Best Social Media Management Tools for Platform Variety

If you’re trying to establish a brand to have its own online presence, you’ll need to properly develop a persona that works across the different platforms. This multichannel approach keeps brands at the top of mind for their respective customers, allowing for better chances of conversion at any given moment.

Depending on which social media platforms you are using for your business, there is still the question of which ones you can manage with social media management tools. Each software provider offers a range of social media channels they support and you want to make sure the ones you need are included. Let’s take a look at how we evaluate this criterion.

What Makes the Best Social Media Management Tool for Platform Variety

The answer is easy. The best social media management tools in terms of managing multiple social media platforms are the ones that support the most social media channels. We didn’t take this further since we have separate ranking criteria along with our overall ranking.

When you devise a marketing strategy for your brand, it is no longer sufficient to keep your efforts focused on any particular channel. What used to be a focused strategy to get the most out of any particular platform, became the need to be fluid and dynamic across all different platforms at the same time. Some strategists call this an umbrella strategy, a campaign strategy, or even an omnichannel strategy. As such, brands that need to maintain a wide breadth of content will need the right social media management tool that can access as many different platforms as they can.

But not every social media management tool is built the same. Some have a much wider span than others, while others might be able to target users in different and more focused ways. As we delved into the research for which social media management tool is the best, we identified that the ranking for how a specific tool manages to maintain multiple accounts across different channels will be measured by their integration into some of the most relevant social media spaces on the internet today. What follows is how we structured the weights for the scoring of platforms according to the importance of social media channels.

Instagram

One of the most popular photo-sharing platforms since its inception, Instagram has only grown in size ever since it has been acquired by Facebook's parent company, Meta. The social media landscape has changed so much over the last few years, but one thing that has remained is the platform’s enduring photo feed. Its capabilities have since expanded towards short-form “reels” as well as more permanent video content. The best social media tools harness all these different posts and allow their users to create robust social media marketing strategies based on what is available. Moreover, it streamlines the process by giving people the proper media guidelines so that their content looks appropriate for Instagram, whether it be video or photo.

TikTok

The second-highest weight in our scoring has TikTok, which took the internet by storm. The popular short-form video-sharing app that once originated as a music video app, has allowed users to share content in a unique and curated way. Often no longer than 30 seconds, each “TikTok” has a strong potential to go viral and be reposted across different platforms. As such, the enduring popularity of the platform makes it an attractive target for brands to begin developing more unconventional strategies to get user attention.

Social media management tools can better harness this new platform by coordinating the different social media platforms to work in conjunction with whatever you decide to post on TikTok.

Facebook

When talking about social media platforms, you can’t leave out one of the oldest and most all-encompassing platforms: Facebook. Instagram itself works closely with the social media platform given that they are both under the same parent company and share the same advertising suite. This allows a brand to better control its sponsored posts and user engagement across the channels. Facebook still has a fair market share with plenty of users that you can reach worldwide.

With a social media management tool, you can control your Facebook pages in many different ways but is mostly used in terms of scheduling posts, advertising, audience insights, and general data analytics.

Twitter

Developing a brand voice can be tricky, so when Twitter came in offering its services as a general soapbox for every user, brands saw the opportunity to begin crafting narratives and announcements for their products and services. The strategies for posting on Twitter have changed rapidly over the years, with new developments inside the space challenging marketers to think about how they want to position their brands. Twitter has become a board for sharing opinions, news, product updates, and gathering feedback. To align your efforts, you can plan things ahead to give your audience and more smooth experience compared to blasting everything a couple of seconds behind each tweet.

LinkedIn

While all the previous social media platforms focused on more casual social interactions online, LinkedIn has positioned itself as the go-to space for professional networking on a globally connected platform. Employers and entrepreneurs can now build their brand toward prospective employees and investors through posts and business-oriented content.

Pinterest

Despite Instagram being the current social media photo-centric leader, it’s not the only one playing in the space. In fact, Pinterest has long been a collator of different online images for public use. Also known as a “visual discovery engine”, Pinterest is known to be a great resource for people to develop aesthetic inspiration through a continuous feed of similar images pertaining to a specific theme.

For brands, Pinterest allows building a visual identity for themselves. Dynamic brands can utilize their in-built shopping feature to better develop conversion strategies at different customer touchpoints, all while cementing a specific look for themselves.

YouTube

It’s hard to imagine what the internet would be like without the emergence of YouTube as the defacto video content-sharing platform today. While it’s certainly moved in many directions since its inception in the early 2000s, YouTube still remains one of the most profitable spaces for up-and-coming video content creators to share their ideas and create deeper connections with their fans.

Social media management tools are not often used for YouTube, which is also the reason why we didn’t put more weight on it in our score. However, it’s still a significant platform, and the integration with YouTube and your social media management tool can make timing the uploads of videos and posting updates more seamless. Features like these can help content creators remove the hassle of manually uploading videos and develop better plans for reaching a specific video view goal in mind.

Reddit

Reddit has long been one of the most user-centric spaces as each “page” is essentially user managed, giving the individuals most committed to a given topic the chance to moderate these spaces and share in the exchange of ideas. Some of these pages can be dedicated to specific media, such as fan pages and discussion boards, while others can be more open roundtable discussion areas regarding a particular topic like fashion and automotive.

Given the scope and breadth of what can be posted on Reddit, brands have since been heavily involved in analyzing their traction on the platform to analyze what people are talking about when they talk about their brand. Some social media management tools can even help you organize your own posts on the platform to allow you to engage directly with people who are actively interested in the brand.

Tumblr

Much of the early internet was defined by blogging and the sharing of ideas, which Tumblr wholeheartedly took into account when developing their feed-centric posts. Originally conceived as a “microblogging site” and social networking center, Tumblr remains one of the better places to get people to share their thoughts with other like-minded people.

Brands can utilize this platform to develop personas for the company and create a more personable image to connect with users.

Google My Business

Getting your business on the map can be tricky, especially when you’re first starting out. That’s why Google My Business was established to allow you to better take control of how your brand appears online in one of the most established search engines on the internet today. Essentially working in conjunction with Google Maps, Google My Business literally pinpoints where your business is in the current locale and also allows companies to analyze other aspects of their business, including user reviews, company contact details, and posting updates. Social media management tools are mostly used to manage reviews and comment on them along with sharing short posts.

Flickr

Delving deeper into more niche content for different users, Flickr is one of the most popular image hosting sites currently on the internet. Boasting about 60 million users, Flickr is a great space for up-and-coming photographers to develop their audience.

10 Best Social Media Management Tools for Platform Variety

How to Choose a Social Media Management Tool with Great Channel Variety

Choosing the best social media management tool in terms of how it handles multiple accounts across different platforms will largely depend on the nature of your business as a whole. Naturally, not every business will need a presence on platforms like Flickr or Reddit, while most brands will focus on bigger ones like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Make sure to look out for the platforms you need and check our overall Best Picks if you don’t require as many platforms to be supported with your social media management tool. If you’re having a hard time deciding, we also encourage you to try our Comparison Tool to discover the differences between software providers. And if you would like to receive a personalized recommendation, head over to our Finder Tool.