Social media management is a growing industry, and for good reason.
The amount of people using social media has skyrocketed in recent years, and the number of users continues to grow at an exponential rate. As a result, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have a presence on social media platforms—and that means having someone who can manage their presence.
But with so many different platforms out there, where do you start? In this list we’ll highlight some of the best apps for managing your social media accounts.
Best Apps For Social Media Management
Social media is one of the most powerful tools available to small and medium businesses. You can use it to find new clients, drive traffic to your site, and keep in touch with existing customers. But like many powerful tools, you have to be careful with how you use it. Trying to manage multiple inboxes, post on all the different platforms, and keep things consistent is next to impossible using the regular consumer apps. To do it properly, you need a social media management app.
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The best social media management platforms allow you to take control of your social media presence in a single place. You’re able to easily automate, analyze, and control all your accounts, so you can focus on creating the kind of content your audience loves.
We put almost 50 social media management apps to the test, and here are the five best.
Once you’ve picked a social media management app, you can make it even more powerful and efficient by automating it. Take a look at how you can use automation to improve your social marketing. Or, if you’re focused mostly on Instagram, here are 3 ways to automatically post to Instagram for Business.
The best social media management tools
Buffer for straightforward social media scheduling
Hootsuite for all-in-one social media scheduling, monitoring, and analytics
MeetEdgar for automating your social media posts
SocialPilot for small teams
Sendible for an affordable option with all the features
What makes a great social media management tool?
How we evaluate and test apps
All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who’ve spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it’s intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category. We’re never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog.
Social media management apps have one purpose: to make managing your business’s social media presence easy and efficient. Most small businesses don’t have the staff or the time to waste posting individual updates and checking in on each site a few times every day. With this in mind, we set out some pretty firm criteria on what we felt made a great social media management tool:
Each app had to support multiple social networks: at the very least, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Support for other networks or services was a bonus but not essential for inclusion.
It’s easy to waste time on social media—whether you’re posting for yourself or your business. It shouldn’t be a hands-on job that takes time every day. This meant we required apps to enable you to schedule future posts and updates so you could batch your social media work into a couple of blocks each week. Also, it was ideal if apps offered access to your social media inboxes away from the distraction of the feed, so you could reply to customers without getting sucked in.
Social media shouldn’t be a crapshoot. Different audiences will engage differently with different kinds of content. To make it easier for you to identify what content works for your audience, the best social media management tools will offer detailed analytics on how your posts do. (Unfortunately for marketers, not all social networks allow the same kind of analytics, which means you won’t necessarily get the same features for every social network you use.)
Finally, all the apps had to be cost-effective for small and medium businesses. There are plenty of enterprise- or influencer-focused apps out there that charge a serious premium for features you’ll never use. Price wasn’t as much the issue as value for money.
It’s also worth noting that every app has a free trial or even a totally free plan. Don’t decide on one based just on our observations; try the two or three that sound like they might suit you best, and go from there.
Best social media management tool for straightforward social media scheduling
Buffer (Web, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Safari)
Buffer screenshot
Buffer is one of the longest-running social media tools aimed primarily at scheduling posts, although it’s gone through multiple updates, shifts, and iterations. It supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. Free users can connect up to three social accounts, including Facebook Pages and groups.
When you first connect a social account, Buffer will create a schedule for you. By default, Buffer creates four slots per day: in the morning, around noon, late-afternoon, and later in the evening for the time zone you’ve selected. Head to Settings > Posting Schedule to tweak this at any time, delete or add time slots, or disable an entire day. The more slots you have, the more updates you’ll need to schedule, but scheduling updates is easy with Buffer’s intuitive dashboard, mobile apps, and browser extensions.
For scheduling content from the web, Buffer offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Click the Buffer icon in your toolbar (or use a keyboard shortcut), compose your update, and click Add to Queue to schedule. There are also mobile apps available for both iOS and Android, so you can schedule on the go.
While Buffer’s free plan is good enough to get started, if you want a more complete social media management solution or to control more than three social media accounts at once, you’ll need to pay $6/month per social channel for the Essentials plan. This gives you access to detailed analytics and engagement features, which let you interact with your audience directly from Buffer. (Also, if you want to bring team members on board, Buffer goes up to $12/month per social channel.)
With Zapier, it’s easy to link any other service you use to Buffer. For example, you can automatically add new blog posts to your schedule, either directly from WordPress or through an RSS feed.
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Buffer Price: Free plan includes one user, three accounts, and 10 queued posts per profile; from $6/month per social channel for the Essentials plan that offers unlimited queued posts per profile; from $12/month per social channel for the Team plan that offers unlimited users.
Best social media management tool for all-in-one scheduling, monitoring, and analytics
Hootsuite (Web, iOS, Android, Chrome)
Hootsuite screenshot
If you’re looking for a complete solution to all of your social media management needs, Hootsuite will cover all your bases. The app is compatible with over 20 social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. More network connections are available through the Hootsuite app directory, though they can be hit or miss.
Hootsuite includes a full scheduler for queuing posts at times of your choosing. You can create your own schedule or use the AutoSchedule function to schedule your updates at optimal engagement times. By uploading a CSV file with prepared updates using the Bulk Composer, you can fill your queue for days, weeks, months, or the duration of an entire social campaign. Once you’ve filled up your queue, it’s easy to view your outgoing posts from the Planner and reorder your update schedule with a simple drag and drop.
One of Hootsuite’s strongest areas is analytics, though you need one of the more expensive plans to get the full suite of them. The tool helps you understand social results by drawing on more than 200 metrics to measure performance. Once you’ve generated reports, you can export them as Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and CSV files for use within your organization. You can run similar reports to measure team or individual performance.
Hootsuite can also help you monitor the social web with custom social streams. These customizable feeds let you watch the social web for mentions, new followers, search terms, hashtags, engagement, and more. You can construct precise streams that include or exclude specific keywords, post types, locations, and languages. As an example, if you’re in the business of selling custom portraits, you could target the search term portrait 🙁 filter:images to find negative posts that mention the word “portrait” with an attached image. You could then target these users with your own business.
For bigger businesses, you can assign different levels of access to various team members to avoid handing out passwords. Your team can use Hootsuite’s included content library to compose updates with on-brand assets of your choosing. Hootsuite includes free stock photos and GIFs courtesy of GIPHY, or you can connect Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive to draw on your own resources, or your paid account with services like Adobe Stock. You can even assign tasks to your team members (like responding to comments or incoming messages), then approve the outgoing responses before they’re sent.
Hootsuite also integrates with Zapier, so you can do things like automatically thank new Twitter followers or create new messages directly from your task management app.
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Hootsuite Price: Free plan includes one user, three social profiles, and 30 scheduled updates; from $39/month (billed annually) for the Professional plan that includes one user, 10 social profiles, and unlimited scheduling; team plans start at $129/month (billed annually).
Hootsuite and Buffer are both robust platforms that offer some similar features. If you’re trying to decide between the two, check out our social media management app showdown: Hootsuite vs. Buffer.
Best social media management tool for small teams
SocialPilot (Web, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox, Edge)
SocialPilot screenshot
With many apps in this category, if you want to delegate social media management to someone else in your organization, you’ll have to pay a serious premium for the privilege. (You could give them the login credentials to save money, but that comes with a whole host of security concerns.) With SocialPilot, though, the Small Team plan starts at $50/month and includes two other team members and 25 social media accounts. With Buffer or Hootsuite, you’d be paying hundreds of dollars more per year.
While SocialPilot’s user interface is a bit dated, it’s entirely functional. The sidebar has tabs for managing your posts and accounts, accessing your inboxes or analytics, lining up content from RSS feeds, and configuring your team and client setup. All the features you’d expect of a good social media management app are there—though it’s the Team options that are most compelling.
Different team members can be assigned roles, based on what you want them to be able to do. For example, you can set things up so content creators have to submit all posts for approval, or allow managers to edit and schedule but still retain final approval for yourself. This allows you to delegate responsibilities to the people you work with, without having to give them free rein.
SocialPilot also integrates with Zapier, so you can automatically add content to your SocialPilot queue whenever something happens in the other apps you use most.
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Social Pilot Price: From $30/month for the Professional plan; the Small Team plan with 3 users and 25 accounts starts at $50/month
Best social media management tool for automating your posts
MeetEdgar (Web, iOS, Chrome)
MeetEdgar screenshot
MeetEdgar is like an autopilot for your social media accounts. It does a lot of the heavy lifting for you and is compatible with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. This isn’t an analytics tool—just a scheduling one.
What makes MeetEdgar so different is its automation. The app can find quote-worthy text from links, and then compose updates to go along with them. After pasting your link, simply click Suggest Variations, and MeetEdgar will create four alternative updates based on the contents of your link. You can edit them, delete them, or add your own manual variations, and then click Save to Library. This is the only tool we came across while researching that actually creates your content for you. Better still, it can generate variations on past updates that have performed well, making it easy to recycle updates without duplicating content.
Another standout feature is the ability to categorize your updates. Add different types of content to different categories, so you can better space out content types over the course of your schedule. You may want to create one category for blog posts, another for how-to posts, and another for promotional material. Color-coded categories make it easy to ensure your schedule contains a good range of content that will appeal to different users. You can also automatically add content from sources like your blog or your Medium, WordPress, or YouTube accounts with a quick import.
There’s little in the way of analytics tools in MeetEdgar, but the app does implement A/B testing to isolate best practices; plus, you can use the built-in ed.gr link shortener to track clicks. You can schedule content via the web, via the Chrome extension, or using a bookmarklet for Safari and Firefox.
MeetEdgar integrates with Zapier so you can, for example, automatically add your and other folks’ articles to your Edgar library for posting.
best apps for social media design
Are you using graphics in your social media posts? Would you like to connect consumers to your business through visual marketing? Do you want to know the best apps for social media graphics to help you easily create effective visuals for social media? If so, read on!
Not only can the right graphic tell your company story, but they also optimize the consumer experience.
While you might have shied away from image creation in the past, new tools have emerged putting the power of visual marketing in the palm of your hands.
In this article, I’m going to share seven of the best visual marketing tools and mobile apps that offer a simpler, leaner approach to creating compelling visual content and guide you in how to make a graphic image that will perform well in social media.
Ready to get started? Read on!
7 of the Best Apps for Social Media Graphics
- Canva
Canva has emerged as one of the most impressive social media graphics tools for small business owners and entrepreneurs. If you’ve never fancied yourself a designer and don’t have Photoshop skills, this is the tool for you!
Need to create an image for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or Google+? Canva has pre-designed graphics that allow for complete customization in a clean, drag and drop environment.
From the design-selector menu, you can choose your layout, search for images, purchase stock photos, add effects to your image, and customize the look and feel to match your brand color palette and fonts.
A great example of matching every aspect of your brand look and feel is Peg Fitzpatrick. Peg uses her color palette in every one of her designs, creating a consistent experience for her fans and followers.
Sparkling-Ways-to-Make-your-Online-Brand-Shine-1
- Over
Over is an app available for Android and iPhone and one of my original go-to apps. With Over, you can turn your mobile device into an on-the-go design studio.
As a photo-editing app, Over makes it easy to add text, choose your background, font and save or submit directly to your social networks.
Rather than simply post a generic quote to Instagram or Facebook, use Over to transform your thoughts into eye-catching social media images.
- PiktoChart
With PiktoChart, making your own Infographics has never been easier. But they don’t just stop there. This free web app has over 100 customizable themes for Infographics, reports, banners and presentations.
Simply pick your template and within minutes you’re editing and publishing your design.
PiktoChart’s intuitive editing tools give you flexibility and control over every aspect of your project. From text to color scheme, you can match your branding to a pre-designed template.
piktochart
- Skitch
Skitch is an online application developed by Evernote, one of my favorite productivity apps. It’s also available for iPhone and Android making it a powerful multi-platform tool.
Skitch is different than the traditional photo-editing tools. You won’t find unique fonts, overlays or fancy backgrounds. What you will find is a simple tool designed to help you markup a photo, make notes on a webpage, point a location out on a map, or annotate a PDF.
This is an excellent tool for team communication or educational training. For example, I need to explain to my assistant how to add a graphic to a Facebook post. Rather than just send a text-based description, I can show a step-by-step through Skitch.
skitch
- QuotesCover
Want a quick and easy way to create beautiful quote graphics? QuotesCover is your tool!
With QuotesCover, you can design a visual representation of personal or famous quotes in a snap. Here’s how it works – add your quote, choose your layout, add a photo or choose a plain background , choose the color and font and you’re voila – you’re done!
Whether you need an image for Facebook or want to design a new Google+ cover, it can all be done as easy as 1,2, 3.
quotescover
- PicMonkey
PicMonkey is not new to the graphic game. Having been around for a while, it’s a tool that might get overlooked. But it’s just as relevant today as ever.
With PicMonkey, you can edit an image or create a collage using your own images. Arrange these images using the pre-made templates, and then add your special touches through overlays, text and more.
You can then save, download and share your image across all of your social networks. PicMonkey is user friendly, allowing you to make multiple images in minutes.
picmonkey
- Pixlr
If you’re looking for a robust desktop design tool, then Pixlr is the one for you.
The interface, very similar to Photoshop, allows you to choose your image, add effects, overlays, filters, text and borders to convert a photo from boring to beautiful.
Whether you want to create an image from scratch or build off a stock or pre-designed template, Pixlr gives you the flexibility to capture your visual style.
Pixlr can also work as a Chrome extension within your browser, giving you the freedom to move back and forth from online to offline.
pixlr
Final Thoughts on the Best Apps for Social Media Graphics
Designing an engaging and on brand social media graphics has never been easier. With the abundance of online tools and mobile apps available, the hardest decision you have to make is which one works best for you.
What tools are you currently using to create social media graphics? What have been your successes in social media poster making? I’d love to hear what I missed and why it’s your favorite. Let me know in the comments below!
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Best Apps For Social Media Graphics FAQs
How do you make social media graphics better?
Here are the ways on how you can make social media graphics better:
- Know the right size of graphics for each platform.
- Align your design elements with your branding.
- Keep it simple, but eye-catching.
- Always use real images of your business.
Which Adobe program is best for social media graphics?
Adobe Spark is the best for social media graphics because it is user friendly that it won’t require you to be an expert just so you can use it. It has three components, Adobe Post that is designed for graphics, Spark Page for web designs, and Spark Video for creating videos. In addition, it has an AI that makes the design process easy and fast.
Which app is best for graphic design?
The best apps for graphic design are:
- Canva
- PiktoChart
- Over
- QuotesCover
- Stitch
- Pixlr
- PicMonkey
What is the best app for creating social media posts?
There are a lot of apps you can use for creating social media posts but the top ones are Canva, Adobe Spark, Snappa, Pablo by Buffer, and Desygner. And another best thing about them is that you can use them for free!
How can I make Social Media Graphics free?
Most of the applications or tools you can find on the internet will allow you to make free social media graphics. I think it will just boil downs to which are better or will give you a lot of options. Topping the list would be Canva which helps users create easy and quality social media graphics. There are pre-designed themes and layouts that you can use as a guide if you are a beginner. And a library of media content you can use.
Conclusion
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