Five Social Media Management Solutions For Small Business

By: Patrick Barnard

There's no question that social media has been a boon to small business. In fact, it is the number one most effective way for a small business to establish a presence on the Web. Not only has social media cemented its role as an effective means to market products and services in targeted fashion, communicate with customers and prospects, and “create a buzz,” it is also proving to be a powerful business intelligence tool, particularly with its ability to reveal changes in customer attitudes and behavior.

The problem is it is too time consuming for small business owners to leverage social media to maximum effectiveness. Not only are there too many social media networks to monitor and manage -- such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube -- and new ones popping up practically every month, most small business owners don't have time to develop and maintain an effective social media strategy.

Helping small business owners save time and use social media to greater advantage are today's social media management tools. These Web-based solutions help small business owners manage their marketing campaigns and customer relations across multiple social media networks, simultaneously and in automated fashion.

There are many social media management tools available, each offering different features and capabilities. All are quick, simple and affordable to deploy. While it’s important to select the platform that best match’s a company’s needs, business owners needn't be afraid to try out different systems to see which ones produce the best results.

Most social media management platforms include a scheduling tool that allows organizations to coordinate the release of messages across multiple networks based on time of day and day of week/month/year. Most also offer reporting and analytics tools to help business owners determine the best strategy to engage with customers and prospects. Still others offer keyword-spotting or "social listening," which is the ability to detect social media "chatter" that is directly or indirectly related to the business’ products or services, customers, or the business itself. Some systems are currently unavailable on certain mobile devices. All are continuously undergoing upgrades and enhancements.

Let's take a look at five popular social media management tools, in no particular order:

Crowdbooster
Crowdbooster is a social media analytics solution for Facebook and Twitter that delivers actionable data combined with recommendations that small business owners can use to build a more effective social media strategy. With this tool, small business owners can determine not only the best times to post content but also who to interact with. The solution also includes a scheduling tool that allows for coordinated release of messages and promotions across multiple networks.

Crowdbooster's main advantage is that it takes the guesswork out of social media management. Organizations can simply follow the recommendations delivered through the platform and adjust their strategy accordingly. The system also offers a visually appealing dashboard that is easy to navigate.

With this social media management tool, small business owners can easily view key information such as the number of retweets, replies, impressions, likes and comments, by date range or in real time. It also shows who retweeted a company post and how many shares were organic. It also indicates which messages resonated with customers, thus allowing a business to fine tune its messaging. In addition the system offers email alerts with a weekly summary of all the data collected, including recommendations on how best to fine tune strategy. Currently, Crowdbooster does not offer a mobile app.

SproutSocial
Sprout Social is a social media management tool for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn known for its intuitive and graphical interface. The platform sports a single queue for all inbound messages making it simple to monitor social media activity. Users can easily follow, respond and retweet right from the main dashboard.

Sprout Social sports powerful reporting and analytics tools and presents data in a variety of graphical formats that are easy to understand. Its near-real-time reporting gives small business owners the ability to quickly detect changes in customer behavior and react accordingly. The platform's Twitter Comparison Tool allows small business owners to compare their Twitter usage to that of their competitors.
 
Sprout Social sports a scheduling tool, allowing small business owners to coordinate the release of messages across multiple networks. It also includes keyword, hashtag and user monitoring (i.e. social listening) and can send email alerts when certain keywords are detected. The platform also offers workflow management features, including assignment of tasks to follow up with tweets/posts. SproutSocial is available on iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Postling
Postling is a social media management tool that supports a wide range of platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs (WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Typepad, Squarespace, Drupal), Flickr, Bit.ly and review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. It is known for its advanced social listening and monitoring tools, which can also be used to send alerts when certain keywords are detected.

Postling allows small business owners to easily post text, video and image updates to multiple platforms, including full blog posts. It offers a unified inbox, making it simple to monitor all messaging, and includes a scheduling tool, allowing posts and tweets to be released at specified times. Postling also offers reporting and analytical tools to help small business owners more effectively manage their social media campaigns. It also sends a weekly email summary report based on the prior week’s activity.

A unique feature of Postling is that comments from visitors to a blog or social media account are displayed on the home page, enabling users to respond from within the dashboard. This saves time, as users don’t need to reply from within each social network. Postling supports multiple users, thus allowing multiple employees to contribute content. Postling offers an iPhone app.

HootSuite
HootSuite is a social media management tool that allows businesses to execute campaigns across multiple social networks including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, ping.fm, Word Press, Foursquare and Google+. Coming in free, pro and enterprise editions, this tool allows small business owners to schedule posts, track conversations, and analyze campaign results via an intuitive Web-based interface.

Hootsuite offers advanced reporting and analytics, including the ability to have customized reports sent to specific users on a schedule. In addition the platform offers social listening, including the ability to monitor for select keywords. What’s more the system’s auto-schedule feature automatically schedules the release of messages based on a projected best time to post.

With a slew of options, settings and dynamic features, HootSuite is one of the most comprehensive social media management systems available. The flexibility it offers makes it suitable for a wide range of businesses, from mom-and-pop shops to major corporations. Currently Hootsuite is available on iPhone, Android, iPad and Blackberry.

Bufferapp
Bufferapp is more recognized as a scheduling tool than a complete social media management solution, however it does offer many useful features beyond scheduling. With this tool, all outbound messages are stacked in a virtual queue and then scheduled to post to selected networks at strategic times throughout the day. This helps small business owners keep a consistent social media schedule. Bufferapp also offers advanced reporting and analytics tools allowing business owners to easily track and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Bufferapp offers a browser application that allows users to download extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, thus allowing Buffer buttons to be integrated with social media profiles. It also offers integration with a range of newsreader applications, including Flipboard and Zite. Bufferapp is currently supported on iOS and Android devices and is being constantly updated with new features and capabilities.

Image courtesy of nattavut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.