12 Facebook marketing tools to help your business scale

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Don’t sleep on your Facebook marketing tools.

Fact: a staggering 71% of social consumers anticipate using Facebook within the next 12 months.

Translation? Facebook isn’t going anywhere for marketers.

But as the largest and most popular social network, picking tools for Facebook can be tricky.

Since the platform’s been around for so long, there’s a ton to choose from. Hunting for the “right” app can be overwhelming.

Ready to ramp up your paid presence? Want to stick to freemium apps? Either way, our list has you covered regardless of your needs or budget.

Below are dozen Facebook marketing tools worth test-driving.

1. Sprout Social​

As the ultimate all-in-one Facebook tool, we think Sprout Social has earned its place on top of our list.

Our Facebook features help brands streamline their Facebook publishing, customer service and analytics.

Sprout’s Smart Inbox keeps your Facebook comments, messages and notifications in one place. Oh, and not to mention all of your social interactions elsewhere (think: Instagram, Twitter).

Likewise, you can manage and schedule all of your social assets within our platform. This reduces the chaos of bouncing between social apps and saves serious time

Oh, and don’t forget about analytics related to all of the above. From audience growth to post-specific performance, you’ll see if your strategy is working.

Pros

• Consolidates all of your social media content, data and messages (across Facebook and other networks).
• In-depth analytics provide insights like which content performs best, when to post and and how often.
• Collaborative features help teams to keep a pulse on Facebook notifications and messages.

Cons

• The platform might have more features than you need if you’re a solo business.

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2. Facebook Creator Studio​

For some businesses, native Facebook marketing tools can do the trick.

Despite its critics, Facebook Creator Studio boasts a slew of helpful features. The platform provides a place for brands to track social assets, schedule content and monitor post performance. Creator Studio also serves as a control center for your Facebook messages and notifications.

Although Creator Studio is very “busy” and requires some getting used to, there’s no denying its utility as a free tool. Built-in integration with Facebook’s ad platform is also a nice bonus.

Pros

• Track content performance and published posts in one place. Creator Studio also integrates with Instagram and Meta’s ad features.
• Highlights content and performance trends to help brands optimize their content strategy.
• Collaborative for brands and agencies. Includes permission features to help you build an approval process.

Cons

• The platform can be overwhelming at first glance. Many of dashboards and reports are nested within each other. It can be hard to find what you’re looking for.
• Facebook notoriously makes frequent changes to their analytics and business tools. Don’t be surprised if you end up relearning the platform.
• Anecdotal reports of bugs, calendar issues and not being able to access published posts that are live.

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3. Desygner​

There’s no shortage of drag-and-drop content creation tools for social graphics.

With a bit of creativity, these apps can level the playing field for up-and-coming brands that want to “look the part” on Facebook.

Desygner is a notable alternative to tools like Canva. Offering templates for Facebook posts, logos and cover photos, Desygner’s creatives pack a professional punch. The platform also allows you to create animations for social which are all the rage right now.

Pros

• Easy to use with tons of pre-made, optimized templates. This means you don’t have to second-guess social media image sizes when creating.
• Allows brands to create their own collaborative asset library.
• Also provides templates for additional creatives beyond Facebook (think: emails, Instagram ads).

Cons

• Not a replacement for a dedicated designer or design team (obviously).
• Over-reliance on image templates can make your graphics and branding feel generic if you aren’t careful.
• Similar to tools like Canva, Visme or Venngage (which have more features for infographics). If you’ve already mastered one of those, there might not be too much new here.

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4. Manychat​

For service providers and ecommerce brands answering frequent questions, Facebook Messenger is invaluable.

Manychat is a prime example of Facebook tools for marketing designed to make your life easier. The platform simplifies the process of building communication workflows and chatbots. Although this isn’t a replacement for real-time comms, bots allow your business to be “always on.”

Pros

• Makes it easy to integrate ads into your Facebook Messenger strategy.
• Code-free with drag-and-drop functionality and workflow conditions. Also provides analytics for all of the above.
• Usage-based pricing means companies can scale affordably based on demand.

Cons

• Workflows and conditions require effort and experimentation to be effective. Obviously not a replacement for real-life communication with a person.
• Some features might be superfluous if you’re not interested in ads.
• Still involves a learning curve.

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5. Creatopy​

With $27 billion in ad revenue reported in Q1 2022, Facebook’s ad platform is as lively as ever.

If you want to build ads faster or test-drive some new designs, Creatopy can help.

Features include test ad displays and customizable templates you can adapt for your brand. Creatopy is ideal for agencies and small teams that want to go beyond a basic advertising strategy when it comes to creatives.

Pros

• Drag-and-drop, no-code functionality is welcoming to newcomers to Facebook ads.
• Tons of templates including animated and video ads.
• Collaborative features and approvals which are particularly useful for agencies.

Cons

• You’re still responsible for ad optimization and targeting.
• Templated marketing materials can feel “familiar” to leads over time.
• Some users report issues exporting fonts.

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6. HubSpot​

If you’re using HubSpot as your CMS or CRM, there are tons of Facebook marketing tools built into the platform.

This includes features for messaging customers, understanding your content performance and running ads.

Pros

• Consolidates all of your Facebook activity and performance data in one place.
• Easy and straightforward to navigate.
• Integration with a variety of HubSpot-approved apps and tools.

Cons

• Really only ideal if you’re already using HubSpot as your CRM or CMS.
• Lack of personalization features.
• Analytics aren’t as customizable or details are dedicated social data tools.

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7. Active Campaign​

The boom of Facebook’s ad network highlights how the platform is a powerhouse for lead generation.

From retargeting and list-building to driving leads to landing pages, ActiveCampaign does all of the above. One of the biggest bonuses of ActiveCampaign is its integrations with tools already in your marketing stack.

Pros

• Integrates with Facebook Custom Audiences to personalize your campaigns.
• Prebuilt automation templates to encourage leads through your funnel.
• Tons of of integrations including Shopify, Salesforce and Jotform.

Cons

• Learning curve! Tracking campaigns and funnels require doing your homework.
• Some key integrations require third-party tools like Zapier.
• Price increase can be steep as you scale.

8. Adroll​

Another ad platform! Thing is, Adroll is ecommerce-specific. The platform makes it easy to run campaigns across multiple platforms with an emphasis on retargeting ads.

Pros

• Integrates with platforms like Instagram and Shopify.
• Step-by-step instructions guide users through campaigns.
• Integrated analytics across all of your ads to give you a holistic understanding of your campaigns.

Cons

• Tracking clicks and attribution can be complicated.
• Despite the ease of use, there’s still a learning curve!
• High cost relative to what the platform does. Emphasis is really on paid campaigns.

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9. Sendible​

Sendible‘s suite of Facebook marketing tools is tailor-made for agencies. The platform simplifies managing multiple social platforms by reducing back-and-forth.

Pros

• Allows users to create a single post and optimize it per platform.
• Unique social listening features.
• Collaborative (which is a big plus for agencies).

Cons

• Full analytics access requires a high-tier plan.
• Anecdotal instances of connectivity issues and reporting bugs.
• Occasional UX issues with hashtag autocomplete and recommended post times.

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10. Talkwalker​

The importance of Facebook listening can’t be overstated. That said, the low use of hashtags and nature of search on the platform can make mention monitoring a challenge

That’s where tools like Talkwalker come into play. The platform provides a robust suite of listening tools to help brands monitor their mentions across social. Talkwalker’s also breaks down your brand’s most engaging types of content.

Pros

• Identifies top-performing content and crucial conversations related to your business.
• Reports organic, paid and earned media mentions.
• Provides both share of voice and sentiment analysis for brands.

Cons

• Steep learning curve.
• Potentially pricey as primarily a listening tool.
• Reported trouble with generic queries and brand names

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11. Facebook Commerce Manager​

Many ecommerce brands rely on Facebook as both a sales channel and a place to build a community. The Facebook Commerce Manager makes it easier for brands to oversee sales and orders directly from the platform.

Pros

• Works across both Facebook and Instagram.
• Syncs with platforms like Shopify (plus your Facebook ads).
• Offers insights on best-selling products and sales performance.

Cons

• Only eligible to brands selling physical products
• Potentially diverts your marketing and sales efforts away from your website.
• Despite being seemingly free, the platform does take a cut of your sales.

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12. Lately AI ​

There’s been a lot of discourse about the role of AI in marketing recently.

Regardless of where you stand on the debate, there are already AI tools dedicated to social media content. For example, Lately can take long-form content and translate it into social-friendly posts via AI. This includes video and audio.

Pros

• Serves as a great starting point for repurposing long-form content into social content.
• Allows users to set up brand guidelines for social posts.
• Works on platforms beyond Facebook.

Cons

• Posts still need to be properly optimized and fact-checked.
• Despite AI, there’s a learning curve involved.
• Anecdotal reports of issues with analytics.

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Is it time to level up your Facebook marketing tools?​

Facebook’s status as the go-to social channel for consumers is as real as ever.

That said, are you taking the steps to meet your customers there?

Adopting the right Facebook tools could be the difference-maker when it comes to growing your visibility. This is especially true given how competition is so fierce on the platform. The tools above can help your business stand out from the crowd.

Want to stay on top of the latest trends on Facebook and beyond? Make sure to check out the data in the Sprout Social Index™ if you haven’t already.