Social media is a lifeline for some small businesses. But it requires considerable effort to manage and analyse your business’s social media activities. Thankfully, there are top-rated social media apps for small businesses that make these tasks easy. This is another way in which automation through mobile-friendly apps has changed the way small businesses function.

Whether it’s accounting, expense tracking, productivity, project management or communication, business owners can use these to save time and effort and focus on their core functions. Now you can add social media apps for small businesses to that list.

Top-rated social media apps for small businesses

1. Buffer

For scheduling posts, Buffer is one of the most reliable and intuitive social media apps for small businesses. You can effortlessly schedule and post content to all your social media platforms.

You can also choose to post on platforms where your followers are more likely to be present at a particular period. This means you can take an hour or two every week to create posts, schedule them on Buffer and not worry about posting for the week.

2. Hootsuite

More than 15 million people trust Hootsuite for social media management and with good reason. Not only can you schedule your social media content, it allows you to also analyse your ROI and run social media campaigns.

This all-in-one platform lets you manage multiple accounts with relevant keywords. Hootsuite also allows you to schedule social media posts in bulk and connect with more than 35 social media platforms.

3. Sprout Social

If you want not just scheduling and monitoring of your social media but also reporting, you should be looking at Sprout Social. Known for its excellent customer relationship management, it allows you to develop comprehensive profiles of your customers to help you know and engage with them better.

But what stands out are their excellent reports that are easy to understand and reveal your social media performance over a given period.

4. Canva

Content is what will drive your social media engagement. Even if you have no experience creating content, Canva will let you create social media content tailored to the needs of each social media platform. There are free templates that should be enough for any small business.

Importantly, with Canva, you have access to free images and the templates will let you create social media posts in a matter of minutes. Now anyone in your team can be a designer (just don’t tell the designers that!)

5. Wave Video

Among all forms of content, the clear winner is video. You don’t need a video production agency if you use Wave Video. You can use their clips or upload yours, and edit and trim them to create engaging videos for your small business.

If you have a short video of your product or your office that you shot on your phone, you can upload it and get a social media-ready video. Remember that well-shot videos will help you get social media traction and bring greater awareness to your brand.

6. ContentCal

Among social media apps for small businesses, ContentCal stands out because it makes planning easier. You can brainstorm your social media content and pin ideas to the pinboard. Then you can add them to the calendar, share them for approval and finally schedule and publish them.

No need for Excel sheets, calendars, emails or calls. The app does all the content planning for you.

In short

Things have evolved from the initial stages where social media was just about posting images or videos. Now you’ve got to have a content strategy, calendar, audience engagement tactics and data analytics. This curated list of social media apps for small businesses can help you to succeed.