Best Platform For Social Media Management [2024]

Here’s a truth bomb…

You need the best social media management platform to efficiently manage multiple client profiles and grow your agency, business, and brand.

After all, a reliable platform can streamline your team collaboration and workflows, eliminate bottlenecks, and save you time and effort—let alone skyrocket your productivity.

The challenge lies in finding a platform that perfectly aligns with your ever-evolving business needs.

That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top platforms for social media management to help you choose the best.

This exclusive guide covers the best platforms for social media management, covering everything from each platform’s key features and integrations to pros and cons and pricing. 

Ready? Let’s go!

1. Vista Social

Let’s start with a short introduction of who we are.

Vista Social is a unified social media management tool designed to help you achieve unmatched efficiency and simplify team collaboration. It is powered by features like bulk scheduling, seamless publishing, analytics for post performance, monitoring, link in bio, and more.

We are your one-stop-for-all platform to save time, get creative, hop on hot social media trends, and drive big results to prove ROI.

The platform’s best-in-class social media publishing features continue to help companies deliver content at scale, skyrocket their impressions by over 200%, and streamline their social media.

Who is Vista Social for?

Vista Social is perfect for agencies, multi-location businesses, enterprises, social media managers, and freelancers who manage multiple accounts.

We understand that not everybody has a flex marketing budget. With Vista Social’s affordable pricing plans, you can access robust, comprehensive social media marketing features without breaking the bank.

Features 

The platform’s core features include the following.

Publishing 

Vista Social’s Publisher simplifies and supercharges planning, creating, and scheduling your clients’ posts for auto-posting.  

After connecting your clients’ Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media profiles to the platform, you can easily upload their photos or videos and customize their posts using our deep integrations.

The Publisher comes with an AI Assistant powered by ChatGPT-4, a super-friendly tool for managing and driving high content volume.

The intuitive tool can instantly generate and improve your post captions with high-volume keywords, optimized descriptions, and clever taglines, saving you a LOT of time and effort.

You can also add hashtags and links, mention other users, and tag the location in your clients’ posts right from the Publisher. 

Once the post is ready, you can set a date and time to auto-publish your client’s post. Vista Social will even recommend optimal posting times. 

The platform lets you publish social media content in bulk or add scheduled posts to a queue.

It also offers a Smart Publisher that allows you to share third-party content, such as blogs and videos, by adding an RSS feed or listing related keywords.

The content calendar lets you view and manage all your clients’ drafted, scheduled, and published posts so you never lose sight of the forest or the tree.

Reports and analytics

Know what’s working and needs improvement by tracking and analyzing your clients’ post performance and audience engagement. 

Leverage Vista Social’s robust analytics and reporting features to manage everything from one dashboard, quickly generate reports and create templates.

It’s a unified way to monitor, optimize, and generate quality content over time!

We’re all about real-time, real impact!

Vista Social will sync and refresh your reports’ data every five to six hours to ensure you get the latest information available within those intervals.

Vista Page

Drive traffic to high-value pages from organic social with Vista Social‘s seamless integration: Vista Page!

The platform’s Vista Page is more than a link in bio tool. It comes with landing pages you can customize and turn into micro websites for your clients. 

You can add headers, buttons to social links, YouTube videos, image link grids, and more.

You can also integrate calendars, payment options, and other lead-generation tools and content to help your clients drive traffic and conversions from their social media pages to their micro-websites.

Engagement Management

You can view, respond to, and manage all your clients’ social media messages, follower messages, mentions, and reviews in one unified inbox. 

The feature simplifies managing your clients’ audience engagement without logging into each of their social profiles to reply to a message or comment.

You can assign messages to team members to guarantee all engagements are addressed.

Vista Social’s other features include:

• A mobile version of the app
• Social listening
• Review management
• Free AI-powered hashtag tools and username generators

Integrations

Vista Social integrates seamlessly with these social media platforms and apps of today:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• YouTube
• X (Formerly Twitter)
• Pinterest
• Google Business
• Reddit
• Snapchat
• Google Analytics
• Bitly
• TripAdvisor
• Yelp
• Trustpilot
• OpenTable
• Canva
• Google Drive
• One Drive
• Giphy
• Pexels
• Unsplash
• Zapier
• Make
• Slack

Pros 

• Cost-effective pricing plans 
• Intuitive and easy to use
• Offers advanced social media management features, including a ChatGPT-4-powered AI Assistant and automation workflows
• Team collaboration tools
• Customization options for scheduled posts, such as first comment and like to jumpstart engagement
• Built-in Canva integration for easy photo and video editing
• Optimization algorithms for automatic post scheduling
• User and product tagging for Instagram posts within the platform
• Audio, video, image, and other media library to simplify supplementing social media posts

Cons

• The free trial only runs for 14 days. 

Pricing

Vista Social offers a 14-day free trial for all its pricing plans below:

• Standard: $39/month
• Professional: $79/month
• Advanced: $149/month
• Enterprise: $379/month

2. Buffer

Image source: buffer.com

Buffer is a popular social media management tool that focuses on scheduling posts.

One of Buffer’s biggest advantages is that it keeps everything simple, uncluttered, and user-friendly. 

Who is Buffer for?

Buffer is designed to help small to mid-size businesses publish and schedule content, engage clients, and analyze social media performance. 

Features

You can start creating and scheduling content after setting up your account and connecting your clients’ channels, such as their Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok pages.

Buffer’s publishing tool is pretty straightforward.

Upload your client’s videos or images from your local drive or other sources such as Google Drive and Dropbox, add tags, and shorten links.

You can save the post as a draft for approval, add it to a queue, or automatically schedule it to publish on a specific time and day.

Other Buffer features include:

• A library to help you build and organize your content ideas
• Social media analytics and reports
• Engagement management tools
• Customizable landing page

Integrations

Buffer offers integrations for the following social media and online channels:

• Facebook
• Google My Business Profile
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Mastodon
• Pinterest
• Shopify
• TikTok
• X (Formerly Twitter)
• YouTube

Pros 

• The platform provides a simple and user-friendly interface
• Straightforward content calendar view
• Integrates with popular social media channels
• Built-in image editing tool for quick and easy post customization

Cons

• The platform split its tools into three: Buffer Publish for social media scheduling, Buffer Reply for social media monitoring and messaging, and Buffer Analyze for analytics. So, if you manage brands that need all three features, you’ll need to pay for each tool, which can be costly. 
• Buffer Analyze can be too basic for users who want more advanced social media analytics tools.
• Fewer channels or integrations compared to similar social media management tools. 

Pricing

Buffer’s pricing plans include the following:

• Free: Only up to three channels with basic features
• Essentials: $6 per month for one channel
• Team: $12 per month for one channel
• Agency: $120 per month for ten channels

3. SocialPilot

Image source: socialpilot.co

SocialPilot is another popular social media management tool that streamlines content planning and scheduling. 

Who is SocialPilot for?

SocialPilot is best for social media marketing teams, professionals, and businesses that want to automate social media management. 

Features

Like many social media content scheduling features, SocialPilot’s scheduler lets you connect your clients’ social profiles, upload videos or images, create posts, and set an auto-posting schedule. 

SocialPilot also offers an AI Assistant to help its users generate content. A downside would be that the users are limited to a specific number of credits based on their subscription plan.

After creating your client’s post, set an auto-posting schedule. You can also schedule posts in bulk or add them to a queue.

SocialPilot’s other features include:

• Analytics
• Engagement management 
• Collaboration tools
• White-label social media tool
• Social media calendar
• Team management
• Bulk scheduling
• Content Library
• Content management

Integrations

SocialPilot offers these easy-to-access integrations:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• X (Formerly Twitter)
• Pinterest
• YouTube
• Google Business Profile
• Slack
• Unsplash
• Google Drive
• Giphy
• Dropbox
• Zapier
• Sniply 
• Rebrandly
• Bitly
• Feedly
• Canva
• Box

Pros

• Integrates with major social media platforms
• User-friendly interface
• Allows Instagram Story scheduling
• Allows contributors to create drafts for manager approval without paying extra for the feature 

Cons 

• Has a more expensive basic plan than similar social media management platforms
• No social ad management
• Doesn’t support scheduling and auto-publishing for TikTok and Snapchat
• The platform doesn’t provide recommended optimal posting times within its scheduling tool

Pricing

SocialPilot offers free trials for its pricing plans:

• Professional: $30/month for a maximum of 10 social media accounts and one user
• Small Team: $50/month for a maximum of 20 social media accounts and three users
• Agency: $100/month for a maximum of 30 social media accounts and six users
• Agency+: $200/month for a maximum of 50 social media accounts and unlimited users

4. Hootsuite

Image source: hootsuite.com

Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media management tool aimed at businesses that want to convert social engagement into revenue.

Who is Hootsuite for?

Hootsuite can be a great social media management solution for marketing teams, beginner to intermediate social media managers, and businesses with internal marketing teams.

Features

You can create and schedule your client’s social media post with a few clicks.

After creating the post, you can choose a date and time when you want the post to go live.

Hootsuite also shows when users are most active, allowing you to schedule or post content accordingly for maximum engagement. 

The platform also offers an AI Social Media AI Writer to generate, improve, and repurpose content for you, including creating post captions. 

Hootsuite’s other core features include:

• Social media engagement tools
• Social listening and consumer intelligence
• Social media advertising dashboard
• Analytics
• Free social media tools, including caption, title, bio, blog idea, and hashtag generators and SEO features 

Integrations

Hootsuite’s integrations include the following:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Threads (Beta)
• Google My Business
• LinkedIn Hashtag Analytics
• Cloudview for Hootsuite
• Oneclick.bio
• Panoramiq Insights
• Fedica
• Vidyard
• Upfluence
• Etc. 

Pros

• Allows multi-profile scheduling
• Offers unlimited posts for all plans
• Include publishing time optimization
• Built-in Grammarly feature
• Offers a 30-day free trial 
• Provides resources on social media management via Hootsuite Academy
• Social media report customization
• Easy social media profile linking and setup
• Report importing and scheduling features
• Includes a content approval workflow 

Cons

• While Hootsuite offers robust tools, its biggest disadvantage is its price.
• The platform’s user interface can get clunky and confusing since it shows multiple user profiles in various tabs.
• The platform’s countless features can cause a steep learning curve for beginners of social media management tools.
• It lacks real-time customer service from experienced representatives. 
• The platform’s link shortener and performance tracker feature come at an extra cost. 
• It doesn’t offer the social media post queuing feature that more affordable platforms.

Pricing

As mentioned, Hootsuite is a bit expensive compared to other social media management platforms in this list.  

• Professional Plan: $99/month with a 30-day free trial, including one user and up to ten social accounts. 
• Team Plan: $249/month with a 30-day free trial, including three users and up to 20 social accounts. 
• Enterprise Custom Plan: Request a demo to get a quote.

5. Sprout Social

Image source: sproutsocial.com

One of the best Hootsuite alternatives for businesses is Sprout Social. 

Who is Sprout Social for?

Sprout Social is best for brands and businesses of all sizes and various industries, such as fashion, education, hospitality, tech, and digital marketing. 

Sprout Social can be a great option for streamlining your social media management workflows, boosting audience engagement, and increasing customer satisfaction. 

Features

Sprout Social’s social media management solution simplifies creating and scheduling your clients’ social media posts for auto-posting. 

Sprout Social also has a shareable social media content calendar for seamless collaboration and content tracking and management with your team.

Sprout Social’s other features include:

• Audience engagement tools
• Analytics tools
• AI-based social listening 
• All-in-one influencer campaign management tool
• Employee advocacy feature

Integrations

Sprout Social offers integrations with the following platforms and apps:

• Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, X (Twitter), and YouTube
• Business Intelligence (BI) platforms: Salesforce Marketing Cloud Intelligence and Tableau
• Helpdesk: Hubspot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, 
• Lead generation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Marketo, 
• Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Sales Cloud
• Social commerce: Facebook Shops, Shopify, and WooCommerce
• Website and link tracking: Bit.ly and Google Analytics
• Etc.

Pros

• The UI looks clean and includes quick-access buttons, which reduce the number of clicks needed for common actions. 
• The social media content scheduling feature is pretty straightforward to navigate and use. 
• It offers a tagging feature to streamline collaboration and tasks within internal teams.
• All the platform’s plans include essential features such as post scheduling, social inbox, social content calendar, and social CRM.  

Cons

• Sprout Social offers many business-focused and social media management features, but they are expensive. For instance, adding another user to your plan costs a whopping $199 per month—and that’s just for the Standard plan. 
• The platform offers limited users for each plan, which is expensive for their prices. 
• The platform can have a steep learning curve, making it overwhelming for new users. Your team may need to invest time and effort to learn the tool before effectively using all its features.
• The platform lacks several key social media post scheduling functionalities, such as the ability to save frequently used hashtags. 
• It doesn’t support Instagram Reel scheduling. 
• Free trial users must request a demo to use the Social Listening tool. 

Pricing

While Sprout Social offers amazing features, the platform’s pricing plans are not too budget-friendly.

• Standard: $249 per seat/month
• Professional: $399 per seat/month
• Advanced: $499 per seat/month
• Enterprise: Contact Sprout Social for a quote

6. Later

Image source: later.com

Later is a social media management and influencer marketing platform. 

Who is Later for?

Later works best for social media managers, solopreneurs, freelancers, content creators, influencers, and small business owners who rely heavily on videos and images for their marketing strategies. 

The tool is designed to make scheduling and managing social media posts more efficient, especially for Instagram and TikTok marketers who want to turn followers into customers.

Features

Like all the social media management tools in this list, Later lets you auto-publish and bulk-schedule content across various social media platforms.

The tool lets you edit and customize each post with its content creation tools and use a Visual Planner to organize upcoming posts.

Once your posts are ready, Later allows you to specify a schedule for when you’d like your posts to go live.

Later’s other key features include the following:

• Content creations tools
• Hashtag suggestions
• Find User-Generated Content (UGC) from the platform
• Built-in photo and video editor
• AI Instagram caption generator
• Instagram Reels scheduling
• Instagram Analytics 
• Link in bio tool
• Media library
• Social media inbox
• Mobile app

Integrations

Later integrates with the following social networks:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• TikTok
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• X (Twitter)
• YouTube

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Great for social media content creators
• Offers features to streamline creator collaboration
• Instagram-focused features
• Simplifies social media content planning and scheduling for teams

Cons

• Limited integrations to social networks compared to similar social media management platforms. 
• Limited features for social media channels other than Instagram.
• It doesn’t provide a social media post preview.
• The Social Inbox is pretty basic.
• No social media listening and engagement features.
• It doesn’t support post scheduling and posting to Facebook groups.
• The character limit for scheduling Instagram posts is fewer than IG’s native character count, which can be limiting for users who want to schedule posts with longer captions. 

Pricing 

Later’s pricing plans are not as expensive as Hootsuite or Sprout Social, but they’re not that cheap, considering the platform’s features. 

• Starter: $25/month for one social set
• Growth: $45/month for three social sets
• Advanced:$80/month for six social sets
• Agency:$200/month for 15 social sets

7. Loomly

Image source: loomly.com

Another contender for the best social media management platform for marketers is Loomly. 

Who is Loomly for?

Loomly is best suited for:

• Agencies 
• Freelancers
• Brands
• Content creators
• Marketing teams
• Small-to-medium and local businesses
• Franchises
• Non-profit, education, and government organizations
• Enterprises 

Features

Loomly has the works for easy social media post planning and scheduling. 

Once your post is ready, set a schedule for auto-posting.

Loomly also offers basic analytics features to help users gain crucial insights into the performance of their social media marketing campaigns.

Loomly’s other notable features include:

• Content calendar
• Audience targeting and post sponsoring
• Post optimization tips for specific social channels
• Custom approval workflows
• Exporting and auto-scheduling of reports to stakeholders
• Track clicks with Loom.ly link shortener
• Unified social inbox
• Post ideas and trends
• Auto-generated post scheduling from RSS feeds
• Hashtag manager 

Integrations

Loomly integrates with these social platforms and online apps:

• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Facebook 
• X (Twitter)
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Google Business Profile
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• Zapier
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Canva
• Giphy
• Google Drive
• Unsplash

Pros

• Supports integration for major social media channels
• Offers the essential features on all plans
• Provides many online support documents for users
• The multiple social calendars reduce accidental postings and confusion among team members
• The workflow templates can work well for one-person operations and large teams

Cons

• The custom branding feature is only available for top-tier plans.
• The platform lacks other crucial social media management features such as content curation, social listening, and a link in bio tool. 
• The platform’s reporting feature could use more in-depth audience insights. 
• The platform’s pricing plans can be expensive for smaller teams or individual users.
• It doesn’t support social media post scheduling for Threads. 

Pricing

Loomly’s features are not as advanced as alternative platforms, making its pricing a bit steep when you can get more sophisticated features with tools at similar price points. 

Here’s a break down of Loomly’s pricing.

• Base: $42/month for two users and ten social media accounts
• Standard: $80/month for six users and 20 social media accounts
• Advanced: $175/month for 14 users and 35 social media accounts
• Premium: $369/month for 30 users and 50 social media accounts

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do big companies manage their social media?

Some large companies have a dedicated social media marketing team that manages their profiles. Others let interns run their accounts, or they hire freelance social media marketing managers.

2. How do you manage all social media in one place?

A tried-and-tested method of managing various social media profiles in one place is to use a social media management platform.

Connecting all of the social media profiles you manage on the platform allows you to create, schedule, and post content from a central place. Some platforms, like Vista Social, have unified inboxes that allow you to reply to direct messages from within the platform for better audience engagement.

3. How to start a social media management business?

Follow these simple steps to start a social media management business:

Step 1: Identify your target clients and the problems you want to solve.

Step 2: Create a solution for their problem and set up your rates.

Step 3: Look for clients.
Step 4: Service a handful of clients. Once you reach a point where you can’t handle the workload, create a team by outsourcing some of the work.

Step 5: Request for referrals. If you do a great job doing step 4, your clients won’t think twice about referring you to their network.

To reduce your overhead costs, consider automating manual, repetitive tasks. Some tasks you can automate are data analysis, generating reports, sending invoices, etc.

Overall, what’s the best social media platform?

Every social media management platform has common and unique features and functionalities.

The key is to go over key factors and considerations such as:

• The platform’s intended users
• Core features
• Integrations
• Pros and cons
• Pricing, including additional costs you may incur when adding more features and integrations or upgrading to a higher-tier plan

Research, read reviews, and try the tools (if they offer free trials) to see if they fit your social media management requirements, but most of all: look for scalability and future-proofing to be able to move at the speed of social!

If you want a modern and cost-effective social media management platform with sophisticated features, Vista Social is here to support you in your creative endeavors.

We offer everything you need to elevate your social media management game, from post scheduling to AI-driven tools and analytics, and drive real business impact to prove ROI.

Create your Vista Social account to see the platform in action and go Beyond Social with us!