6 Best Social CRM Software for Sales & Marketing 2022

Understand the best social CRM software available with our independent editorial review of the top options and best use cases for each.

Social media CRMs are sales and marketing tools that help you generate and nurture leads via social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more. The top social CRMs help you manage your paid and organic social media activity in an effort to engage with social media leads and add relevant prospects to your sales pipeline for further lead nurturing. To help you choose the right option, we reviewed dozens of options to arrive at the six best social CRM software.

Here are the top six social media CRMs for sales and marketing:

  • Zoho CRM: Best overall social CRM for social media management (free starting price)
  • HubSpot Marketing Hub: Best social CRM for a full marketing suite (free starting price)
  • Nimble: Best social CRM for manual social media prospecting (14-day free trial)
  • Sprout Social: Best CRM for managing social media conversations (30-day free trial)
  • Salesforce Essentials: Best for customer support on social media (14-day free trial)
  • Bitrix24: Best social CRM for social media advertising (free starting price)

What is Social CRM Software?

Social CRMs are a type of sales and marketing CRM software specializing in social media integrations and native social media features. In addition to providing core CRM functions you’d expect for successful lead management, they offer features that help with social media lead generation and management, including social posting, social listening, social selling, social media ad management, contact data enrichment, and more.

How We Evaluated the Best Social CRMs

To determine the best social media CRM software, we broke down our evaluation into six weighted categories, assigning each potential option a score in every category. From there, we tallied all the weighted categories to give each option an overall score out of five. The top six scoring social CRMs made our list, along with a primary use case for each. Check out our evaluation criteria below:

Evaluation Criteria

We first looked at social crm options with high levels of social media functionality as well as core CRM features. We then considered the price for these features, as well as ease of use and customization. Finally, an expert score was assigned, based on our independent analysis and online reviews.

Pricing:
25%
Social Media:
25%
Core Features:
25%
Customization:
10%
Ease of Use:
10%
Expert Score:
5%

Note: All per-user prices are based on an annual commitment unless otherwise noted.

Overall, we found Zoho CRM to score the highest across our combined criteria and rank as the best overall social CRM software. Check out a detailed breakdown of how each of our top options scored below, including which one is right for you:

Zoho CRM: Best Overall Social CRM Software

Top-rated CRM with sales pipeline and marketing features that include robust organic social media management.

Price Range: Free to $52 per user (15+ day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Pricing star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Expert Score star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full

Pros:

  • Free version available
  • Auto-send social leads to CRM
  • Manages major social platforms

Cons:

  • Free version is limited
  • UI can be hard to use
  • Integrations can be tricky

Zoho CRM is a leading CRM offering sales features such as pipeline management and reporting as well as social media features like social publishing, social profile enrichment, automated social media lead generation, and a social tab that lets you interact with leads on Facebook and Twitter. Also included are functionalities like AI-powered sales forecasting, product catalogs, invoicing, price quotes, and more.

While Zoho CRM scored our highest social CRM, it's missing some social features like ad management and manual social prospecting. If these are important to you, try Bitrix24for advertising or Nimble for manual prospecting on social.

Zoho CRM Pricing

  • Free: Supports up to three users (social not included)
  • Standard: $14 per user, per month
  • Professional: $23 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: $40 per user, per month
  • Ultimate: $52 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 15 to 30 days for paid plans

Zoho CRM Key Features

  • Lead Generation: Automatically add leads from advertisements to your pipeline.
  • Profile Enrichment: Enrich your contact records with social media information.
  • Social Tab: Communicate with prospects via Facebook and Twitter.
  • AI-Powered Features: Automate sales forecasting and nurturing with AI.
  • Advanced Customization: Tailor your pipeline and reporting with custom fields.

zoho social crm example

Visit Zoho CRM

HubSpot Marketing Hub: Best Marketing Suite

Full marketing suite offering a free tier and robust paid tiers for full markeing management including social media.

Price Range: Free to $3,200 per month

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Pricing star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Expert Score star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Robust free tier
  • SEO & email marketing included
  • Integrate with free HubSpot CRM

Cons:

  • Paid tiers can be expensive
  • Lower tiers don't include social
  • Social conversations lacking

HubSpot Marketing Hub is an all-in-one marketing platform offering robust social media, email marketing, and blog SEO features as well as seamless integrations with HubSpot CRM. Its social tools let you publish updates, monitor keywords with social whispering, as well as analyze your social performance. Also included is the ability to manage your blog (including SEO recommendations) as well as manage your email marketing efforts.

HubSpot is arguably the most robust marketing option on our list, but its lower tiers don't offer social features and its higher tiers can be pricey for some. If you're looking for a well-priced CRM option that focuses only on social, check out Zoho CRM. 

HubSpot Marketing Hub Pricing

  • Free Plan: Support for unlimited users
  • Starter: $45 per month for 1,000 marketing contacts
  • Sales Hub Professional: $800 per month for 2,000 marketing contacts
  • Sales Hub Enterprise: $3,200 per month for 3,200 marketing contacts
  • Additional marketing contacts can be purchased for a monthly fee
  • Integrates seamlessly with HubSpot's CRM (free tier available)

HubSpot Marketing Hub Key Features

  • Social Management: Schedule posts across all major platforms directly from the platform.
  • Email Marketing: Create and run ongoing email marketing campaigns with A/B testing.
  • Built-In SEO: Optimize your blog with search engine recommendations and integrations.
  • Social Reporting: Generate reports based on social data and overall social performance.
  • HubSpot CRM Integration: Add a pipeline tool with HubSpot's free CRM option.

hubspot marketing hub social crm example

Visit Hubspot Marketing Hub

Nimble: Best for Manual Social Media Prospecting

General CRM with a prospecting tool to manually source contact details and data from social media profiles.

Price Range: $19 per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Pricing star-fullstar-full star-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-full star-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Expert Score star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Social media prospecting tool
  • Native third-party integrations
  • Group emails & email tracking

Cons:

  • Fees for additional contacts
  • Limitations on bulk messaging
  • Lacks dashboard customizations

Nimble is a single-tier CRM option offering a sales pipeline tool with a prospecting browser extension that lets you source lead contact information from social media profiles as well as websites and cloud applications. Included with the prospecting tool is company profile enrichment, trackable email templates, and task management for efficient lead nurturing. Nimble even lets you track social signals through social whispering.

However, Nimble charges extra for contact records over 25,000 and doesn't offer social media management. If a well-priced option with social management is what you're looking for, try Zoho CRM instead.

Nimble Pricing

  • Nimble Business: $19 per user, per month for 25,000 contact records
  • Free Trial: 14 days
  • Additional contact records can be purchased for a monthly fee

Nimble Key Features

  • Unify Contact Information: Collect information from social, inboxes, calender, and more.
  • Find Contact Details: Scan current prospects and the internet for contact information.
  • Task Management: Stay on top of tasks and projects with task and calendar management.
  • Email Tracking: Send group emails and track data like opens, clicks, and more.
  • Profile Enrichment: Enrich contact and company profiles with social data and more.

nimble prospector social crm example

Visit Nimble

Sprout Social: Best for Social Conversations

Social media management tool offering a social CRM allowing you to manage lead and customer communications.

Price Range: $89 to $249 per user, per month (30-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Pricing star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-full star-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Expert Score star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Social media analytics
  • Schedule & publish social posts
  • Manage social conversations

Cons:

  • More expensive vs other solutions
  • UI can require a learning curve
  • Lacking some pipeline features

Sprout Social is a social media management platform with features like social posting, social whispering, social media analytics, and social conversation management. Sprout Social combines inboxes from other sites, like Facebook and LinkedIn, to provide a centralized communication hub for all of your social needs. Also included are social monitoring tools allowing you to proactively reach out to leads and prospects from within the platform.

Even though Sprout Social offers a wealth of social media tools, it's CRM functionality can be lacking when compared to other CRM-specific options. If you need a well-priced CRM with social media features, try Zoho CRM.

Sprout Social Pricing

  • Standard: $89 per user, per month
  • Professional: $149 per user, per month
  • Advanced: $249 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 30 days

Sprout Social Key Features

  • Social Media Posting: Plan, schedule and post from within the platform.
  • Track Conversations: Track and respond to social conversations with leads and prospects.
  • One Social Inbox: Aggregate social conversations into one inbox for easy management.
  • Social Analytics: Gain social insights via powerful analytics to refine your activities.
  • Social Listening: Scan top posts and track keywords so you can respond on social.

SproutSocial social crm sample interface

Visit Sprout Social

Salesforce Essentials: Best for Social Support

Small business CRM from Salesforce that can turn social media interactions into cases (tickets) for customer service.

Price Range: $25 per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Pricing star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Expert Score star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Multiple pipeline view
  • Robust pipeline reporting
  • Social ticketing system

Cons:

  • UI can be hard to learn
  • Missing social management
  • Upgrading can be expensive

Salesforce Essentials is the small business version of Salesforce Sales Cloud offering a robust pipeline and dashboard reporting helpful for managing longer or more complex sales cycles. While it's missing social media management tools, it does offer social media ticketing that turn social messages and interactions into cases for customer service follow up. It even offers internal communication tools so multiple reps can collaborate on a case.

Salesforce is an advanced CRM good for social ticket resolution, but it's missing many social media management features. For a robust CRM with more management functionality, check out Zoho CRM instead.

Salesforce Essentials Pricing

  • Essentials: $25 per user, per month (up to 10 users)
  • Free Trial: 14 days

Salesforce Sales Cloud Upgrade Pricing

  • Professional: $75 per user, per month
  • Enterprise: $150 per user, per month
  • Unlimited: $300 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 30 days

Salesforce Essentials Key Features

  • Social Case System: Turn social media interactions into tickets for effective resolution.
  • Reports & Dashboards: Use custom or pre-built reports to track your sales pipeline.
  • Collaboration Tools: Collaborate on leads and cases with internal communication.
  • Knowledge Base: Leverage Salesforce's learning system for maximum results.
  • Multiple Pipelines: Track leads and opportunities in separate pipelines.

Salesforce Essentials CRM dashboard

Visit Salesforce Essentials

Bitrix24: Best for Social Media Advertising

Collaborative CRM offering core sales features as well as advanced marketing features like social media advertising.

Price Range: Free to $159 per user, per month (30-day free trial)

Overall Rating star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Pricing star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Core Features star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Social Media star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Customization star-fullstar-fullstar-fullstar-full Ease of Use star-fullstar-fullstar-full star-full Expert Score star-fullstar-full star-fullstar-full

Pros:

  • Free tier available
  • Team-oriented collaboration
  • Social media management

Cons:

  • UI can be hard to use
  • Paid tiers can be pricey
  • Not all features needed

Bitrix24 is a sales and marketing CRM that includes a sales pipeline tool with team collaboration and marketing features. While it's possible to manage your organic social media on the platform, it's one of the only social CRMs available with native social media advertising management that lets you create social ads and create lookalike audiences from the platform. You can even create and host a website to help with lead generation.

Bitrix24 might be good for paid social media, but its interface can be hard to use and some of its features might not be necessary. For a more usable CRM with robust social media features, visit Zoho CRM instead.

Bitrix24 Pricing

  • Basic: $39 per user, per month; 5-seat max
  • Standard: $79 per user, per month; 50-seat max
  • Professional: $159 per user, per month
  • Free Trial: 30 days for all paid plans

Bitrix24 Key Features

  • Social Media Advertising: Flight social campaigns and create lookalike audiences natively.
  • Team Collaboration: Shared calendars, feeds, workgroups, and communication tools.
  • Chat Capabilities: Reach out to leads via Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, and more.
  • Website Builder: Create a website you can use to capture lead contact information.
  • Document Management: Document storage and real-time team editing.

bitrix24 social crm example

Visit Bitrix24

5 Best Social CRM Features

The best social CRMs should offer a mix of sales pipeline and social media management features. Check out the top CRM features found in the best social media CRM software:

Scheduling & Posting

Social Whispering

Social Data

Conversation Management

Paid Ad Management

The best social media CRMs allow you to post updates from within the platform across all the major social networks. You can even schedule posts multiple months in advance using a social calendar as well as create recurring posting schedules for automated social media interactions.

social media posting and scheduling example

Social whispering, also known as social monitoring, allows you to monitor top social media accounts as well as specific keywords related to your businesses. This helps you keep track of competitors' and top prospects' social activity including things like brand mentions and macro trends you can include in your social strategy.

social whispering example

Track social media data via powerful reports that can help you assess your social media performance. Also included is social profile enrichment which adds information from lead social profiles to contact records within your CRM.

social media analytics example

Many social CRMs let you track, manage, and respond to conversations and social messages directly from within the CRM. This allows you to tie social conversations to contact records so you have a robust chat history. Some even aggregate all conversations into a single inbox for efficient follow up.

social media conversation example

Some social media CRMs even offer native paid advertising management or robust integrations with your paid ad tools. Create, publish, and track social media advertising campaigns as well as create lookalike audiences with CRM data.

bitrix24 social crm example

Top 5 Social CRM Benefits

There are many benefits provided by social media CRM software that can help individual team members as well as your company as a whol. Check out these key benefits of using a social CRM:

Unify Sales & Marketing

Using a social media CRM gives your team a unified platform offering both sales and marketing features. This allows sales and marketing teams to interact and work more efficiently in an effort to generate quality leads that can be nurtured through the sales process to deal-close.

Generate Inbound & Outbound Social Leads

Many social CRMs offer social media features for both inbound and outbound lead generation. This helps individual sellers as well as marketers focused on lead acquisition improve results and source high-quality leads that become customers.

Improve Customer Service

Track conversations and brand messages and turn them into cases or support tickets for effective follow-up.

Manage & Improve Your Online Brand

With social monitoring, whispering, and conversation management, track what people are saying about your brand on social media. From there, resolve issues and spot trends you can incorporate in future social media or brand initiatives.

Better Understand Your Customer

Via robust social media management, get a better sense of existing customers as well as potential prospects. Incorporate these learnings to best understand your ideal customer and their needs so you can do a better job serving them.

Bottom Line: Best Social CRM Software

From live chat to interactive forms, advertisements, and everything in between, the most successful salespeople and marketers know how to utilize social CRMs to their fullest extent. However, with so many different CRMs available, it can be tough to find the one that’s right for you. By narrowing down your choices to the best general options available, you can easily refine your search and locate the perfect solution for your needs.

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