Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn can be found in the majority of social media management apps. It is with Google+ that things get a little bit more complicated: very few social media tools support it due to some technical challenges.
However, most social media managers would prefer a solution that would allow them posting to all social networks in one place, Google+ including.
In this post, you’ll find reference to all tools that are to date integrated with Google+. We’ll bring small business editions to a special focus and review social tools that (1) support Google+ and (2) the ones you can use for free or under $10 a month.
# 1 BuzzBundle
Brief review:
BuzzBundle is a combination of social media monitoring and management.
On the monitoring side, the tool keeps you in the know of what is being said about your company, your brand, your competitors and your industry in general and where these talks take place. You can join the discussions right from the software.
On the management side, BuzzBundle can be used to support hundreds of social media profiles. What is more, with BuzzBundle one person can act in a variety of their social capacities: from posting in their personal accounts to representing their companies or CEOs.
The scheduling function is a huge time-saver. It depends on lots of things, but most of social media folks in the small business spectrum who use BuzzBundle report it’s enough to open the app once in 2-3 days to schedule posts and replies while making the fullest impression you’re always present online.
BuzzBundle is also about merging SEO and social. If you’re a supporter of natural SEO that is best achieved through writing great content and then promoting it socially, BuzzBundle is the place to go because it can help with the full social SEO cycle – and beyond.
Google+: both individual profiles and business pages
Why perfect for small business: BuzzBundle is a desktop app. Pro version is $97 with 6 months of maintenance updates included. Depending on the time frame, maintenance updates can be as low as $3.05/mo, which makes BuzzBundle less than $5/mo in the long run.
Free version: http://www.link-assistant.com/buzzbundle/download.html
#2 HootSuite
Brief review:
HootSuite is perhaps the best-known social media app. A convenient online dashboard allows you organizing your social activities in streams. You can set the streams the way you want to get updated on the activities associated with networks you specify.
HootSuite scheduling is pretty straightforward. You can have your past and future scheduled activities conveniently featured in a calendar.
If you’re a part of the team, you can use HootSuite to assign messages or have messages assigned to you.
HootSuite’s Social Analytics module is one of the strongest points. You can either customize your reports or choose from a variety of templates to evaluate the results of your social campaigns.
Google+: yes, but only business pages
Why perfect for small business: HootSuite Pro is $9.99/mo. Free 30-day trial is provided to Pro (credit card is required). Enterprise pricing is available upon request.
Free version: https://hootsuite.com/signup
#3 ViralHeat
Brief review:
ViralHeat is another great tool small businesses should look into. You also get streams, but they’re organized a bit differently compared to HootSuite or BuzzBundle: I find this pattern very handy. You can take actions (post, retweet, etc.) right from the stream.
Keyword Search is a powerful feature (available in Premier only) which lets you accumulate all industry talks like in BuzzBundle.
They also have scheduling under the Messages tab, which is pretty convenient. Analytics capabilities appear to be less sophisticated compared to HootSuite’s.
Google+: yes, but only business pages
Why perfect for small business: ViralHeat Pro is $9.99/month. ViralHeat Premier is $99.9/month. Free 14-day trial is provided on both paid plans (credit card is required).
Free version: https://app.viralheat.com/register/15
These are tools you can use to support your Google+ personal accounts and business pages ranging from free to under $10 a month.
Google+ also has a longer official list of tools that support Google+. Apart from the above mentioned, the list is dominated by enterprise-level solutions that might be excessive for small business needs in terms of costs, support and functionality. Most of the companies included into this list provide rates upon request.
Are you in small business? Do you handle your social media with any tools mentioned in the post? Please share your ideas in the comments!