15 Social Media Tools Every Marketer Should Be Using

Let me guess.
You found this article either on search or some social media platforms like Facebook. You are excited and probably screaming “cool” deep inside your heart. And then reality kicks in. You wonder why would you (or anyone else) need more tools in their social media life? Is that we had enough of them?
The answer is time. You can buy time and those which are wasted will be lost forever.
Time is essential. Yes, you could do everything manually but it is going to take you a lot of time. You know, those time that could put to better use.
In this post, you will discover the top tools you need to use for your social media marketing. You do not need to use everyone of them but preferably those which are only important.

These social media tools are great for: scheduling, listening and monitoring.

Trust me, you can thank me later.
social media tools
 

15 Social Media Tools Every Marketer Should Be Using

 
1. Buffer – An alternative to Hootsuite that has a a little less features compared to Hootsuite. Buffer allows you to schedule content and manage multiple social media accounts for free. Paid plans allows you to manage more social media accounts and better analytics features.
2. Sprout Social –  This is a powerful social media tool with bigger firepower. It does pretty similar to Hootsuite but in terms of analytics, Sprout Social is a clear winner. Templates and reports are beautifully done which makes reading and understanding extremely easy.
3. Sendible – Similar with Sprout Social, it is extremely versatile in scheduling and analyticals. One of the best selling point for Sendible is the multiple pricing plans to fit all your needs. If you are a startup company, I would highly suggest using Sendible as it is best for your budget and as well as features.
4. Klout – Did you know that Klout allows you to schedule social media posts? It is more than just a ‘social media scoring’ tool, to be honest. Plus, sharing posts from Klout directly could help increase your ranking!
5. Socialoomph – If you are looking for a post once and forget type of social media tool, Socialoomph is your best option. Socialoomph allows you to schedule posts to major social media platforms as well as spintax features to create unique posts — every single time.
6. Tweet Deck – For me, Tweet Deck is a free alternative for those who are just started to engage on Twitter (or on tight budget). Tweet Deck gets all the basic job done and this tool is pretty much on par with any other paid social media tools out there.
7. Mention – Very simple to use and it works best for what has promised. Monitoring mentions of your brand and name. If you are a big brand, this is vital to ensure that you know what people are saying about you.
8. TriggerFox – This is an iPhone application which I recently discovered (free to use by the way). It syncs your contact book and social media platforms. By selecting your influencers, it will give you notifications based on your influencer’s action on social. A great way to engage and get involved in the social media world.
9. Social Mention – If you are looking for a tool that helps you scout the web for brand mentions, this is the one for you. Social Mention allows you search for mentions based on blogs, microblogs, bookmarks, images, videos and questions. This tool is unique because it offers basic analytics to determine if the mention is a positive or negative one. Pretty awesome, right?
10. Icerocket – Icerocket by Meltwater is another awesome tool to use if you are preforming social listening on blogs, Twitter and Facebook (currently, it only supports these three platforms). The UI is pretty simple and what makes it extremely different from the rest is the ability to customize your search. You can easily choose different languages, date of publish and even the trends for a specific period.
11. Topsy – You probably heard and use this at least once in your blogging life. Well, you should! Topsy is build based (or focusing highly) on social media. While you can easily find all the goodies coming from Topsy, bear in mind that some of the results are not that accurate as what it is suppose to be. So yes, take the results with a pinch of salt!
12. Tweet Reach – If you are a Twitter fan like me, you would love to see how far your tweet goes out (you know, how many reach and stuffs like that). If you use tools like Buffer and Sprout Social, you can easily see the results right from the dashboard, but what to do if you don’t? Tweet Reach displays a nice analytic report that shows you the real impact of the tweet and if there is any discussion on that related topic in the social sphere.
13. Twazzup – The official website calls it “Real-time Monitoring and Analytics for Twitter”. For me, it is spot on! If you are a beginner, trust me; you are going to love the simplicity of this tool. Enter your name (or brand name) and hit the search button. You will get a full load of list from the top 10 keywords related to you to the most important influencer to you. For a free tool, you can’t ask for more — seriously.
14. Addictomatic – This is an unique tool (pretty straight forward) if your goal is to see the real progress of your brand in the social sphere. The site is really simple (seriously) and hit the search term of your choice. The search will be done through several platforms such as Twitter, Bing and Flickr. If you are interested to see your brand recognition in the web, this is the tool for you. Plus, it is free too!
15. HowSociable – Want to measure the success / reach of your competitor? With HowSociable, you can do so with just a few clicks. With a free account, you can measure the brand’s reach on 12 platforms such as Tumblr and WordPress. If you need more firepower, there’s a pro version which unlocks over 36 different social platforms.
 

My favorite social media tool (bonus)

It has to be Hootsuite. Period. It is extremely easy to use and comes with a free/paid plan. Hootsuite is a very versatile tool that works as a scheduler and a social media listening tool. Paid plans comes with more features and integration. You can even see how I maximize Hootsuite for my daily social media marketing needs by reading this Hootsuite Review.
 
Over to you
There are tons of social tools out there which you can use and that’s true. However, the above 15 social media tools are probably the best in their classes (and for me).
So, do you use any tools that are not listed here? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss!
 
See also: Top 10 SEO Tools You Should Be Using In 2015