Social media marketing is harder than it looks. To an outsider, it might seem like social media marketers only post great content to get likes and followers. But there is much more involved.
Marketers compete in an industry that is home to more than4.2 billionusers At first glance, this seems like a great opportunity to gain recognition, but then you realize that more users also means more competition and less time to make an impact.
To impress their followers and attract new ones, most marketers turn to social media management apps.
These apps help social media managers juggle planning and publishing content, engaging with audiences, analyzing how their content is performing, and making changes to improve results. They have specific features to meet these needs and make your life much easier.
We know that many creators and businesses can't afford to spend a lot on premium tools, so we've put together a handy guide to the 12 best free social media management tools to help you out. Here they are:
#1. Hootsuite
The best free social media management tool for general management
Hootsuiteis possibly the best free social media management tool for individual users and businesses alike. The tool offers everything a social media manager needs in one place. From content planning to scheduling and reviewing posts, Hootsuite lets you do it all from its intuitive dashboard.
Over 18 million users trust Hootsuite to schedule posts in advance, monitor activity across multiple accounts, and track trends to create content tailored to their audience.
The tool also shows comments on your posts, likes and social conversations that revolve around the trends you care about, all in one inbox. Thus, brands can initiate, monitor and respond to conversations to increase their credibility and gain customer trust.
In the free plan, users can add two social accounts and schedule posts. The platform is compatible with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn andpinterest🇧🇷 Choose the ones that matter most to your brand and connect them to Hootsuite. Once logged in, you can schedule up to 5 posts at a time for both accounts.
If you want to spend minutes managing your social content instead of hours, Hootsuite is the tool for you.

#two. Later
The best free social media management tool to schedule posts
Laterit makes planning and scheduling posts easy and is a must-have social media scheduler.
The tool primarily focuses on Instagram marketing, but allows for scheduling across multiple social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Its purpose is to make creating and publishing image-based posts easy for all users, whether they are a brand or an individual.
Later's best feature is the easy-to-use Visual Planner for Instagram, which allows users to see what their scheduled posts would look like on their page. You can drag and drop the programmed images to create an ideal Instagram feed. When finished, the tool will automatically post content to match the order you've decided.
Free users have access to Visual Planner. But it gets better. You can add a whole set of social profiles (a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok account) and schedule 30 posts on each of those profiles.
Content creators and brands also have access to analytics so they can track how their posts are performing. This helps you create content that matches your customers' needs.

#3. shock absorber
The best free social media management tool for multiple accounts
shock absorberis a popular free social media manager that aims to generate meaningful engagement on social media. The platform has features that help you analyze your profiles and existing social content, create relevant content for future posts, schedule them, and track engagement.
Buffer believes that the key to improving engagement on social media is posting content that resonates with your audience. And they are right. In a 2021 survey,83%of successful content marketers attribute their success to the value their content delivers to their audience.
While you don't get Buffer's analytics features with your Forever Free plan, you can have up to 3 social accounts and schedule up to 10 posts per channel in your queue at a time. They don't have monthly or yearly limits on the number of posts you can schedule.
Buffer works with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. In addition to scheduling, free users can seamlessly edit posts for each channel and get suggested Twitter hashtags and users to tag in their Facebook or Twitter posts.
Brands can also create landing pages that display all of their most important content in one place. Buffer also integrates with over 30 third-party apps, including IFTTT, Zapier, Pocket, and Feedly.

#4. wrist now
The best free social media management tool for small businesses
For individual creators andSmall business,wrist nowis the free social media management tool to control your feed.
The all-in-one social media platform offers a social CRM tool for free. This feature is intended to help users build their community, manage their existing followers and attract new ones.
You can view historical social interactions, use tags to group users, and track the most active users on your profile through automatic ranking. You can also leave internal notes about followers within the platform.
In addition to the social CRM, free plan users can connect three social accounts and schedule 40 posts per month. You can also tag posts to help with campaign tracking.
Agorapulse also provides a Facebook ROI calculator that allows you to define custom metrics and see how much your posts are earning.

#5. crowd of fire
The best free social media management tool for content planning
crowd of fireIt is similar to most free social media post makers but it goes one step further and curates content for your business page as well.
As we said earlier, content is key to social media marketing, especially for small businesses. Crowdfire can help you find the best articles, images, videos and more to share on your social profiles.
The platform allows you to connect three social accounts and schedule 10 posts per account. However, you don't just have to share your own branded content. You can provide value to your audience through curated articles and unlimited images related to your industry.
Posts are automatically adapted or customized for each platform and you can preview them before publishing. Social media managers also get hashtag recommendations and analytics from the day before.
Brands can curate content from their own blogs, YouTube videos and eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Etsy.

#6. canva
The best free social media management tool to create images
Every social media marketing campaign needs compelling creative assets to engage the audience.canvais the only tool you need to create those images.
Creators and teams can get started right away with 250,000+ templates and 100+ layout types to choose from. These layout types include specific templates for your social media posts.
To ensure your posts truly reflect your brand, you can upload custom color palettes, branded fonts, and images. If you don't have an image to start with, don't worry. Canva has millions of free stock photos and graphics for every possible industry.
Canva is also one of the few free social media management tools that allows users to invite team members to collaborate in real-time. Free users also get 5GB of cloud storage.

#7. wistia
The best free social media management tool for video content
Video currently dominates social media and works best on most other types of content. Adding a visual element to a concept or product makes it more appealing to users, especially when attention spans are decreasing.
This probably explains why93%of brands landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media, according to Animoto.
wistiais the perfect platform to create these videos. It has a fully customizable player that allows you to add links to videos. Once your video is ready, you can easily embed it on social media, on your website or in your emails. You can do all this for free.
Teams can also add unlimited users under one account for effective collaboration. For a smooth video creation and sharing process, Wistia integrates with dozens of third-party apps like Mailchimp and Keap.

#8. Google Campaign URL Builder
The best free social media management tool for campaign tracking
Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) refers to a code that you add to the end of your URL. When you use UTM links, it helps you track where your traffic is coming from and how.
This tool is useful for anyone running multiple social media campaigns, working with influencers, or collaborating with another company.
SwindlerGoogle Campaign URL Builder, you can add five parameters to your URLs: source, medium, term, content, and campaign. Once you've created a UTM link, you can give it to the people you're collaborating with.
So whenever an influencer or marketing partner adds a link to your site, they will use the UTM link. You can also use a UTM link to track specific campaigns, like a New Year's sale or a Christmas package.
By using this method, brands can find out which partner or campaign drives the most traffic to their website.

#9. GoDaddy Studio (anteriormente Over)
Best Free Social Media Management Tool for Instagram Stories
If Instagram is your main channel for social media marketing and you rely on Instagram Stories, thenGoDaddy Studiois the tool you need.
About500 million peopleuses Instagram Stories every day and it would be foolish not to reach such a large audience. Stories are perfect for general updates, announcements, short videos, product links, and branded content.
But creating Stories that speak for your brand isn't easy. Your stories need to be engaging enough for your followers, who will always browse through boring and repetitive content. They must also match your branding.
With GoDaddy Studio, you get thousands of ready-to-edit templates for Instagram Stories. You can choose a template and effortlessly add text or change visuals. It helps you create beautiful and branded content for your Instagram Stories instantly.
GoDaddy Studio also provides 24/7 customer support, so you're never left out if something goes wrong.

#10. creator's studio
The best free social media management tool for analytics
Facebookcreator's studiohelps businesses, influencers, and content creators track their critical social metrics in one place. Facebook creators can schedule and manage their posts along with their Facebook Pages.
Business profiles and creators on Instagram can also use this platform to post content from their desktops and manage their feeds.
The tool provides detailed information about your monthly earnings, video views, net followers and engagement.
Facebook and Instagram are two of the biggest social media platforms, with2.85 billionand 1.380 million monthly active users, respectively. So a free publishing and analytics app like Creator Studio is essential to know what works and what doesn't.
Creator Studio offers Brand Collabs Manager for individual creators to help them secure paymentsalliances with brands.

#11. IFTTT
The best free social media management tool for automation
Marketers and social media creators can save time by removing mundane, low-impact tasks from their workflow usingIFTTT.
IFTTT or If This Then That is an app that helps you integrate multiple apps and make them work together. Users can create simple automation rules or applets based on “if this, then that” logic. In this system, "this" is a trigger and "that" is a consequent.
For example, when you use a specific hashtag in the caption of your Instagram post (if applicable), the app will automatically create a Twitter post with the photos (there).
Free users can create three custom applets in IFTTT. This may seem low, but remember that you can make multiple social networking apps work together with each applet. Also, you can use an unlimited number of existing IFTTT applets.
IFTTT is among the best free social media management apps as it requires no coding knowledge to drastically improve your work processes.

#12. link tree
The best free social media management tool for Link in Bio solution
In today's fast-paced social media landscape, no one has time to search for information about your brand or products. Also, social media platforms like Instagram only allow one link in the bio section.
So how do you make the most of your one-shot to wow your readers or followers? You use that link to its full potential!
Enter the link tree...
link treeis a must-have free social media management tool. It allows you to display everything that matters about your brand with a single link.
Creators and individual businesses can use a Linktree link in their bio to bring users to their site. Blog, videos, other social platforms,product pages, music platforms, payment pages and much more.
Linktree is easy to understand. When a user clicks on the Linktree link, it opens a landing page with links to everything that matters. You maycustomize this landing pageto match your brand.
Even Linktree's free plan allows you to add unlimited links, embed video content, customize your Linktree and get insights into the total number of clicks and views your Linktreee has generated.
Professional users get access to advanced features to make your followers' foray into your brand a walk in the park.
Social media marketing is a complex field that requires skill, patience, deep strategies and the right tools to excel.
You can't be a social media marketer who just relies on old school tools and tactics to get the job done. You need the best apps to create and publish content that is engaging and relevant to your target audience.
Instead of spending a lot and getting the first premium tool you find on Google, you can check out the free tools listed above. After trying them out, you can decide which ones are worth upgrading to a paid plan.
If you found this article helpful, check out our blog for more information onsocial media marketing
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