Choosing a Social Media Management Tool: Why Should You Try It Before You Buy?

As social networking sites govern the lives of almost everyone, this medium is widely used by companies to accomplish a variety of business goals.
In order to navigate the digital communication landscape professionally, companies embrace the technologies that can help them incorporate social media into their marketing strategy, to facilitate success and continued growth.

In today’s world, it’s a mainstream communication channel with the power to create huge opportunities for companies that establish a robust digital footprint and maintain an active voice on these platforms.

Professional management of your business’s social media presence can build stronger brand awareness, automate workflows, generate leads and sales and engage existing and potential customers online more efficiently.

The right system can help you save considerable amounts of time, publish content, manage creative assets and measure your audience’s pulse more accurately.
Social media software companies provide online business owners with technologies that help them control all social media activity on a single dashboard.

There are many competing options on the market, and every company offers its unique mix of technological features, functionalities, and capabilities coupled with its own set of pros and cons.

However, solopreneurs, small businesses, teams, agencies, mid-sized companies, and larger enterprises all have very different needs in terms of technical considerations, the number of system users, support for specific social networks, app integrations and budget.

Some features that these tools may offer include:

• Automated Publishing
• Brand Tracking
• Content Management
• Contact Management
• Customer Engagement
• Multi-Account Management
• Multi-User Collaboration
• Post Scheduling
• Reporting & Analytics
• Social Media Monitoring
• Conversion Tracking
• Customer Targeting
• Keyword Filtering

So how can you determine which social marketing tool is ideal for your needs?
Since there are so many alternative options available, the best thing you can do is try some out for yourself and obtain an independent insight on which SaaS product deserves your hard-earned money.

The no-obligation testing period gives you the chance to review all components of a given app in a hands-on way, which gives you a real feel for how it works.
It also helps you to form an independent opinion about the service, discover its strengths and weaknesses, and reach a research-based conclusion, whether a long-term paid subscription is worth it or not.

How to Make the Most of a Social Marketing Software Trial Period?

An initial trial period allows you to try out a commercial social media management tool for free before committing to a monthly or annual subscription and without spending a penny.

It’s a great way to verify that the service provider you consider delivers on everything you’re looking for before actually putting money down.
Research, reviews, and customer recommendations are extremely useful, but it’s not the same as actually taking a platform for a test drive.

Unlike a demo version or a freemium, free trial accounts come with significantly fewer limitations or restrictions, and in some cases, none at all.
In such cases, users get complete access to the entire cloud-based system for a certain period and enjoy the same benefits and privileges of a paid subscriber.

This time window enables you to fully explore the service’s features, evaluate its ease of use, assess its value for money, and experience the provider’s customer service and support departments.
You get all of this paying nothing and with no obligation to join the service as a paying customer.

After signing up to a free trial, start by managing your social channels with the tool.
Test the publishing automation options, schedule posts for your accounts and check how easy it is to manage campaigns.
Use the reporting tools and see what type of information they provide in terms of how well your posts are doing with your current followers.

Ask yourself: do you like using this service? Does it offer good social listening, mention monitoring, and influencer identification? Does the system offer easy integration with other third-party software?

If you’re happy with what you saw and experienced, then feel free to purchase a paid plan.
However, if the service did not meet your expectations or needs, simply cancel the trial and look for better social media automation software alternatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Trying out and comparing a number of potential online social media marketing and management solutions is a vital step before choosing a vendor and selecting a relevant plan.
Here’s a list of common questions (and answers) that often come up during this process.

• Why Should You Sign Up? Benefits of Using Free Trials before Choosing Any Paid Service
  
• “Credit Card Required”: Why Do Some Free Trial Offers Require Users to Enter-In Their Credit Card Information?
  
• Risk-Free Offer Models: What’s the Difference Between Free Trials, Freemium and Money-Back Guarantee?
  
• Common Free Trial Scams: How Do They Work and What Can You Do To Avoid Them?
  
• Tips: How Do You Cancel a Free Trial You Signed Up For?