By Darren Gilbert

The short answer is that it’s subjective. A tool that works well for one person might not work as effectively for another. The long answer is that it’s best to speak to those working within social media. They are, after all, the best judges. Having said that, we canvassed a few to find out what their favourite management tool is and why others should be using them, or at least considering them.

Sendible

For Adele Bezuidenhout, co-founder of RefineMint Digital, Sendible is the one tool she can’t live without.

“Most social media management tools do a decent job at the basics – scheduling messages, engaging with your following and tracking analytics,” she says. At least of the 40-odd tools that she’s tested in the past week or so. “[But] Sendible’s functionality and add-ons are what sparked my love-affair with this tool.”

As a management tool, there are multiple smart queues which makes scheduling various content types for each channel a breeze. And it’s unlimited. “You can also set any queue to recycle content for those pesky Twitter quotes everyone loves to hate,” says Bezuidenhout.

It’s also has the widest selection of services that Bezuidenhout has encountered, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Wordpress, Tumblr, Flickr, and Medium.

“With Sendible you can sit back and let the social media magic happen while you plan your next big campaign,” says Bezuidenhout.

Bundle Post

For American-based social media marketer, Theresa Potratz, when it comes to the best management tool, nothing beats Bundle Post.

“I swear by Bundle Post,” she says. “It houses all the RSS feeds, BundleFeeds (their branded version of Google Alerts), as well as keeping track of my content, and schedule templates.” With everything she needs at her disposal, what used to take 80% of her time now takes mere minutes.

“As soon as I started using Bundle Post, I had the ability to post more regularly and share more third-party content,” she says. “This positioned me as the thought leader I wanted to be as well as drive more traffic to my client’s websites.”

If her words aren’t enough to convince you, then there’s this: a client of hers experienced a 25% increase in online sales because of it.

Social Report

Digital marketing consultant and online safety activist for Go Social SA, Jacqui Mackway-Wilson, pin points Social Report as her go-to management tool.

Social Report provides an overview of your activity on 19 supported networks, including Google+, Pinterest, Soundcloud, Vine, and even reddit and Spotify.

“It allows me to schedule content, track hashtags, monitor engagement levels and compile analytics reports across channels for multiple clients and projects,” says Mackway-Wilson. “I can now use one piece of software to fulfil tasks [when] I was previously using three different pieces of paid software to do.”

And an added bonus, according to Mackway-Wilson, is that it’s also not expensive.

“As far as entry-mid level analytics software goes, this is the most comprehensive ‘all in one’ solution I’ve used so far,” she says.

While the above-mentioned tools are not the be-all and end-all of social media management tools, they are a good place to start.

Do you have a social media management tool that you swear by? Tell us in the comments below.