Introduction
Social media has rapidly evolved and with it has evolved a plethora of marketing tools. Let us start with the basics. What are these marketing tools? Social Media Marketing tools are websites and software that aid you with your social media marketing campaigns by providing features like post scheduling, channel analytics, keyword research, hashtag generator, etc.
These tools can appear unnecessary at first. But, if you want to increase engagement on social media, they can come in especially handy. With a growing business, you will need an increasing amount of time and energy on your hand. If you spend a large portion of your day posting on social media or searching for what works, nothing will work. These marketing tools make it easy to schedule your posts in advance. Even the basic tier of most of these websites provides the option to schedule as many as forty posts for the future.
Further, research on your audience and content is an essential part of social media strategy and these tools make research easy. With the most time-consuming parts of your job taken care of, you can focus on other essential tasks like you know, running your business.
Since the options in this market are virtually limitless, we are going to compare two options today, viz. AgoraPulse and SocialBaker.
1. Pricing
In terms of pricing, AgoraPulse is the clear winner. There is more variety in plans, and the plans themselves are significantly easier to understand. Here is a quick breakdown: Free, pro, premium, enterprise. These cost $0 (duh!), $79 per month, and $159 per month for the first three plans, while the enterprise tier has custom pricing as per your needs. There are major differences in each of the plans, including the number of social profiles, users, team reports, etc. Thus, everything makes sense.
On the other hand, Social Baker sucks. Firstly, where is the free version? I need a trial. No, you cannot have a trial. All right, I am going to head out then! Further, there is no plan demarcation. You can either have the essentials package with 10 or 20 profiles or buy the complete solution with custom settings. Further, SocialBaker is incredibly expensive. The most basic package with ten profiles costs USD 200 per month. That is huge! Hence, in terms of pricing (and pricing alone, AgoraPulse is the clear winner).
2. Ease of use
I am beginning to sense a pattern here. Once again, AgoraPulse comes out on top. Before you even sign-up, the website is better, the plans are clearly marked, and before creating your account, you know what you are signing up for.
On the other hand, when you visit the SocialBaker website, the pricing page will NOT tell you the price. You have to perform an extra click to go to the description page, where you must click ANOTHER button to finally begin the sign-up process. Thus, AgoraPulse is significantly easier to use.
3. Analytics
This is one point where SocialBaker has received better reviews. However, its true power cannot be felt unless you buy the complete SocialBaker package. In the essential package, the content analysis and benchmarks are comparable to what AgoraPulse offers. However, once you buy the complete package, you get access to AI-driven analytics and benchmarks.
Artificial Intelligence is also available for helping you plan and schedule your posts. It will help you find the right time to post across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Thus, even though it comes at a steep cost, the analytics that SocialBaker provides is better than what AgoraPulse offers.
4. Utility
A lot of websites that compare options fail to take this factor into account. This can cause confusion. What utility means is that we are trying to discover which platform suits which kind of business best.
Right off the bat, if you are just starting off, choose AgoraPulse with your eyes closed. The inclusion of a free plan, as well as lower-priced tiers is perfect for dipping your toes into the water. If you start spending so much from the beginning, you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed. An easy benchmark is that if you have fifty or fewer employees, you should go for AgoraPulse.
On the other hand, if you have more than 50 employees working for your business, both AgoraPulse and SocialBaker are pretty wonderful options, and you should see a comprehensive list of their features.
However, as soon as you step into the enterprise zone with more than a thousand employees, SocialBaker emerges as the clear choice for you.
Conclusion
For beginners and small level businesses, AgoraPulse is an excellent choice of a social media marketing tool. It was ranked above Sprout Social or HootSuite and it provides excellent value for money. You can also choose from some of the best social media marketing agencies to take your business to new hipes.
On the other hand, at the enterprise level, AI and other features make SocialBaker the perfect choice.
If you think more points need to be considered, let us know in the comments below.
