Social media management tools have become essential for agencies to effectively manage their clients’ social media presence. With an array of options available, choosing the right tool for your agency’s needs can be overwhelming.
In this comparative guide, we will explore three popular social media management tools: Gain vs Hootsuite vs Sprout Social. Let’s dive in and understand the key features, pros, and cons of each tool to help you make an informed decision.
An In-depth Look at Gain
Our tool, Gain, is a social media management tool that aims to simplify the content creation and approval process for agencies. With its intuitive interface and collaboration features, Gain streamlines the workflow and enables agencies to create and schedule content seamlessly.
Overview of Gain
Gain is a user-friendly social media management tool catering specifically to creative teams and agencies. It recognizes the importance of collaboration in the content creation process and offers a collaborative and visual workflow.
With Gain, multiple stakeholders can provide feedback and approval on content, ensuring a streamlined content creation process. Once your content is approved, it gets automatically to the social network which makes the entire process super easy.
Key Features of Gain
Gain offers several key features that agencies can benefit from:
- Content Approval Workflow: Gain allows agencies to set up approval workflows, ensuring that content goes through the necessary clearance process before publishing. Plus, the approval workflows are flexible, meaning that agencies can set up approval workflows with as many people and feedback rounds as needed to ensure that no errors slip through.
- Content Management: The tool offers robust content management and organization capabilities with gallery, calendar, and list view, along with workspaces, file folders, calendar labels, and content tags. Furthermore, agencies are able to manage multiple different clients and all their content with the same resources.
- Collaboration and Commenting: Gain facilitates collaboration between team members and clients, allowing them to provide feedback and comment directly on content. This way you end up with a detailed history of all the client change requests and approvals.
- Gain’s AI Writer: To get inspiration for social media posts and blog posts and help overcome writer’s block, in addition to easily spell-checking and translating your social media content.
- Insights: The tool measures engagement metrics and other important social media key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can optimize, plan, and recycle best-performing posts.
Pros and Cons of Using Gain
Like any tool, Gain has its advantages and disadvantages:
Pros:
- Easy content approval workflows streamline the collaboration process.
- A centralized calendar view aids in content planning and scheduling.
- A user-friendly interface makes it accessible to agencies of all sizes.
Cons:
- Analytics and reporting features may not be as robust as some competitors.
Pricing
- Trial Offer: You can try the tool for free with a 14-day trial.
- Credit Card: No credit card is required to sign up for the trial.
- Monthly Plan: After the trial period, you have the option to sign up for the monthly/yearly plans.
- Starting Price: The Starter plan costs just $99 when billed annually.
Customer Reviews
Users found the Gain software useful for its simplicity, its effortlessness across various platforms, and effective project status updates for everyone involved.
Based on the reviews from the three rating websites G2 (4.7), Capterra (4.8), and Software Advice (4.75), the average rating for Gain is 4.75/5 stars.
Exploring Hootsuite
Hootsuite is one of the most well-known social media management tools available. It offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to simplify social media management for agencies and large organizations.
Overview of Hootsuite
Hootsuite provides a centralized dashboard where you can manage multiple social media accounts from platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The tool allows scheduling and publishing of content, monitoring engagement, and analyzing social media performance.
Key Features of Hootsuite
Here are some key features that make Hootsuite a popular choice:
- Multi-platform Management: Hootsuite supports multiple social media platforms, making it easier for agencies to manage diverse client accounts.
- Social Listening and Monitoring: The tool includes social listening capabilities to monitor brand mentions, industry trends, and competitors.
- Advanced Analytics: Hootsuite offers robust analytics and reporting features to track key metrics and measure campaign success.
- Team Collaboration: Hootsuite facilitates collaboration between team members with role-based access and approval workflows.
Pros and Cons of Using Hootsuite
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of using Hootsuite:
Pros:
- Wide range of social media platform integrations.
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting features.
- Effective social listening capabilities.
Cons:
- The complex learning curve for new users due to its extensive feature set.
- Pricing plans can be expensive for agencies with smaller budgets.
- Customer support may not be as responsive as some competitors.
Pricing
Hootsuite offers a free trial for those interested. Afterward, pricing begins at $99 per month for the Professional tier (one user) and goes up to $739+ for the Business package, positioning it as one of the higher-priced social media management solutions available.
Customer Reviews
Hootsuite received reviews on three platforms: Software Advice (4.5), G2 (4.1), and Capterra (4.4), resulting in an average rating of 4.34/5 stars across the three platforms.
Hootsuite facilitates the seamless scheduling of posts across multiple channels. The overall calendar view ensures colleagues’ posts are appropriately scheduled. Additionally, the inbox streamlines message responses without the need to access channels directly
Some users noticed that when the site updates, Hootsuite can encounter errors, leading to occasional difficulties in scheduling posts. At times, scheduled posts may face issues, resulting in an error message, and occasionally, the post may be delayed and published within the next half hour. Consequently, this situation might create the impression that the post was duplicated, even though it wasn’t.
Unpacking Sprout Social
Sprout Social is another popular social media management tool that offers an all-in-one solution for creative teams. With its comprehensive feature set, Sprout Social aims to provide agencies with the tools to manage their social media presence efficiently.
Overview of Sprout Social
Sprout Social offers a centralized platform where agencies can schedule and publish content, engage with their audience, and analyze social media performance. The tool focuses on providing a user-friendly experience and actionable insights to drive social media success.
Key Features of Sprout Social
These are some key features that make Sprout Social stand out:
- Smart Inbox: Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox consolidates all social media interactions, making it easier for agencies to respond to comments, messages, and mentions in one place.
- Publishing and Scheduling: The tool offers advanced scheduling options, content tagging, and asset libraries for efficient content management.
- Social CRM: Sprout Social integrates CRM functionality, allowing agencies to manage customer relationships effectively.
- Advanced Reporting: Sprout Social provides comprehensive reporting features that help agencies measure the impact of their social media efforts and identify areas for improvement.
Pros and Cons of Using Sprout Social
Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of using Sprout Social:
Pros:
- A user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate and use the tool.
- Smart Inbox streamlines engagement and enables quick responses.
- Robust reporting features provide actionable insights.
Cons:
- Pricing plans can be expensive, especially for smaller agencies.
- Some users may find the interface to be less customizable compared to other tools.
- Social listening features may not be as advanced as some competitors.
Pricing
Starting at $249 per month, Sprout Social’s most affordable plan includes an extra user for +$199/mo. The advanced package is priced at $499 per month, and each additional user costs +$349/mo. Additionally, agencies seeking to scale on a budget should be aware that add-ons like social listening and premium analytics come with an additional cost, making Sprout Social a more expensive choice.
Customer Reviews
Software Advice (4.35), G2 (4.4), and Capterra (4.2) each received reviews, resulting in an average rating of 4.32 stars out of 5 for Sprout Social across the three platforms.
According to its users, Sprout Social offers the advantage of easily managing multiple accounts and consolidating numerous services into one platform.
However, some users reported occasional instances where the alert system might not operate optimally, leading to delayed notifications. Such delays can potentially hinder the prompt response required, especially in cases of critical publishing failures on any of your platforms.
Conclusion: Choose the Best Tool in Line with Your Needs
After considering the key features, pros, and cons of Gain vs Hootsuite vs Sprout Social, it’s important to assess your agency’s specific needs and budget before making a decision. Each tool offers unique functionalities that cater to different agency requirements.
Ensure you prioritize features aligning with your agency’s goals and try a trial or demo to experience how each tool integrates into your workflow. By choosing the ideal social media management tool, your agency can efficiently handle campaigns, foster collaboration, and achieve remarkable outcomes for your clients.
Has Gain caught your attention? Why don’t you give it a try with a free trial?
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