ByWhich social media tools are you using? Do you know the top social media tools for business?
Social media tools are an essential part of running an effective social media strategy. With the use of proper social media tools you can schedule updates, create campaigns like contests, measure results and do so much more.
Social media tools simplify every part of using social media and save you a ton of time. But finding the right tools for your business can be an overwhelming task as there are 1000’s of tools and apps to choose from.
So I created this infographic containing the 56 top social media tools for business. In it I have categorised them into social media management tools, social media analytics tools, social media campaign tools, content creation tools, visual content creation tools, content finding & saving tools, content sharing tools, and social media productivity tools. I have also included the pricing, major features and major drawbacks.
Browse through the entire infographic and pick your perfect social media tools depending on your needs and budget. Most of the tools come with free plans or free trials so you should be able to experiment with them before deciding.
Check out the infographic 56 Top Social Media Tools for Business below…
Click on the infographic to view large version
Top Social Media Management Tools for Business
Social media management tools are essential as they make it easy to schedule posts and communicate with followers and fans.
Hootsuite
Pricing: $0, $8.99/month and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Easily manage Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, Instagram, WordPress and Foursquare accounts in one place
Collaborate together as a team
Major Drawback(s):
Restricted to using Owly URL shortener
Analytics reports cost extra
Buffer
Pricing: $0 to $250/month
Major Feature(s):
Save time by scheduling posts for Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+ into pre-chosen time slots
Easily share bits of text and images from webpages and blog posts
Major Drawback(s):
Can only be used for scheduling posts and checking basic analytics
Detailed analytics only available with Business Plans
SocialPilot
Pricing: $25/month, $41.66/month, $83.33/month and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Saves time by Bulk scheduling and publishing up to 500 posts at once on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google My Business, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vk.
Social media analytics to measure content performance, audience engagement, optimum posting time, etc.
Major Drawback(s):
No social media listening and monitoring features.
Rignite
Pricing: $28/month, $49/month and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Monitor social media, run campaigns, measure analytics and manage collaboratively in one place
Can be used for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and Linkedin
Major Drawback(s):
User interface needs to be improved
SproutSocial
Pricing: $59, $99/month and $500/month
Major Feature(s):
A very user friendly interface to help manage Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+
Smart inbox to view all the messages you receive from your various social media channels
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
Agora Pulse
Pricing: $29/month to Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Manage Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts in one place and analyse performance with detailed statistics
Facebook page apps to help you conduct quizzes, run contests, sweepstakes, offers and more
Major Drawback(s):
Unbalanced, has more Facebook features and fewer Twitter features
PostPlanner
Pricing: $0 to $299/month
Major Feature(s):
Finds trending and engaging content ready to be shared on your Facebook page
Content types include ‘Viral Photos’, ‘Top Content’ and ‘Status Ideas’
Major Drawbacks:
Can only be used for Facebook
Curalate
Pricing: Available on contact
Major Feature(s):
Image tracking and analytics to see how your images are performing on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr
Schedule posts on Pinterest and Instagram
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
Tailwind
Pricing: $15/month and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Schedule pins on Pinterest
Analytics to track your Pinterest activity
Major Drawbacks:
Can only be used for Pinterest
You can learn all about how to use it by reading my post How to Use Tailwind to Schedule to Pinterest and Instagram.
Viraltag
Pricing: $0, $29/month and $99/month
Major Features:
Schedule images on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Linkedin
Integrates with Canva, Picasa, Flickr, etc. to simplify sharing of visuals
Major Drawback(s):
Absence of analytics
Meet Edgar
Pricing: $49/month and $99/month
Major Feature(s):
Schedule updates on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin
Automatically republishes older updates to ensure more people see them
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
SocialOomph
Pricing: $0 and $17.97/month
Major Feature(s):
Schedule posts on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin
Track keywords
Major Drawback(s):
User interface needs an upgrade
ManageFlitter
Pricing: $0, $12/month and $49/month
Major feature(s):
Helps find spam and inactive Twitter accounts you are following so that you can unfollow them. Also finds Twitter accounts that are not following you back
PowerPost feature ensures your tweets get maximum engagement
Major Drawback(s):
Can only be used for Twitter
Top Social Media Analytics Tools for Business
Every social media account has a unique set of fans therefore it is necessary to understand how they behave using social media analytics tools. Understanding your fans will help you give them what they want.
Wiselytics
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Detailed basic and advanced analytics to measure your Facebook page performance
Monitor competitors’ Facebook pages
Major Drawback(s):
Can only be used for Facebook
Pages need to have a minimum of 400 ‘Likes’ for tool to work
TrueSocialMetrics
Pricing: $30/month to Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Detailed analytics for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, WordPress, YouTube, Linkedin, Tumbr, Instagram, SlideShare, Vimeo, Pinterest and Vine
Determines posts your audience engages with
Major Drawbacks:
User interface needs an upgrade
Simply Measured
Pricing: $500/month, $800/month and $2,000/month
Major Feature(s):
Social analytics for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Linkedin and Tumblr
Social ads analytics and cross channel analytics
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
Social Bakers
Pricing: $120/month to $1,000+/month
Major Feature(s):
Monitor activity for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube and VK
Track competitors’ social performance and compare it with yours
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
Social Media Tracker
Pricing: $49/month and $299/month
Major Feature(s):
Helps measure the performance of social media brands
Listen to what people say about brand on different social media channel
Major Drawback(s):
Google Analytics
Pricing: $0, contact for cost of premium pack
Major Feature(s):
Track performance of social media marketing campaigns such as conversions on your website
Track website traffic referred by social networks
Major Drawback(s):
Sophisticated tool which requires plenty of training and practice to understand
Bitly
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Shorten links to increase shareability
Track clicks and shares on links
Major Drawback(s):
Very basic analytics
Top Social Media Campaign Tools for Business
Run attractive contests, offers and several other campaigns with easy to use social media campaign tools.
ShortStack
Pricing: $0 to $499/month
Major Feature(s):
50+ templates and 30+ themes to help set up campaigns
Integrates with many popular email marketing platforms to simplify lead generation
Major Drawback(s):
Requires time and training to figure out how to navigate the tool
Heyo
Pricing: $25/month and Agency Plan
Major Feature(s):
Easy to use drag and drop builder
Widgets help you quickly install contact forms, share buttons and payment options
Major Drawback(s):
Need to subscribe to Agency Plan to publish to more than one Facebook page
Tabsite
Pricing: $29.95/month to $299.95/month
Major Feature(s):
Apps can be embedded on websites, blogs and on Facebook
Major Drawback(s):
Too many options can confuse some users
Pabbly Email Marketing
Pricing: $0 to $1,599/month
Major Feature(s):
Can be used for for various email marketing campaigns
Very affordable smaller plans
Integrates with over 300+ apps
Major Drawback(s):
Larger plans can end up costing a lot more
Rafflecopter
Pricing: $0 to $245/month
Major Feature(s):
Helps you easily create and run giveaways
Ability to embed contest form anywhere from your Facebook page tab to your website
Incentivised refer-a-friend entry option to attract more participants
Major Drawback(s):
Need to subscribe to the Premium, $84/month package to get access to more themes and ‘Pro Entry Options’
Woobox
Pricing: $0 to $299+/month
Major Feature(s):
Apps for running sweepstakes, photo contests, Pin-to-Win contests, polls, group deals, quizzes and more
Includes Facebook ad tools to easily promote campaigns
Major Drawback(s):
User interface needs to be improved
Top Content Creation Tools for Business
Creating and sharing your own quality content plays a vital in a social media strategy. Content creation tools ensure you write shareable content your audience wants to read.
BuzzSumo
Pricing: $99/month, $299/month and $499+/month
Major Feature(s):
Find the highest shared content on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+
Analyse and compare competitors’ content performance
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
Scribe
Pricing: $97/month, $247/month and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Perform research to find topics your audience wants to read
Social research function to ensure your content is optimized for social media sharing
Major Drawback(s):
High pricing model
User interface needs to be improved
Top Visual Content Creation Tools for Business
Visual content drives the highest engagement on many social networks. Visual content creation tools make it easy to create high quality visual content your fans will enjoy.
PicMonkey
Pricing: $0 and $4.99/month
Major Feature(s):
Create or edit attractive visual content for your social media channels in minutes
Directly share your visual content onto Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, Tumblr and We Heart It
Major Drawback(s):
Absence of grid lines makes it hard to determine if elements are lined up correctly
Canva
Pricing: $0, professional stock images and illustrations cost $1 each
Major Feature(s):
Templates with pre set dimensions to help you quickly create various visuals (posts, cover images, ads, etc.) for different social media
Several images and photos available for free and professional images cost only $1 each
Major Drawback(s):
Training and practice required to understand how tool works
Photoshop
Pricing: $9/month and $699/life
Major Feature(s):
Advanced features to help you create professional looking images for your social media channels
Major Drawback(s):
Requires a lot of training and practice to understand all the features
Illustrator
Pricing: $29.99/month and $599/life
Major Feature(s):
Create and modify unique vector graphics for your social media channels
Several features and fonts to help you create professional looking images
Major Drawback(s):
Requires a lot of training and practice to understand all the features
Snagit
Pricing: $49.95/life and $24.95/upgrade
Major Feature(s):
Several options to simplify taking attractive screenshots of your screen
Line, Arrow, Call out, Pen and several other tools to modify screenshots
Major Drawback(s):
Very basic screen video recording ability
Awesone Screenshot
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Extensions available for Chrome, Firefox and Safari to take screenshots of any webpage
Several tools to add annotations to your screenshots
Major Drawback(s):
Can only take screenshots of webpages and blog posts in browser
Skitch
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Take screenshots of any part of your screen and modify them with various tools
Easily share to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin
Major Drawback(s):
No delayed screen capture option
Camtasia
Pricing: $299/life for Windows (Upgrades cost $149.50) and $99/life for Mac (Upgrades cost $49.50)
Major Features:
Records high quality videos of your screen
Advanced editing features to trim videos and get rid of unwanted sounds
Major Drawback(s):
Very highly priced
Creative Market
Pricing: Starts at $2
Major Feature(s):
Marketplace for purchasing ready to use graphics, fonts, photos, templates and more
Purchase design assets that can help you quickly create quality social media visuals
Major Drawback(s):
Many design assets only work with software like Photoshop and Illustrator
Top Content Finding and Saving Tools for Business
Along with your own content you must share content created by others. Content finding tools help you locate and save content which can be shared later.
Feedly
Pricing: $0 and $5/month
Major Feature(s):
Subscribe to RSS feeds of blogs and see all their posts in one place
Integrates with apps like Buffer, Hootsuite and Linkedin to simplify sharing
Major Drawback(s):
Browser extension doesn’t always work
List.ly
Pricing: $0, $9.99/month and $9.99/month/user
Major Feature(s):
Find lists consisting ready to share content created by others
Create unlimited lists of content to share later
Major drawback(s):
Private lists can only be created with paid version
Grin
Pricing: Free
Major Feature(s):
Vet any influencer in one click
View key stats, such as engagement rate, likes per post, comments per post, Video views per post, and Like-to-comment ratio
Major Drawback(s):
Brand new tool
Alltop
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Aggregates news and stories from top websites and blogs
Search topics to find content your audience will like
Major Drawback(s):
Some searches lead to irrelevant topics and results
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
View images, videos, blog posts, social media updates and other forms of content in one place
Save and organize interesting content using the flip feature
Major Drawback(s):
Hard to find old content once feed gets refreshed
Pricing: $0 to $4.99/month
Major Feature(s):
Save content like blog posts, videos, images and any other webpages so that you can view and share them later
Easily save with browser extensions. It is integrated into 500+ apps like Twitter, Pulse and Flipboard.
Major Drawback(s):
Saved content can be hard to find later, especially if you save a lot
Pearltrees
Pricing: $0 to $9.99/month
Major Feature(s):
Save content like webpages, files, blog posts, photos and videos to view later
Collections feature makes it easy to find saved content
Major Drawback(s):
Content saved is visible to everyone. Can only be made private with a paid account
Dropbox
Pricing: $0, $9.99/month and $15/user/month
Major Feature(s):
Upload content in the form of images, videos and files and access them from anywhere
Get 2GB of free space on joining and earn 16GB more for free
Major Drawback(s):
No online editor to edit files directly
Google Drive
Pricing: $0 to $299.99/month
Major Feature(s):
Upload documents, photos, videos, and other types of files or directly save them from Gmail
Get 15GB free space on joining
Major Drawback(s):
Memory issues as files disappear sometimes
iCloud
Pricing: $0 to $19.99/month
Major Feature(s):
Store images, PDFs, spreadsheets and other kinds of documents and easily access them from various devices
Major Drawback(s):
You only get 5GB free space with the free plan
Top Content Sharing Tools for Business
Content sharing tools make it easy for both your audience and you to share the content you create to ensure it gets maximum engagement and traffic.
Shareaholic
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Add Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and many more share buttons to your blog posts and webpages
Social analytics helps find your most popular content, top referring social networks and most influential sharers
Major Drawback(s):
Shareable images option only lets you add ‘Pin It’ button to images
AddThis
Pricing: $0 to Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Desktop and mobile optimized share buttons to encourage sharing of content
Analytics dashboard displays content that received the most engagement, traffic, shares, etc.
Major Drawback(s):
Pro version should be upgraded to show more detailed analytics
SumoMe
Pricing: $0 to $100/month
Major Feature(s):
Smart share buttons feature displays only the most popular share options on a per page basis
Image sharer buttons make it easy for visitors to share images on your website and blog to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Yummly
Major Drawback(s):
Costs $5/month to get rid of the SumoMe badge that is installed on your website along with the free version
Pro share features cost $20/month
ShareThis
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Easily install social media share buttons to platforms like WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Drupal and more
Social analytics to determine how your content performs on different social networks
Major Drawback(s):
Absence of image share buttons
CoSchedule
Pricing: $9/month to $299/month
Major Feature(s):
Automatically shares blog posts on your social media channels as soon as you publish
Easy to use editorial calendar to schedule blog posts and social media updates
Major Drawback(s):
Only works with WordPress
Top Social Media Productivity Tools for Business
Social media can distract you and upset your productivity. Social media productivity tools ensure you do what you’re supposed to.
Evernote
Pricing: $0 and $5/month
Major Feature(s):
Save articles, notes, photos and screenshots for later viewing
Work Chat feature helps you collaborate on projects
Major Drawback(s):
Browser version not as user friendly as the app
Wunderlist
Pricing: $0, $4.99/month and $4.99/user/month
Major Feature(s):
Create to-do lists and break down each task into smaller subtasks
Set due dates and reminders to ensure you complete tasks
Major Drawback(s):
No option to archive lists
Todoist
Pricing: $0 and $29/year
Major Feature(s):
Extensions and apps for 13 platforms make it easy to access it on browsers, mobile devices, mailboxes and more
Todoist Karma monitors your activity and gives you points to encourage productivity
Major Drawback(s):
Data entry needs to be simplified
RescueTime
Pricing: $0 and $9/month
Major Feature(s):
Monitors time spent on websites and apps on PCs and mobile devices and graphically displays productivity levels
Blocks distracting sites for a chosen amount of time
Major Drawback(s):
Privacy concerns
LastPass
Pricing: $0, $12/year and Enterprise
Major Feature(s):
Saves usernames and passwords of social networks, email and other websites and autofills login details when you return
Password generator helps create long, strong and unique passwords
Major Drawback(s):
Can be risky as passwords are stored in the cloud
Zapier
Pricing: $0 to $125/month
Major Feature(s):
Connects apps to automate movement of data
Works with over 300+ apps
Major Drawback(s):
You only get 5 and 20 connections with the $5 and $20 plans respectively
IFTTT
Pricing: $0
Major Feature(s):
Integrates apps to automate transfer of data
Major Drawbacks(s):
Works with fewer professional apps
Pricing as on 21-04-2015
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Which of the above social media tools for business do you use? Which ones are your favourite? Did I forget to list any important ones? Please leave your comments below.
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