Social media, which was once considered to be a teen craze, has now become one of the most essential and efficient marketing tools that helps in meeting business needs pertaining to networking, branding and reach. With the evolution and popularity of social media, a lot of different social media platforms have come into existence, making it difficult and confusing to find the best and most reliable social media management tool.

Social media management tools have the ability to help a company’s marketing professionals stay organized, optimize their efficiency, and save time. But with the many social media management tools available on market today, it can be quite hard to determine which platforms suits your business needs in the best possible manner. One fact that not many business owners or managers know is that no single tool will suit all businesses. Therefore, it is important to correctly determine your needs and then choose a platform that can help achieve your goals.

To help you with the selection, here we offer you our opinion on two widely used social media management platforms: Sprout Social and Hootsuite.

Overview

Sprout Social

Established in 2010, Sprout Social is a social media management tool that helps businesses improve their social media presence. The tool is beautifully designed and can easily meet the needs of your organization’s marketing pro with its strong suite of tools or features. The service supports all major social media platforms. The user interface (UI) and dashboard are excellently designed, and the tool stands out in its intuitive lineup of solid analytics tools, networks, and partners.

Sprout Social offers a 30 day free trial without the need for a credit card. When it comes to pricing, the company offers three different options: Deluxe, Premium, and Team, so you can choose a plan based on your business needs. The service’s data analysis and reporting capabilities would be perfect for most SMBs. Additionally, the service also includes many other necessary elements such as team tasking, social listening, publishing, influencer identification, etc.

Hootsuite

Established in 2008, Hootsuite is a social media management system that helps organizations manage their social media presence efficiently. As one of the leading social media dashboards, the system provides a fully integrated set of analytics and social media tools. The dashboard design of Hootsuite is clean and contains product controls, tool groups, and other added services. It is offered in 16 different languages and the service’s Pro plan supports a wide range of social networking platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and WordPress.

If you are in need of having to manage multiple accounts, Hootsuite gives definite value for what you pay. It allows you to manage 3 accounts for free, and the number goes up based on the plan you choose. The collaborative functions offered by the company are basic, but useful. The system is easy to use, but as with any other software, you need some time to get used to it.

Benefits

Sprout Social

Excellent user interface.

Natural and intuitive, with no complexities.

Good tech and customer support.

Hootsuite

Easy to use.

Clean dashboard design.

Easy social media monitoring.

Head-to-Head Matchup

Sprout Social Hoot Suite Typical Customers Small Businesses Medium Size Businesses Large Enterprises Small Businesses Medium Size Businesses Large Enterprises Product Focus Social Listening Social Customer Care Publishing Social Content and more Social Listening Social Curation Creating Social Promotions Publishing Social Content and more Features Offered Automatic Scheduling Multi-Channel Publishing Custom Search Streams Competitor Analysis Exportable Reports Multi-Channel Analysis Collaboration Platform Task Management and more Enterprise Content Sharing Social Ad Campaigns Multi-Channel Publishing Custom Search Streams Content Targeting Customizable Dashboard Multi-Channel Analysis Customizable Reports and more

Conclusion

Sprout Social platform offers the best range of social monitoring elements. Hootsuite is a platform that excels in its analytics tools and can be useful for business organizations that are in need of an efficient solution for the same. Analyze your business needs and use our guide to choose a social management tool for your marketing campaign.