8 Social Media Management Tools for Small Businesses Compared

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Choosing the right social media tools can be overwhelming, especially when you are already short on time and juggling multiple priorities. Yet the right platform can save hours each week, improve consistency and help you turn social activity into real business opportunities.

Social media management tools make it easier to plan posts, stay organised, analyse performance and respond to comments without logging in and out of different apps. Some tools focus on scheduling, others specialise in reporting or engagement, and a few bring everything together in one place.

The challenge is knowing which one fits your business. Your choice depends on what you want social media to achieve – whether that’s saving time, improving visibility, or joining up your activity with your wider marketing and sales efforts.

In this guide, we compare eight leading tools and show you where each one works best. This will help you choose a platform that supports your strategy, keeps your marketing consistent and helps you generate more enquiries over time.

8 Tool Comparisons: Which Social Media Platform Is Right for Your Business?

Choosing the right social media management tool starts with understanding what you want social media to achieve. You may want to save time, improve consistency, or tie your activity back to leads and sales. Each tool offers different strengths, so your choice should support your wider marketing strategy rather than add more complexity.

When comparing tools, evaluate them through a simple lens:

• Ease of use – You need a system your team can adopt quickly.
  
  
• Scheduling and publishing – You want reliable, efficient posting across the platforms that matter to you.
  
  
• Analytics and reporting – You need clarity on what is working.
  
  
• Engagement tools – You want visibility of comments, messages, and conversations.
  
  
• Integrations – Your social activity should work seamlessly alongside your website, CRM, and email marketing.
  
  
• Cost – You should choose a tool that suits your budget while supporting long-term growth.

Below, you can review the main strengths of each platform and how they support SMEs wanting a more organised and effective approach to social media.

1. HubSpot

HubSpot gives you more than scheduling. It brings your social posts, website analytics, CRM, email marketing, and sales pipeline together in one platform. This gives you a clear view of how social media contributes to your leads and revenue.

Key strengths:

• CRM integration that shows how contacts engage with your posts before they convert
  
  
• Clear reporting that links activity to results
  
  
• Automated workflows that follow up with leads instantly
  
  
• User-friendly interface your team can adopt quickly
  
  

If you want a complete system rather than a standalone scheduling tool, HubSpot is the most strategic choice.

2. Buffer

Buffer suits smaller teams that want to post consistently without managing too many features. Its free plan offers enough functionality for early-stage businesses, and the paid plans remain affordable.

Key strengths:

• Very easy scheduling across major platforms
  
  
• Straightforward analytics to review post performance
  
  
• Low-cost entry point with a generous free plan
  
  

If you want a lightweight, uncomplicated tool, Buffer is the quickest option to get up and running.

3. Hootsuite

Hootsuite gives you visibility across many platforms in one place. It is helpful if you manage several profiles, channels, or brands, and want one dashboard to oversee all activity.

Key strengths:

• Wide platform coverage including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X
  
  
• Strong analytics and reporting for visibility across accounts
  
  
• Scalable plans that support long-term growth
  
  

If you need a robust tool to manage multiple channels at once, Hootsuite remains a reliable choice.

4. Sprout Social

Sprout Social appeals to businesses that want clear, detailed reporting. It helps you understand which content performs well, when your audience is most active, and where to focus your time.

Key strengths:

• In-depth analytics that support data-led decision making
  
  
• Strong engagement features for managing comments and messages
  
  
• Polished interface that makes reviewing results easy
  
  

If you want reporting that goes beyond basic metrics and helps shape your strategy, Sprout Social delivers.

5. Later

Later is ideal if you rely heavily on visual content. Its calendar shows exactly how your feed will look, making it easy to plan posts for platforms that depend on imagery.

Key strengths:

• Visual drag-and-drop calendar for planning posts
  
  
• Optimised for Instagram, TikTok and visual-first platforms
  
  
• Affordable plans suited to smaller teams
  
  

If visual content plays a big role in your marketing, Later makes planning and organising it much easier.

6. Sendible

Sendible offers strong integration options and a dashboard you can tailor to your team's workflow. It works well if you oversee several accounts or want to customise how your data is displayed.

Key strengths:

• Configurable dashboards you can adapt to your needs
  
  
• Wide app integrations including Canva, Slack and Google tools
  
  
• Reliable monitoring tools for mentions and conversations
  
  

If you need flexibility and customisation, Sendible gives you more control than many tools in its price range.

7. Loomly

Loomly brings your team’s content planning, reviews and approvals into one workspace. Its suggestions and content ideas help you keep your posting schedule consistent.

Key strengths:

• Guided content planning with ideas and inspiration
  
  
• Collaboration tools for multi-person approval flows
  
  
• Simple interface that keeps creation and scheduling organised
  
  

If you want a tool that supports team collaboration and regular content creation, Loomly is a strong fit.

8. Agorapulse

Agorapulse centralises all comments, DMs and mentions into one inbox. This helps SMEs stay responsive and maintain strong customer service standards across social channels.

Key strengths:

• Unified inbox for messages, comments and reviews
  
  
• Monitoring and listening tools to track brand mentions
  
  
• Accessible pricing for SMEs wanting strong engagement features
  
  

If audience interaction is a priority for your business, Agorapulse provides the clearest view of what is happening across your social channels.

Now that you’ve seen how each tool works, the next step is choosing the one that will deliver the most value for your business. Different platforms excel in different areas, so the right decision depends on what you want social media to achieve. Whether you want stronger reporting, better engagement, easier scheduling or a system that links directly to your sales process, each tool has its place.

The following sections highlight which platform works best for each specific use case, so you can choose the tool that gives you the quickest time-saving wins and the clearest path to generating more leads.

What Is The Best All-Round Social Media Tool for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses?

When you want a complete, all-round social media management tool that supports real business growth rather than just activity, HubSpot is the strongest choice for SMEs. Instead of giving you isolated features, HubSpot connects your social media, CRM, email marketing, analytics, and sales pipeline in one place. This means you can finally see how social activity contributes to leads, revenue and long-term growth.

Most scheduling tools help you publish content. HubSpot helps you turn that content into enquiries and sales.

Why HubSpot Works So Well for SMEs

Clear reporting that links activity to results

HubSpot shows you who engaged with your posts, what they did next, and whether those interactions became leads or customers. This is essential if you want social media to contribute to your growth targets.

Social scheduling built directly into your CRM

You can schedule posts, monitor engagement and track conversations without jumping between platforms. Every interaction feeds into your CRM automatically.

Automation that saves you hours every week

HubSpot can trigger follow-up emails, lead nurturing and workflows based on how contacts interact with your social content. This keeps your brand visible without extra manual effort.

User-friendly design your whole team can adopt

HubSpot is built for teams that need a simple, structured approach. Even if you’re not technical, you can post, review analytics and manage conversations with ease.

Why HubSpot Is the Best All-Rounder

HubSpot gives you a system, not just a dashboard. For SMEs that want to attract more leads, follow up consistently and measure what works, this all-in-one approach is far more effective than managing your social media in isolation.

If you want a tool that supports your entire marketing and sales process, not just your posting schedule, HubSpot is the platform to choose.

What Is The Best Free Social Media Management Tool?

If you need a cost-effective way to stay consistent on social media, Buffer is the strongest free option available to SMEs. Its free plan gives you enough functionality to build momentum without committing to paid software, making it ideal if you are getting started or testing your social media process.

Buffer keeps things simple. You can schedule posts across three social channels, plan content in advance and keep your activity organised without needing extra training or technical knowledge. This simplicity is exactly what many small businesses need when time and resources are limited.

Why Buffer’s Free Plan Works Well for SMEs

Straightforward post scheduling

You can create and queue posts in a single session, helping you stay visible without needing to log in every day.

Clear content calendar

Buffer’s calendar view makes it easier to plan ahead and maintain a balanced posting schedule.

Basic analytics to guide improvement

You can see which posts gain traction so you can refine your approach over time.

Buffer also provides helpful learning resources for teams who want guidance while they build their social routine. For small businesses wanting a no-cost solution that keeps social media organised and manageable, Buffer’s free plan offers everything you need to stay active and consistent while you develop a longer-term strategy.

What Is The Best Tool for Social Media Reporting & Analytics?

If you want clear, reliable data to guide your social media decisions, Sprout Social is the strongest reporting platform for SMEs. It gives you detailed insights into what is working, what isn’t, and where your time is best spent. This makes it particularly valuable if you want evidence-based guidance rather than guessing which posts are gaining traction.

Sprout Social goes beyond basic metrics. You can review performance across all your platforms in one place, build custom reports for your leadership team and identify patterns in audience behaviour. This level of visibility helps you refine your content, improve engagement and invest your time more effectively.

Why Sprout Social Leads on Reporting and Analytics

Comprehensive performance tracking

You can monitor engagement, reach, follower trends and post effectiveness across every channel you use.

Customisable reports

Sprout Social makes it easy to create reports tailored to your goals, whether you want a high-level overview or deeper analysis.

Clear data visualisation

Charts and insights are presented in a way that is easy to understand, even if you are not used to working with analytics tools.

Sprout Social is ideal if you want more than surface-level statistics. It helps you draw real conclusions from your activity and shows you what to change, improve or prioritise. For SMEs that want social media to support wider marketing and sales goals, its reporting capabilities give you the clarity you need to make confident decisions.

What Is The Best Tool for Social Listening & Brand Monitoring?

If you want clarity on how people talk about your business online, Agorapulse is the strongest tool for social listening and brand monitoring. It gives you real-time visibility of mentions, comments and conversations across your social channels, helping you respond quickly and protect your reputation.

Agorapulse brings all of this information into one place, so you don’t need to search manually or rely on chance to catch important feedback. This makes it far easier to stay aware of customer sentiment, competitor activity and emerging issues that may affect your brand.

Why Agorapulse Leads on Social Listening

Instant alerts on brand mentions

You’re notified when someone talks about your business, allowing you to respond promptly and keep conversations moving in the right direction.

Clear insight into audience sentiment

Agorapulse helps you understand whether feedback is positive, neutral or negative, guiding how you refine your messaging and customer response.

Competitor monitoring

You can track how competitors are performing and identify opportunities to stand out or adjust your approach.

Agorapulse is particularly valuable if customer engagement, reputation management or service quality sit high on your priority list. By giving you a complete view of what people are saying across your social channels, it helps you stay proactive rather than reactive, strengthen customer relationships and maintain a confident, consistent presence online.

What Is The Best AI Tool for Social Media?

If you want to use AI to save time, improve consistency and strengthen your content, HubSpot is the best AI-driven social media tool for SMEs. Instead of offering AI in isolation, HubSpot builds it directly into your CRM, scheduling tools and reporting, so the insights you gain translate into real improvements across your marketing and sales activity.

HubSpot’s AI helps you draft posts, refine messaging, suggest improvements and analyse performance, all within the same system you use to manage leads and customers. This means your social content becomes more targeted, relevant and aligned with your wider goals.

Why HubSpot Is the Strongest AI Option

AI-assisted content creation

Generate post ideas and draft captions quickly, so you spend less time staring at a blank screen.

Performance insights linked to your CRM

See which messages resonate with your audience and how that engagement influences leads and enquiries.

Smart scheduling

HubSpot suggests posting times based on when your audience is most active and engaged.

AI across your full marketing system

Because AI sits inside HubSpot’s CRM, email, reporting and workflows, it supports your entire customer journey rather than just your social activity.

HubSpot is the right choice if you want AI to enhance both your efficiency and your results. It streamlines content creation, sharpens your messaging and gives you clearer insight into what drives engagement, all within one connected platform.

What Is The Best Social Media Tool for Collaboration & Approval Workflows?

If you want a social media tool that makes teamwork easier and keeps your content organised, Loomly is the strongest choice. It brings planning, creation, feedback and approvals into one shared workspace, giving you a clear process that your whole team can follow.

Loomly is particularly useful if several people contribute to your social media, whether that’s directors, marketing staff or external partners. It gives you structure, removes confusion and helps you maintain a consistent voice across every channel.

Why Loomly Works So Well for Collaboration

Clear, guided approval workflows

You can create a defined review process so posts are checked, approved and published in the right order, without the usual back-and-forth.

Built-in collaboration tools

Team members can comment, suggest changes and share feedback directly inside each post, keeping everything in one place.

Content ideas and inspiration

Loomly provides suggestions based on trends, seasonal events and best practice, helping you build a steady flow of content even when ideas run low.

Simple, structured interface

Its calendar and post-by-post layout make it easy to see exactly what is planned, what is in review and what needs attention.

If you want a tool that brings order to your social media planning, helps your team work together smoothly and reduces the risk of errors or missed posts, Loomly gives you a clear, dependable process to follow.

What Is The Best Social Media Tool for Visual Content Planning (Instagram, Reels, TikTok)?

If visual content is a major part of your social media strategy, Later is the best tool to help you plan, organise and schedule posts across platforms like Instagram, Reels and TikTok. Its visual calendar shows you exactly how your feed will look, making it far easier to maintain a polished, consistent presence.

Later is designed for businesses that rely on strong imagery and video to stand out. Its layout, media library and drag-and-drop planning tools give you a clear framework for managing visual content without needing advanced design skills or complex processes.

Why Later Is the Strongest Option for Visual Planning

Visual drag-and-drop calendar

You can plan your posts in a way that mirrors how your feed will appear, helping you create a cohesive look and avoid last-minute changes.

Optimised for visual platforms

Later is built specifically for Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and other visual-first channels, so you can manage all your media in one place.

Easy media organisation

Upload, tag and store images and videos in a central library, making it simple to repurpose content and plan ahead.

Affordable plans for SMEs

Later gives you professional-level tools without the cost of enterprise software, making it ideal if you want structure without high expense.

Later is the tool to choose if you want to improve the quality, consistency and planning of your visual content. It helps you stay organised, present a stronger brand and keep your most visual platforms active with far less effort.

What Is The Best Tool for Managing Social Media For Multiple Brands?

If you manage several brands, locations or business units, you need a tool that keeps everything organised and clearly separated. Sendible is the strongest option for SMEs and agencies that oversee multiple brand profiles. It gives you structured dashboards, clear approval workflows and flexible permission settings, so you can stay in control without mixing content or data between brands.

Sendible’s interface allows you to switch between brands quickly, assign posts to the right team members and keep each content calendar distinct. This structure reduces errors, keeps your messaging consistent and helps you manage a higher volume of activity with confidence.

Why Sendible Is the Best Choice for Multi-Brand Management

Separate dashboards for each brand

Keep content calendars, analytics and engagement streams clearly organised so nothing overlaps.

Custom permissions and access levels

Control who sees what, ensuring internal teams and partners only access the relevant brand profiles.

Strong integration options

Built-in connections with Canva, Google tools and major social platforms help you manage multiple brands efficiently in one place.

Clear workflow and approval processes

Sendible makes it easy to review, approve and schedule posts across brands without losing visibility or control.

If you need a reliable system to manage multiple brands with clarity and structure, Sendible provides the organisation, control and efficiency required to keep every account running smoothly.

What Is The Best Tool for Social Media Engagement & Inbox Management?

If you want to stay on top of messages, comments and mentions across all your social channels, Agorapulse is the most effective tool for managing engagement. It brings every interaction into one unified inbox, making it much easier to respond quickly, maintain service standards and spot opportunities to speak with potential customers.

For SMEs, this matters. Missed comments and unanswered messages can cost you leads. Agorapulse reduces that risk by giving you complete visibility of conversations happening across your profiles, so you can be confident nothing slips through the cracks.

Why Agorapulse Is the Strongest Choice for Engagement

Unified inbox for all conversations

You can see and manage every message, comment and mention in one place, eliminating the need to jump between platforms.

Tools that streamline responses

Agorapulse lets you tag, categorise and assign messages to team members, helping you stay organised and consistent. Pre-set replies save time on common questions.

Clear monitoring of activity and sentiment

You have full visibility of how people interact with your brand, making it easier to step in when needed and maintain a responsive, customer-focused approach.

Agorapulse is ideal if you want to strengthen your customer service, maintain a professional presence or nurture early-stage conversations with potential clients. It gives you the level of control and responsiveness required to build trust and deepen engagement across your social channels.

What Other Social Media Tools Are Worth Considering?

Alongside the eight tools we’ve explored in detail, there are several other platforms that may be useful depending on your goals, team size and content style. You may not need these tools immediately, but they can support specific parts of your social media process as your activity grows.

Canva – For Creating On-Brand Visual Content

If you want to design professional graphics without relying on a designer, Canva is a valuable addition. Its templates make it easy to produce consistent visuals, and you can integrate it with tools like Sendible for faster publishing.

Adobe Express – For More Advanced Visual Editing

Adobe Express offers a step up in creative control while still keeping the interface simple. If visual quality is a priority and you want access to Adobe’s design ecosystem, this is a strong choice.

CapCut – For Short-Form Video Creation

Short-form video continues to dominate platforms like TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts. CapCut simplifies video editing so you can create polished clips quickly, even without technical editing skills.

Bitly – For Tracking Link Performance

If you want to understand which social posts drive the most clicks, Bitly helps you shorten links and track performance across campaigns. This is helpful when you want a clearer view of how your content contributes to website traffic.

Brandwatch – For Large-Scale Listening and Market Insight

If you operate in a sector where online discussions move quickly, Brandwatch provides deeper listening and sentiment analysis. It goes beyond social monitoring to track wider online conversations, although it’s typically suited to larger organisations.

Monday.com – For Campaign Planning and Internal Workflow

While not a social media tool in itself, Monday.com helps you manage content calendars, approvals and campaign planning. It can be a useful companion if you want a more structured approach to internal project management.

Trello – For Light, Flexible Planning

If you prefer a simple visual board for planning content and tracking tasks, Trello offers an easy-to-use option that works well alongside your main scheduling tool.

Why You Need More Than Just Social Media Management Tools – You Need a Strategy That Works

Social media tools can save you time and help you stay organised, but they won’t grow your business on their own. Posting consistently is important, yet it’s only one part of a much wider marketing system. If your content isn’t tied to clear goals, if you’re not following up with leads, or if your website isn’t converting visitors into enquiries, even the best social media tool will struggle to deliver meaningful results.

This is the point where many SMEs get stuck. You may already be using several tools, but you’re still not seeing the sales impact you expected. That’s because tools are there to support a strategy, not replace one.

To generate leads reliably, you need:

• A clear marketing plan
  
  
• Consistent content across multiple channels
  
  
• A website that converts
  
  
• A structured sales process
  
  
• Data that shows what’s working
  
  
• Follow-up systems that never let a lead slip through the cracks
  
  

This is exactly why we use HubSpot as part of our approach at JDR. HubSpot joins everything together. Your social media, your website, your email marketing, your CRM, your reporting, your follow-up workflows – all in one place. Instead of trying to stitch separate tools together, you get a single, unified system that shows you the full picture from the first social click to the final sale.

When you work with us, you’re not just choosing a scheduling tool or an analytics platform. You're choosing a team that builds your strategy, creates your content, manages your campaigns, and uses HubSpot to connect every part of your marketing and sales process. This is what creates long-term, compounding results – not just more posts, but more leads, more enquiries and more customers.

If you want social media to contribute to real business growth, you need a plan, a system and a partner who can put it all into action. That’s what we do at JDR, and HubSpot is the platform that enables it.

Choose the Right Tools, Build the Right Strategy and Turn Social Media Into Growth

Social media can bring new opportunities into your business, but only when it is supported by the right tools, a clear plan and a joined-up marketing system. The platforms we’ve reviewed can help you stay consistent, improve visibility and manage your activity more efficiently, yet the real results come when your social media sits alongside strong content, an effective website, a structured follow-up process and measurable goals.

That is where we come in. At JDR, we help you build a complete strategy, not just a posting schedule. We use HubSpot to connect your social media with the rest of your marketing and sales activity, giving you one unified system that shows what works, where leads come from and how to turn more of those leads into customers.

If you want to get more from your social media and put a proven marketing system in place, there are two simple ways to take the next step:

Book a meeting with our team

Get tailored advice on the right tools, the right strategy and the best way to turn social media into a steady, measurable source of enquiries.

Download our Guide to Social Media

Learn how to build a long-term, sustainable social media approach that supports your wider growth goals.