Creating a strong online presence through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are essential for a more powerful digital marketing strategy. However, managing these channels can be pretty stressful and time-consuming. Utilising the best social media management tool, for instance, can be of great help. But given the large pool options available today, choosing the right one for your brand might be a little bit confusing.
To serve as your guide, we’ll be comparing three excellent social media management tools — Hootsuite, Buffer and BevooChat.
Signing Up and Onboarding Process
You might think that this process doesn’t really need much of a discussion as it seems pretty straightforward. However, we want to put an emphasis on how integral the signing up and onboarding process is. In fact, a brand’s conversion rate depends highly on it.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s homepage is pretty simple and straightforward. It shows the sign-up button and what Hootsuite currently offers – a free 30-day trial.
However, signing up on this social media management tool can be time-consuming. As you click on the “Start Your Free 30-Day Trial” you will be redirected to a new window where you will be asked to type in your name, email address and password. After which, you will need to choose between two different billing cycles: annual and monthly. Then, you will be asked for your credit card details.
Now imagine the time and effort needed just to get to the website itself.
Buffer
Similar to Hootsuite, Buffer has everything on its homepage. But compared to Hootsuite, Buffer offers a 14-day free trial, which is short compared to the 30-day free trial you can get from Hootsuite.
BevooChat
Compared to Hootsuite and Buffer, BevooChat probably has the simplest onboarding process. Looking at its homepage, you can see the sign-up button instantly. Clicking it will take you to the login page where you can click “Do not have an account” for new users.
You can then enter your name, email, password and the answer to a simple math problem. And that’s it. You can now use BevooChat.
Supported Social Media Networks
All three social media management tools support the three biggest and most popular social media platforms of today – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, it is essential to note that while all three platforms allow users to post content on Twitter, only Hootsuite lets you view your timeline, read replies and respond to each of them.
BevooChat, on the other hand, supports more social media networks compared to Hootsuite and Buffer.
Scheduling and Posting
All Hootsuite, Buffer and BevooChat enable users to post on different social media accounts and schedule posts ahead of time. But in terms of scheduling, they offer different approaches.
Hootsuite
With Hootsuite you can instantly get an overview of all your published and scheduled posts across all your social media networks in a centralised calendar. Using this, you can easily plan out your campaigns, find and create solutions to some gaps as well as collaborate with your team in real-time.
To create content, users can use Hootsuite’s Composer where you can get access to image editing and video publishing. For scheduling content, users can either choose to select their preferred time and date or turn on Hootsuite’s Auto Scheduler. With AutoSchedule, Hootsuite can help you choose the optimal time depending on your social interactions. This means Hootsuite can decide to schedule posts in different orders rather than the way you submitted them.
Buffer
Buffer lets you post and schedule one content for multiple social media platforms. For others who want to optimise each content for each platform, Buffer also allows users to customize each post.
For scheduling content, Buffer offers a specialised feature called Buffer Queue which automatically adds a new post to the next slot available. So if for example, you have set your schedule to 8am, 1pm and 6pm but you already have three posts scheduled for those times, the next post will automatically be scheduled at 8am the next day.
BevooChat
With BevooChat, users can easily import both their Facebook and Instagram profiles as well as other essential social media networks. Clicking the “campaign list” under multi-media post will bring you to the “Text/image/link/video poster” list.
By clicking “Create New Post,” you can now easily create various posts such as text, link, image and video. With BevooChat you can save time by creating one content for multiple social media channels. What’s more, you can set an auto-reply template to your post, making your content a lot more interactive.
For posting and scheduling, you can easily choose to post the content in real-time or select your preferred date and time. One of the biggest advantages of BevooChat is that you can opt to repost the content depending on the number of times you wish the content to appear on your page. You can set the interval from hours, days, weeks to months.
Pricing
Pricing is probably the biggest factor most businesses are considering when choosing the best social media management tool.
Hootsuite
- Professional – License is for one user only. The professional plan includes a 30-day free trial for 10 social profiles, real-time analytics, auto-scheduling and unlimited RSS integrations. At USD19/month on an annual plan, users can access automated post scheduling and key performance metrics.
- Team – License is for at least 3 users. The Team plan includes a 30-day free trial for 20 social profiles. At USD99/month on an annual plan, it includes team message assignments, custom analytics and exportable reports.
- Business – At USD599/month on an annual plan, the Business plan is available for 5 users who can add up to 35 social profiles. It also includes everything in the Team plan plus flexible approval workflows and 24/7 support.
Buffer
- Free – The free plan can be accessed by 1 user only. It supports up to 3 social media channels with 10 scheduled posts per social channel. Furthermore, it includes basic features such as post scheduling and integrations on both iOS and Android apps.
- Essentials – Similar to the Free plan, Buffer’s Essentials plan can also be accessed by one user only. It supports unlimited social channels for USD6/ per channel.
BevooChat
- Social Posting – This plan is essential for managing social media posting for multiple accounts and scheduling of posts. For only SGD49/30 days, the Social Posting plan includes unlimited scheduled posting and 5 social profiles for Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google My Business, WordPress, Blogger, Pinterest, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube.
- Chatbot – For only SGD99/30 days, BevooChat’s Chatbot plan allows users to execute a chatbot marketing strategy alongside the tools that can help manage social media posting and post scheduling. This plan offers unlimited chatbots, integration with Facebook pages, generating Facebook chatbot URL for easy sharing, Facebook auto-reply to comments and Facebook auto-message based on comments. Furthermore, it includes unlimited scheduled posting and supports 5 social accounts for all supported social accounts,
- Chatbot eCommerce – For only SGD199/30 days, users can get micro-eCommerce stores to showcase their products. It includes 5 micro-eCommerce stores, unlimited products and categories per store, sync products from WooCommerece products, payment types include Stripe, PayPal, Manual, Cash on Delivery. It includes unlimited scheduled posting for 5 different social accounts.
- Agency – Agencies can also benefit from BevooChat. This social media management tool priced at SGD999/30 days allows agencies to help their customers launch micro eCommerce stores to sell their products. Along with all the features available in Social Posting, Chatbot and Chatbot eCommerce plans, Agency plan includes 99 micro eCommerce, 9 social accounts and unlimited scheduled posting.
Hootsuite, Buffer and BevooChat: Which is Best for Social Media Management?
Comparing all the features and capabilities these three social media management tools can offer as well the plans available, BevooChat is undeniably the most efficient and the cost-effective solution there is.
Manage your social media networks with BevooChat. Sign up today!
