Different Social Media Management Platforms and Why They Suck
If you manage more than one social media channel - even just one - using a social media management tool will make your life lots easier.
You can plan ahead which means you’re never scrabbling around at the last minute to get some great content out there. It’s very rare to be able to put something together against the clock and make it WOW.
Like everything in life the social media management platforms have their pros and cons. I’ve done the leg work so you don’t have to.
Hootsuite
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This free social media management platform is one of the better known. Its feet are firmly planted in the Twitter-sphere so if you only manage Twitter feeds I would recommend this.
Aside from Twitter, the Dashboard’s column system just isn’t visually helpful - you can’t really see what your upcoming content is.
Iconosquare
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The way that Iconosquare works out its cost is revolutionary and helps if you’re a small business with fluctuating future income. It’s almost a “pay as you go” system. You say how many users and how many channels you have, and it tells you the cost. Simple.
Unfortunately it’s buggy. I’ve had to reconnect the social media channel because something - I don't know what - has made it drop. Not ideal.
Sendible
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The best thing about Sendible is that it is geared towards collaborative work. If you have multiple people all working on several channels, then this makes it easy.
On the other hand the data analysis is pathetic. The custom reports are beautiful but don’t really tell you anything you don’t already know.
Sked
☆☆☆
The branding is designed to be fun and happy, which gets those creative juices flowing, but I’m not a huge fan of the interface. The desktop design leaves me feeling cold. It's a cost-effective option though, so if you’re looking for a good price then you can’t go wrong with Sked.
Agora Pulse
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Agora Pulse may look fuddy-duddy but what it lacks in good looks, it makes up for in UX. It’s actually an incredible simple interface for one person to manage multiple channels. It’s lacking in other areas though - there’s not much data analysis included and it does come at a cost. If your client has deep pockets and doesn’t care about the numbers, it's a winner.
Later
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A solid option that has been around for 6 years (that is very long in social media terms), the Later app is one of the few platforms that has a free version that is actually pretty darn good.
The only issue is that you must remember to post some things i.e. I have to look out for that reminder notification among the other 4,328,393 notifications I get each day...
PRO TIP - Later has really excellent emails with great tips for improving your social media skills. Even if you don’t use the tool, sign up to their emails for excellent guidance and marketing content.
Sprout Social
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A sophisticated tool in this busy market, Sprout Social has benefits you wouldn't think of. Their ‘Listening’ tool keeps an eye on what your competitors are doing in the market. It has a friendly interface (and a friendly customer service team).
However this all comes at a cost - you can quickly go up to $249 a month and it doesn’t stop there, so the price is prohibitive.
Buffer
☆☆☆☆☆
The basics of this management platform are very cost-effective because you can have up to 8 social media channels for a fraction of the monthly cost of other companies, but there are limitations.
If you want to extend your use of Buffer to include Data Analysis, or Replies, it all comes at an additional cost. This is what makes Buffer one of the pricier options overall.
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