Growing your Instagram followers is a challenge for brands and individuals alike. It’s an incredible time in social media, where millions of prospects are just waiting to see what you have to say, look at your eCommerce products, or follow your brand on Instagram. While there isn’t any one best app to manage your followers, we’ve picked three apps out of hundreds that are free and safe to use. Many people believe that dishonest tactics are required to grow your Instagram following beyond 1000 followers; however, there are some fantastic strategies in place right now that’ll help you acquire more followers over time without breaking Instagram’s terms of service. In this blog post, you’ll read about three apps that’ll help you grow your following organically by engaging new users who fall into your target audience.
Table of Contents
Best Apps For Managing Social Media
- SEMrush
Best social media management app
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Social media tracker
+Social media poster
+SEO integration
REASONS TO AVOID
-Doesn’t have all the tools some rivals possess
SEMrush is best known for being an inclusive SEO software platform, but it also incorporates a couple of useful tools for social media management across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google My Business.
The social media poster allows you to schedule and posts to these different social media platforms. It includes an image editor, UTM-builder and link shortener, for customizing your posts, which you can then publish immediately or according to an automated schedule. There’s also the ability to manage ads specifically across Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and the Audience Network.
The social media tracker then allows you to track cross-platform engagement with users, allowing you to collect analytics for reports in a single dashboard. This includes both reactions to posts as well as mentions elsewhere. You can also monitor competitors to determine how often they are posting.
The biggest strength, however, is the fact that SEMrush allows you to integrate your social media management with your overall SEO and marketing strategy, and provides a useful platform that brings everything together in one place.
Read our full SEMRush review.
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Website screenshot for Hootsuite
(Image credit: Hootsuite)
- Hootsuite
Best Social Media Tracker tools
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Manage posting schedules
+Analytics for performance
+Mutliple integrations
REASONS TO AVOID
-Twitter-focused
Hootsuite aims to provide an all-in-one platform for social media management across multiple sites. As expected, there’s an option to search and filter through existing social media, in order to find brand mentions, insights, and demographic information.
Additionally, with any of Hootsuite’s plans you have the option to schedule posts from multiple profiles across multiple social media sites. This allows you to ensure any marketing campaigns are properly timed and targeted when and where you need them to be. This is especially when posts can be tagged to ensure you store them in the right place for use at the right time.
There’s also an analytics feature so you can track and measure performance against KPIs. Reports are customizable, so you can ensure you display and read the data you need to and stay focused on that. This is especially as Hootsuite is built to work for teams, not just individuals.
A number of integrations are also available, such as Asana, Slack, Mailchimp, Trello, and Zendesk, ensuring that you can work productively and efficiently when it comes to building your social media marketing and communications campaigns.
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Website screenshot for Sprout Social
(Image credit: Sprout Social)
- Sprout Social
Best Social Media posting software
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Covers a wide range of social media accounts
+Powerful data analysis capabilities
+Helps with customer support
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not as high-profile as some rivals
Sprout Social is probably first and foremost known as a one-stop shop for managing and scheduling all of your social media accounts through one simple-to-use platform. Very handy indeed for your company’s social media administrator when they’re trying to juggle Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more at once.
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But it doubles up as a powerful tool for analyzing your data, too. You can sort by various demographic and geographic measures to quantify exactly what content is working for which followers. Sprout can manage multiple accounts and monitor keywords across all social media so that you know when your brand is being discussed. It also helps your company respond to customers by directing messages to the people within the organization who need to action them.
You can try Sprout Social for free with its 30-day trial. If you like it, starter plans cover up to five different social profiles, with additional plans offering more profiles, scope, and features.
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Website screenshot for Buffer
(Image credit: Buffer)
- Buffer
Best post tracking tools
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+User-friendly
+Real-time analytics
+Google Analytics integration
REASONS TO AVOID
-Fairly general features
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Rather like Sprout Social above, Buffer is another all-rounder that lets you post to your platform and then analyze the results. One of its major plus points is just how simple and straightforward it is to use, while also giving you flexibility. The fact it provides analytics in real-time makes instantly judging the impact of your content a doddle.
Use the “Top Post” icon to compare different forms of content to see which works best for each network. While the Buffer app also allows for seamless Google Analytics integration for tracking the success of your marketing campaigns.
Payment plans depend on whether you’re looking to publish or analyze social media accounts, with different pricing for each based on the volume of accounts or published content you want to manage.
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Website screenshot for Hubspot Social Media Software
(Image credit: Hubspot)
- Hubspot
Best social media automation tools
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Monitor multiple platforms
+Multiple tools
+Hubspot marketing platform
REASONS TO AVOID
-Might offer too many options for some users
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Hubspot Social Media Software is a suite of social media management tools available under the Marketing Hub. The aim is to save time by prioritizing social connections you place most value on across a range of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
There are various management features available, such as for publishing and sharing content, monitoring mentions, and reporting to let know know not just levels of engagement but also how these translate into actual business metrics.
These tools are available as part of the Hubspot Marketing Hub, which means you can use them in conjunction with a range of other focused marketing tools. As above, this means not simply monitoring and managing your social media, but critically also ensuring that the work you put into it translates into some form of measuring business return.
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Website screenshot for Zoho Social
(Image credit: Zoho)
- Zoho Social
Best social media scheduler
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Elegant interface
+Allows for better organizing your stories
+Zoho integrations
REASONS TO AVOID
-Doesn’t offer as many advanced features as othe roptions
Zoho Social offers a simple way to manage your brand on social media, by providing a complete social media management platform.
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As well as managing multiple social media channels, there’s also a posting calendar feature available so you can see which posts have been scheduled for posting. You can also monitor your target keywords across conversations, and allow for team collaboration from a single dashboard.
Zoho Social also comes with a version specifically for the needs of marketing agencies, which allows for brand and communications management for client lists, while also allowing for white labeling.
Also expect to be able to integrate Zoho Social with other Zoho tools, such as Zoho Workspace, Zoho Campaigns, and Zoho CRM.
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Website screenshot for Agorapulse
(Image credit: Agorapulse)
- Agorapulse
Best social media scheduling tools
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Built for agencies
+Extensive platform
+Report export options
REASONS TO AVOID
-Differing price options
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Agorapulse is another dedicated social media management platform, designed specifically to help agencies and businesses post and monitor their posts across a number of social media websites.
There’s a flexible scheduling tool to allow you to queue, reschedule, or bulk upload posts. There is also a social inbox for monitoring replies to your posts, mentions elsewhere, as well as other important messages. Of course, there’s also a reporting tool from which you can glean analytics relating to content and engagement data, with the option to download as CSV or PPT files.
Agorapulse is also designed to work with teams, so that individual members can be assigned specific posts, comments, or other specific tasks. There’s also a cool feature for building a CRM database of followers and other social media users to track, and add notes on these.
Pricing is mainly based according to the number social profiles and users required, though the different plans also have different levels of data retention.
Overall, Agorapulse offers a great platform for agencies who may have more demanding needs than the ordinary business for general management and monitoring of social media.
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Website screenshot for Traject Fanbooster
(Image credit: Traject)
- Traject Fanbooster
Best brand management tool
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Agency platform
+White labeling
+Scalable
REASONS TO AVOID
-Marketing platform not integrated
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The popular Traject Social social media management platform is now being rebranded as Fanbooster, in order to help connect marketers with a wider platform that includes SEO, reputation management, ecommerce, as well as analytics.
Fanbooster offers a white label platform covering all major social media management needs, such as scheduling, smart inbox, monitoring, and reporting. There are also team tools, custom reports, and integrations available.
Aimed at agencies, Fanbooster allows you to manage multiple platforms for multiple clients. the white label aspect is especially valuable for allowing you to not only brand your own client reports, but also allows for easy scaling across your client base.
There are also dedicated Android and iOS apps available, allowing you to schedule, review, and publish content directly from your smartphone using the Fanbooster app.
However, while Traject offers other marketing tools, these are not integrated, which is a shame as others such as SEMrush do offer this. That means Fanbooster is available to buy only as a standalone service.
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Website screenshot for Sendible
(Image credit: Sendible)
- Sendible
Best post scheduler
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Collaborative approach
+Agency-friendly
+Content optimization
REASONS TO AVOID
-Not quite as comprehensive as some competitors
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Sendible offers a collaborative social media management platform for teams, which also adds a range of special tools on top of the common defaults to make it easier to control your social media posting.
As well as common scheduling, queuing, and calendar aspects for posting, Sendible also allows you to preview and customize posts on each individual platform, allowing you to optimize the content to display best on each. This is especially the case with image alignment and optimization.
Additionally, you can visualize posts on a shared calendar, making it easy to see at a glance where various client content is. And if you’re short of content, Sendible provides suggestions.
Social monitoring is also a key part of the platform, allowing you to not just track your own content but also user mentions, as well as monitor competitors and targeted hashtags.
As with other social media managers, reporting is another core feature, with Sendible offering not just easy-to-produce reports but also email reporting for clients as required. There’s also Google Analytics integration to track clickthroughs and user behavior for traffic that comes through from social media channels.
Sendible offers a strong suite of nicely presented tools, and the collaboration aspect of Sendible is one of its strongest features, allowing teams to work on assigned tasks and have content approved before they are scheduled, to ensure quality controls.
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Website screenshot for SocialPilot
(Image credit: SocialPilot)
- SocialPilot
Best flexible social media management
TODAY’S BEST DEALS
VISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Accessible platform
+Browser extensions
+Connect client accounts
REASONS TO AVOID
-Lacking some tools offered by bigger rivals
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SocialPilot offers a social media management platform for small businesses, agencies, and enterprises. As with similar platforms, it offers a single place from which to publish and schedule your social media posts. There’s also a social inbox for monitoring replies, comments, and mentions, as well as analytics that offers white label reporting.
Users can post directly via the web or mobile, or browser extensions, and content suggestions are provided to help you develop more. Agency tools allow for collaboration among team members, along with built-in workflows. Enterprise clients enjoy a dedicated account manager along with priority phone and email support.
SocialPilot includes the ability to schedule up to 500 posts, along with images, using a post planner that allows you to easily review content and map them to the right social media platform.
SocialPilot is also able to connect client accounts directly through the software, rather than having to ask clients to provide their login details directly. In an age where cybercrime concerns are important, clients may be especially reassured by this.
All in all, SocialPilot offers another strong social media platform, which is accessible for both small businesses as well as teams within agencies.
Best social media management tools free
- Later
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks, with over 1 billion users active on the platform each month. Later started as an app dedicated to Instagram as a scheduling tool, but since its inception, they’ve added support for other social networks and are continuously adding new features. The app has a strong focus on visual content. Whether you want to schedule in-feed image or video posts, stories, or carousel posts — Later supports all of these options. Later has a free plan available that you can use forever, but you get features such as analytics, saved captions, scheduled stories, and more for paid plans. Their paid plans start at $9/month.
A screenshot of the later dashboard
- TweetDeck
Those who rely on Twitter to get their message across will find much to like about TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a free application that enables you to manage multiple (unlimited) Twitter accounts from a unified interface. You can create your own customizable social media dashboard that allows you to send and receive tweets and manage and monitor your Twitter profiles. You can use TweetDeck as a web app, Chrome app, or desktop app. TweetDeck can be set to post scheduled tweets, build Tweet lists, and more. And the extra special part is that it’s always free.
A screenshot of the TweetDeck dashboard
- Canva
Social media is increasingly becoming more and more visual. Canva is an excellent tool for anyone managing social media accounts to use. You can create designer-level marketing assets using any of the thousands of ready-made designs they have available to you. Now, you can even connect your social channels and publish or schedule directly from Canva. They have a free version available, which gives you decent access to great pre-made templates. The pro plan gives you access to all of the templates for only $12.95/month.
A screenshot of the canva dashboard
- Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the most established and popular apps for social media scheduling and marketing. You can use it to schedule posts, receive in-depth reports, and collaborate with your team members, thanks to built-in teamwork features. It enables you to view multiple streams at once and monitor what your customers are saying. There is a free limited plan available for 3 social profiles and up to 30 scheduled messages.
a screenshot of the hootsuite dashboard
- Buffer
Buffer is also one of the best apps for managing your social media presence and scheduling your posts. The app also comes with analytics tools that enable you to track your audience’s activity and figure out when it is the best time to post in the future. We especially love its Chrome extension, which integrates itself seamlessly and never gets in the way, yet it is always there when you need it. It is a more straightforward and more effective way of managing your social media, and you are never more than a few clicks away from setting up anything you want. Buffer supports over 7 different platforms – you can add up to 4 on the free plan.
a screenshot of the Buffer dashboard
- Planable
Planable is a social media collaboration tool helping marketers work together better & faster. So, if you care for efficiency, this is the tool to consider. It’s one of the most visual platforms allowing marketers to create, plan, collaborate, review, and schedule social media content. It supports the most popular social media networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, and Google My Business. Planable is 100% focused on collaboration and approval so it allows you to get feedback on each post, have conversations, request & get approval, and schedule automatically. They’ve got a free plan to get you started — so you can test all the features for the first 50 posts.
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Conclusion
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