If you’re looking for a tool to help you manage your social media matters, here are five you might want to consider:
1. SproutSocial
Most of the apps discussed in this post offer similar features. SproutSocial is typical, offering, among other things, a) monitoring of social media channels, b) publishing to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, c) team collaboration, and d) content post scheduling.
SproutSocial also has an interesting patented technology, however, which is likely worth a second look: Optimal Send Time (that is aimed, unsurprisingly, at finding the optimal time to publish content).
Prices range from $39-99 / month/user, depending on what features are desired.
2. Nimble
Nimble, like SproutSocial, is integrated with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, letting users manage contacts, view all messaging across platforms in a single inbox, and schedule and assign tasks. Nimble also lets users view marketing efforts, broken down by supporter, and has features interwoven with MailChimp, Wufoo, and HubSpot.
Pricing is a flat $15 / month/user, regardless of features used.
3. JitterJam
JitterJam has similar features to the preceding apps, like social media monitoring, engagement and activity, contact profile building, and “deep” analytics, but also offers something called “Make Me Happy™” permission marketing that lets contacts make selections about how you contact them (and how often you do so). Neat!
Pricing: Not immediately apparent.
4. Thrive, from Small Act
Thrive was designed specifically for nonprofits, so you’ll definitely want to try a free demo of this software. Features appear to be comparable to other social CRMs we saw, but might be custom-tailored for nonprofits in ways that aren’t apparent from a quick review of their site. We’d love to hear back from users on this one.
Pricing: $99 / month / user (for the “Advantage” level license).
5. Vitrue
Now for the larger companies. Vitrue was acquired last spring by Oracle, so we expect there to be major resources behind it. Vitrue is broken into four main parts: Tabs (custom Facebook modules), Publisher (push content to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+), Analytics (data), and Shop (Social Commerce).
Pricing: Not immediately apparent.
6. Radian6
The other large company we came across was Radian6, which is under the SalesForce umbrella. Radian6 seems to do what other services do, but also carries a long list of additional features that can be found here.
Pricing is enterprise-level and starts at $5,000/mo. If you’re on a tight budget, this probably isn’t the tool for you.
If you find other services that are worth consideration, please let us know in the comments below.
