Our Social Media Tools JourneyOur detailed comparison and review of 4 social media content publishing and management tools.
Organization of this Presentation
We recently found it was time for a change in our social media tools. We reviewed several major social media management tools, editorial calendars, analytics tools, and a host of add-ons and integrations. This presentation provides a detailed comparison of four major social media management tools, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Rignite, and Buffer based on the 10 keys we listed to selecting the right social media tools for you.
Background
To Read More:• 10 Keys to selecting the right social media tools.• Our blog post:
4 Social Media Content Tools Reviewed. For more on our criteria, our choice, and why we choose Buffer.
Key 1: Price and Billing
Price of compared plan
$8.99/user/month $59/user/month Gold: $49/user/month
Small: $50/month (5 users)
Tiers Free:
Enterprise: Call for quote.
Premium: $99/month/user
Team: $500/month 3 users
Enterprise and Agency -
Silver: $28/user/month w/o campaigns
Enterprise: Call for quote
Awesome: 10/month (2 users)
Business: $100/month (10 users)
Agency:$250/month (25 users)
Billing Monthly or Annually with a 10% discount.
Monthly or Annually with a 10% discount.
Monthly or Annually.
Monthly or Annually with a 15% discount.
Decision impact: All of the compared plans were within our budget.
Key 2: Plan Options with Impact
Plan Pro Deluxe Gold Small
Team members 1 (add up to 9 at additional cost)
1 (add more at additional cost)
1 (add more at additional cost)
5
Social connections 50 10 30 25
Enhanced analytics reports
1 (add up to 10) at additional cost)
DEAL BREAKER
Included Included Included
Decision impact: The need for more and better analytics was a driving factor in our search for new tools. We wanted analytics that surfaced key information, was easy to use, and allowed some dynamic configuration.
Keys 3 & 4: Platform Connections & Depth Limitations
Decision impact: Being a B2B company, Twitter and LinkedIn are our most important networks followed by Facebook and Google+. The lack of Linkedin company page support was a deal breaker for us and Sprout Social.
Platforms Depth Limit Platforms Depth Limit Platforms Depth Limit Platforms Depth Limit
Groups Groups
Company Pages GroupsDEAL BREAKER
Personal pages Personal pages
Keys 3 & 4: Additional Platform Connections
Decision impact: We’re doing more and more on Instagram and Pinterest. We were shocked by the lack of integration with Pinterest across the board with this tools. We were pleasantly surprised Rignite connected with Instagram.
Platforms Can’t Post To: Platforms Can’t Post To: Platforms Can’t Post To: Platforms Can’t Post To:
Key 5 & 6: Scheduling and Automation
Plan Pro Deluxe Gold Small
Schedule posts. Yes Yes Yes Yes
Queue posts to published at preset times.
No YesNICE SURPRISE!
No Yes
Separate queues for each social media connection.
No No No YesDEAL WINNER!
Save drafts of posts. No YesNICE SURPRISE!
YesNICE SURPRISE!
No
Bulk import of posts. Yes No No Yes (through Bulk Buffer)
Automatic relies to new followers, favorites etc.
No No No No
Decision impact: Buffer’s per channel queues allows us to put content out at the best times of each of our channels. An awesome capability we couldn’t live without!
Keys 7 & 8: App Integrations & Extensions
Plan Pro Deluxe Gold Small
Bit.ly link shortener No Yes Yes Yes
Sniply link shortener Not built in.Yes (through
Snip.ly browser extension)
Yes No Not built in.Yes (through Snip.ly browser extension)
Large set of integrated apps
Yes (100+) No Yes Yes (50+)
Mobile apps (iPhone & Android)
Yes Yes No Yes
Browser extensions Yes Yes Yes Yes
Decision impact: A large number of apps integrations simply allows you to do more with the tool. Buffer and Hootsuite win there. Browser extensions are a must reducing the time it takes to curate and share content!
Key 9: Analytics & Monitoring
Decision impact: Buffer surfaces the posts are resonating, provides solid response options, and makes re-posting easy.
Plan Pro Deluxe Gold Small
Surfaces popular content visually for rescheduling.
No No No Yes DEAL WINNER!
Surfaces actions requiring responses (mentions, comments, new follows, etc).
Fair (you have go looking for them)
Good Very Good Fair (you have go looking for them)
Response options from UI. Very Good NICE SURPRISE!
Very Good NICE SURPRISE!
Good Good
Assign sentiment No No Yes NICE SURPRISE!
No
Sortable analytics data, and selectable analytics metrics .
No No No Yes DEAL WINNER!
Analytics displayed for all posts on all platforms.
No No No Yes DEAL WINNER!
Analytics Extra -Report output options.Available reports you
can run. Extra reports cost extra money.
Report display, many graphs follows by summary data.
Scroll bar for report. Enhanced reports are long.
Report summary data.
Option to build custom reports.
Analytics Extra -Report scope.
Additional reports available. Easy to read, visually
compelling reports that surface key data.
Analytics Extra - Limited Additional Reporting.
Facebook focused reports.
Easy to read, visually compelling reports that surface key data.
Analytics Extra -Per post analysis.
Selected social connection.
Visually surfaced top posts. Easily rebuffer top posts.
See post stats and click in for more detail and response options.
Google+ post comments responses.
Analytics Extra -Metrics on posts
Selected social connection.
Graph of selected metrics.
Select metrics to compare.
Post information. Sortable metric columns.
Set metric date range.
Key metrics for the date range.
Calendar Extra -
List View Calendar ViewsDay-Week-Month
Drag & Drop Reschedule Edit Post on Calendar
Approvals
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notes: Hootsuite has the best built-in calendar of these 4 tools, period.
Drag and drop reschedule
Approvals
Filter by social connection Multiple views
List view
Calendar Extra -
List View Calendar ViewsMonth
Drag & Drop Reschedule Edit Post on Calendar
Approvals
Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Notes: Rignite also allows you to view draft content that is scheduled.
Drag and drop reschedule
Post broken out by social media connection
Multiple views
Calendar Extra -View scheduled, queued, and draft posts.
Simple calendar allows date selection.
Posts for selected day displayed in chronological order.
Edit and adjust posts from this interface.
Notes: Sprout Social also allows you to view draft content that is scheduled.
List View Calendar ViewsDay list with month (shown)
Drag & Drop Reschedule Edit Post on Calendar
Approvals
No Yes Yes Yes No
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