Social media is important for small businesses. It helps you engage existing followers, provide customer service, and reach new buyers through ads and promotions.
A good social media strategy means regularly posting across different social media channels. That can be a challenge for small business owners, who already wear several hats for their companies. Most don’t have the resources to hire a social media manager, so it’s up to them to create content, engage followers, and attract new customers – all while managing their business.
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Save NowHere’s where AI social media management tools come in handy. These tools create content that you can schedule and post over time. They also help you reply to followers by suggesting effective responses and analyzing customer feedback.
Since AI is still relatively new, let’s review the best AI social media management tools for small businesses. I’ll explain what each one does, its pros and cons, and its pricing. By the end of this post, you’ll have everything you need to start an effective social media strategy for your business.
What should you look for in AI social media management software?
AI-powered social media software significantly decreases the time spent creating and managing social media posts. The best software will help you create content, schedule posts, connect your social media platforms, and give you real-time analytics so you can improve your strategy over time.
Here are the top features to look for in AI social media management tools:
- Generative AI: This AI tool helps you create captions and images.
- Predictive AI: This AI reviews your data and tells you the best time to post and the best hashtags to use. It can also predict results for your social media campaigns.
- Sentiment Analysis: Sentiment analysis tells you how customers are feeling. It identifies emotions that may be hard to pick up over text.
- Scheduling: Your social media manager should make it easy to schedule posts over time so you don’t have to publish manually.
- Ease of Use: Your social media manager should be easy to use and reduce time spent working on social media campaigns.
- Customer Support: If you’re new to this type of tool, I would recommend choosing a provider with good customer support.
- Integrations: Software that connects to your social media manager. For example, if you chat with a customer on Facebook, that conversation should appear in your CRM.
Now that you know what to look for in an AI social media management tool, let’s review the best options for small business owners.
Best AI Tools for Social Media Management
- Thryv
- Social Bee
- Synthesia
- Audiense
- Pepper Content
- Jasper
- FeedHive
- Flick
- Ocoya
- Buffer
- Canva
- Rytr
- Publer
1. Thryv
Best For: Small Business Owners
Thryv’s AI-enhanced social media software manages your social media content in one view and grows your fanbase with engagement recommendations explicitly designed for small businesses.
The AI-generated social posts are automatically optimized for each network, complete with captions, hashtags, and emojis. Plus, you can schedule all your posts and manage your inboxes from one platform. You can respond to comments, mentions, and messages from one place, ensuring you don’t miss a comment or forget to publish a post. Thryv’s software connects with the most prominent social media platforms, including Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Business Profile.
Additionally, Thryv has a robust library of curated content and royalty-free images that you can drag and drop directly into your social media scheduling tool. It saves you time in creating high-quality images and captions for your posts.
Pros:
- AI-generated posts are designed for each social network.
- Thryv is designed for small businesses, so it’s easy to use and navigate.
- The unified social media inbox lets you create all your social content from one place.
Cons:
- Designed for small business owners. Larger businesses may experience limitations using these tools.
Pricing: $228/month for Plus plan; $382/month for Professional plan; $533/month for Unlimited plan
2. SocialBee
Best For: Social Media Strategy
SocialBee is software that improves and manages your social media strategy. It allows you to create, recycle, schedule, publish, analyze, engage, and collaborate on one platform.
The software markets itself as an AI-powered social media manager. SocialBee’s Copilot is designed to craft and execute a strategy based on your needs and goals. Additionally, the application integrates with visual design software like Canva so you can create imagery for your social media posts.
After answering some of Copilot’s questions, the AI tool creates an actionable social media plan with ready-to-post content you can schedule immediately. It’s great for business owners who want to save time and let AI create most of their social media marketing strategy.
Pros:
- SocialBee designs your social media strategy, saving you time and effort.
- The in-app integrations help you visually design your content.
- You can schedule posts, analyze data, and engage with commenters within the app; no switching between apps.
Cons:
- SocialBee does not offer live customer support.
- The “Engage” tool could have more robust features.
- There’s no shared social inbox that puts all of your messages in one place.
Pricing: $24/month for Bootstrap plan; $40/month for Accelerate plan; $82/month for Pro plan
3. Synthesia
Best For: Social Media Video Ads
Synthesia is an AI-powered video generator for social media campaigns. It creates a script based on a link, document, or idea that you write in the prompt section. Then, it produces an AI avatar to star in the video, which you can customize.
The tool offers editing options to adjust the script and video imagery. You can even upload your own images and sound bites to create a digital avatar that looks and sounds like you. Additionally, you can add a brand kit so the videos use your company colors and logos. And, with real-time collaboration tools, your team can work together and edit each other’s social media videos simultaneously.
Overall, Synthesia gives you everything you need to create eye-catching video ads for your social media campaigns.
Pros:
- You can create videos with AI avatars.
- The videos come with embed codes to post to your website, blog, and more.
- Synthesia supports multiple languages, so you can create videos for different audiences.
Cons:
- You need to edit videos before publishing them, so you will need some video production experience.
- Some of the AI features feel a bit robotic.
- There are limited customization options for each video.
Pricing: Free to get started; $18/month for Starter plan; $64/month for Creator plan
4. Audiense
Best For: Social Listening
Audiense is an AI-powered consumer research tool that helps you understand your customers with digital intelligence. The platform uses social media data to tell you who your audience actually is (who’s interacting with and talking about you on social media) and how to engage them.
Audiense uses machine learning to understand your target audience, analyzing what they like, post, and follow on social media. The platform gives you demographics, psychographics, personality information, content they want, and sources of influence. Audiense even tells you which social media influencers to partner with based on your audience’s behavior.
While the intelligence tool tells you about your followers, the social listening tool tells you what conversations are happening online, what hashtags and keywords are being used, what’s trending, and how a topic evolves over time.
Pros:
- The research tool can identify spammers and fake accounts.
- It has an audience segmentation tool (dividing your audience into separate categories so you can create social media posts for each segment).
Cons:
- This software is designed for larger businesses, which may be more expensive for smaller brands.
- Aside from audience research, there are a limited number of social media management tools.
Pricing: $1,562/month for Audiense Insights
5. Pepper Content
Best For: Enterprise Marketing Leaders
Pepper Content is a content marketing platform for enterprise marketing leaders. It’s built to create better content with an AI-powered strategy, so you can focus on day-to-day tasks while the AI manages your social media presence.
For example, the SEO features give you AI recommendations on relevant topics and keywords for your social media posts. The writing assistant helps you create content, giving you a real-time score while you do it. There are also ideation features, competitive research, and SEO tools that help you produce effective content, no matter the platform. The AI features match your brand’s voice and tone, creating more unique posts that connect with your target audience.
Pros:
- The competitive research and gap analysis provide in-depth insights into your social media followers.
- The SEO-informed insights help you rank higher on search engines like Google.
- You can work with expert content creators to devise a successful social media strategy.
Cons:
- Pepper Content is made for enterprise marketing teams, so small businesses may not have as many uses for all of its features.
Pricing: Contact for Pricing
6. Jasper
Best For: Generating Posts
Jasper is an AI marketing tool that leverages your company’s unique knowledge and brand voice to generate specialized marketing content, including social media posts. By uploading a brand style guide, Jasper mirrors your tone and perspective, helping you stay consistent in your messaging over time.
With Jasper, you can instantly generate content and transform those ideas into high-quality captions and images. Additionally, Jasper can build a social media strategy based on audience research and content audits.
One of its best features is its intelligent photo editing. You can replace or remove a background or text in an image and even reimagine the photo to feature a different composition or setting. It’s great for business owners who want to post eye-catching images but may not have experience with editing or production.
Pros:
- Jasper keeps your branding consistent, making it easier for customers to recognize your business.
- The marketing editor will learn your style and mirror your tone and voice.
- The intelligent photo editor makes creating, editing, and uploading images easy, even without Photoshop experience.
Cons:
- Each account only comes with one seat. You have to pay for additional users.
- Jasper does not offer any customer engagement tools.
Pricing: $39/month for Creator plan; $59/month for Pro plan
7. FeedHive
Best For: Generating Hashtags
FeedHive is AI-powered social media software that helps you create, schedule, publish, and manage social media content at scale. The AI writing assistant helps you develop and execute posts by writing engaging social media captions, and your social inboxes are all in one place, so you can like and reply to comments without switching between apps.
Feedhive’s AI tool will generate trending hashtags, tell you which posts you should recycle, and give you social media templates to duplicate successful content over time. It’s like hiring an AI assistant who solely monitors your social media accounts so you can focus on your everyday work.
Pros:
- The AI-generated templates make it easy to create social media content quickly.
- FeedHive offers 24/7 customer support.
Cons:
- You have a limited number of social media accounts with each plan.
- The Creator plan does not have team communication features.
Pricing: $19/month for Creator plan; $29/month for Brand plan; $99/month for Business plan; $299/month for Agency plan
8. Flick
Best For: Viral Trends
Flick is an AI-powered social media marketing platform that helps with scheduling, hashtags, caption writing, and analytics. Flick’s AI social media manager, “Iris,” assists at every stage of the social media process, from building your strategy to scheduling your posts.
New users will teach Iris about their business, goals, and offerings. The tool will then develop a tailored strategy and create a monthly content calendar based on your input. The posts are made entirely for you. Flick allows you to create eye-catching visuals with built-in graphic design tools and image-generation features.
Additionally, Iris maintains an up-to-date library of viral trends and will notify you when trends become popular on social media. Then, Iris will suggest how your business can participate in the trend, helping you capitalize on timely marketing opportunities.
Pros:
- The viral trend suggestions help you create timely marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
- The post and image generation features make it easy to create social media content quickly.
- The hashtag analysis feature can suggest and improve your hashtags.
Cons:
- The Solo plan is limited to one user and 30 posts per month.
- You have to play for extra users with each account.
Pricing: $14/month for Solo plan; $31/month for Pro plan; $72/month for Agency plan
9. Ocoya
Best For: Creating Images, Videos, & Posts
Ocoya is an AI social media management tool that generates and schedules social media posts in 28 languages. The AI assistant creates images and captions based on a simple prompt, and the tool gives instant recommendations on performance with its automated reporting features. Additionally, the AI assistant can repurpose existing content and help you get more out of your social media posts by finding relevant hashtags.
If creating images and videos has been clunky with other tools, you can use Ocoya’s database of templates, stock photos, videos, licensed music, animations, backgrounds, and more to create compelling social media content. It’s great for producing interesting campaigns without relinquishing your creativity to AI.
Pros:
- The image and video generation tools save you time when creating social media content.
- The advanced scheduling capabilities help you create and manage your social media content calendar.
- The multilingual features help you create content for different audiences.
Cons:
- Automation features are only available with a Gold plan or higher.
- The Bronze plan has limited AI features.
Pricing: $15/month for Bronze plan; $39/month for Silver plan; $79/month for Gold plan; $159/month for Diamond plan
Free AI Tools for Social Media Management
Here are some free AI tools that you can use for social media management. These solutions provide free plans and paid subscriptions that you can upgrade to over time.
10. Buffer
Best For: Brainstorming and Repurposing Content
Buffer is a social media toolkit with an AI assistant to help you plan and publish your social media posts. After answering two questions – “What is your business?” and “Who is your target audience?” – Buffer will give you a seemingly endless supply of social media ideas personalized for your brand.
Buffer’s AI generates ideas, gives post suggestions, or repurposes existing content into engaging social media posts. For example, you can ask Buffer’s AI to repurpose a LinkedIn post for Facebook or get suggestions for social media posts based on your existing content.
Ideas for social media posts range from trending topics to prompts for quotes, industry news, current events, seasonal ideas, and more.
Pros:
- Buffer is easy to use and set up. It only takes a few minutes.
- The post preview tool shows you exactly what your content will look like on each social media platform.
Cons:
- The free plan has a limited number of AI credits. You can only use the AI features if you have credits.
- Buffer has limited social listening tools, so it’s not great for engaging your social media followers.
Pricing: Free to get started; $5/channel/month for Essentials plan; $10/channel/month for Team plan; $100/10 channels/month for Agency plan
11. Canva
Best For: Free online AI image generator
Canva is an online graphic design tool. Among its offerings is an AI-powered image generator to help you create social media content. You can use Canva’s AI, Magic Media, or other AI-powered apps integrated with Canva’s platform. All you need to do is type in a prompt for a social media post, and the generator will give you several options.
Once your image is created, Canva allows you to edit it by changing colors or adding effects. You can also create images in various styles, add text photos, and collaborate with teammates in real-time.
Canva is a complementary tool for your social media strategy. When paired with a social media manager, it’s a great resource for producing effective content at scale for your business.
Pros:
- Canva can integrate with multiple AI image generators.
- You can edit and customize the AI images that it generates.
Cons:
- Canva limits the number of free images that you can create with AI.
- Canva is only an image creator – it does not have other social media features like scheduling, strategy, post creation, etc.
Pricing: Free to get started; $120/year for Canva Pro plan; $300/year for Canva Teams plan
12. Rytr
Best For: Writing Captions
Rytr is an AI writing assistant that can help you create original, compelling content that sounds like you, not a robot. How? The software analyzes a sample of your writing and replicates your tone when it creates content, giving you copy that’s unique and engaging to your audience.
To get started, all you do is:
- Select a language
- Select your tone
- Choose your use case (social media captions)
- Provide a prompt
You can create captions with custom tones that best suit each post you create. Additionally, if you’re a free user, you can add an extension to your internet browser to generate content on any platform.
Pros:
- Rytr creates captions that match your company’s tone and voice.
- The free Chrome extension lets you use Rytr anytime while using the internet.
Cons:
- It is not an all-in-one tool. It can only help with writing social media posts.
- There are no scheduling features. You can’t use it to create a social media calendar.
Pricing: Free to get started; $8/month for Unlimited; $24/month for Premium
13. Publer
Best For: Social Media Customer Service
Publer is a social media management tool with in-depth AI features to help you create, schedule, and publish posts. The “AI Assist” feature helps you brainstorm content ideas based on trends, generate captions tailored to social media networks, and create custom and unique images.
Additionally, you can reply to comments directly on the platform with AI-generated replies. AI Assist uses advanced algorithms to analyze your brand and generate content tailored to your needs. Whether you’re looking for a post idea, a caption, or a tagline, AI Assist will provide you with several possibilities.
Pros:
- You can respond to customer comments within the platform.
- Publer integrates with all major social media networks.
Cons:
- Free users can only add up to 3 social accounts.
- Free users only have a 24-hour post-history.
Pricing: Free to get started; $4/month for Professional plan; $8/month for Business plan
Choosing the Best AI-Powered Social Media Management Tools
AI social media management software can help you create a winning strategy based on audience insights, social listening, and trending topics. The best software will depend on your needs, so use this list as a starting point to narrow down your options. You can also check out the buying software checklist below to help you make the right choice for your business.