Social media management is time-consuming, hence the use of social media management tools. A good tool positively contributes to your social media ROI, saves time improves efficiency, and provides vital performance insights. Some of the best free social media management tools are Buffer, Friends+Me, Later, CoSchedule, HootSuite, Crowdfire, and Tailwind. Buffer is best for scaling, and Friends+Me is ideal for beginners.
SMM management tools are used to monitor and manage social media platforms. The best free social media management tools in 2024 are Buffer, Friends+Me, Later, CoSchedule, HootSuite, Crowdfire, and Tailwind. Buffer is best for scaling, and Friends+Me is ideal for beginners.
With so many options available in the market, it can be overwhelming to decide on the right tool. To guide your decision-making, here are a few things to look for in a social media tool.
The best free social media management tools in 2024 include Buffer, Friends+Me, Later, CoSchedule, HootSuite, Crowdfire, and Tailwind. These tools save time, improve efficiency, and give performance insights. Buffer is best for scaling, and Friends+Me is ideal for beginners. Look for features that boost ROI, improve efficiency, and provide performance insights. Both Buffer and Friends+Me offer free and paid plans with additional features.
Saving time and improving social media efficiency are two of the biggest reasons why people turn to social media tools. So you should be looking for tools that let you automate or simplify certain tasks.
Knowing how your existing efforts are performing is vital for building a strategy that delivers results. Social media tools should help you with this by providing vital performance insights to inform your strategy. Look for a tool that comes with robust social media reporting and analytics features to understand your performance.
This list is curated by our team of social media managers and has the tools to change your social media life.
One of the top contenders in the social media management space is Buffer.
Posting schedules
Set the next content in your queue to automatically publish on the next scheduled day and at the time you choose.
Shuffle queue
Especially if you create social media content in batches on the same topic, you may want to shuffle your posts so that they’re published in a random order and add variety to your feeds.
Google Analytics Campaign tracking
See how much traffic your social media posts are driving so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Start Page
Create short landing pages to tell people about your business, direct them to your website and content outside of social media, or provide information specific to your latest social media marketing.
Buffer is a great tool that can help you scale your Social media operations and if you are ready to go for its paid version here are a few benefits that you will get.
1. Essentials at $6 per channel per month
Includes unlimited social media channels with up to 2,000 scheduled posts per channel features, custom video thumbnails, multi-channel campaigns, and more.
2. Team at $12 per channel per month
Includes unlimited users, exportable and branded reports, custom access and permissions, and more.
3. Agency at $120 per month for first 10 social channels ($6 per channel per month for additional channels)
Includes Google Analytics integrations, custom UTM parameters, and approval workflow tools.
To begin with, if you’re searching for an uncomplicated and user-friendly tool, then Friends+ Me is the perfect option for you
1- Bulk scheduling
Upload several posts to a queue of your choice at once to save time on manual scheduling.
2- Flexible usage
Use the browser extension, desktop app or mobile app (Android or iOS) to share content easily.
3- Integration of Zaapier
Automate actions like creating and scheduling new posts or streaming new content from RSS feeds to your Friends+Me account for publishing.
To begin with, it’s worth mentioning that Friends+Me offers a great option for those who are just getting started. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are limits on the number of profiles and platforms supported, and scheduled posts per queue are relatively low compared to some other free plans. Therefore, if you’re ready to level up, it might be worth considering the paid plan for added benefits.
If you need a more flexible Friends+Me plan, you have four options.
1. Individual at $9 per month
Provides up to five queues, 500 scheduled posts per queue, 10 additional team members, and priority support.
2. Small at $29 per month
Offers 15 queues, 1,500 scheduled posts per queue, and 20 additional team members.
3. Medium at $$59 per month
This Gives up to 30 queues, 3,000 scheduled posts per queue, and 30 additional team members.
4. Large at $259 per month
Includes up to 120 queue, 5,000 scheduled posts per queue, and 50 additional team members.
If you are looking for a tool that can support all the social media platforms then Later is your go-to tool.
Upload or collect your visual content in one place for easy access, organization, and re-sharing later.
Drag and drop media onto the Visual Instagram Planner to design eye-catching posts that match your brand aesthetic.
Add a LinkedIn.bio page to your social media bios to drive traffic to your websites and make sales.
Most social media tools support mostly 3 to 4 platforms but Later extended it reach to all six major social media platforms.
You can also opt for the paid platform and use the added benefits that come with it.
If your looking for a tool that goes beyond just posting and can also manage your calendars and give you reminders when you need it then Coschedule is the tool for you.
Schedule a single post across multiple social networks or schedule series of messages to post across multiple networks over time.
Let CoSchedule publish your posts whenever they’re most likely to get good visibility and engagement. Sit back and relax while your evergreen content is automatically reshared according to your publishing schedule.
Upon adding a new profile, CoSchedule imports the last 60 days of messages or up to 100 past messages so that you can measure or reschedule them.
This tool is just not made for Scheduling but also is a great support for content marketing campaigns. It helps you track factors like the best time to post, reach, and engage and optimizes your post in a way that it performs exceptionally well.
The paid plan also offers features like bulk scheduling automation and effective insights.
A very reliable free tool, that provides various different kinds of tools and advantages to users.
You can schedule a post across the most popular social simultaneously but tweak the post for each platform.
For each of your feeds, you can set up boards to monitor activity on your social media accounts or discover new content, conversations, and trends.
Reach more of your target audience on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram with the Boost Feature.
If promoted posts are part of your strategy but you don’t want to spend beyond your ad budget, this is the go-to free tool.
CrowdFire is your tool if curation and redistribution is a part of your content strategy.
Scheduling: Available for up to 10 posts per account
Easily curate and share your own content, as well as high-quality content produced by others. This will keep your profiles and your audience engaged while also easing the pressure to create all social media content from scratch.
Although you can only access one day of advanced analytics data, it’s better than nothing. Most free social media software plans only allow access to basic analytics!
Share articles with your followers on the fly without having to open Crowdfire or the social network of your choice to create and publish a post.
This tool is the best if you want a helping hand with curation. It helps you automate the whole process and you can sit back and relax.
You can also opt for the paid plan and take advantage of benefits like 100 post schedule, 90 days analytics, and soo on.
Tailwind is the best tool when it comes to focusing on visual platforms like Instagram, and the best part is you won’t require a credit card to create an account.
Scheduling: Available for up to 20 posts per month
Stop users mid-scroll with eye-catching images and videos. (Most other social media management software only allows video and images for paying users.)
Upload images and Tailwind Create will automatically design professional-quality posts according to your brand colors, fonts, and logos.
Stop copying and pasting posts into the scheduler one by one and save tons of time with bulk uploads.
If your social media strategy includes a lot of videos and images, and you don’t use too many text-based content ideas then Tailwind is the best option for you.
Includes up to 100 posts per month, 200 post designs, advanced analytics, and more.
Includes up to two accounts each for Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook, up to 1,000 posts per month, unlimited post designs, two users, and the list goes on.
Upto 3 accounts on each social media platform, unlimited posts, and up to 5 users.
Depending upon the need and type of social media strategy that you adopt there are a wide variety of options in free tools that you can use and optimize your social media strategy. The idea of introducing these 7 tools was that they are a great starting point if you want your tools to grow with you.
