Technology has made business easier. With so many social platforms, it’s easy to get in touch and stay connected with current and potential customers. But juggling accounts on multiple platforms is tricky, to say the least. Fortunately, here too, technology comes to the rescue in the form of social media management tools. SM tools in the form of apps, plugins, and software are here to help you build, manage, and measure platforms like LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook. Let’s look at 5 tools that can make your social media engagement process easier.

Buffer

Would you like to manage 5 social platforms with a single tool? Yes, you heard right. With Buffer, scheduling posts and sharing content on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter and App.net is child’s play.

There is more than one way to use this tool. You can share and post content by adding the browser extension, or using the Tablet or Smartphone app, or visit your site to schedule content. This social media management tool also offers a fantastic analytics service where you can monitor the impact and performance of each post.

Buffer offers both free and paid memberships. The tool places few restrictions on free members, but with just $10/month you can upgrade your account to use up to 12 social media profiles, queue an unlimited number of posts, and add two members to your account.

IFTTT

This simple ‘Cause and Effect’ tool is one of the most powerful automation services on the web. IFTTT here stands for ‘If This, Then That’, and its mode of function is to perform an action if a preset trigger is activated. Case in point: With IFTTT you can create a recipe or formula that will send you an email (Action) every time you have a new Twitter follower (Trigger).

With IFTTT you can work with 160 channels including networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Dorpbox, YouTube and many more popular platforms. Finally, the best news of all, with IFTTT you can also connect to other social media management tools like Hootsuite and Buffer.

hoot-suite

For individuals and small businesses, Hootsuite is the best and most popular social media management tool currently available, and there’s a reason it’s so popular. Using its simple web-based dashboard, you can schedule posts, run SM campaigns, manage engagement, track conversations, monitor competition, and measure campaign effectiveness using analytics and reporting, across all popular social media channels. such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ page, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

How popular is this social media management tool? Hootsuite is used by the world’s top brands including Sony Music, EuroStar, Seagate, NHL, Virgin, WWF and many more. It also boasts of having more than 10 million users, and this number is increasing every day. To mount an effective social media campaign, Hootsuite offers three options: Free, Pro, and Enterprise.

social outbreak

Sprout Social is another social media management tool much like Buffer and Hootsuite. Like other tools we discussed, this one also offers the ability to manage multiple channels in one place. An important feature that distinguishes this SM tool is the inbox. All your messages and engagement opportunities will come to one place.

The Add Keyword option is another powerful feature. By adding your keyword here, you can track all mentions of your brand. Sprout Social also offers an excellent analytics service. In the reporting section, you can monitor and create reports on engagement, team performance, trends, etc.

Sprout Social is reasonably priced with three membership options to choose from. You can also sign up for a free trial for a short period of time and then upgrade and continue if you are satisfied with the features that Sprout Social offers.

SocialBro

If Twitter is your target network, then there is no better social media management tool than SocialBro. This powerful tool is unique in that it provides a more comprehensive platform than any other Twitter SM management app. This SM tool has four main features: orientation, participation, administration and analysis.

Even if your plan is to target multiple social networks, this tool can complement your efforts by offering analytics reports, which can be used in SM campaigns run on Hootsuite or Buffer. SocialBro has a free version and there are four paid options (Basic, Professional, Commercial and Enterprise) with many powerful features.

So what is your preferred social media management tool?