As a content creator, managing multiple social media accounts can be overwhelming — from scheduling posts to analyzing metrics, it's a lot to handle. Luckily, that's where social media management tools come in. These tools help creators streamline the social media management process, saving them loads of time and stress. In this article, we'll explore the 12 best free social media management tools to help you get started.

What Is A Social Media Management Tool?

A social media management tool is a software solution crafted to streamline the management of one or multiple social media profiles across various networks, all within a unified dashboard or program. This multifaceted tool simplifies the entire spectrum of social media management tasks, encompassing activities like content creation, scheduling, publishing, monitoring, analysis, engagement, and collaboration. 

The practical benefits of employing social media management tools are numerous. They empower users to create and schedule posts in advance, centralize interactions from multiple profiles into a single inbox, track analytics across various accounts and platforms, generate comprehensive performance reports, automate audience and industry research through features like social listening and brand monitoring, and organize creative assets efficiently. 

Whether it's a straightforward photo editing app or an all-encompassing dashboard, social media management tools play a pivotal role in allowing marketers, business owners, and content creators to spend less time on operational tasks and more on creative and strategic endeavors, contributing to a healthier work-life balance.

How To Choose The Best Management Tool: 4 Steps

Selecting the ideal social media management tool from the vast amount of available options can be a daunting task. The key lies in aligning the tool with your priorities and goals in social media management. Once these priorities are clear, explore all the software features that seamlessly align with your objectives. Here are five crucial steps to guide you through the selection process:

Essential Tools and Features:

Your social media management tool should facilitate capturing new followers' attention and fostering engagement with your existing audience. To achieve this, focus on features such as platform integration, enabling management of all social media platforms from a single dashboard. 

A visual content calendar aids in planning posts and campaigns, saving time and ensuring consistency. Scheduling tools and post optimization features become important, allowing you to schedule and share content at optimal times for your unique audience. Strong analytics and reporting tools are indispensable for evaluating the effectiveness of your social media strategies.

Integration:

Assess the social media platforms you utilize and ensure your chosen management software integrates seamlessly with them. Pay attention to nuances like WhatsApp integration, as not all platforms support it. Tailor your choice based on the diversity of social media channels your business operates on, ensuring compatibility with platforms like TikTok.  

Understanding the types and numbers of accounts you manage is crucial, as software needs differ for a solopreneur managing a few accounts compared to a social media manager overseeing multiple platforms for numerous brands.

Reporting and Analytics:

Investing time and effort in creating social media content warrants insights into its performance. Choose a tool with robust reporting and analytics features to gauge the return on your social media strategy investment. 

Platforms like Hootsuite and Sprout Social offer comprehensive analytics tools, allowing you to monitor performance benchmarks, track improvements over time, and compare your social media standing with competitors.

Cost-effectiveness:

Many social media management tools offer free plans with limited features, providing an opportunity for exploration. Understand the limitations of free plans and research the paid options to ensure they align with your goals. 

If you end up paying for a plan, evaluate the platform’s scalability and features to accommodate your evolving needs. Consider factors such as the number of social media accounts allowed, access to analytics, and overall affordability when planning your brand’s growth over the next few years.

7 Best Free Social Media Management Tools

While most social media management platforms offer free “limited trials” to use their tools, most basic plans can be pricey and overwhelming for beginners. If you’re new to the game and looking to manage your content on a tight budget, then don’t worry —- we got you! Here is a list of the seven best social media management platforms that offer free basic plans to creators:

1. Buffer

Buffer is a well-known social media management tool renowned for its simplicity and straightforward scheduling capabilities across various platforms. Its free plan option allows users to connect up to three social media accounts and schedule up to 10 posts at a time. Buffer offers a user-friendly interface, easy scheduling, and can customize each platform’s language, links, pictures, and hashtags before posting or scheduling.

While Buffer’s free plan caters to basic needs, creators with broader requirements can opt for the Essentials plan at $6 a month per social channel. This upgraded plan offers detailed analytics, engagement features, and the flexibility to manage an unlimited number of social accounts.

• Pros: Easy scheduling, user-friendly interface, scheduling queue, allows connection to multiple social media accounts.
  
  
• Cons: Limited to three social media accounts and only 10 scheduled posts at a time. 

2. Social Champ

a Social Champ stands out for its powerful features and a broad range of platform support, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Pinterest, Instagram, Google Business Profile, and YouTube. Their free plan includes an impressive array of scheduling options, such as custom time slots, Auto RSS, Bulk uploads, and queues, providing flexibility in content planning. 

In addition, users can access detailed analytics and reporting features, facilitating a thorough evaluation of social media performance. With the ability to manage three social accounts and schedule up to 15 posts a month per account, Social Champ is a great platform for creators looking to establish a social media presence.

• Pros: Variety of scheduling options, detailed analytics, and evaluates social media performance.
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• Cons: The free plan restricts scheduling up to 15 posts a month per social account, which may be limiting for those with higher posting frequencies.

3. Later

Originally designed for Instagram users, Later has since added more platforms, including Facebook, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and TikTok. Its free plan caters to users with one social set, scheduling 30 posts per profile, and offers basic analytics to track engagement. Later's commitment to user convenience extends to an array of pre-made templates, eliminating the need to start content creation from scratch.

Its hashtag research tool empowers users to discover the most relevant hashtags for their posts, while advanced analytics provide insights into post performance and engagement metrics. As a capable social media management tool, Later enhances the efficiency of your social media marketing strategy, allowing creators to plan posts seamlessly across various channels

• Pros: Offers pre-made templates, a hashtag research tool, and is easy to schedule posts.
  

• Cons: Limited to one social profile.
  

4. Crowdfire

Crowdfire simplifies life for creators, allowing consistent scheduling and publishing across various platforms, including Twitter/X, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Crowdfire’s free plan enables users to link three social media accounts, schedule 10 posts per account, provide hashtag recommendations, and offer a day's worth of social analytics data. The platform's extensive capabilities shine as it auto tailors posts for each platform, allowing users to preview it before posting. 

However, if you’re looking to take things up a notch, Crowdfire Plus provides a little more variety in tools and features for only $10 a month. These features include custom posting schedules, support for video and multiple images, and 30 days worth of social analytics. 

• Pros: A generous free plan, simple and clean publishing, and unique discovery tools.
  

• Cons: Key features like the content calendar are restricted to higher-tier plans.
  

5. Friends+Me

Friends+Me may be a lesser-known social media management tool, but its simplicity and effectiveness can help streamline your content and amplify your Google+ presence across various social networks. With plans catering to creators and businesses of all sizes, its free plan provides users with the capability to connect two profiles which include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and Tumblr, with up to 5 posts per queue. 

Friends+Me allows users to upload multiple posts to a queue simultaneously, saving time on manual scheduling and supports various platforms, including a browser extension, desktop app, and mobile app for Android and iOS. You can also automate actions such as creating and scheduling new posts or streaming content from RSS feeds through Zapier integration. In addition, the platform’s free plan allows team collaboration with one additional member, an uncommon feature among most free social media management tools.

• Pros: Flexible usage and allows an additional member.
  

• Cons: Limited profiles and posts, and only works for certain platforms.

6.  SocialOomph

If you’re starting out as a creator and need a management tool to support just one platform, then SocialOomph is a good choice to help you start out. The platform’s free plan allows users to manage one social profile, providing unlimited scheduled posts with a maximum of three posts an hour. 

The platform caters to various social media activities, including scheduling and analytics, and introduces unique functionalities such as automatically removing outdated Twitter/X direct messages from users' inboxes. Though it works with a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Discord, and Reddit, its lack of supporting Instagram can be a huge downside for most creators. 

• Pros: Unlimited schedule posts and direct automated messaging.
  

• Cons: Free plan is limited to one social profile and doesn’t work with Instagram.

7. Tailwind

Tailwind serves as a comprehensive marketing toolkit for Pinterest and Instagram, making it an invaluable asset for users focused on visual content. Tailwind’s free plan lets you connect one Pinterest account and one Instagram account and schedule up to 20 posts per month for each platform. This platform caters to creators or small businesses seeking an entry-level solution for efficient social media management. 

Tailwind's standout feature, the smart schedule, optimizes posting times to enhance audience engagement. The tool provides insightful analytics to track profile performance, audience interactions, and website traffic, empowering users with valuable data to refine their social media strategy. While its free plan caters to basic scheduling needs, the paid plans, starting from $9.99 per month, unlock a variety of advanced features such as unlimited scheduling, hashtag finder, smart bio, tribes, smart loop, video scheduling, team collaboration, and detailed analytics.

• Pros: Insightful analytics, smart scheduling tools, and monitor conversations.
  

• Cons: Only for Instagram and Pinterest, limited features for free plan.

Strengthen Your Social Media Presence With Fourthwall

Utilizing free social media management tools is crucial for content creators who strive to make the most out of their social media presence. While platforms like Buffer and Later are both powerful options, Fourthwall is an especially valuable choice for content creators who are serious about building their brand and engaging their audience.

With Fourthwall, creators can not only launch their own website but also offer memberships, source and sell products, and connect with their supporters in new and exciting ways. Are you ready to take your social media presence to the next level? Join Fourthwall today and learn about how we can help you engage with your community and monetize your work like never before!