How to Choose the Best Social Media Management Tool for your Business
Although many businesses do have a social media presence, they don’t all engage their communities efficiently. Engaging your social communities takes some effort and practice. There are a ton of courses and books out there that go into detail about why you need to share, how to share, when to share and who to share with. That’s great… but do you want to spend hours a day curating content and publishing to social media?
As a systems thinker, I know there has to be an easier way! And I’m not the only one who thinks that. In doing research to find my own social media management tool for my small business …. I found at least 30 popular ones… and there are hundreds! How are you supposed to select the best social media management tool for your small business?
The first thing you need to do is figure out what is it you really need in a Social Media Management System. It really helps if you have a social media strategy here… I promise. But let’s say you don’t… you should answer just a few questions before you get started.
Pick 1 to 2 social media platforms to get started.
- What social platforms are your customers using?
- Which social platforms might they be most receptive to your messages?
Determine how much content you want to share.
- How often do your customers want to hear from you on each platform?
- How much content do you have to share each week?
- How many posts per social profile do you expect to make?
How will you generate new content and manage it?
- Are you creating new content via blog posts on your WordPress Site?
- Do you want to share links from other social accounts you follow? If so, do you want that included in the Social Media Management Tool you are looking for? Or will you do it separately?
- Will you be sharing You Tube Videos you created?
- Do you want to share your Mailchimp Newsletters?
- For any of the above…. do you want this integrated with your Social Media Management Tool, or will you add the content and links manually to the tool?
How much are you willing to spend?
- Are you only interested in a Free tool?
- Do you want a tool with a pricing plan that grows as your business grows?
- How much are you willing to spend now, and how much are you willing to spend when your business reaches it’s current social media strategy goals? Don’t pick a Free plan that has high paid package pricing if you can’t afford it down the road.
Now, if you’ve gone through and answered most of those questions, well…. you’re pretty close to having a social media strategy now! Way to go! Now you just need to figure out what type of content to share. 🙂
Hopefully you also have an idea of what you are looking for in a Social Media Management Tool, or System. Jot down the answers to the questions above, and use them to evaluate different social media management tools.
A google search will bring up the most relevant lists of possible tools, but I also use these sites to evaluate options and narrow down the search when helping clients select the best system for their business.
If the thought of going through all the various possible vendors out there is too daunting or time-consuming for you…we can do it for you!
Select a System
Not sure which application is best for your business? Are there too many possible choices and you don’t know how to narrow it down? We can help make it easy and stress-free! After an initial consultation, we will do all the heavy lifting and provide you a list of 2 to 3 options compared against your specific business’ needs and evaluated against criteria we will help you come up with and refine.