Most of the time, running a small business can get overwhelming because you are juggling several tasks at once. In terms of social media marketing, a small business owner has to plan the content, design the post, schedule the updates and engage with customers for follow ups – all of which is time consuming and taxing. But the good news here is that there are tools that are specially designed to make this easier and convenient by combining multiple features into one platform.
Platforms like Canva, Later, Buffer, Sprout Social and PosterMyWall are available online and they help you design, plan and publish content effectively. Each tool has its advantages and the best choice depends on the goals and budgets of your small business.
1. Canva
Canva is now a household name, and rightly so, because it is built for people who don’t have professional designing skills but require professional-quality visuals. Canva lets you create anything with ease – from social media posts to business presentations to greetings cards. Users admire its intuitive interface, convenient drag-and-drop editor and the massive library of templates that is readily available, saving time and money.
What it offers:
- Easy and convenient graphic designing via user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and hundreds of templates for posts, flyers, videos and more.
- Brand kits: set color palettes, upload logos and set fonts.
- Team-facilitative tools for collaboration purposes enabling teams to work on shared designs.
- Additional features like background remover.
Pricing:
- Free plan: basic templates and features
- Pro plan: $120/year per user (or a monthly option)
- Teams plan: $100/year per user
- Enterprise plan: custom pricing (for larger organizations)
How it helps small businesses:
- Helps you design professional-looking graphics without having to spend on a design team.
- Offers ready-to-use templates, saving time.
- Facilitates you with keeping branding consistent across different social media platforms.
2. Later
Initially, Later was only an Instagram scheduler but over the passage of time it has turned into a complete social media marketing tool. It supports multiple platforms like TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and even YouTube today. It has a very user-friendly dashboard and interface and a visual content calendar which makes it ideal for small businesses.
What it offers:
- Schedules posts and publishes them across all popular social media platforms.
- Embedded link-in-bio tool which can redirect the audience from platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
- Provides a visual planner which can organize your posting schedule.
- Offers AI-powered features such as caption and hashtag suggestions.
Pricing:
- Starter plan: $18.75/month when billed annually
- Growth plan: $37.50/month billed annually
- There are advanced plans for big teams who require additional analytics and collaboration tools
How it helps small businesses:
- Consistent and automatic posting – allows you to plan in advance and schedule it for later uploads. This saves time as the posting is automatic and you don’t have to be online at all times.
- An organised dashboard that makes everything much more convenient.
3. Buffer
Buffer is one of the simplest tools when it comes to social media scheduling. It has been around the longest and focuses on essentials like planning, scheduling and analysis of the posts, after the upload. Buffer has a clean interface which makes it easy for beginners to get started.
What it offers:
- Schedules and posts on multiple social media platforms.
- Analytical tools to gauge engagement and post performance.
- For higher tier plans, offers team collaboration.
- Keep your ideas organised by creating a content library with a queue.
Pricing:
- Free plan: limited posts on a maximum of 3 social channels
- Essentials plan: offers analytics and advanced scheduling tools
- Team plan: offers collaboration tools on top of advanced analytics
- Agency plan: these are tailor made for businesses who are managing multiple clients
How it helps small businesses:
- It’s a beginner-friendly platform (easy and efficient)
- Simple analytics that help you see what’s working
- Best for small teams or solo entrepreneurs who just require basic scheduling and tracking
4. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a platform with advanced social media management designed for businesses who require deeper, more complex tools. It goes beyond the basic scheduling and posting by offering features such as workflow management, in-depth analytics and customer engagement trackers. It is definitely more expensive than the other tools and you must invest in it only if social media plays a major role in your growth strategy or for your customer service.
What it offers:
- Publishing and scheduling tool
- Customer support integrations and message tagging – features that enhance engagement
- Detailed analytics such as competitor benchmarking and sentiment analysis
- Workflow management for teams
Pricing:
- Standard plan: $199/user/month (billed annually)
- Professional plan: $299/user/month with more profiles and advanced features
- Advanced plan: $399/user/month with a very comprehensive toolset
- Enterprise plans: customized for large businesses
How it helps small businesses:
- Sprout Social offers deep insights and analytics that free tools can’t match
- It supports collaboration when multiple people manage social media for one business
5. PosterMyWall
PosterMyWall is an all-rounder when it comes to social media marketing. It is an all-in-one marketing tool designed specifically with small businesses in mind and users are able to create social posts and campaigns quickly and easily – best bet when you won’t have the time or budget to hire a designer. It provides hundreds of templates along with scheduling and publishing features – all within one dashboard.
What it offers:
- 1M+ customizable templates for social media posts, flyers, menus, videos and much more.
- Very user friendly drag-and-drop editor.
- Single-click resize to adapt a design for multiple platforms.
- Brand kits that keep logos, colors or special fonts consistent.
- AI tools like caption suggestions.
- Background remover for neat, clean visuals.
- Publishes content to all leading social media platforms.
- A built-in content planner for scheduling posts.
- Free social media post templates to save time and money.
Pricing:
- Free plan: access to hundreds of basic templates and features
- Paid plans: start at $9.95 a month and offer premium templates, stock assets and watermark-free downloads at affordable monthly rates
How it helps small businesses:
- It is the ideal tool for solopreneurs or small business owners short on time and budget.
- Offers a combination of design, scheduling and publishing into one tool.
- Eliminates the need to juggle multiple apps for different tasks in the marketing process.
Which tool is right for you?
Before you select the right tool, you must revisit the needs and requirements of your small business. Here’s a quick guide that might help you make an informed choice:
- Canva: Ideal for businesses that are focused on visual design.
- Later: Great tool that lets you plan content in advance and schedule it across platforms.
- Buffer: Best for beginners who want a user friendly, simple and affordable scheduling tool.
- Sprout Social: Good option for businesses that require complex analytics and engagement trackers.
- PosterMyWall: The perfect all-in-one choice for small businesses that need templates, design, scheduling and publishing in a single affordable package.
Conclusion
Social media management can be time consuming and overwhelming but the right tools can make all the difference. While Canva, Later, Buffer, and Sprout Social all bring something valuable to the table, PosterMyWall truly stands out as an ideal all-in-one solution for small businesses. It comes with templates, designing and publishing features, and built-in Content Planner and helps you stay consistent without having the need to hire extra people or pay extra bucks.
If your business is ready to minimize efforts and save time, check out PosterMyWall’s social media marketing tool and start noticing how it can simplify your business promotions today!