TechRadar Verdict
Anyone business that uses Zoho products will find Zoho Social particularly useful thanks to integration with the suite. As a standalone option, Zoho's social media management package is beefy enough, even in the basic edition. Upgrade to the premium models and you’ll find countless tools to make managing social campaigns much easier. Better still, Zoho Social delivers lots of value, even in the high-end Agency editions.
Pros
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Easy to upgrade
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Neat user dashboard
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Three package options
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Integrates into Zoho's suite
Cons
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More features equals more cost
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Support could be more comprehensive
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Any business hankering after the best social media management tools should investigate Zoho Social, which offers the ability to co-ordinate all of your social campaigns from one place, lets any type of business to schedule posts, keeps track of the results, and compiles comprehensive reports.
Zoho Social's other benefit is working alongside other products in Zoho's portfolio, meaning a business should be able to exploit its power even more efficiently by integrating with Zoho Workspace, Campaigns, and CRM.
Being able to work in a one-stop environment will be ideally suite to many companies, especially those who are looking to make workflow activities more efficient. Add on great iOS and Android apps and Zoho is an attractive tool.
Of course, there is still competition in the social media management space from the likes of Hootsuite, Buffer, HubSpot, and Circleboom, but for companies that have already bought into the Zoho suite, or are considering doing so, Social is one of the strongest options.
Let's dive into our review of the Zoho Social social media manager.
Zoho Social: Plans and Pricing
Zoho always tends to offer an easy way into using its software and that is no less evident than this social media management package.
To start, there’s a free 15-day trial, which lets you explore the features and functions without committing to a contract, and then there’s the option to pay either monthly or yearly, so it’s pretty flexible.
Zoho's other great ideal is letting users switch plans at anytime, meaning it’s quick and easy to effectively upgrade if your business has outgrown its existing package, which is kind of the ideal mode for enterprise software.
Zoho Social offers three plans, with each one having appeal for businesses of different sizes. First off, the Standard edition is cheapest, staring out at $10 per month if billed annually, and offering 10 channels and one team member.
Next up, the Professional plan comes in at $30 per month, while the trio is rounded out by the Premium edition, which costs $40 per month. Both of these prices are billed annually, and monthly billing may cost more.
The latter two packages have add-ons that mean individual brands can be added on at $14.50 per month, and team members added at $10 per month on the Professional plan. Premium offers the same thing, but brands costs $19.50 per month per brand, with additional team members costing the same $10 per month.
Zoho Social also comes packaged for agencies too: the Agency edition costs $230 per month when billed annually, and starts off with an allowance of 10 brands/90 channels, five team members, and 24/5 email support.
The Agency Plus edition costs $330 per month, billed annually, and offers up 20 brands/180 channels, five team members, and the same 24/5 email support, making the tier a real heavyweight option.
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Zoho Social: Basic features
Even in its most basic incarnation, Zoho Social comes packed with a practical array of features and functions, and of course there is the 15-day free trial to get your head around what works for your business.
Standard works for one brand and 10 channels, one team member, and includes compatibility with Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, Twitter Profiles, Instagram Business Profiles, LinkedIn Profiles, LinkedIn Company Pages, Google My Business listings, and more.
There’s a neat dashboard interface that helps to monitor posts, carry out multi-channel publishing, schedule your content, and compile a publishing calendar.
Power tools include a link shortener, activity logging, user tagging, and the production of summary reports. An image editor also proves mighty handy if you don't want to splurge on Adobe Photoshop or similar.
Zoho Social: Professional features
The Professional tier ramps things up a bit, offering one brand and 10 channels, and a one team member allowance. Users also get all of the Standard features plus a ream of others, including livestreaming, notifications, repeat posting, a media library, rescheduling of posts, RSS feeds, messages, the ability to pause and resume content, and the muting and blocking of accounts where needed.
Zoho Social: Premium features
Zoho has added a Premium edition to its portfolio, which is even better suited to larger businesses. You get all of the regular Professional features alongside a pile of extras, including the ability to export posts, collaborate between three team members, and use a dedicated reporting dashboard.
In fact, the reporting capabilities of this package are pretty formidable, and there’s the added advantage of being able to use Social in tandem with Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk. It can also handle lead generation, so there is plenty of opportunity to get a decent return on your investment.
Zoho says the Premium option is its most popular and it's easy to see why, there's a good mix of high-end enterprise features without a huge cost.
Zoho Social: User Interface
Zoho Social has been designed to offer a full suite of tools aimed at improving your social media management fortunes.
Zoho is certainly a comprehensive solution, no matter which of the three packages you decide to go for, and the core structure of Zoho Social focuses on the structuring of campaigns and the subsequent monitoring of your social activity.
Collaboration is a priority too, helping team members work together and make sense of analytics and the production of those all-important reports, which can then be fed higher up the chain.
Setting up and scheduling posts is quick and easy, and there’s the ability to collaborate using a publishing calendar, create content queues, and also curate content as and when it's needed.
In our testing, we found that Zoho Social has been nicely designed, meaning that it’s simple to monitor all of your social media activity, with a listening dashboard, live stream, and the ability to send direct messages.
The collaborational aspect of Zoho Social is particularly impressive, offering the ability to define workflows, have team discussions, and assign roles and permissions proving to be the most practical aspects. The same goes for the useability of the analytical tools: lookout for comprehensive stats, the ability to produce custom reports, and also the ability to receive scheduled reports for your regular meetings.
Capping things off, the iOS and Android apps are a pleasure to use, making on-the-go social media tasks that much easier.
Zoho Social: Support
All Zoho Social packages come with the same 24/5 email support, which should prove substantial enough for most needs. The Zoho website also comes with a very decent level of help files, tutorials, and supporting information designed to answer many common queries.
Zoho Social: The competition
The social media management marketplace is a hive of activity, with plenty of options aimed at helping businesses get more from their campaigns, which is ultimately good news for your search.
Alongside Zoho Social you can take your pick from key players, including Buffer, Sendible, Loomly, Hootsuite, and Circleboom, all of which are very decent competitors worthy of consideration.
It's worth checking out our guide to the best social media management tools to quickly see the pros and cons of each offering.
Zoho Social: Final verdict
Zoho Social has managed to pack in a great deal of features and functions into each one of these three social media management packages, which will make the suite instantly attractive to businesses of all shapes and sizes, although you’ll really want to head in the direction of the Premium editions to get the best set of tools.
That’s especially so if you’re looking for detailed analytics and the ability to produce power-packed reports. Indeed, the Agency editions take that a step further and, while there is added cost involved, there’s no doubting the additional muscle these premium-priced products come with.
If you're already a Zoho customer across its CRM, Desk, Mail, Books, and Assist offerings, then tacking on Social is the best thing to do.
