6 Best Social Media Management Tools (Tried & Tested)
There are many tools that help you post content on different social media sites. But: Not every tool works the same for everyone. Some are better for working in teams, while others are great for planning. That’s why we picked the best tools and shared their special features that do more than just schedule posts.
Here’s a look at the best social media management tools in this blog:
1. Buffer
Best for content creators and small teams who need help with content ideas and posting regularly
Pricing: Starts at $6 per month per channel. Free plan available (up to 3 channels and 10 scheduled posts per channel).
Buffer is an easy tool that helps you plan, write, and schedule posts on many platforms.
– It has a clean layout, a drag-and-drop board, and smart tools to write posts faster.
– It also allows teams to work together smoothly.
You can use Buffer to manage:
- Threads
- TikTok
- YouTube
- X/Twitter
- Google Business Profile
- Bluesky
- Mastodon
Here’s what we like about Buffer:
Plan Your Posts with a Drag-and-Drop Board
Buffer gives you a simple way to plan and manage all your social media posts. You don’t need another project tool — everything is inside Buffer. The board shows your post ideas in different stages. You can drag each post to the next step when it’s ready.
Each post idea is like a small workspace. You can add notes, pictures, tags, or even use Buffer’s AI to write faster. When your idea is ready, just click “Create Post.”
Then, choose the platforms, edit your message, and schedule it — all from the same screen.
This makes your workflow smooth and easy.
Make a Custom Link-in-Bio Page
Buffer’s Start Page lets you create a small webpage for your social media bio. You can add links to your blog, shop, podcast, or anything else. This helps your followers find your top content fast.
There are ready-made designs to help you start. Whether you’re a creator, freelancer, or small business, Start Page helps you guide people to the right content.
Set a Weekly Posting Goal
Buffer helps you stay active on social media without stress. You can pick a goal, like 1, 3, or 5 posts per week.
It also shows the best times to post when your audience is online. This way, you don’t have to guess the right time or how often to post.
Just choose what works for you. Once your goal is set, Buffer takes care of the rest, so you can focus on your content.
2. Planable
Best for marketing teams who want one place to plan and work together on all types of content.
Pricing: Starts at $39 per month. Free plan available (up to 50 posts).
Planable is a tool made for teams who manage social media together. It helps you plan, review, and schedule content in one shared space. You can organize your calendar, ask for feedback, and work better with your team and clients.
You can manage these platforms with Planable:
- X/Twitter
- TikTok
- Google Business Profile
- YouTube
- Threads
Work Together in Real-Time
Planable makes teamwork easy. Everyone can leave comments on each post directly, no need to send files back and forth. You can invite your teammates and clients and give them different permissions. Some people can view, some can edit, and others can approve or publish posts.
You can also set up workflows in steps.
For example:
- Step 1: The content team writes the post
- Step 2: The design team adds the image
- Step 3: The client gives final approval
After approval, you can schedule the post to go live. Or you can choose to post it manually if you prefer. You can also lock the post so no one makes changes by mistake.
Team comments stay private; clients won’t see them. You can also hide drafts from clients until they are ready. And if something goes wrong, you can check the version history and go back to an earlier version.
Keep All Your Content in One Place
Planable lets you plan and preview posts for all your platforms in one calendar. You can see what content is going live, where it’s going, and when.
But Planable isn’t just for social media. You can also write and manage blog posts, newsletters, and more with the same tool. This helps your team stay on the same page, even if you’re working on many kinds of content.
For example, if you’re posting on Instagram and writing emails too, you can handle both in one place. Everything stays in sync and your team stays organized.
Group Posts by Campaigns
Planable lets you create campaigns to group related posts. This is great for events, sales, or product launches. Each campaign becomes your workspace for that topic. You can write posts, plan them, and check how they perform, all in one place.
For example, for a new product launch, you can:
- Write your goal and notes
- Add all posts related to the launch
- Use the calendar to see when each post will go live
- Track how your posts are doing across platforms
Campaigns help your team stay focused and work toward one clear goal. It keeps everything neat and makes it easy to follow your plan.
3. SocialBee
Best for businesses that want an AI helper to plan and create content
Pricing: Starts at $29 per month. 14-day free trial available.
SocialBee is a tool that helps you manage all your social media content in one place. What makes it special is its built-in AI assistant. This AI can help you plan your strategy, come up with post ideas, and write captions.
You can use SocialBee to manage:
- X/Twitter
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Google Business Profile
- Bluesky
- Threads
It also lets you work with your team on blog posts or newsletters. But right now, it doesn’t post those directly to blogging platforms.
Plan Your Strategy with AI Copilot
SocialBee has a built-in AI tool called Copilot. It works like a smart assistant inside your social media dashboard.
It asks you questions about your brand, your goals, and your audience. Then it helps you build a custom content plan. It also suggests content ideas and writes draft captions for your posts.
This saves you time and makes it easier to stay consistent.
Use Evergreen Content to Save Time
In SocialBee, you can mark content as “evergreen.” That means once a post is published, it goes back into the queue and will post again later.
Why is this helpful?
Because you don’t need to keep creating new posts every day. You can reuse helpful or timeless content like tips, quotes, or testimonials.
This keeps your calendar full without extra work. And if someone missed your post the first time, they might see it the second time.
Turn Links into Posts
Got lots of links to share? Just paste them into SocialBee, and it will create social media posts from them. It’s a quick way to turn blog posts or articles into ready-to-schedule content.
Hire a Social Media Assistant (Optional)
If you want someone else to handle your social media tasks, SocialBee offers help. You can hire a trained expert through their ConciergeBee service.
They offer fixed plans starting at $129/month.
You can get help with:
- Writing posts and captions
- Creating graphics or videos
- Managing your inbox and comments
- Writing blogs or running ads
- Finding leads on LinkedIn
This saves you time and gives you access to experts without needing to search or hire freelancers on your own.
4. Canva
Best for content creators and small businesses that want to design and schedule in one place
Pricing: Starts at $15 per month. 30-day free trial available.
Canva is more than a design tool.
– It lets us design, write, and schedule social media posts from the same place.
– If we already use Canva to make graphics, we might not need any other tool.
– It works great for people and teams who post lots of visual content.
Here are the platforms we can manage with Canva:
- Instagram Business Page
- Facebook Page
- X/Twitter
- Tumblr
Canva may not support as many platforms as some other tools, but it still offers useful features that save time.
Schedule Posts While You Design Them
In Canva, we can go from designing to scheduling in just a few clicks. We don’t need to open another app or tool.
Let’s say we run a small cafe. We’re making an Instagram post to show off our new breakfast menu. Once we’re happy with the design, we just click “Share” > “Schedule” at the top.
It’s that simple. This feature lets us create and schedule posts without leaving the design screen. We can plan our social media without any extra steps. It keeps our calendar full and helps us post on time.
Fill Your Calendar with Ready-to-Use Templates
Canva’s built-in Content Planner shows us holidays, events, and awareness days from around the world. We can use this to get ideas and plan posts for special dates.
Let’s say Valentine’s Day is coming up. Canva gives us themed templates we can customize and schedule right away. This is perfect if we’re short on time or want to keep up with trending content. Templates are ready to use, and we can change colors, text, and photos to match our brand. It makes designing fast and easy.
5. Hootsuite
Best for teams that need social selling tools and CRM integration
Pricing: Starts at $149 per month. 30-day free trial available.
Hootsuite is a powerful tool that helps teams plan content, talk to followers, and track results — all in one place. It’s made for businesses that want to save time and turn social media into sales.
Here are the platforms we can manage with Hootsuite:
- X/Twitter
- YouTube
- TikTok
- WhatsApp Business
- Threads
It offers many features that help us post smarter and grow faster.
Send Instagram DMs Automatically Using Keywords
Hootsuite lets us send direct messages (DMs) on Instagram based on the words people comment.
For example, we post a Reel that says:
“Comment the word MEAL and we’ll send you a 7-day plan!”
When someone types “meal” in the comments, Hootsuite sends them the link automatically.
Here’s how it works:
We choose a word, write the message, and let the tool do the rest.
It’s fast, easy, and works anytime — even when we’re offline. This helps us reply quickly and deliver what we promised without any extra effort.
Turn Conversations into Customers
Hootsuite doesn’t just help us talk to people — it also helps us turn those chats into sales. Let’s say someone replies to our post about a new product. We can chat with them in Hootsuite, save their info in our CRM, and follow up later.
Hootsuite works with tools like:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- SugarCRM
This means our marketing and sales teams can work together without switching tools. When someone shows interest, we can send that lead to the sales team right away. It’s perfect for businesses that sell directly through social media.
6. Sprout Social
Best for large teams or agencies that want analytics, teamwork tools, and social listening in one place
Pricing: Starts at $249 per month. 30-day free trial available.
Sprout Social is a full-featured tool for managing social media. It helps us create posts, reply to followers, check performance, and listen to what people are saying — all from one platform.
Here are the platforms we can manage with Sprout Social:
- X/Twitter
- TikTok
- Threads
- YouTube
- Google Business Profile
Now let’s look at what makes Sprout Social a great choice.
Reply to Messages in One Place
With Sprout’s Smart Inbox, we don’t need to jump between apps. All messages, comments, and mentions from our accounts come into one inbox.
This makes it easy for our team to respond fast and stay organized. Everyone can see the same inbox and reply without missing anything. It saves time and keeps us connected with our followers.
See How Well We’re Doing with Clear Reports
Sprout Social gives us two types of reports:
- Cross-network reports: Show how all our social platforms are doing together
- Profile-specific reports: Show how each account is doing by itself
These reports help us see both the big picture and the small details.
Check Main Stats in One Dashboard
We can view stats like clicks, views, likes, and comments all in one place. This helps us know which content works best and what we should improve. It also shows which platform is growing the fastest.
Understand Which Posts Work Best
We can check post performance reports to see how each post is doing. This helps us learn what kind of content our audience enjoys. We can focus on the types of posts that bring more engagement.
Listen to What People Say Online
Sprout Social also helps us track what people say about our brand or industry. We can follow keywords, hashtags, or mentions in real time. For example, if we run a coffee shop, we can track the word “espresso.”
Sprout will show the common words people use like “easy,” “at home,” or “strong.” We can use these ideas to make better content or write captions that feel familiar to our audience.
It’s a smart way to stay in touch with trends and what people care about.
Ready to Pick the Best Tool?
Here’s a quick summary to help us decide:
- Choose Sprout Social if we are a big team and want everything in one tool — from replies and reports to teamwork and listening tools.
- Use Hootsuite if we want to grow sales and need CRM features to connect with customers.
- Go with Planable if we want to plan and manage all types of content with good teamwork tools.
- Try Buffer if we are a solo creator or small team that wants to stay organized and post regularly.
- Pick SocialBee if we want help from AI or experts to plan and create content.
- Stick with Canva if we are already designing posts and want to schedule them in the same place.
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