Zoho Social plans fall under two categories: businesses and agencies.

Pricing For Businesses

Standard: $10/month (billed annually)

• 1 brand (up to 9 channels)
• 1 team member
• 24/5 email support

Professional: $30/month (billed annually)

• 1 brand (up to 9 channels)
• 1 team member
• 24/5 email support

Premium: $40/month (billed annually)

• 1 brand (up to 10 channels)
• Up to 3 team members
• 24/5 email support

Pricing For Agencies

Agency: $200/month (billed annually)

• 10 brands (up to 100 channels)
• Up to 5 team members
• 24/5 email support

Agency Plus: $300/month( billed annually)

• 20 brands (up to 200 channels)
• Up to 5 team members
• 24/5 email support

Zoho Social Customer Support  

Zoho Social customer support has an average rating of 4.5/5 when you consider most of the review websites. You can contact Zoho Social’s support team via email or direct calls.

SocialPilot

SocialPilot is among the most popular social media management tools that are ideal for smaller businesses. This tool has the core features that you need to manage all the social media pages of your small business. It's cost-effective for SMBs as its Studio plan supports up to 4 users. This plan is lower priced than any of the other options for that many users.

What social media channels does SocialPilot support?

SocialPilot supports most of the popular social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Google Business Profile, and LinkedIn. You can create content, schedule posts, and respond to comments and DMs from these platforms right from SocialPilot’s intuitive dashboard.

What are the key features of SocialPilot?

• Bulk posts scheduling and monitoring
• Post preview to help you see how your posts will look on the different platforms
• Analytics and reports about the performance of posts and your social media account in general
• Teams and collaboration
• Integrated social inbox for all DMs and comments from the different platforms
• Create social media ads on various platforms including Facebook and Instagram

What payment options does SocialPilot offer?

SocialPilot allows you to pay monthly or annually. The annual contract saves you roughly 15% off of paying month to month.

What integrations does SocialPilot support?

The integrations that SocialPilot supports include Zapier, Sniply, Rebrandly, Bitly, Feedly, Canva, and Box.

Pros

• Their starting plan is less expensive compared to the competition
• Can manage up to 10 social media accounts regardless of the chosen plan
• Comes with a 14-day free trial
• Supports all the popular social media sites, including TikTok
• Supports bulk post scheduling with images

Cons

• Its cheapest package misses some useful features
• They don’t have a completely free plan
• It doesn’t support Instagram analytics

SocialPilot User Reviews

Here's how software review sites are rating SocialPilot

Capterra – 4.4 out of 5, based on 329 ratings and reviews.

G2 – 4.5 out of 5, based on 282 ratings and reviews.

SocialPilot Pricing

SocialPilot has three plans that you can choose from. Each of these plans comes with a 14-day free trial.

Professional: $29.75/month (billed annually)

• Up to 7 social media accounts
• 1 User

Studio: $63.75/month (billed annually)

• Up to 25 social media accounts
• 4 users
• Unlimited clients

Agency: $127.5/month (billed annually)

• 50 social media accounts
• 6 users
• Unlimited clients
• White label option

SocialPilot Customer Support         

SocialPilot customer support is rated well on most review platforms. You can only contact them via email.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another popular social media management tool that is ideal for both SMBs and large enterprises. It is one of the best choices on this list because of how easy it is to use and its robust publishing and analytics capabilities across all major social media networks. Sprout also has one of the longest trial periods.

What social media channels does Sprout Social support?

Sprout Social integrates with all the popular social sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Tumblr, Web, and Pinterest. It also connects with three messaging platforms; WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Google’s Business Messages.

What are the key features of Sprout Social?

• Smart Inbox: Brings messages from multiple accounts to a single location
• Real-time brand monitoring with keywords
• Review management: Monitor your brand’s reviews on all social platforms from one place
• Automated conversational chatbots: Automate responses for Twitter DMs and Facebook Messenger
• Social CRM
• Mobile app for iOS and Android
• Post scheduling
• Analytics and reports

What payment options does Sprout Social support?

You can purchase Sprout monthly or annually. The annual option will save you roughly 15% off of paying the monthly fee, which is a $20/month savings.

What integrations does Sprout Social support?

The integrations supported by this platform include Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Shopify, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and many more.

Pros

• Offers a 30-day free trial
• It has one of the most organized dashboards
• It has an intuitive and straightforward UI
• Analytics and reports are available for all major social platforms

Cons

• Supports a limited number of social networks compared to other platforms
• It is a little pricy for individual users and small businesses

Sprout Social User Reviews

Here's how software review sites are rating Sprout Social

Capterra – 4.4 out of 5, based on 477 ratings and reviews.

G2 – 4.3 out of 5, based on 1,584 ratings and reviews.

Sprout Social Pricing

Sprout Social has three pricing plans that you can choose from. Each of these plans comes with a 30-day free trial.

Standard: $89/month per user (billed annually)

• Up to 5 social profiles
• All-in-one social inbox
• Publish, schedule, draft, and queue posts
• Social media calendar

Professional: $149/month per user( billed annually)

Includes everything in the Standard plan, plus:

• Up to 10 social profiles
• Competitive reports for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
• Incoming and outgoing message content tagging
• Custom workflows for multiple approvers and steps

Advanced: $249/month per user (billed annually)

Includes everything in the Professional plan, plus:

• Message spike alerts for increased message activity
• Digital asset and content library
• Chatbots with automation tools
• Saved and suggested replies

Sprout Social Customer Support      

Their customer support has an average rating of 4.5/5 when you consider most of the review sites. You contact their customer support via email or direct calls.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the leading Social Media management tools, thanks to its tracking and analytics capabilities. With Hootsuite, you can analyze trends and social media engagement on your various social media platforms in real-time. These analytics tools can be used for both regular posts and paid Ads. It is also among the social media management platforms with the most social integrations.

What social media channels does Hootsuite support?

Hootsuite supports over 20 integrations. All the popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest are supported. Managing multiple social accounts and running marketing campaigns is very easy with Hootsuite.

What are the key features of Hootsuite?

• Publishing tools for sharing and scheduling engaging content on all your social media pages
• Tool to engage with comments and direct messages from all social platforms
• Monitoring market trends and competitors
• Managing paid ads on the various social media platforms
• Analytics and reporting tools to measure performance on all the social platforms

What payment options does Hootsuite support?

You can only purchase Hootesuite annually. They indicate the price as monthly but the fine print lets you know that the price shown is based on annual billing.

What integrations does Hootsuite support?

Hootsuite integrates with several web platforms, including Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), Microsoft Dynamics 365, Adobe Stock, Magento, Canva, Zendesk Pro, Figma, and more.

Pros

• Advanced analytics feature and reporting
• They have a free plan
• 30-day free trial
• Integrates with more than 20 social networks
• Has packages for both small businesses and large enterprises
• 24/7 customer support via Twitter and Facebook

Cons

• A little pricy for small businesses and individuals
• Not as easy-to-use
• Poor customer satisfaction ratings

Hootsuite User Reviews

Here's how software review sites are rating Hootsuite

Capterra – 4.4 out of 5, based on 3063 ratings and reviews.

G2 – 4.1 out of 5, based on 3591 ratings and reviews.

Hootsuite Pricing

Hootsuite has three pricing plans and a custom solution that you can choose from. Each of these plans comes with a 30-day free trial.

Professional: ($49/month)

• 1 user
• 10 social accounts
• Schedule unlimited posts
• Access messages in one inbox

Team: ($129/month)

• 3 users
• 20 social accounts
• Schedule unlimited posts
• Access messages in one inbox

Business: ($739/month)

• 5 users
• 35 social accounts
• Schedule unlimited posts
• Access messages in one inbox

Enterprise: (contact sales for pricing)

• More than 5 users
• Managing multiple social channels
• Schedule unlimited posts
• Access messages in one inbox

Hootsuite Customer Support      

Hootsuite customer support has an average rating of 4/5 on most review websites. Support is available on Twitter and Facebook 24/7. They have an extensive resource center as well.

Sendible

Sendible is an affordable and robust social media management tool that can be used by individuals, medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises. It integrates with all the popular social media networks that most businesses use. Sendible also has thousands of good reviews on most review websites.

What social media channels does Sendible support?

Sendible support most of the popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest are supported.

What are the core features of Sendible?

• Supports multiple social network publishing
• It can also be used for lead generation
• Integrated analytics & tracking
• Create scheduled posts for all your social channels
• Can engage with all your customers using a single dashboard
• Has reputation-building & monitoring tools
• Multiple users & client management

What payment options does Sendible support?

You can purchase Sendible monthly or annually. The annual option will save you roughly 15% off paying monthly.

What integrations does Sendible support?

Sendible integrates with several platforms, including WordPress, Google Drive, Dropbox, Canva, Google Analytics, and RSS Feed Importer, and has a Google Chrome extension.

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Quick post scheduling
• Detailed analytics
• More affordable compared to most platforms
• Integrates with Canva for image design
• 14-day trial

Cons

• Has no free plan
• Doesn’t accept PayPal payments

Sendible User Reviews

Here's how software review sites are rating Sendible

Capterra – 4.5 out of 5, based on 96 ratings and reviews.

G2 – 4.5 out of 5, based on 747 ratings and reviews.

Sendible Pricing

Creator: $25/month (billed annually)

• 1 user
• 6 social profiles
• Unlimited scheduling
• Planning & publishing
• Monitoring & replying
• Reporting
• Content suggestions

Traction: $76/month (billed annually)

• All Creator plan features plus
• Team collaboration
• Post assignment & approval
• User management
• Personalized demo
• 4 users
• 24 social profiles

Scale: $170/month (billed annually)

• All Traction plan features
• 7 users
• 49 social profiles
• Build branded reports
• Content library
• Custom approval flows
• Personalized onboarding

Expansion: $340/month (billed annually)

• All Scale plan features plus
• Permission groups
• Merge tags
• Dedicated account manager
• 15 users
• 105 social profiles

Sendible Customer Support  

Sendible customer support has an average rating of 4.5/5 on most review websites. You can contact Sendible’s customer support via email, live chat, or direct phone call 24/5. They also have a large help center with documentation and video tutorials.

The features that make up a good social media management tool

You need to look at several features while choosing a social media management platform. However, those features are crucial for almost every business, no matter the size. Some of these features include:

• Scheduling
• Collaboration
• Social media platform integration
• Social media analytics
• Social media monitoring and social listening
• Ease of use

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

Scheduling

Any good social media management tool needs to give users the option of scheduling social media posts across different social outlets. For example, if you want a certain post to be published at 11 am on Instagram and 11:30 am on Facebook, a good social media management platform should allow you to easily do this.

A scheduling tool makes it much easier to create content once and then have your social media management tool take care of the publishing based on when it is ideal to do so.

Collaboration

If you are running a business that has more than one person to manage multiple accounts, choosing social media management software with collaboration tools should be a top priority. Team collaboration tools make it easier for marketing teams and social media managers to handle various tasks using the same tools.

Through collaboration, everyone on your marketing team will have visibility into the tasks that other members are working on or have accomplished. You may find that a platform offers a collaborative visual content calendar. This is a great feature to help schedule content across teams and brands.

Social integration

You need to choose a tool that seamlessly integrates across multiple platforms and with critical social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. Before you make a choice, take time to look through the social media platform the tool integrates with.

If your business uses instant messaging tools like WhatsApp and Telegram, selecting a tool that seamlessly integrates with these apps will be important.

Social media analytics

While managing your social media, you need to get feedback on how your target audience interacts with your brand. For instance, it is important for social media managers to see the types of social media posts that work best and on what days.

You may also want to see demographics such as locations, gender, and professions of the people that engage with your posts the most. This feedback will help you optimize your future campaigns and marketing strategy as a whole.

Social media monitoring and social listening

There is always a lot moving on social media, so you need to constantly monitor the things that matter most to your business. Any good social media management platform should allow you to monitor trends, the social buzz around your brand, competition, and industry terms.

This information is vital for social media managers and can be used to shape future content and how you interact with your followers.

Ease of use

It is very important to choose social media management platforms that are pretty easy to use for all your team members. Its user interface should be intuitive to avoid the hustle of going into tutorials just to find out how to do basic things like scheduling social media posts. An easy-to-use tool saves time and boosts your team's productivity by being an all-in-one platform. 

How to choose the right social media management tool for your business

As we mentioned, several social media management tools claim to do a good job. When selecting one for your business, there are a few things you need to consider to avoid regretting your decision. Some of these include the following:

• Price and overall value
• Free-trial and demo
• Size of your business
• Customer support
• Content creation
• Special features

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

Pricing and overall value

One of the first things you need to look at when choosing a social media management platform is its price. You shouldn't select a tool that is outside your budget. Look at the different packages offered and choose one that provides you with all the features you need at the best possible price.

You should also look to see if it offers you the flexibility to scale up your marketing as your business grows. Your social media marketing efforts and needs will always change as your business grows, so the social media tools you choose should be flexible enough to scale with your business.

Free trial and demo

Sometimes the only way you will know if a tool is the right one for your business is by using it. That is why it is important to choose a social media management platform that has a free trial period on all its paid packages. This will give you the chance to try out all the features before you commit.

Additionally, demos of the social media management software you are reviewing are very helpful in assessing your social media management needs, and they allow you to speak to a knowledgeable person to get all your questions answered up-front to avoid any gotchas later on.

Size of your business

Every social media management platform vendor has a specific audience that they target. You can spot this through their pricing and the features they add to their tools. Some social media management tools are ideal for smaller businesses. Such tools may not work well for a large enterprise with a complex social media marketing team.

That is why it is essential to look at the features offered to determine whether they suit the size of your business. For example, most social media tools that target large businesses usually focus on features such as multi-user support and collaboration across many social media managers or multiple clients.

Customer support

You need to choose a vendor that will promptly respond when you have questions or are facing challenges while using their tool. It is also important to look at the channels you can use to contact their support team. Most vendors will give you the option to contact them via calls, email, live chat, and social media channels.

For further confirmation, you may have to check out their customer support ratings on various review platforms. We've provided information here to get you started; Trustpilot rating, Capterra, and G2 scores. This will help get a clear picture of the experience their current and previous users are having as far as customer support is concerned.

Content creation

One of the core tasks of social media management is creating and publishing content. You need to choose a tool that allows you to easily create content for all your social platforms from one place. Reputable social media marketing tools can offer guidance on the best practices while creating content for various social platforms.

Mobile application

Having the option to handle your organization's social media on the go is an option you shouldn’t overlook. A social media management tool with a mobile app will allow you to perform some of the basic tasks like responding to comments and DMs right from your smartphone.

Since we are almost always with our phones, having a mobile app can significantly improve your brand’s responsiveness on social media networks. In the end, this will positively impact your customers’ experience with your brand.

Other unique features

Besides the must-have features outlined above, some “nice-to-have” features could make your life much easier if well utilized. Such features may include dark mode support, roles and permissions for multiple social media managers, notification management and alerts, and social listening tools.

These features may not necessarily change the way you manage your social media strategies, but they could have an indirect impact on your productivity while using the social media management tool.

The pros and cons of social media management tools

Pros

• Ability to manage multiple social media channels from one place. You can respond to all messages and comments from a single location.
• You can create and schedule posts to be published at the most appropriate times.
• Makes managing comments and direct messages much easier.
• Reports and insights provided by these tools can help you shape your social media strategy for both the short- and long-term.
• Some social media software gives you the option to create automatic responses to some commonly asked questions.
• Some tools will offer some social media listening capabilities, even if it isn't the tool's primary purpose.

Cons

• Certain social media sites' core features are not integrated within these platforms. This is especially common with new features.
• Good social media management tools are not cheap.
• Some of the tools have a steep learning curve, so it could take your team a couple of weeks to get up to speed.
• Some untrustworthy tools could sell your data to competitors.

Honorable Mentions

There are always tools we don't mention in our best tools lists for one reason or another. Many are likely to make the list in future iterations or editions of the article. Here are some noteworthy alternatives to check out.

Buffer – Free option and multiple paid plans that are reasonable

CoSchedule – Free option and paid plans that extend beyond social media

Crowdfire – Free option and multiple paid plans that are priced fairly

Later – Free option and multiple paid plans that offer decent capabilities

Tailwind – Free option and multiple paid plans that add design templates

Best Social Media Management Tools Wrap-up

The right marketing strategy involves leveraging content across channels effectively and efficiently. You don't need tools to use social media, but they certainly add to the efficiency and level of success you can have.

Whether your goal is to generate leads, spike brand awareness and loyalty, or simply listen to social signals, an effective social media tool will handle it and provide more value through other features or integrations than you thought you'd ever use.

Your focus should be on choosing a tool with all the core features you need and one that integrates with other marketing tools you might use. Don't purchase based on features. Make your selection based on needs and value.