I have recently asked four experts in social media what their top favourite tools and apps were to manage social media communities in the most time-effective manner. There are lots of apps to manage social networks so it is easy to get lost. Here are their top recommendations:
4 Apps to manage social networks
Sprout Social
“Sprout Social centralizes multiple social media accounts into a single application which provides you the ability to grow your network, share updates and get full stats reporting across all social platforms. The Sprout Social dashboard allows you to see all key statistics and the increase or decrease they’ve achieved over the last few months.
Further to that you can add secondary members to help you manage your social networks as well. “
Devices it is applicable to: Web Based, iPhone, Android
Cost: 30 Day Free Trial Then Payment Based On Size (from $39/user/month)
More info at: www.sproutsocial.com
Recommended by: Samuel Junghenn, Managing Director of Think Big Online. Samuel manages communities of multiple clients including their own with 100,000+ Facebook fans and twitter followers (across all clients).
Hootsuite
“Hootsuite is a complete social media dashboard. I can import all of my own social media profiles and those of my clients into one place where I can then update, track and monitor more efficiently. Because it is available as an app on your smartphone, you can quickly check on what’s going on and respond where necessary. Hootsuite also allows you to schedule status updates in advance across all platforms and include web links and multimedia. You also receive regular emails which give you basic statistics on how your profiles are performing and more details statistics can be viewed through Hootsuite.”
Devices it is applicable to: Web Based, Android, iPhone
Cost: there are 2 packages (1) Free for up to 5 social media profiles (2) Professional package for around $6 per month for unlimited packages
More info at: www.hootsuite.com
Recommended by: Paula O’Sullivan, Business Owner and Licensee / Social Media Consultant at Social Media Business Boosters. Paula manages a number of social media profiles for her clients.
Argyle Social
“It’s a web based app, that can schedule posts, monitor customer engagement, and measure all of the specific social media metrics. You can manage all content from one dashboard across various social media platforms. Very helpful when dealing with time zones, and measuring successful posts. Argyle Social gives me the most accurate idea as to our campaign performances, with simple graphs ways to actually work with all of the social media platforms in one spot. “
Devices it is applicable to: Web Based only (as of now)
Cost: $300/mo
More info at: http://argylesocial.com/what-is-argyle/features/social-media-publishing-tools
Recommended by: Sara Wiedenhaefer, Marketing Manager of Shoeboxed Australia. Sara manages communities of 5500+ Facebook fans and 8500+ Twitter followers of American and Australian ShoeBoxed
Buffer
“Buffer has revolutionised the way I tweet! Once registered, add the Buffer button to your browser then when you find something you want to share, simply click the button to add it to your schedule. You can set a different schedule for each day of the week – ideal if you cover multiple time zones – and, best of all, the analytics feature allows you to easily see how many clicks your content received as well as who retweeted or replied to your tweet – and you can thank people from within Buffer itself. It can also be used with Facebook and LinkedIn.”
Devices it is applicable to: Web Based, iPhone, Android
Cost: Free or upgrade to the paid version to access post scheduling and adding multiple social accounts (US$8.50 per month).
More info at: http://bufferapp.com/
Recommended by: Bridie Jenner, Business owner of Bridie’s Typing Services. Bridie manages community of 1,300 Twitter followers.
What are yours favourite applications to manage social media? If you checked out more than one tell us your rating and why…