Instagram continues to be a must-have platform for brands and creators in 2025 but simply posting content isn’t enough.
To truly grow your audience, build engagement, and convert followers into customers, you need the right Instagram marketing tools in your stack.
Whether you’re scheduling posts for peak times, analyzing campaign results, or crafting stunning visuals, these 13 Instagram tools will help you streamline your workflow and maximize impact.
If you’re still shaping your broader strategy, it’s worth exploring the core Instagram marketing fundamentals for businesses — then using these tools to power your execution.
This guide covers everything you need to boost your Instagram presence.
How We Analyze & Select Instagram Marketing Apps:
We have compiled the following list of top-notch tools through extensive research and evaluation. Our process involved actively weighing factors like user experience, G2 ratings and reviews, cost, and scalability. We assessed the proficiency of these tools in automation, crafting content, visualization, analytics, and teamwork to rank them. We have dedicated immense effort to curating this list, with the aim of equipping marketers with insightful data for choosing the right tools that will help grow their businesses.
Quick Overview of the Top Instagram Marketing Tools
In the next section, we explore the details of Instagram marketing platforms. We’ve handpicked the best options and compared their key features to help you easily identify the right tool for your needs.
 SocialPilot |
 Buffer |
 Later |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $30/Month | $36/Month | $30/Month |
| Best for | Agencies & Small Businesses | SMBs & Brands | Brands & Creators |
| Instagram Profiles | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| Ease of Use | |||
| Support | |||
| Publishing | |||
| Direct Instagram Publishing |  |
|
|
| Story Scheduling | Direct publishing and mobile notifications |
Direct publishing and mobile notifications |
Only from desktop app |
| Collaboration Post | |
 |
|
| Smart Queues | |
|
|
| Repeat Posts | |
|
|
| Calendar View | |
|
Confusing |
| Auto Post From RSS Feeds | |
|
|
| Bulk Scheduling | (500 Posts) |
|
|
| First Comment | Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn | Instagram only | |
| Link Shorteners | Bitly, Sniply, and Rebrandly |
Unknown |
|
| Post Creation | |||
| Draft Your Posts | |
|
|
| Image Editor | Custom Instagram sizing |
|
|
| AI Assistant | |
|
|
| Hashtag Generator | (Aligned with captions) |
|
Limited capability |
| Holiday Calendar | |
|
|
| Canva Integration | (On all plans) |
|
|
| Media From External Sources | |
(Not from cloud storage) |
Only Google Drive and Dropbox |
| Content Library | |
|
|
| Image Tagging | |
|
|
| Auto-Watermarking posts | |
Not automation |
Manually |
| Location Tagging | |
(Only for Instagram) |
|
| Custom Reel thumbnail | |
Only stills from video |
|
| Link-in-bio | |
|
|
| Instagram Collaboration Post | |
|
|
| Team Collaboration | |||
| Content Approval Workflows | (Quick and Easy) |
(Basic) |
|
| Multi-User Collaboration Per Post | |
|
|
| Comments on Post | |
(No tagging) |
|
| Client Management | (Unlimited clients) |
|
|
| Engagement | |||
| Social Inbox | (Unified Inbox) |
(Limited features) |
Limited |
| Reply to DMs & Comments | |
(Only Facebook & Instagram) |
Partial |
| Reply to Reviews & Queries | |
|
|
| Analytics | |||
| Detailed Social Media Analytics | (Easy to read) |
(Lacking depth of insights) |
|
| Post Performance | |
|
|
| Custom Report Builder | |
|
|
| Auto-Schedule Report Sharing to Clients | |
|
|
| White Label | |||
| White Label Dashboard | |
|
|
| Branded Downloadable Report | |
|
|
| Support | |||
| Priority Customer Support | |
|
|
| Try for Free | Learn More | Learn More | |
13 Instagram Marketing Tools To Grow Your Business
Best for:
Marketing Agencies, SMBs, Multi-Location Brands & Professionals
Rating:
4.5 (G2)
Apps:
Web-version, Android & iOS apps, Chrome, Firefox and Edge web extensions
Integrations:
Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, Instagram Threads, and Bluesky.
Key Features:
- Advanced Scheduling & Targeting
- Multi-Format Post Scheduling
- Alt Text & Custom Fields
- AI-Pilot (AI Powered Content Generation)
- First Comment Scheduling
- Notes on Content Calendar
- Automatic RSS feed scheduling
- Content Library Storage
- Customizable watermarks
- Team Collaboration Tools
- TikTok Analytics
- Feedback Sharing
- Streamlined client approvals
- Social Inbox Management
- 24×5 Customer Support
Pros
- SocialPilot provides an intuitive interface for easy post creation and editing across major social media platforms.
- The platform boasts efficient customer support, responding promptly to user inquiries.
- Known for its cost-effective and transparent pricing, SocialPilot offers excellent value compared to competitors.
- SocialPilot supports high-level organization, allowing users to manage and effectively group multiple location pages.
- The setup process is simple, enabling users to easily connect and group various pages.
Kathleen M.
Everything about SocialPilot makes scheduling your content from articles to post easy. The formatting of your calendar and scheduled activities with multiple social accounts could not be more clear or intuitive. If you are an entrepreneur, a small to medium business, or just an individual who wants to schedule their content, SocialPilot is a no-brainer and the price point is perfect. I use SocialPilot to manage 8 accounts and once a week I can load everything in and have it work with all of my social channels – integration and implementation could not be easier.
Cons
- Sometimes the connected social media accounts need re-authentication to stay integrated to the platform.
- Users have faced the issue of publishing posts with broken links.
Tammy C.
Occasionally (especially in the past), we had issues with broken social links, but this hasn’t happened in a while. Otherwise, Social Pilot has worked great for our needs.
About SocialPilot
SocialPilot is a social media automation tool built for businesses of all sizes, from small to enterprise-sized. We found this platform to be extremely versatile, equipped with a ton of features which help users integrate and manage multiple accounts from different social networks. These capabilities include social media scheduling, calendar management, AI Pilot, robust analytics, client management, and more.
Advanced Scheduling
The process of creating post on the scheduler is pretty streamlined, where we could upload our media and customize our caption for multiple accounts we had selected to post on. But the smart scheduling feature will let you create weekly time slots for each account which would be ideal to garner the maximum engagement from the audience. Users could simply queue posts to be scheduled at any of them or they could set a date and time manually to publish their post.
There are more granular strengths in the publishing suite of SocialPilot such as staggered post which spreads content publishing at convenient gaps and repeat posts that lets you set the number of times you want a particual post to be published which is ideal for evergreen content.
Dynamic Content Calendar and Bulk Scheduling
The content calendar provides a convenient dashboard which acts as a central hub to visualize all your content plans. You can filter the view of the calendar with different criteria, seeing upcoming planned posts, drafts in the making, posts for a particular platform, or from a certain member from your team. The most remarkable ability in this calendar is that you can simply drag a content card from one place to another to reschedule it to make tweaks in your publishing plans.
SocialPilot proves itself to be a great automation tool with its bulk scheduling powers. You can essentially schedule hundreds of posts in a matter of minutes. It’s as simple as adding all your content in an .CSV file and uploading it to SocialPilot. The tool will automatically schedule the posts to the designated times and all these posts will be visible in your SocialPilot calendar.
Easy Approvals and Collaboration
SocialPilot makes the often complex and tedious process of working with a team to manage social media, a smooth-sailing one. With ‘Approvals-On-The-Go’, the approval and feedback workflow becomes quicker. Your clients are not required to log in to SocialPilot to approve or give feedback on posts, ensuring efficient management and preventing any posting slip-ups on social media.
Clients can even access the content plan in the calendar view with magic links you share. You can make the approval and feedback process seamless by sharing calendar view for specific accounts with clients from where they can monitor the publishing schedule ar well as approve content on the go.
AI Pilot with Hashtag Generator
The AI Pilot in SocialPilot simplifies the process of ideating, generating, and rewriting posts and hashtags for every social media platform. It allows effortless adjustments to tone, seamless rephrasing, and quick hashtag generation, ensuring every post resonates with its audience.
With multilingual support, AI Pilot translates content into 10 different languages, expanding your reach across global markets. It also keeps character limits in check, so every post is perfectly tailored for platform-specific requirements.
Analytics and Reporting
Finally, SocialPilot users can analyze their social media post-performance basis how engaged their audience, influencers, demographics, and competitors are. Advanced reporting automation streamlines client analytics by generating consolidated social media campaign reports across multiple accounts and platforms.
Users can create, customize, and schedule reports, which are automatically delivered to clients’ inboxes. The platform offers presentation-ready PDFs, white-label options, and detailed comparative insights to optimize strategies. Reports include performance data, audience demographics, and engagement trends, allowing for refined strategies and better ROI.
Now SocialPilot also offers TikTok analytics that provides detailed and advanced metrics to help marketers and creators track their performance, check trends and more within a single dashboard.
SocialPilot Pricing
| Ultimate | Premium | Standard | Essentials |
$170.00/mo$200
Billed annually (Save 15%)
|
$85.00/mo$100
Billed annually (Save 15%)
|
$42.50/mo$50
Billed annually (Save 15%)
|
$25.50/mo$30
Billed annually (Save 15%)
|
|
Streamline Instagram Marketing with SocialPilot
|
|||
Final Verdict:
SocialPilot is an automation tool which is tailor-made for SMBs and agencies especially. It can expertly streamline all the repetitive and tedious tasks like regular social media posting, performance monitoring, reporting creation, content creation and overall efficient planning. The intuitive dashboard and UI make the tool highly user-friendly which even new users get the grasp on instantly. The affordable pricing tiers make the platform truly fit the bill, making marketing on social networks scalable, and sustainable.
Best for:
Social media managers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and small businesses
Ratings:
4.3/5 (G2)
Apps:
Web, iOS, Android App, Chrome Browser Extension
Integrations:
Instagram, Facebook, Google Business Profile, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Pinterest, Shopify, Threads, TikTok, Twitter / X, YouTube
Key Features:
- AI assistant for content ideation and creation
- Automated scheduling plan
- Integration with Canva, Giphy, DropBox, One Drive, and Google
- Collaboration on content
- Instagram analytical insights
- Replying to comments
Pros
- Buffer’s post-publishing dashboard is user-friendly so people need no training to get the hang of it.
- The tool’s free AI feature makes crafting captions a breeze, seriously cutting down on time.
Tracy W.
Buffer is extensively used in our company in marketing and corporate communication departments. It enables users to schedule and track scheduled posts across all major social networks. The analytics are great that show the performance of each post and aslo buffer is pretty affordable.
Cons
- Users often have faced problems using the bulk scheduling feature in Buffer.
- The mobile app of Buffer is not as effective as the web-version.
Victory J.
The mobile app isn’t as seamless as the web version. I guess this isn’t an issue for many as most people prefer to work on their computers. I do a lot of repetitive tasks on the move so it kind of is a big deal for me.
Our Experience
Buffer is considered an ideal tool for users who are new to using marketing apps due to its user-friendliness. It covers multiple aspects of Instagram marketing, making it a diverse tool for businesses to use.
Buffer helps users in creating Instagram-worthy content creation with its AI-powered caption and idea generator, Canva integration and customization options like mentions and geo-tags. The main key capability in Buffer is content scheduling and publishing for Instagram and other social platforms. This way the tool enables users with all-around content management without having to go to different apps.
Buffer also provides Instagram analytics which presents a complete picture of your profile’s performance and the audience you are reaching. And with all this information, you can create visually comprehensive reports to showcase your profile’s growth to share with relevant stakeholders.
There are specific features that allow users to directly interact with their audience online. The social inbox is a dashboard which allows you to see all the incoming comments on your profiles connected to your Buffer workspace. You can monitor and respond to all these comments on different Instagram profiles from a single space.
Last but a very notable feature is the start page creation feature. Buffer allows users to create simple but attractive landing pages for Instagram, which can provide visitors with a window of your brand or products or directly take them to your homepage.
Despite having all these features, Buffer’s absence of chat support can impact the user’s experience with the tool.
Pricing:
Buffer provides a range of four pricing options along with a 14-day trial period for each. There is a free plan for beginners. Paid plans range from $6 a month for one account to a monthly $120 for 10 accounts.
Overall verdict:
Buffer is a streamlined and easy-to-use Instagram marketing software with multiple features for content creation, scheduling, and analysis. However, its customer support and pricing structure make it a less-than-sustainable option for the long term.
Best for:
Freelancers, large enterprises, medium and small-sized business
Ratings:
4.5 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web-version, Android and iPhone/iPad with iOS apps
Integrations:
Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn and TikTok
Key Features:
- Instagram grid planner
- Content calendar with filters
- Media library integration
- Collaboration posts
- Hashtag manager
- Instagram post analytics
- Automated reporting
- Socia Inbox
- Competitor monitoring
Pros
- The interface is straightforward, making it accessible for anyone to use.
- Iconosquare’s support team makes the onboarding process incredibly smooth and easy.
Cem G.
The team that helps with Iconosquare installation and when support is required provides a rapid solution. Your user-friendly interface and the KPIs you offer are great. We prepare the sharing text with integrated AI. I almost don’t need to make any changes to the text.
Cons
- When users don’t post images of just the right sizes, Iconosquare faces problems in publishing them.
- The absence of white label is inconvenient for agencies and social media managers.
Verified User
I can’t add audio to my reels which means I have to post these directly in the Instagram app.
Our Experience
Iconosquare is another versatile Instagram marketing platform allowing you to manage multiple aspects of your activities on the platform. With publishing, you can schedule posts, stories, and first comments, even tagging locations and users.
AI content generator, hashtag manager and content library support post creation and make the process swifter. The Instagram grid view in Iconoquare helps manage your profile’s aesthetic feed. The platform also allows you to crosspost your best Instagram posts to other channels, helping you gain traction on those channels.
The analytics and reporting section in Iconosquare provides vital insights that reveal how your content has been performing over the selected time frame. You can generate reports or export this data to your team members or clients.
The collaboration tool allows team-based approval workflows, keeping everyone aligned. The conversations feature consolidates DMs and comments for easy interaction, while social listening offers competitor and trend analysis for proactive engagement. Each feature aims to streamline Instagram management in a structured yet accessible way.
Pricing:
Iconosquare has two defined pricing plans, with some visible loopholes. The Single plan starts at $59 with a single user, supporting 5 profiles and the Teams plan at $99 supports 10 users for the same number of accounts. The price of these plans increases with every 5 accounts you add on. However, the Single plan can’t be stretched to manage more than 10 accounts.
Overall verdict:
Iconosquare is a considerably proficient tool for Instagram marketing for businesses and agencies. But the pricing plan for individuals is quite costly when managing more than five Instagram accounts. Hence the tool is more suitable for businesses and agencies which dont have a tight budget to stick to.
Best for:
Creators, freelancers, agencies, social media managers, and small businesses.
Ratings:
4.5/5 (G2), 4.4/5 (Capterra)
Apps:
Web, iOS, and Android versions
Integrations:
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter)
Key Features:
- Auto Instagram publishing
- Link In Bio
- AI-Powered Captions
- Best time to post recommendations
- Hashtag suggestions
- Instagram Visual planner
- Curation of UGC
Pros
- With Later, you can set up your content scheduling for months ahead all at once.
- Link-in-bio helps in tracking traffic and clicks by letting users add customizable links in the bio.
Julianna O.
I love using Later for social media scheduling! My small business uses it for Instagram ad Facebook scheduling daily. Thanks to Later, we are able to schedule out a months worth of content in just a few hours saving us hours and hours every week. It’s so easy to use, easy to check the traction of a post, and helps us stay sane during busy season when social media is the last thing we want to worry about.
Cons
- Later can’t post videos when there are size issues, requiring users to edit them manually.
- Instagram posts sometimes don’t process correctly before going live.
Casey G.
I really dislike when Later tells me a video I’m posting is too long, or the dimensions aren’t right and when I try to edit the content in Later, it doesn’t update. I then have to manually send myself the content, edit it on my phone, and post it manually. It is very time consuming and seems glitchy.
Our Experience
Later supports many social media channels but it boasts the most advanced and versatile features for Instagram marketing. Instagram Scheduler is a comprehensive tool designed to streamline Instagram content management.
It lets you schedule single images, carousels, Stories, and Reels in advance. You can schedule and reschedule content to make your feed look aesthetic with Later’s grid view feature with drag and drop to move content cards.
Additionally, AI content writer, image editor, hashtag suggestions, and many other such features contribute to streamlined content creation. You can also add and schedule the 1st comment with your Instagram posts in Later.
The link-in-bio feature is especially tailored on Later to enable users to bring referral traffic to their intended product pages or blogs. You can create custom trackable links and compact landing pages.
The analytics in Later is another major strength, offering data to track engagement metrics, find optimal posting times, and analyze post-performance. Also, the social listening features provide a centralized hub for you to monitor comments and brand mentions on Instagram.
However, the lack of structured collaborative workflows in Later make it difficult for users with larger teams to work with the tool.
Pricing:
Later presents three subscription choices, each accompanied by a 14-day complimentary trial period. The system presents a no-cost option, followed by paid levels starting with Starter, valued at $25, Growth at $45, and the final choice, the Advanced option, priced at $80.
Overall verdict:
Later is a great tool for scheduling Instagram posts, perfect for creators, freelancers, and small businesses. It has strong Instagram features but can be limited with video and broader social media needs. With various pricing options and a free trial, it’s accessible to many users.
Best for:
Large Enterprises, Mid-Size Businesses, and Small Businesses
Ratings:
4 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web-version only
Integrations:
Facebook, Instagram, Threads, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Business Profile, YouTube, TikTok, X (Twitter), Reddit, Mastodon, Tumblr, Bluesky, Flickr, Medium, Vimeo, Telegram and more.
Key Features:
- Content planning
- Auto-posting
- Best-time recommendations
- AI Assitant
- Video posting
- Content calendar
- Team management
Pros
- Blog2Social allows you to automate and share across a vast number of social media platforms.
- You can see the best time to share your posts based on where your target audience lives.
Madison
I like that you can connect your social networks and schedule content to post directly from the WordPress platform. I also like that you can now do image or video posts.
Cons
- Lacks the ability to report your old blog posts. You can only upload posts as they go live.
- There’s a steep learning curve with little training information.
- The free version does not allow you to schedule posts or engage with a majority of the social platforms offered in the premium versions.
Francisco G.
Very expensive in its PRO version for a single user and a single blog
Our Experience
Blog2Social is a WordPress plugin that gives you full access to your social media accounts from your blog. It offers tools for managing Instagram posts that are tailored for users. Users can create posts, share website content, RSS feeds and custom Instagram posts.
The platform allows you to schedule your website feed to be auto-posted on your Instagram business accounts connected to Blog2Social. As far as creating content manually, it supports various formats of posts, including images, Instagram videos, carousels, and Reels. The tool also enables the setup of custom post templates, which helps speed up the posting process if you’re regularly publishing similar types of content.
Blogs2Social allows you to set up specific intervals for auto-posting and even recommends the best times to post on your profiles. However, the tool lacks in-depth insights as compared to other Instagram marketing tools.
Pricing:
Blog2Social comes in two formats, which have different prices. The WordPress plugin has three plans, starting from $7. The Pro and Business plans for the plugin cost $11 and $29 when billed monthly. The webapp too has separate pricing plans. Solo comes at $11 and Team at $39.
Both versions also offer free plans with minimal features.
Overall verdict:
When you can use all your website content for your Instagram posts, you’ll save time and streamline your workflow. Instead of swapping back and forth between an uploader and your WordPress site, this Instagram growth tool lets you keep track of all activities in one place.
Best for:
Brands, large enterprises, and mid-sized businesses
Ratings:
4 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web app only
Integrations:
Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo
Key Features:
- Real-time tracking of mentions
- Alerts for new mentions
- Lead generation capabilities
- Influencer identification
- Monitoring of marketing progress
- Competitive analysis
- Tracking hashtags and comments.
- Advanced Boolean search
- Option to blacklist irrelevant accounts
Pros
- You can track down relevant keywords in your industry, so you connect with your target audience by using appropriate hashtags and descriptions in your posts.
- Up-to-date, personalized reports give you all of the information you need to tweak your social media marketing strategy.
Amir C.
One of the best things about Awario is its 360 social media monitoring. Their technology keeps track of every mentions from multiple social media platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Meta, Etc
Cons
- Fine-tuning specific search criteria can pose a challenge if you’re not sure what you’re looking for.
- You can’t track your LinkedIn mentions with Awario, which could be a deal-breaker for people interested in growing their personal brand with LinkedIn.
Verified User in Computer Software
Even if you add specific keywords, it yields irrelevant outcomes. The statistics provided are way off compared to the actual ones from the platform. The customer service sucks. We were asking nicely about something, and I have never encountered such reply.
Our Experience
Being a social listening tool for Instagram, Awario lets you monitor important conversations about your industry. If you are looking for a way to easily track brand mentions, analyze sentiments and keep an eye on competitor activity on Instagram, Awario has real-time capabilities to do all that.
The tool can set up alerts for dedicated keywords you want to track that are relevant to your brand. Analytics in Awario are basic but cover essentials: you can review metrics such as reach, mention volume, and comparative alert performance. However, the tool doesn’t dive deeply into engagement metrics or follower demographics, which might feel limiting
You can use Awario for influencer identification. The platform scans the Instagram landscape for prominent users mentioning your brand. These people are more likely to promote and collaborate with your brand. They might be the avenue to connect with your target audience effectively.
Small and medium-sized businesses can benefit from Instagram tools like Awario. Alternatively, if you are working for several clients, this software will let you track multiple accounts at the same time.
Pricing:
Awario has three paid plans ranging from $49 to the enterprise plan for $399 per month. The plan meant for small and medium businesses comes at $149 supporting a team of 10 members.
Overall verdict:
Awario is well-suited for brands focused on social listening and influencer discovery and keyword tracking. But due to the lack of deeper analytics and audience demographic insights, might leave users looking for broader Instagram insights wanting more.
Best for:
Enterprises, agencies, and major businesses
Ratings:
4.6 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web-version
Integrations:
Key Features:
- Quick report downloads
- Examine competitors’ branded hashtags
- Dynamic QR code insights
- Multi-channel measurement feature
- Social media campaign reporting
- Social media metrics tagging
Pros
- Socialinsider offers an in-depth analysis of social media activity with an easy-to-use interface.
- The team offers outstanding post-purchase support, resolving each problem a customer encounters.
Verified User
Socialinsider comes from its in-depth social media analytics and easy-to-use interface, though I wish it offered more customization options for reports. The customer support is almost instant which made everyday usage a blast. Adding new profiles only required one clicks and the details are amazing.
Cons
- SocialInsider is pricey for what it offers.
- You can’t view reports that are 6 months older
Our Experience
Socialinsider is another one of the Instagram marketing tools designed mainly for larger businesses. To put it simply, it helps in Instagram marketing with a suite of analytics reports that help you learn more about the people who visit your site.
The tool dives deeply into metrics, from engagement rates and reach to audience demographics, giving users a detailed breakdown of how content performs across various formats—whether Reels, Stories, or static posts. You can even benchmark your content performance against industry standards and competitors, which is helpful for understanding where you stand.
However, the multitudes of robust metrics might prove to be overwhelming and hard to comprehend.
The ability to analyze how people engage with your brand can help you improve customer relationships and create relevant content. You can also use Socialinsider for rigorous competitive analysis so you stay ahead in adding value.
Pricing:
Socialinsider provides a 14-day free trial. The basic plans begin at US$ 99 per month per user. The next plans cost $149 and $239 monthly, with more advanced features and historical data dating further back.
Overall verdict:
SocialInsider is an intuitive tool dedicated to monitoring social media analytics and competitor analysis. It covers multiple social media networks under its watch, helping you to get a keen sense of all thats happening surrounding your brand and the audience. However, the pricing of even the most basic plan is quite high which also lacks deeper insights. This makes it difficult for smaller businesses to afford.
Best for:
Creators, agencies, social media managers, and brands
Ratings:
2.1 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web version only
Integrations:
Key Features:
- Automated Engagement
- Real-time Growth Analytics
- Follow/Unfollow Automation
- Hashtag-based Targeting
- Audience Targeting
- Daily Instagram Audit
- DM Automation
- Advanced Engagement Insights
- AI-Generated Comments
Pros
- It automates Instagram posting and engagement and promotes organic growth.
- Kicksta allows you to target specific audiences based on interest and competition.
Sheffy B.
Kicksta helps to increase your reach on Instagram by gaining more followers and that too organicly. It is an automated system to like your recent posts, help understand what page and hashtag is useful to follow and which has more reach.
Cons
- Kicksta only offers the ability to automate Instagram, making it a very expensive pricing tool.
- It does not have scheduling, publishing, analytics, and team collaboration abilities.
- Kicksta does not have popular automation features like hashtag analytics.
Jordan W.
The product fails repeatedly, with no notice, and until you notice you’ve been charged for time it was not working. Tech team seems to be completely negligent. Huge waste of time and energy. Avoid.
Our Experience
Kicksta is an Instagram marketing software that helps you get more followers through targeted, AI-driven engagement. Normally, users would have to manually go through accounts liking and following everyone they think might follow their account back. The tool aims to engage real users by interacting with posts from accounts that follow influencers in your niche.
While this method theoretically draws organic followers, Kicksta’s engagement tactics rely heavily on curiosity—hoping users will notice the interaction and check out your profile.
For granular selection, the “Instagram Blacklist” feature lets you exclude specific accounts, ensuring the AI doesn’t engage with competitors or conflicting interests. This is useful for brands with niche audiences or specific brand positioning.
With this app, you can search tags and rival profiles for your target audience. For instance, if you’re an email marketer, you might look up the hashtag #EmailMarketing. Now you can set parameters around who you want to follow under that group. The AI technology used with this program helps you fine-tune your Instagram strategy and reach your target audience.
Pricing:
When we came down to the pricing plans of Kicksta, we found it has 4 plans that start with a reasonable price of 49/month, which guarantees you 800+ followers every month. Apart from these plans, you can even take a 7-day free trial on Kicksta to see if this tool is what you need.
Overall verdict:
Kicksta can be a good option for freelancers and Instagram influencers, but it can be difficult for brands and businesses with multiple accounts. It is because Kicksta only supports Instagram and no other social media platforms. It does not allow scheduling, content creation, and team collaboration, and it has limited analytics abilities, making it difficult to digest its pricing, at which you can get all social networks supported.
Best for:
Advertisement agencies, brands, and performance marketing teams
Ratings:
4.4 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Web-version only
Integrations:
Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok, Google Marketing Platform
Key Features:
- Campaign management
- Performance metrics
- Real-time data
- Customizable reports
- Data visualization
- A/B testing
- AI/Machine learning
- Automated publishing
- Customer segmentation
Pros
- The platform allows you to create multiple ad variants so you have options before finalizing a marketing campaign.
- Plenty of flexible payment options are designed to help business owners based on their ad budget.
Ryan E.
We are a multi-location franchise with nearly 100 locations and offers every month. It would take forever to launch new ads every month and scale them nationwide with localized content. With smartly, we can now do that in minutes.
Cons
- Smartly’s UI varies depending on the product within the catalog you’re using. This change in design can be overwhelming to new business owners.
- Only capable of supporting ads on a limited number of platforms.
Andrea B.
Bugs and glitches are too frequent, the consequence is low quality in campaigns.
Our Experience
Smartly.io is an automated Instagram marketing tool that helps you get the most out of your advertising campaign. If you have to manage large number of ads, this tool can generate thousands of different variations of your ad so you can find what suits you the best.
You can create, change, and measure your social ad performance. You’ll also get the added benefit of knowing what kind of ads work for your followers and which ones lack engagement.
A key feature here is Smartly’s dynamic ad creation. With it, you can link your Instagram ads to various data points. By leveraging these data connections like product catalogs, APIs, and other sources, Smartly users can dynamically update Instagram ad visuals.
While powerful, setting up these dynamic templates requires a deeper understanding of ad personalization and an initial time investment, which may feel like a commitment for smaller teams or those new to automated ad solutions.
Pricing:
The pricing information of Smartly is not open to public.
Overall verdict:
Smartly.io shines in its flexibility and ability to personalize Instagram ads at scale, though the learning curve and the level of customization might be overkill for users looking for simpler ad solutions.
Best for:
Small businesses
Ratings:
3.5 / 5 (G2)
Apps:
Android and iOS
Integrations:
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter), YouTube, Reddit, Blogs and Web
Key Features:
- Instagram engagement calculators
- Unlimited audits for Instagram accounts
- Brand mention tracking across channels
- Influencer directory
- Instagram engagement calculator
- Social media campaign manager
- Competitor tracker
- Collaborations
Pros
- Phlanx has an intuitive UI that allows easy navigation.
- Engagement calculators and search tools are robust and helpful.
Travis Taborek
Phlanx is a useful tool for influencer marketing campaigns. I use their Instagram and Twitter engagement calculator all the time. They also have a good customer service support team. They took a few days to respond to my concern, but when they did, they were courteous and eager to help solve my problem.
Cons
- Customer support isn’t responsive.
- Social listening and scheduling features are missing.
- People end up automatically subscribing and getting billed after the free trial.
Tonda Vavrda
I read here that I’m not the only one who woke up one day and the free version became paid. And for $300. I wrote an email, but I don’t know if correctly. Where did you send it to please? Me: info a phlanx.com… Because the contact form on that page doesn’t work. Thank you very much for your help.
Our Experience
Phlanx is an essential Instagram analytics tool to surge your engagement rates. You can use this tool specifically for influencer marketing along with amazing audit features.It enables you to find the right influencer to promote your campaigns across multiple platforms like Twitch, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, apart from Instagram. Filter active and inactive followers so you can work towards a dedicated follower strategy.
The tool’s most popular feature is its Engagement Calculator, which allows users to assess the engagement rate of any public Instagram account. This can be handy when vetting influencers or determining whether an account’s audience is actively engaging or just passive fans.
Phlanx offers a Directory of Influencers—a searchable database for discovering potential collaborators across various niches. To further the agenda, the platform provides Campaign Management tools to streamline communication with influencers, such as in-platform contracts and agreements.
Pricing:
Phlanx has three paid subscriptions starting from the Basic plan at $49 for individual users. The next two plans are for teams, Premium costing $70 per month, which allows three users, and Business, priced at $100 for eight users.
Overall verdict:
Phlanx can be effective for basic influencer research and engagement checking on Instagram, it may fall short for those requiring deeper analytical insights or more robust influencer vetting. Larger teams or those requiring extensive insights might find themselves looking for a more sophisticated platform.
Best for:
Ratings:
4.4/5 on G2 & 4.4/5 on Capterra
Apps:
Web, iOS, Android versions and Sprout Social Chrome Extension
Integrations:
Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok and YouTube
Key Features:
- Management of reviews
- Reporting on paid performance
- Automated social message responses
- SproutLink for increasing website traffic
- AI-driven message prioritization
- Interactive visual representation of analytics
- Suggestions for relevant content
- Recommendations for the best times to send messages
- Campaign management tool
Pros
- Sprout Social provides in-depth analytics to track engagement, follower growth, etc for Instagram.
- You can monitor campaigns across social media and search for posts mentioning you or your brand.
Kelsey S. (5 Star)
I love the calendar and publishing tools, the asset library, inbox management, campaigns, and tag features. It has been so helpful in keeping our team organized. We’re even able to have external approvers who don’t have licenses, and it’s easy for them to do. The reporting is pretty robust as well, although I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of what it can tell us.
Cons
- The mobile app frequently experiences glitches, such as slow loading times, crashes, and difficulties with cross-platform synchronization and posting quality.
- Many top features are only available in higher-priced plans, making even the basic plans costly for users.
Chelsea S. (3 Star)
A LOT of features (including some of the best features Sprout has to offer) are hidden behind levels of payment. It’s super pricey even just for basic plans with basic features. Mobile app needs help. It seems there’s always a glitch with the mobile app – captions not copying when you go to IG to post, looong loading time for mobile publisher posts, posts created from mobile don’t always show up when you look for them on desktop, app crashes (I have the most current version of the app and I will occasionally delete it and reinstall but the issue persists. A known issue that graphics, especially with text on them, post blurry.
Our Experience:
About Sprout Social
Sprout Social is an advanced social media automation app that can automate your daily social media posting tasks and more. The tool comes with automation features, such as creating chatbot-driven automatic responses inside social inboxes, finding the best times to post, and, of course, automatic social media posting.
Streamlined Customer Engagement
Sprout Social’s engagement suite is quite impressive, from what we can tell. They’ve got AI-powered message prioritization, which seems useful. These tools enhance social media management by ensuring critical messages with sentiment detection are never missed. The inbox combines all your messages, comments, and reviews from different platforms while detecting sentiment in messages too. We can see how that would streamline customer service. Overall, it looks like a solid set of features for staying on top of social interactions.
In-Depth Performance Insights
Sprout Social’s analytics provide solid insights with interactive charts and graphs, distinguishing between paid and organic performance. If you need detailed reports, Premium Analytics offers tailored metrics and advanced filtering, beneficial for larger teams but potentially excessive for smaller businesses. These analytics help fine-tune strategies, despite the additional cost for premium features.
Robust Social Listening & Brand Advocacy
Sprout Social’s social listening tools are robust, using AI-driven technology to track and analyze social media conversations. They help gauge consumer sentiment, monitor brand mentions, and spot emerging trends. Crafting detailed queries is easy, though managing the data volume can be time-consuming. Despite this, the insights gained provide a competitive edge and a deeper understanding of consumer needs. Another ability in Sprout Social is employee advocacy feature that empowers team members to share curated content, extending brand reach and increasing engagement.
Pricing:
Sprout Social has three paid plans ranging from the Standard plan at $249 per user/month to manage five social accounts to Professional at $399 per user/month and Advanced at $499 for managing an unlimited account.
Overall verdict:
Sprout Social offers a comprehensive suite of tools for social media management, engagement, and analytics. Its strengths lie in its detailed analytics, robust engagement tools, and advanced listening capabilities. However, the cost of Premium Analytics and the learning curve associated with some features might be limiting factors for smaller businesses or new users.
Best Tool for:
Star Rating:
4.4 on G2 & 4.2 on Capterra
Apps:
Web version
Social Media Platforms Supported:
X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, LinkedIn, TikTok, Blogs and News websites, Tumblr, and Forums
Key Features:
- Real-time monitoring
- Customizable dashboard
- Sentiment analysis
- Mention volume
- Topic and trend detection
- Advanced filtration
- Historical data access
- Influencer identification
Pros
- Easy-to-use social media listening tool.
- Clean and straightforward Query builder.
- Training resources.
- Multiple dashboard templates.
Verified User
Few competitors can beat Brandwatch when it comes to being an easy-to-use social listening tool. Its query builder is clean and simple, as are the Brandwatch Academy resources which teach junior colleagues how to use it. The Quick Search function rivals Google Trends in being a ‘pick up and play’ insight finder. The dashboard templates, equally, are great for both seasoned pros and novice users.
Cons
- Some users face trouble loading the page and technical glitches.
- Needs to refresh to search brand mentions and keywords constantly.
- Lack of filters to search keywords.
Sarah K.
Tiktok hasn’t been implemented into the platform. It takes a long time to load, the page is glitchy when I’m searching for my brand and keywords, I have to refresh constantly. I wish there were more filters when searching for key words. It doesn’t pick up which sentiment is neutral vs negative very well. When categorizing sentiment I have to click through each one instead of being able to click multiple for some reason.
Our Experience:
Using Brandwatch for social media listening has been a game-changer for understanding brand sentiment and tracking audience engagement. Its robust platform offers real-time monitoring across a wide array of social channels, allowing us to gain insights into customer conversations, emerging trends, and competitor activities. The advanced sentiment analysis and AI-driven insights have been particularly useful, helping quickly pinpoint positive and negative brand mentions.
Brandwatch’s customizable dashboards make tracking the most relevant metrics easy: sentiment, reach, or engagement. One standout feature is the ability to drill down into audience demographics, allowing a deeper understanding of who engages with our content. The platform’s powerful reporting feature makes it easy to create comprehensive reports for internal teams.
Pricing Comparison:
Overall Verdict:
Brandwatch is a robust tool for social listening and analytics, offering in-depth insights and powerful reporting capabilities. However, its high pricing may be a barrier for smaller businesses. Slow loading times and technical bugs can also discourage teams from using this tool. For those seeking more cost-effective solutions with similar features, exploring Brandwatch alternatives like Mentionlytics could be wise.
Best for:
Ratings:
4.5/5 (G2), 4.6/5 (Capterra)
Apps:
Web version, Android and iOS apps
Integrations:
Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and Google Business Profile, Google Analytics
Key Features:
- Multi-platform publishing
- AI content creation
- Content calendar
- Team collaboration
- Feedback workflow
- Post-performance tracking
- ROI tracking
- Brand management
Pros
- The intuitive interface streamlines planning and scheduling content across multiple platforms from a single location.
- The bulk scheduling feature is a significant time-saver, enabling users to schedule up to 200 posts at once.
- Agorapulse’s integrated social inbox management enhances communication with followers.
Sandra H.
Agorapulse is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for me to schedule posts, engage with our audience, and track performance across multiple platforms. The reporting features are also robust, providing valuable insights.
Cons
- Agorapulse’s mobile app lacks the effectiveness of its web version.
- The platform frequently logs users out unexpectedly, complicating usage on the go.
Verified User
Agorapulse is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy for me to schedule posts, engage with our audience, and track performance across multiple platforms. The reporting features are also robust, providing valuable insights.
About Agorapulse
Agorapulse is one of the more truly versatile social media automation software that encourages teams to work collaboratively. Whether you are looking to automate your content scheduling, keep watch on your social media performance or manage public interaction, it does everything in one dashboard.
Intuitive Publishing and Enhanced Content Creation
Agorapulse offers an intuitive interface for planning and scheduling content across multiple platforms, including Reels, Stories, Pins, and TikTok videos. The bulk scheduling feature, allowing up to 200 posts at once, and the calendar view enhance efficiency. The Writing Assistant provides AI-powered copywriting assistance, generating and refining content ideas for engaging posts and captions. While the interface may be overwhelming initially, the overall efficiency in managing social media calendars and content creation is impressive.
Integrated Inbox and Effective Monitoring
Agorapulse’s integrated social inbox consolidates messages, comments, and mentions into a single inbox, with the Inbox Assistant automating common tasks. This ensures timely responses and supports bulk actions for managing multiple messages efficiently. The platform’s social media monitoring and listening tools track customer comments and provide insights into consumer sentiments, enhancing brand strategies. Despite occasional unexpected logouts, these tools are crucial for excellent service and customer understanding.
Detailed Reporting and ROI Measurement
Agorapulse’s reporting tools offer actionable insights, allowing you to evaluate content performance through metrics like reach, clicks, and engagement rates. Customizable reports can highlight the best-performing content and be scheduled for automatic delivery. The Social Media ROI feature combines Google Analytics with Agorapulse data, providing unique insights into the effectiveness of your social media strategies. These tools are invaluable for data-driven decision-making and understanding the financial impact of your efforts.
Link in Bio with PulseLink
The PulseLink feature in Agorapulse creates customizable mini websites, turning followers into customers. This tool drives traffic from social profiles, measures success, and increases online sales. The ability to add multiple links and track their performance maximizes the impact of your social media bios, enhancing overall engagement and conversion rates.
Pricing:
Agorapulse offers one free plan and four paid plans with a 30-day free trial for each. The four paid plans are called Standard, Professional, Advanced, and Custom, ranging from $49 to $149 for managing 10 social profiles.
Overall Verdict:
The tool is tailored to serve a diverse clientele, with a primary focus on small and medium-sized marketing agencies. However, it’s worth noting that when considering its pricing plans and the features it offers, there are alternative options available that may offer slightly better value for your investment.
Key Factors in Choosing an Instagram Marketing Tool
In the previous section, we’ve tried to curate a combination of varied Instagram marketing tools. However, selecting a particular tool out of all the above-mentioned options can be a confusing feat.
Its recommended that you evaluate the requirements of your business to understand what key functionalities should the tool you opt for possess. Here are a few common factors necessary to consider while analyzing your options.
- Pricing: The most important factor to consider is the pricing options provided by the tool and your own budget.
- Content publishing automation: To establish a steady presence on Instagram, it’s important that you regularly publish content on your feed. Hence its imperative that your tool has the capability to schedule and publish Instagram posts automatically on multiple profiles you have.
- Team Collaboration Workflow: It’s important that the tool you go for has in-bulit collaboration capabilities that facilitate people in your team to work together seamlessly. This includes having means to communicate, share progress, provide feedback, and participate in the approval process.
- Instagram Analytics: Instagram offers limited Insights to users, but marketers need a more detailed view of their content’s performance. A scheduler that provides in-depth Instagram analytics would be ideal.
- Customer Support: Responsive support is essential for resolving technical issues and making the most of the features, helping you stay on track and avoid disruptions in your social media strategy. Reliable support adds value and boosts confidence in using the tool.
Why Do We Need Instagram Marketing Software?
If you are on this page, you definitely must be in need of assistance with your Instagram marketing activities. Tools such as the ones we have listed help users achieve variety of purposes and make the work of marketers simpler and less time-consuming.
However, we want to point out some of the key benefits an Instagram marketing tool would provide its users:
Save Time
When you use tools for the purpose of Instagram marketing, they automate multiple repetitive tasks. This takes mundane things off users’ plates, which in turn lets them work on more strategic side of things. So a major reason of incorporating Instagram marketing tools in your workflow is to save precious time.
Some of the more advanced platforms can schedule hundreds of Instagram posts in one go. Using this capability, you can hash out a whole month’s publishing calendar, which if done manually time take a good chuck of a day regularly.
Building Better Network
Using Instagram as a medium to market your business involves keeping in touch with your audience’s sentiments and actively engaging with them. It is a platform where people try to communicate with the brands they are interested in in the form of comments, DMs, UGC, or public discussions.
Some Instagram tools help streamline the process of monitoring and responding to all incoming messages and other forms of communication from your audience. This helps promote a proactive image for your brand online.
Monitoring Competitors
Some Instagram marketing tools have capabilities that allow brands to keep an eye on the activities of other relevant accounts, namely, of their competitors. It is a huge advantage for users if they know about emerging industry trends and the sentiments of the audience about their competitors.
This knowledge can save brands from falling behind from its peers in the eyes of their potential customers.
Conclusion
Instagram is constantly releasing newer features to support small businesses. That’s why you need a tool that also evolves with time so you can make the most out of your presence on Instagram. With reels being the biggest trend on Instagram now, it’s important to focus especially on this feature.
In this article, we have listed several tools for Instagram marketing, taking varying business sizes, experiences, needs, and budgets into consideration so you can make the right choice to grow your social media account.After comparing all of these tool stacks together, our number one pick is SocialPilot. All in all, this Instagram marketing tool has the most features, including features like Reels scheduling, posting, and analytics at an affordable price. It is easily accessible for new users with the ability to scale quickly. Get a 14-day free trial to boost your Instagram growth now.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Instagram marketing tools?
The best Instagram marketing tools every marketer should have are:
- SocialPilot
- Buffer
- Iconosquare
- Later
- Blog2Social
- Awario
- Socialinsider
- Kicksta
- Smartly.io
- Phlanx
- Sprout Social
- Brandwatch
- Agorapulse
What are the promotional tools on Instagram?
The tools that help you promote your brand better on Instagram are:
- SocialPilot
- Later
- Awario
- Kicksta
How do I promote my business on Instagram?
The best way to promote your business on Instagram is to post consistently with a scheduling tool like SocialPilot. You can also partner with influencers, run ad campaigns, or boost your best-performing posts.
What is the best scheduling tool for Instagram?
SocialPilot is one of the best scheduling tools for Instagram. It supports major platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, VK, Google My Business, and more. It also offers a free trial of 14 days before you make a final call for the purchase.
What is the best time to post on Instagram?
The best time to post on Instagram is different for every niche. But 6 am to 11 am on weekdays and till 2 pm on weekends are preferable.
Should you post on Instagram every day?
Unlike LinkedIn or Facebook, you should post on Instagram every day. Aim for posting 2-3 posts each day when your followers are most active on the platform. Track your analytics to find the perfect time frame for that.
About the Author
