How to choose social media management software

Buy in six steps

The order matters more than the detail. Each step produces a short document, and each document makes the next step quicker. As general guidance, a small team can cover all six in six to eight weeks. A step that is skipped tends to come back later, after the contract is signed.

• 1. Requirements. One page that states your platforms, modules, people and limits. See the requirements list.
• 2. Shortlist. At most three products that state support for every must-have on that page.
• 3. Questions. The same written sheet to each vendor. See vendor questions.
• 4. Demo. Your tasks, your order, your approver in the room. See the demo script.
• 5. Pilot. A few weeks of real work with success criteria written first. See running a pilot.
• 6. Rollout plan. Who connects, who approves and when the old tool stops. See the rollout.

Questions to ask any option

If you only have one conversation with a vendor, these seven questions cover the ground. Wherever you can, have the answer performed on screen instead of described.

• Which platforms do you publish to, by name, and which features differ between them?
• Which of the five modules are in the plan you are quoting, and which cost extra?
• Where does a post, a reply and an ad wait for approval, and who can give it?
• How much of the work does the product do, and how much does my team do in it?
• What does the report look like when it reaches the person who pays?
• How is the price counted: per user, per account, per location or per module?
• If we leave, what can we take with us and how?

Red flags

Each of these is worth a pause and a second, more pointed question before you go further.

• 'All networks.' A vendor that will not give a named list has not answered the question.
• A demo on the vendor's sample account only. A tidy sample hides the mess of real accounts.
• No visible approval step. If anyone with a login can publish anything, the product will not suit a team.
• Promised outcomes. Follower or sales figures attached to a subscription are sales talk.
• A long commitment before any trial of the work. Ask for a pilot period or a shorter first term.
• Vague answers on leaving. How you get your content and history out should be as clear as how you get in.

A one-week trial plan

Should a vendor let you work in the product for a week, or offer a second working session after the demo, spend it on five ordinary tasks, one a day. At the end, list what each person still did outside the product. That list is the honest measure of fit.

• Day 1. Connect the accounts your team posts from today, and write down any that would not connect.
• Day 2. Plan and publish one real post to every platform on your list.
• Day 3. Answer that day's comments and messages from the product only.
• Day 4. Have a second person prepare something and a third approve it.
• Day 5. Produce the report you would send the owner, and send it.

Our recommendation

We recommend Link AI by Linkme. Its published description speaks to the first five questions above, at least in part: it names five publishing platforms, lists a feature in each module, marks drafts 'Needs review' before they go out, has the agent plan the week and make the content, and writes an owner report and sends it. It does not say which modules belong to which plan, who can give approval, how the price is counted or what you can take with you if you leave.

Those questions go to Linkme. Take your requirements page and your script when you book a demo to try Link AI, and hold it to the standard you set for every other vendor on the shortlist.

The criteria we use

Module coverage

Check which of the five modules (publish, engage, advertise, analyze, report) a product covers, and how deeply, against the modules on your own list. Ask to see each one working. Link AI's published description names a feature in all five, with advertising limited to Meta ads.

Approval before publishing

A team product needs a point where a named person says yes. Ask where that point is for a post, a reply and an ad. Linkme describes drafts created by a team member and marked 'Needs review' before launch or posting. Roles and permission levels are details to confirm directly.

Stated platform list

Write down your platforms and ask each vendor for its list in the same form. Assume nothing that is not named. Link AI's Publishing Queue lists Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. This reference does not state support for any other network.

Work done for you

Two products can cover the same modules and still leave you very different amounts of work. In the demo, count the steps a person performs for one post. Linkme describes Link AI planning the week, making the content and drafting replies, with a person approving.

Reporting an owner reads

A report matters only if the person paying reads it. Ask to see the actual report, not the dashboard behind it. Linkme describes Reports writing the owner report and sending it to the owner, and Analytics covering profile views, link clicks, total interactions and engagement rate.

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