Social Analytics Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a set of methods to attract visitors to website content by promoting it through social media. To succeed in SMO, an entrepreneur or marketer must always think of three parameters: Monitoring (watch), Measurement (web analytics and statistics), and Management (3M). Monitoring your e-reputation and viral phenomena via social analytics is an essential issue to control and improve the perception of your brand.

Digital today is the domain of everything is possible – “making things happen”. As a digital marketer, these facts have surely not escaped you. In addition to having a modern, attractive and optimized site, for 2021, we offer a selection of essential social media management tools that every marketer should have at their disposal to implement their digital marketing strategy. 

In this article, we’ve identified 15 free tools that allow small businesses (SMBs) to listen and monitor social media.

Here are 15 important social media tools for marketers.

1. Buffer

Buffer is a wonderful SMM tool that assists you plan a consistent schedule for your posts across your various social networks. You can immediately add content, videos, photos, and other content to the queue, even when you’re on the go. You can also stagger the publication hours, as you wish. This is possible by using the various Buffer mobile applications and the Chrome or Firefox extensions which also allow you to obtain valuable information about the traffic generated on your content.

You can use Buffer completely for free with their “Free” plan. It is one of the best social media scheduling tools that allows you to manage only 3 profiles and schedule 10 posts. You also have access to the Pablo Image Creator as well as the extension for your browser. You also have the $10 per month plan which allows you to manage up to 10 profiles and schedule up to 100 posts per profile. You will also have access to the calendar as well as statistics related to your posts. For the $99 per month plan, you will be able to manage 25 accounts and schedule up to 2,000 posts. You will also have access to advanced statistics on all of your profiles. You can also purchase a plan for $199 or $399 per month.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is an easy-to-use web app for the average user, hence its success is not limited to Community Managers and similar specialists in the field. It allows you to manage within the same panel various accounts of various social platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or WordPress blogs. From it, you can publish texts, images, schedule updates, and even monitor the comments of your different profiles. In short, you can do it in a very practical and fast way.

You will be able to use Hootsuite for free at first. You can then switch to the professional account for $19 per month. This program will allow you bundled programming, real-time statistics as well as unlimited RSS integrations. You can also use the “team” package at $99 per month. Finally, the $499 per month business plan will give you everything Hootsuite can do, including exporting statistics from your various accounts, priority support, and more.

3. Edgar

This SMM tool ensures that you get maximum engagement for each of your posts. This makes sure that all of your content gets noticed. To get this done, Edgar has a digital library where every single post you have ever made is stored under different categories, such as quotes, blog links, and images. A smart tool that will help you in your daily work.

You can start using Edgar by paying $49.00 per month. If you don’t like its features, you can cancel your subscription within the first 30 days and get your money back.

4. Sendible

Sendible is a growing SMM tool with an amazing user interface. With Sendible, you get 20 integrations with the best social networks, blogs, etc. You can connect Sendible to Slack, making communicating with other team members much easier. This multifunctional tool keeps you on top of important items that appear on your profiles through the inbox. You can follow all mentions of your brand and even respond to negative comments immediately. 

It also provides social CRM and automation tools to generate targeted leads for your business. Plus, you can get very well detailed analytics reports that show how involved your audience was with your different posts. Sendible has amazing automation tools such as automatic responses to tweets or DMs and welcoming messages. They also developed an Instagram automation tool.

Sendible’s prices vary depending on whether you subscribe to a 1-month or annual plan:

  • “Micro package” – $24\month or $20/month if subscribed to the yearly plan
  • Small package(small businesses) – $94/month or $79/month if subscribed to the yearly plan
  • Large Package – $184/month or $156/ if subscribed to the yearly plan

5. Social Booster

Social Booster is another very complete and easy-to-use SMM solution. It automates the process of posting posts by scheduling them in advance (you can even schedule them weeks and months before) and keeping your social media presence active, even when you’re offline. It also gives you access to a unique dashboard that you can use to manage your accounts and stay in touch with your audience. It also allows your business to magnify its reach with its increased use of social media, without having to spend a lot of time on it.

You can create a free account, without having to give your credit card information. The four plans are Toolbox,  Personal, Enterprise, and Pro, with prices ranging from $7.16 per month ( for the annual subscription) or $8.95 per month (monthly subscription).

6. IFTTT

IFTTT(If This Then That) helps you set up or link to various pages, services, and social networks. In addition, it improves your productivity through an action-reaction mechanism. For example, you can automatically post a Facebook post or tweet after you publish a new blog post. So you can choose to connect your preferred network with the action of your choice via IFTTT. This trigger-action configuration for your profiles is called “recipe”. It is a free tool! 

7. Sprout Social

Sprout is a very effective SMM software that has a transparent posting system for posting your messages and tweets on social media. You can also get detailed analysis reports to track the results of your activities. Besides social content, you can also track keyword searches for your future posts.

Sprout Social has 3 types of plans: Premium, Corporate & Enterprise. The premium plan starts at $ 99 per month. It has all the basic features, and the ability to manage up to 10 profiles. In the “corporate” package you can manage up to 15 profiles. You will also have access to very detailed reporting, engagement and trend reports, etc. Finally, the “enterprise” package will allow you to manage up to 20 profiles. You’ll also enjoy personalized URL tracking, advanced keyword reporting, and more.

8. Agorapulse

Agorapulse provides you with updates on your social content, using the social media inbox (an inbox similar to an email). It keeps old conversations and syncs all your profiles in real-time so you don’t miss any comments, likes, tweets, etc. In addition, you can benefit from custom reports, which are offered in PowerPoint with great graphics, to assess your efforts.

With the “small” offer at $49 per month, you will be limited to 1 user and the management of 3 profiles. You will also be able to have detailed reports with 2 months of data retention. With the “medium” plan at $99 per month, 3 users can use it to manage up to 10 profiles. If you are an agency, the “large” package will be adapted to your needs. You can add up to 6 users and manage 25 profiles. Advanced watch and inbox synchronization, 24 months data retention for your detailed reports, 40 Facebook ad campaigns, and much more. Agorapulse also offers the possibility of subscribing to the corporate package at $299 per month.

9. Post Planner

PostPlanner doesn’t just help you plan your posts, it also improves your engagement with your readers and subscribers on your social platforms. It’s more about helping you find the right content and publish it (through a queue or schedule) to increase traffic to your profiles. It has this unique “viral content” feature which shows you pictures, videos, articles, news, etc. most viral in your industry. You can then use this content to improve engagement on your networks.

PostPlanner’s “starter” offer is only $3 per month. You can manage 3 profiles and schedule and post up to 300 posts. For the “love” offer, suitable for the self-employed, you can manage 10 profiles, post 100 posts per day and schedule up to 1000 posts.

10. Social Clout

It is another social media monitoring and analysis tool that helps businesses make decisions based on in-depth, scientific analysis of data. You can track all your social conversations, a keyword research feature, which allows you to keep track of what people are saying about your brand, business and competition. You can even get analytics on your competition and gauge where you stand against them.

You can use Social Clout for free, but this package is limited to managing 3 profiles and 2 reports per month. Then comes the “starter” package at $49 per month. You will be able to manage 5 profiles, have access to keyword research, analysis of your competitors and hold up to 7 detailed reports per month. You can also subscribe to the “value” package at $99 per month. There is also the business package available on request.

11. SocialOomph

SocialOomph was originally known as TweetLater.com because it initially focused on raising productivity for Twitter users. He later started to take an interest in other platforms as well. It offers the possibility of managing an unlimited number of accounts (with the paid plan) as well as the scheduling of posts. As for Twitter, it offers a few special features including keyword searches, people follow back, automated welcome messages, mentions, and retweets tracking, etc.

It offers several services for free, but there are also paid ones. With the SocialOomph Professional account, you don’t need long-term contracts and you can pay (starting at $ 17.97) every two weeks (after the initial seven-day free trial period). You can bump up from the gratis plan to SocialOomph Unlimited plan for only $6.97 (to be paid every two weeks). This package is useful if you use Twitter on a large scale.

12. Rignite

Rignite is a comprehensive platform that lets you get results for your social media activities from a single dashboard. You can schedule posts, establish goal-based campaigns (such as events, promotions, and giveaways), and analyze data from those campaigns.

You can choose between 3 packages, Silver, Gold & Enterprise. The first will cost you $ 28 per month per user. You can manage up to 30 profiles. The second will cost you $ 49 per month per user. You will be able to carry out advertising campaigns, have access to detailed reports, and manage an unlimited number of profiles. Finally, the rate for the third is only available on request. Here too, you will be able to manage an unlimited number of profiles, have access to telephone support, and much more.

13. Social Flow

It’s a smart SMM tool that uses predictive analytics to determine when to publish your content. The ideal time to publish content is determined by its software which uses real-time data, once you have put your content in the queue. Plus, it ensures that your posts reach as many people as possible by posting content when they’re most active and engaged. Unfortunately, no price details are shared on the official SocialFlow website as of yet.

14. Removal.AI

With Removal.AI, a few seconds are enough to erase the background of a photo and recover a portrait or a full-length silhouette! Removal.AI is the best free photo editor for social media

Thanks to a particularly efficient algorithm, including hair trimming, which is always delicate, this site performs the operation in record time. Even if everything is in English, the operation is extremely simple. All you have to do is upload a photo or enter a URL then click on a button to retrieve a cropped image on a transparent background, in PNG format. 

The strongest thing is that this service is completely free! Removal.AI even offers an API to integrate its clipping function into other applications. A site to discover urgently and to use without moderation!

15. Sked Social

Sked Social SMM tool is dedicated to the Instagram platform. It’s an easy and smart way to schedule posts (videos and images) and does bulk uploads for your multiple Instagram accounts through a simple web interface.

The price of your monthly plan will depend on the number of your followers. Up to 10,000 followers, it will cost you $16 per month, if you have an account with more than a million followers, you will have to pay $88 per month.

Share Your Social Media Strategies

In recent years, companies have fully integrated the challenges of information virality on the web. The social network then makes it possible to achieve instant effective communication. 

Through social media, brands are diversifying the sources of customer acquisition. We hope that these 15 tools will help you manage your social media strategies! 

Do you have your own suggestions and a list of tools that have helped you with your management?

Please share them with us! We’d like to learn from you too!

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Alex likes to write about anything related to technology, marketing and gadgets. He sometimes reviews the latest tech and also writes on other blogs.