Which Facebook Marketing Software Should You Use?

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Every year it seems there’s a new list of Facebook marketing software options that you just absolutely have to use. (“Here’s the top 254 Facebook marketing solutions for 2035..and beyond!”)

Unfortunately, many of these Facebook marketing apps either disappear quickly or stop being effective as soon as Facebook does an update. (Thanks, Mark Zuckerberg!)

So, instead I’d like to break down some of the better Facebook software tools by the type of job they do, to give a more holistic approach to your Facebook marketing.

Here are some of my fave, go-to pieces of Facebook marketing software that I can’t live without. (Or at least until next year’s list comes out.) 🙂

Facebook Marketing Software That Doesn’t Suck (and Will Actually Help Your Business)

Option #1: Scheduling Posts and Tracking Engagement (and Not Much Else)

This is the first Facebook marketing piece most people use. And there are well-known players in this space: Buffer and HootSuite.

Both are similar; they let you manage, schedule and track most of your social media activity — including LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. They also let you hand things off to other team members so you don’t have to spend time typing in a single post.

Sprout Social is a relatively new player in the space. And though I’m not entirely sure if they’ll eventually move off the freemium model, they do offer some really interesting metrics. (Though not a lot of tools to build your follower count quickly.)

Quick Tip: If you do a lot of posting to separate groups, check out MaherPost. A huge time-saver if that’s where you spend a lot of your business capital.

Option #2: Scheduling and Tracking on Steroids

If you want a simple, one-stop place to check how your Facebook marketing quotes are doing — and the quick data to show you how to improve their performance — then a couple of tools I recommend are Post Planner and Agora Pulse.

They’re both right around $50/month, so both of them are spendier than the tools mentioned above.

Agora Pulse is like giving you a super-visual, one-stop shop for your Facebook marketing efforts. (Kind of like having a souped-up Hubspot interface for your social stuff.)

What I really like about it is that it makes everything so frickin’ easy to understand. No digging around for info. It’s all right there.

Post Planner is a bit different. It doesn’t have huge analytics but it does help you come up with post ideas way in advance. (A great tool for filling out your otherwise empty Facebook page with tons of content…most of which you don’t have to produce.)

Another way to put it: Post Planner is a great tool for that social media intern in your office and Agora Pulse is for the head of social media marketing.

Option #3: Spying on Other Brands

Let’s face it: trying to find out what other brands are doing with their Facebook ads or trying to find those “hidden” interest targeting options can be a royal pain. (And usually costs thousands of dollars if you go with a Facebook marketing agency.)

But not with these two Facebook software tools.

Facebook Ad Interest Hunter is probably my favorite tool in the world. And not just because I’m cheap and it’s free. Although…

The reason I love this tool is because it helps me create ads that are more targeted, more effective and put more money in my pocket.

The other tool I really like is AdSpy. I’m the type of person who just can’t create ads, or ad copy, out of thin air. I need to see what other people have done that I like and what I truly can’t stand.

That’s where AdSpy comes in. It lets you pore over their vast database of Instagram and Facebook ads to find out what your competitors and others are doing…and discover the performance of these ads. (So, you don’t have to do as much testing.)

This tool has been a huge game-changer for me, and I’m confident it will be a game-changer for you.

Beware though that social networks are as fickle as a Boy Band. And that certain platforms may revoke their access, or force you to re-authenticate constantly, without warning.

“By the Time You Read This…”

Social media marketing tools change as often as my Goth nephew changes his hairstyle. But as long as you stick with the principles. Don’t go chasing after the shiny tools but figure what will deliver the biggest bang for your Facebook marketing buck.

Focus on that and you won’t be let down, no matter what these weird Facebook marketing software tools are called.