A Detailed Comparison between Leading Automation Tools

In this age of digitization, people are less dependent on manual efforts to complete a particular task but more on artificial intelligence. Keeping abreast of the latest trends and technologies becomes the topmost need for businesses. So, the role of social media in digital marketing can’t be ignored. Businesses are more likely to use Social Media for more conversions and engagements. To manage multiple social media accounts,they are looking for various Automation tools.

On the same notion, let’s understand Social Media Automation first.

Social media automation is the process of using software or tools to complete specific tasks on social media channels without human intervention. 

Save your Time and Efforts by Streamlining Your Social Media and Automating your Tasks. 

How can Social Media Automation be effective for your business?

Let’s look at the points below to understand how automation can make things simpler for you.

1. Social Media Automation helps businesses to manage multiple accounts.
2. It gives you greater control over what content you share on various review/social media platforms.
3. It saves a considerable amount of your time.
4. Publish and schedule posts for greater engagements and conversions.
5. Analytics gives you insights into the performance of your business

Why should Automation be used in Covid-19?

Covid-19 has turned everything upside down, and it is causing significant business disruptions. So, you ought to realign your marketing strategies according to the latest trends and technologies. 

People are confined into their houses to curb the spread of the virus. So, to connect, they are entirely dependent on social media. Businesses are striving to make their social media presence stronger amidst the pandemic. 

Many offline stores are closed, and customers can’t visit them, so it is imperative to create automated campaigns that encourage offline shoppers to shop online. With various automation tools, you can also post and schedule content relevant to your business marketing in this pandemic. Use analytics and reporting to keep track of your campaigns’ performance on social media. Save your time by automating the processes and invest it where it is much needed.

There is a multitude of tools available to make your social media management easier and more efficient. 

Are you also looking for an effective social media management tool?  

This blog post is about social media automation tools comparison in detail, which will help you discover the right tool as per your requirements.

Rannkly vs Buffer vs Hootsuite

Let’s talk about the comparison between three prominent social media automation tools:Hootsuite,Buffer and Rannklywith a comprehensive description of their features.

To make a better comparison, let’s focus on the four main features:

1. Connect Social Media accounts:How many social networks can you connect and manage using all these social media automation tools. 

Let’s find out.

Rannkly supports the following social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google My Business, Instagram, Zomato, Tripadvisor, Playstore, Just Dial, and Dine Out. 
 

Buffer supports Twitter, Facebook (page or group), LinkedIn (page or profile), Google+,  Pinterest (Personal or Business) and Shopify.

WithHootsuite, you can connect Twitter, Facebook (profile, page, and group), Google+, LinkedIn, and WordPress. Using integrations of applications, you can add Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

I have used all the three tools extensively and found out Rannkly can support a host of social networks, so if you have a multitude of social media accounts, Rannkly can be a great fit.
 

2. Publishing, Scheduling and Posting: All three automation tools allow you to schedule your social media posts with images and videos.

Rannkly 

Schedule your posts on a specific date and time with Rannkly on all your connected social media channels. 

You can respond to any comments on your posts directly and engage in a conversation with your customer.

Add captivating images to your posts from the free stock image library. You can refine images using filters, stickers via a built-in photo editor. Users can also organize their campaigns with labels. 

The dashboard displays the information of Total Posts Published on all connected platforms. You can also see posts for a particular channel by applying filters. 
 

Buffer

Buffer allows publishing and scheduling posts on your social media accounts, but it does not allow you to respond to the content. There is a Buffer queue, which helps you to schedule posts on  a particular date and time. 

You can customize your posting schedule, Buffer will send all the posts lined up in the queue automatically. 
 

Hootsuite

Hootsuite enables scheduling and publishing your posts, and it also allows replying or retweeting to any content.

With AutoSchedule,it decides when your posts will go live. The tool can itself select the order and time in which your posts should go live. Isn’t it interesting? This can be useful when you have many posts, and you don’t care about the order and time. 

I would highly recommend Rannkly to you as it offers amazing photo-editing options with eye-catching filters and stickers.
 

3. User Interface

Let’s go through the User Interface of each automation tool, and find out which is easy to use?
 

Rannkly

Creating an account on Rannkly requires a few steps and the log-in process is also very simple. Everything is on the Dashboard where you can view Total posts published, channel performance and Top 5 performing posts with comments and reactions. Compose New posts with the blue button present on the extreme left. You can also get a list of scheduled posts, failed posts, and the posts that are left for approval. You can easily edit the scheduled posts and also delete them. The entire user interface is easy to use and intuitive. 
 

Buffer

Setting up a Buffer account requires only two steps, so the process is very simple. The dashboard is user-friendly where you can have a look at the scheduled posts and easily edit any of them.

In Buffer, the pro version allows you to see your posts on a calendar view, which makes it simpler for you to schedule your posts for the entire week or month.
 

Hoot suite

The process of creating a Hootsuite account and signing up has transformed a lot. It is much similar to that of a Microsoft-made product circa Windows 10.

The user interface of Hootsuite is easy to navigate, user-friendly and more intuitive. With a New Post button in green color, you can easily create and schedule new posts. But, Hootsuite does not have a particular place where you can find all your scheduled posts.

I personally feel Rannkly has a much more intuitive dashboard and it offers interactive features that are simple and user-friendly.

4. Pricing & Plans

Rannkly, Buffer, and Hootsuite are available in free (limited period trial) and paid versions. Let’s look deeper into the pricing strategy of all these social media tools.

Rannkly

• Rannkly is offering 30 days free trial with unrestricted access to all products and features. 
• The platform calculates your plan monthly or yearly, taking into account the number of platforms, locations, and team members you select. It has two sliders for selecting the number of business locations and team members, respectively. The maximum number of business locations and team members you can choose is 100. The plan includes QR Code stand (All Platforms), 20 Free SMS, 30 emails for Review Request,Website widget, Smart replies, Unsplash (Free Stock Images), and Free Image/post Editor. 

The basic plan starts from Rs.1006.00/month and Rs. 9054.00/year for 1 location, 1 platform and 1 team member. You can increase the number of locations, platform and team members with the corresponding increase in your monthly or yearly plan. 
 

*Buffer and Hootsuite do not have any effective mechanism to calculate your plan like Rannkly. 
 

Buffer

Currently, Buffer is offering one basic FREE plan and 3 paid plans, which are Pro, Premium and Business.

• Buffer’s free version allows users to connect 3 social media profiles. You can schedule 10 posts, and the free plan is for 1 user only.
• The Pro plan is available at $15/month (billed monthly), and it allows users to connect 8 social media accounts with 100 scheduled posts and is limited to 1 user only.
•  The Premium plan is for $65/month (billed monthly), which allows 8 social channels, 2000 scheduled posts, and 2 users.
•  The Business plan is available at $99/month (billed monthly), which provides 25 social channels, 2000 posts, and 6 users can connect.

Hootsuite

• Hootsuite provides a 30-day free trial, which allows you to add 3 social media channels and schedule 30 posts. 
• Hootsuite comes with 3 different paid plans, which are Professional, Team, and Business.  Every plan has a 30 days FREE trial.
• The Professional plan is for Rs. 1915/month, which allows you to connect 10 social profiles and is limited to 1 user.
• The Team plan costs Rs.7540/ month, which includes 20 social profiles and 3 users.
• The Business plan is available for Rs. 45000/month, which includes 35 social profiles and 5 users.

After comparing the pricing structures of three leading social media automation tools, I feel Rannkly is more cost-effective and includes many features at economical prices. 
 

5. Analytics

Every brand wants to know the crucial insights of its performance on various social media/review platforms. 
 

Rannkly

Rannkly is a one-stop solution for bothOnline Reputation and Social Media Management. It provides you comprehensive information about your brand’s overall performance on various review/social media platforms.

The tool provides you with a detailed picture of your ORM overview. Users can generate reports, which showcase all-time business ratings, Review Sentiment Score, Average Rating, Number of Reviews, Rating trends on various connected platforms.

Rannkly presents a complete Social Media Analytics, which includes the post insights like a total number of published posts, comments, reactions, and top 5 performing posts. 
 

Buffer

Buffer is primarily a publishing and scheduling tool, so it focuses more on the analytics of content published on various platforms.  It provides an analytics dashboard, which you can also see on Buffer’s mobile app. 

You get the information about your best and worst-performing posts based on reach, engagement, and post type.
 

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a Social Media Management tool, which provides analytics about the performance of your social networks, your content, and social traffic. 

Hootsuite provides users with a lot more other analytics, which are complex for some people. With Hootsuite Core Analytics, you can access the usual analytics, whereas uberVu via Hootsuite provides you real-time analytics. 

*I would suggest you choose Rannkly because it provides you Analytics for both ORM and Social Media, which Hootsuite and Buffer don't. 
 

Conclusion

With Rannkly, you can connect more social media accounts as compared to Buffer and Hootsuite. Using fascinating filters and stickers in Rannkly, you can queue up engrossing content on your social media channels. Rannkly’s dashboard is more intuitive, and the user interface is simpler to use than Hootsuite and Buffer.  Hootsuite and Buffer offer expensive plans, but Rannkly has a more effective and unique mechanism to calculate your budget according to users and locations.  Rannkly provides you the Analytics for both Online Reputation and Social Media.  But, Hootsuite and Buffer provide Analytics for Social Media only.

Without a doubt, you have more reasons to choose Rannkly over Buffer and Hootsuite. 

If you’re still confused, then use the Free Version of all these tools for a couple of days and decide for yourself.