Social media managers handle multiple jobs that can be exciting and challenging. From creating posts to scheduling them, engaging with followers, analyzing outcomes, and choosing the right platform for your business, it may soon become hectic and difficult to manage all your tasks effectively.
Luckily, there are several tools for social media managers that are helpful and also save time. Some tools are even free or budget-friendly!
In this guide, we’ll outline 10 tools every social media manager should use to streamline their workflow. Each tool has its specific function, which will make it even easier for you to manage all the tasks you’re juggling.
Note: This page is updated on a quarterly basis to ensure all information is up-to-date.The first thing you need to do is understand all of the major social media platforms. Each platform has its unique audience and style, so getting familiar with them is important. You’ll need to know what works best on each platform and how brands use them to connect with their audience.
Key platforms to know:
Facebook: This platform is great for community building and long-form content.
Instagram: Use Instagram to create visual content, stories, and short videos.
TikTok: Loved by the younger generations, this social media platform is ideal for short, engaging videos that can go viral.
LinkedIn: This platform is mainly used for professional networking and B2B marketing.
Don’t worry, there’s no need for a specific tool yet — just create accounts on these platforms and observe how different brands and influencers engage with their audiences. The more you engage with different types of content, the more you’ll learn about what works on each platform.
Now let’s discuss the best tools for social media managers below:
Before starting to post content, it’s key to have a content strategy. Planning involves deciding what types of content you’ll create, who your target audience is, and how often you’ll post. Planning helps you stay organized and ensures that your content aligns with your brand’s goals.
Here are two tools that’ll help you plan your content.
When to use it: Trello can be used to map out ideas, campaigns, and manage deadlines.
Why you need it:
Trello is perfect for creating a content calendar and managing your workflow. You can create boards for each platform, list content ideas, assign tasks, and track deadlines.
You can organize your entire social media strategy in one place and collaborate with your team if needed.
Pricing structure: Trello gives basic features in the free plan. The pricing starts with the Standard plan at $5/month per user. The Premium plan is $10/month per user, and if you’re a larger team, the Enterprise plan comes with custom pricing.
When to use it: Use Notion to manage your calendar of contents, notes, and project timeline.
Why you need it:
You can use Notion to Integrate notes, databases, and calendars for a general overview of your projects.
Notion is ideal if you want to organize your campaigns and content ideas in one workspace.
Customizable templates are available for social media campaign research, budgeting, and acting as a central hub for your files.
Pricing structure: Notion has a Free plan for individuals. Their Plus plan is $10/month per user for small teams, while the Business plan is $15/month per user for larger groups. If you’re part of a larger organization, the Enterprise plan offers custom pricing tailored to your needs.
Once your content strategy is in place, it’s time to create content that your audience understands and connects well with. Every social media manager focuses on creating interesting content and once you have the right content, the second most important thing is to present it nicely.
Good content also gets no attention if the presentation isn’t well-thought-out.
Let’s learn about tools that enable any social media manager to create high-quality visuals and videos (without requiring professional design skills).
When to use: Canva is a great tool for creating social media posts, banners, infographics, and video content.
Why you need it:
Use Canva to create ready-made templates for posts, stories, and ads on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
There’s an easy drag-and-drop functionality to simplify and streamline your designs using your own brand colors and fonts.
It’s ideal for making any kind of graphic, from YouTube thumbnails to Pinterest pins.
Pricing structure: There’s a free plan with basic design features, while the Pro plan costs $12.99/month. For teams, the Canva for Teams plan starts at $14.99/month for 5 users.
When to use it: Clipule generates faceless shorts, content-aware clips from existing videos, long-form articles, and more in just a few clicks.
Why you need it:
Clipule automatically clips a longer piece of content into shorter clips.
It adds accurate subtitles, attention-grabbing titles, and transcriptions.
The tool turns videos into articles and short pieces for social media, particularly for Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Clipule can make shorts on any topic.
Pricing structure: Clipule offers a Free plan for one AI video. Its basic plan is for 20$/month.
Once you’ve created your content, the next step is to post it at the right time. Timing is essential — posting when your audience is most active will increase the chances of engagement. Managing multiple platforms can get tricky, but there are scheduling tools that can help you efficiently schedule your content.
Consistent uploading keeps your audience engaged, improves your SEO ranking, and builds your authority in your niche. Over time, consistency helps you to gain your audience’s trust and keeps readers coming back for more.
The following tools can help you schedule your posts on multiple platforms without spending too much time and effort.
When to Use: Buffer is a great tool to help you schedule your posts in advance.
Why you need it:
Use Buffer Schedule posts for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so much more.
You can keep track of performance for every single post all in one dashboard.
It has a user-friendly interface that’s ideal for beginners and pros alike.
Pricing structure: Buffer has a Free plan for managing up to 3 channels. They also have the Essentials plan at $5/month per channel and other plans that offer more features for growing teams.
When to use it: Later is a tool for scheduling and planning content.
Why you need it:
Use it to ease scheduling for Instagram with drag-and-drop functionality to plan your Instagram grids.
It provides analytics on how great your visual posts are.
Later is useful in scheduling Instagram stories and reels as it allows you to upload unlimited photos and videos to your Media Library (including content created in Canva)
Pricing structure: Later’s starter plan comes with 4 months free for 1 social set and 10 posts per profile at $16.67/month when billed yearly or $25/month when billed monthly. You can upgrade to higher plans as your needs grow!
Engaging with your audience on social media platforms is very important, only posting is not sufficient. You have to Reply to comments, answer questions, and engage with users to build strong relationships with your followers.
The interaction with the audience helps create trust and loyalty, which can convert into long-term customers. So it is important to keep up with all that’s being said about your brand online for reputation management and audience engagement.
Below, these tools can help you monitor your brand mentions and let you engage better with followers:
When to use it: Hootsuite is a social media tool that lets you monitor social media conversations and respond to followers.
Why you need it:
Hootsuite tracks multiple social streams in one dashboard.
It lets you promptly respond to messages, comments, and mentions.
This tool provides analytics to measure your team or company’s engagement and track brand performance.
Pricing structure: The Professional plan starts at $22.80/month, while their most popular, the Team plan is priced at $89.70/month. They also offer an Enterprise plan with custom pricing.
When to use it: Keyhole is a tool for tracking hashtag performance and measuring the success of your campaigns.
Why you need It:
It tracks the performance of hashtags, keywords, and mentions in real-time.
Keyhole provides detailed analytics on engagement, reach, and impressions.
It’s great for monitoring the success of campaigns across platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
Pricing structure: Keyhole offers Campaign-based pricing with a flexible pay-as-you-need modal and no monthly subscriptions.
Only posting and engaging is not enough — you also need to know how well your content is performing. Analyzing social media metrics is necessary for refining your strategy and improving future posts. You’ll need to track metrics such as engagement rates, reach, clicks, and conversions to understand what’s working and what needs improvement.
Knowing how your social media efforts impact your business is key to long-term success. These tools provide data-driven insights to improve your current and future strategies:
When to use it: Google Analytics is one of the best tools to help you deeply understand how social media is driving traffic to your website.
Why you need it:
This tool is essential for digging deep into your website’s traffic and tracking conversions from social media platforms.
Use Google Analytics to learn which social channels are doing well and which ones could use some work.
It helps you understand user behavior after interacting with your social posts.
Pricing structure: Google Analytics offers a Free plan with essential features for most users. For advanced capabilities, there’s Google Analytics 360, which has custom pricing based on business needs.
When to use it: Sprout Social is ideal if you want to monitor your team or company’s overall performance on social media.
Why you need it:
Sprout Social offers deep analytics on various platforms.
It enables you to discern demographic insights and engagement levels.
This platform can help you change your social media strategy around accurate data-driven results.
Pricing structure: They have a free trial to test the platform. The Standard plan starts at $199/month, the Professional plan is $299/month, and the Advanced plan costs $399/month.