Social media isn't going anywhere, and its influence on businesses, brands, and people is shaping, well, pretty much everything. Whether you’re an aspiring influencer, small business owner, or running socials for work, you know how important it is to be consistent with the content you're posting. So lots of app developers have recognized the need for regularity (and more) in brand and influencer posts and thus, social media management apps were created. 

In this article, we’re going to show you the best apps that will keep you on top of your posts (and more) as you continue your total takeover of social media. 

Why Use a Social Media Management Tool?

Manage all your social media accounts in one place

Social media is time consuming — and not just when it comes to scrolling through your phone and consuming other people’s posts. When you’re the one creating the content is when it can become truly overwhelming. Posting slightly altered yet on brand content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and every other app in between can suck the time out of your day. The time that could be better spent working on your business or building your brand as an influencer.

That’s why many people have turned to social media management apps. With these apps, you have the ability to control and manage all of your accounts in one place. 

Schedule social media posts in advance

Social media doesn’t sleep. Even if you’re on vacation or out of office or don’t have cell service. It. Doesn’t. Sleep. Rather than obsessively worrying about your next big post and when it’s going to launch, you can utilize social media management apps that have scheduled post availability. Apps like SocialBee have calendar and scheduling features that can save time by scheduling and publishing the same post across multiple platforms in just one click.

Monitor changes in social media follower counts

As your brand grows, you want to make sure your social media presence reflects that. And in order for you to grow, your follower count has to as well. The more people that interact with you, the easier it is to go viral and reach new audiences. Instagram and Facebook have a business profile feature that shows you the percentage of followers you’ve gained or lost over the last week, two weeks, month, and six months.

Not all apps have this feature, though, so having a social media management app keeping track of your follower growth will help you figure out what posts work best with your brand.

Analyze which social media posts perform best

Much like having an app that keeps up with your follower count, social media management apps can also analyze which posts perform the best. Is it landscape pictures with inspirational captions? Portraits with witty captions? Graphics that align with your business or brand? Hootsuite, for instance, generates your social media analytics data, plus it calculates your ROI, organizes your content, and schedules your posts.

Collaborate on social media posts with your team

If you’re not working alone, there are apps that you and your team can use to work together on your next great post. Have your colleagues or friends help you with caption ideas and consistency of posting with apps like Sprout Social.

The Top Social Media Management Tools for 7 Different Use Cases

SocialBee - best social media management tool for teams

SocialBee, from $19/month

SocialBee is a relatively new startup, but don’t let their young age stop you from utilizing their robust features. This social media management app allows you and your team to create various types of content with category-based scheduling. You and your team can view the scheduled posts you’ve curated in the app’s visual calendar. And before your posts go live, you have the ability to preview each post on the SocialBee app.

PromoRepublic - best social media management tool for busy small businesses

PromoRepublic, from $9/month

Small businesses used to rely on word of mouth and friends and family to get their company on the map. These days, it’s a little easier to show and grow your business with the help of social media. It’s important for small businesses to reach all audiences, and the best way to do that is by posting regularly on as many social media platforms as you can. PromoRepublic helps speed up your social media posting process. Their small business plan allows you to choose ready-to-use content that’s relevant for your followers.

Sprout Social - best social media management tool for growing businesses 

Sprout Social, from $89/month

If you’ve got a business on the rise, you know how stressful it can be to run the business, the team, and the social media. Think of Sprout Social as an AI employee, there to help manage your social media accounts, so you can focus your energy on all those other things. Sprout Social is our pick for best social media management for growing businesses because of its social content calendar, profiles, keywords, and location monitoring, and group, profile, and post-level reporting. The site’s analytics keep you informed of your overall social media performance, and give you the tools to tweak your strategy.

Tailwind - best social media management tool for aspiring influencers

Tailwind, from $9.99/month

Influencing ain’t easy. It’s more than posting carefully curated pictures with thoughtful captions. It’s more than the amount of brand deals you have and comments you get. Tailwind knows that, and this app wants to help you grow your personal brand so you can become the influencer of your dreams. Tailwind focuses on growing your brand on Instagram and Pinterest, where you can visually plan your feed with built-in content plans and optimize each post to stand out with a hashtag finder and smart scheduler that posts when your followers are most active.

Postoplan - best social media management tool for personal use

Postoplan, from $19/month

If the influencer life isn’t for you, but you still want your feed to look pristine, and get the action it deserves, Postoplan is the social media management app for you. Postoplan makes posting easier with scheduled posting that can increase audience engagement and reduce screen time. The more you plan to post, the less you’ll end up worrying about the perfect caption or hashtag before pressing the Share button.

Hootsuite - best social media management tool for medium businesses

Hootsuite, from $49/month

Once your business is established, it’s important to keep your socials flowing. Hootsuite is an easy and very popular place to manage all channels at once. It’s an all-in-one site that’s compatible with over 20 social media networks. Hootsuite lets you schedule posts up to months in advance. This social media management site looks out for trending keywords, hashtags, and post types so you don’t have to.

Iconosquare - best social media management tool for agencies

Iconosquare, $139/year

Iconosquare is a social media managment site that allows your agency to easily manage all aspects of your clients' social media from one central location. Agencies that utilize Iconosquare have access to in-depth analytics, and have the ability to track hashtags, competitors, and more. Iconosquare's interactive dashboard visualizes the metrics of your clients' posts and helps you where their social media presence may lag.