Let’s all welcome our robot overlords, as AI has proven to be an unstoppable force in digital marketing. In fact, according to Statista, the global market revenues of AI usage in marketing are expected to reach $36 billion in 2024.
With our beloved robots here to stay, it’s high time you kitted out your marketing toolbox with the best AI tools for social media!
This blog post will cover 16 of the best tools AI social media marketing has to offer. From tools to help you write captions, create videos and imagery, prompt the best hashtags and times to post, and so much more.
Bonus: Download this free cheat sheet with 250 professionally engineered ChatGPT prompts that will help you be more productive at work and in your daily life. We’ve included specific prompts for over 25 industries and professions!
What are AI tools for social media?
AI tools for social media are software designed to help people create, manage, or optimize social media content, strategy, and process.
Social media management tools have been around for nearly as long as the apps themselves. We’ve all used third-party apps to repost on Instagram and editing software like VSCO to get our selfies on point, but now that AI has entered the chat, things are moving fast.
AI social media tools help marketers with everything from automation to brainstorming to data collection in real time — and in a fraction of the time it takes to do these things manually. And considering most marketers’ biggest concern is the time and budget investment needed to stay active on multiple platforms, AI tools are much needed.
Why AI tools for social media marketing are a game-changer
Let’s dig into exactly how AI marketing tools can help social media teams streamline their workflows and make their jobs easier.
Automation of repetitive tasks: It’s safe to say social media marketers spend most of their time on repetitive tasks. By using powerful AI tools, you can streamline time-consuming tasks like writing captions or repurposing content.
Brainstorming: When you’re constantly thinking of fresh content ideas, it’s natural to come up empty sometimes. AI tools can help you get the creative juices flowing again with prompts and ideas so you don’t have to start from scratch. Almost like your very own AI assistant.
Content creation: AI tools can also help generate images, write captions, craft video subtitles, and come up with relevant hashtags.
Analyze social metrics and data: You can leverage AI to analyze large chunks of data.. Within minutes you can learn more about your audience’s behaviors, reach and engagement levels, and more.
16 of the best AI tools for social media
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is number 1 in our hearts (and on this list). The Gretsky of AI for social media, this tool can do it all.
Hootsuite offers a free caption generator for us marketers who just can’t write another social media caption. And there’s no need to worry about the tone sounding robotic. You can create social media posts that match your brand voice using prompt styles like Optimistic Soccer Coach, Y2K teenager, and Slytherin.
There’s something for every brand.
Hootsuite also features OwlyWriter AI, the best in-app AI writing tool that promises to save you time and prevent writer’s block. You can use OwlyWriter to write social captions, generate content based on a link, generate post ideas based on keywords, and even identify and repurpose your top-performing posts.
The best part of OwlyWriter AI is that the ideas are endless. You can continue to generate caption after caption until you’re satisfied with the tone and have plenty of written text to work with as you put together your content calendar.
Looking to streamline social listening? Every Hootsuite plan also includes AI-powered social listening powered by Talkwalker.
This AI tool is designed specifically for social media to help analyze and condense online conversations and conduct sentiment analysis to better understand your audience.
Hootsuite’s hashtag suggestion and the Best Time to Post features are also fan favorites, prompting you with tags and optimal times to best reach your target audience.
The Best Time to Publish tool knows this ‘cause it’s a super smart piece of social media AI. It breaks down different suggested posting times for four key goals, giving you the ability to reach your specific metrics:
Extend reach
Build awareness
Increase engagement
Drive traffic
That said, we do believe, subjectivity aside, Hootsuite to be the best AI social media post generator. And we’re not just saying that because our editor is going to read this…
Price: Hootsuite offers a free 30-day trial! After that, plans start at $99 a month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, social media marketers, and marketing teams of all sizes.
Craft perfect posts in seconds
OwlyWriter AI instantly generates captions and content ideas for every social media network. It’s seriously easy.
2. Canva
Canva is every social media marketer’s best friend. Since you likely already use the essential social media tool in your content creation workflow, it makes sense to take advantage of its AI-generation powers.
With Canva, you can simply describe the image you want it to create, choose the style — like watercolor or film — and add it to your design.
Source: Canva
You can generate up to 50 images on the Free plan, or up to 500 images per user per month on Canva Pro.
Price: Free, with paid plans starting at $15 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, small marketing teams, or solo social media marketers who need to generate a lot of graphics.
3. Lumen5
With Lumen5, you can turn any existing content into videos, complete with a script that aligns with your brand voice.
Where Lumen5 really shines is in creating content marketing assets and educational content.
For example, let’s say you have a blog post about creating an engaging social media strategy. You can upload the blog post URL into Lumen5 and it will create a video script and generate an interactive video to go with it.
Source: Lumen5
Price: Free, withaid plans starting at $19 per month.
Who it’s for: Content marketers and B2B marketers who want to turn long-form content into bite-size videos.
4. ChatGPT
If you haven’t used ChatGPT for social media tasks yet, then you’re probably the only social media marketer who hasn’t. Of all the social media managers we spoke with, nearly all use ChatGPT daily.
ChatGPT is a tool social media content creators love because it can produce captions and long-form posts. But it comes with its limitations. It can be difficult to get the right tone without very specific instructions, and often, your audience will be able to tell it’s AI-produced.
Source: ChatGPT
Be sure to edit the ChatGPT outputs so it’s in your own brand voice with the correct tone.
Keep in mind that ChatGPT pulls its information directly from the internet, so it’s not guaranteed to be accurate 100% of the time. Always be sure you fact-check your writing as well.
For all you content creators, check out our full list of content-creation-related AI tools social media managers and creators love.
Price: Free access to basic plan; $20/month for faster responses and priority access to new features
Who it’s for: Content creators and marketing teams.
5. Invideo
Want to turn your scripts into videos at the click of a button? Then Invideo is for you. Invideo is an AI text-to-video generator that produces professional content based on prompts you provide.
Simply type in your video idea, and Invideo will generate a video with stock footage, voiceover, background music, and transitions — everything you need for a professional video for TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram Reels.
Invideo has tons of video templates to get you started. You can create YouTube video intros and outros, marketing videos galore, videos for advertising on Facebook or Instagram with ad templates, and more.
Pro tip: Use a long-form AI writing tool to generate a script, then feed that script to Invideo.
Source: Invideo
Price: Free, with paid plans starting at $15 per month.
Who it’s for: Marketers, content creators, and podcasters in need of video.
6. Jasper
You can create an entire marketing campaign from one piece of content using Jasper — making it the perfect AI marketing tool for small teams who want to maximize time and resources.
Jasper can help you do everything from generating captions to repurposing long-form content into social posts and video scripts. It can even generate art to go with your marketing campaign.
Source: Jasper
Price: Plans start at $49 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators and marketing teams.
7. Fireflies.AI
For anyone who’s ever been part of a brainstorming meeting and found themselves typing at the speed of light to capture all of the ideas, you need to add Fireflies.ai to your workflow. In fact, many social media marketers recommend the note-taking and transcription app for productivity and automation.
Source: Fireflies.AI
You can simply connect it to your meeting platform, whether that’s Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams, and Fireflies will record video and audio and take notes.
Price: Free, with paid plans starting at $10 per month.
Who it’s for: Social media and marketing teams.
8. Munch
Another highly recommended AI tool for social media content creation is Munch.
Munch is an AI video repurposing platform that takes the most engaging parts of your long videos and turns them into short clips that are ready to share on social media.
Source: Munch
“This tool is fantastic for repurposing long-form videos into bite-sized content, each focusing on a specific talking point,” says Bianca Garcia, Social Media Coordinator at Leadhub. “It also generates AI subtitles, which has been a game-changer for improving video accessibility and engagement.”
Price: Plans start at $49 per month.
Who it’s for: Social media marketing teams who use a lot of long and short-form video content.
9. Magic Studio
Magic Studio is great for brands and creators who want to up their visual game. This AI tool can help you create product photos with sleek backgrounds in a few different themes.
You can also easily remove unwanted objects and backgrounds from your imagery — great news for influencers and brands taking shots out in the wild.
Magic Studio also generates photos from your text prompts and can assist you with a pretty incredible profile photo. AI in social media is changing its visual interface, with more and more profiles featuring AI-generated imagery. So it’s time to think about what platforms like Magic Studio can do for your brand.
Source: Magic Studio
Price: Free with limitations. Paid plans start at $4.99 per month.
Who it’s for: Influencers, content creators, and e-commerce brands.
10. Wordtune
Are you a LinkedIn thought leader? Or a lover of long-form social posts in general? Do you know what you want to say but can’t quite get it right?
If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then Wordtune may be the right AI tool for you. Wordtune takes your text and rewrites it in different tones while also checking for grammatical errors.
You can also use Wordtune to summarize long-form content such as blog posts or PDF documents, which can be useful for busy social media marketers.
Source: Wordtune
If you’re a writer, you’ll also want to see our full list of copywriting AI tools.
Price: Free, paid subscriptions start at $6.99 a month.
Who it’s for: Long-form content writers and marketers.
11. Stockimg.ai
You know when you have a great post idea but can’t find the right stock image for it? Stockimg.ai is your answer to scrolling endlessly through stock footage websites. Using AI for social media posts featuring stock photography can save you time and effort.
Now, you can enter a prompt and have stockimg.ai spit out options for you. Choose from classic stock photos, illustrations, book covers, wallpaper, posters, logos, and art.
Source: Stockimg.ai
Price: Free, with paid plans starting at $19 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, designers, and marketers.
12. Riffusion
Riffusion creates original audio content based on your prompts. Let’s say you’re making a Reel but can’t find the right audio. With this AI tool, you can create the song — or instrumental or vocal — you had in mind and add the audio to your video without spending all your time scrolling through song options.
Riffusion does have its limitations. Putting in reasonably average prompts like “Bubblegum Eurodance” or “Jamaican Dancehall Vocals” will work. But anything out of the ordinary may leave you empty-handed.
Source: Riffusion
Price: Free.
Who it’s for: Video content creators.
13. Murf
There may be times when you need a voice-over, whether for a product launch or a how-to video. Hiring an actor can be expensive, while doing it yourself can be cringe-inducing. So, what’s the alternative?
Well, we’d like to introduce you to Murf, an AI voice generator tool that produces perfect and personalized voiceovers.
Murf can create audio that expresses a specific tone or mood, so you can make sure your VO works for you. It has 120+ voices in 20+ languages, so you can tailor it to your needs.
Source: Murf.ai
Price: Free. Paid plans start at $19 per month.
Who it’s for: Video creators, product marketers, educators, and content creators.
14. Peech
Peech is a generative AI video editing software that can automatically transcribe, edit, repurpose, and brand your video content.
Peech uses NLP technology to generate high-quality video content so you can scale your video efforts. It can recognize your team’s faces and slap a title card onto the screen whenever they pop up. It can also automatically transcribe your video content so you can repurpose it into captions or blogs.
Peech allows you to easily brand and edit video content without prior knowledge of video editing.
Source: Peech
Price: Free with paid accounts starting at $49 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, marketers, educators.
15. Synthesia
Another AI video communications platform is Synthesia.
Synthesia allows you to turn text into high-quality videos using AI-generated avatars and voiceovers — and without expensive equipment or a large team.
Creators have a range of customizable templates and tools at their fingertips, allowing you to add your own branding and messaging easily. It’s great for creating promotional videos, explainer videos, and social media content.
And you can’t forget the multilingual support, helping you reach a global audience.
Source: Synthesia
Price: Free with paid plans starting at $22 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, marketers, educators.
16. DALL-E 3
If you’re looking for customizable AI-generated images that can’t be found in traditional AI stock libraries, try DALL-E 3. As part of OpenAI, DALL-E 3 is built on ChatGPT and uses the tool to brainstorm the prompts before generating images.
This tool can be a total game-changer for effective visual assets. DALL-E 3 can generate images specific to any context or industry; you just need to include the right prompt.
Creators and marketers will love it for producing visual content for websites, social media, and advertising campaigns.
Source: DALL-E 3
Price: DALL-E 3 is part of ChatGPT Plus, which is $20 per month.
Who it’s for: Content creators, marketers, and a-typical brands.
5 free AI tools for social media
1. Caption generator
Busy schedule and need to write a few captions in a pinch? Use Hootsuite’s free AI tool to write your captions for you.
You can use the caption generator to create captions based on specific platforms, including Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter (X). You can also customize the tone, add a description of what you’re looking for, and add any keywords you want the caption to include.
2. Hashtag generator
Searching for relevant hashtags to use for every post is time-consuming. Why spend your day trying to come up with hashtags when Hootsuite’s free AI hashtag generator can do it for you?
Automate the process by using the hashtag generator to come up with the right hashtags for every channel, whether you’re posting on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn.
3. YouTube video description generator
After you’ve done the heavy lifting of creating a long-form video for YouTube, the last thing you want to do is write a video description. That’s where our free YouTube video description generator comes into play.
The description section is valuable real estate. Not only does it tell viewers what the video is about, but it can also be used to share website links and add relevant search terms to increase your video’s visibility. The video description generator can be used for everything from Shorts to day-in-the-life vlogs.
4. Social media SEO tool
Social media users treat platforms like TikTok and Instagram like search engines, making social SEO more important than ever.
If you want to create search-optimized social posts but don’t even know where to start, use this free AI social media SEO tool from Hootsuite.
Simply select the channel you’re writing the caption for, the style you want the caption to be, and the primary keywords you want your post to show up for. The AI tool will do all the hard work for you.
5. Sentiment analysis tool
Social listening is a pillar of any social strategy, and AI social listening tools can help with that, too.
Hootsuite’s free sentiment analysis tool can tell you within seconds how people feel about your brand. It can also help you understand the general feelings and attitudes toward competitor brands, trends, or specific creators and influencers.
4 tips for using AI social media tools from 4 social media managers
Are you curious about how marketers are making the most of social media AI tools? Here are a few use cases and tips from social media managers that you can take notes from.
1. Perform automated tasks
For Shanté Gorman, the founder and CEO of Sugarpunch Marketing, AI tools like Butter help her not only automate tasks like recording and transcribing client calls but also speed up the content creation process.
“We interview them on a call and then extract content that we can turn into short-form videos, carousel graphics, and text posts,” says Gorman. “This saves us at least 10 hours of time per client.”
2. Develop content pillars
One way social media marketers use AI marketing tools is to help with content planning and brainstorming. For example, you might want to use AI to come up with content pillars based on existing content and audience sentiment.
Cristy Stewart-Harfmann, a content creator and professor of digital marketing at Florida Atlantic University, recommends saving effective prompts.
“Once you find prompts that work well, save them for future use,” she says. “This can streamline your process and ensure consistency in content generation.”
3. Continue training your tool
One of the trickiest parts of AI powered content creation is generating content that sounds human and matches your brand voice. The best way to manage this is to use the same set of tools to familiarize them with your content and voice.
“Take the time to ‘train’ your AI tool,’” says Garcia. Here are some ways she trains ChatGPT, for example, to generate the results she’s looking for:
Provide company style guides to inform it about brand specifics
Share website content for accurate service descriptions
Teache it the preferred format for different types of posts
Give it blog content or links for accurate promotion posts
4. Be aware of platform rules
Because AI is still relatively new and constantly evolving in terms of capabilities, marketers must ensure that they stay AI compliant.
“I always stress to be cautious of what you plan to use from AI because there’s a gray area,” says Megan Celestini, social media specialist and founder at Queen Bee Social.
“As social media professionals, it’s our job to eliminate the risk to the companies we work for and represent. If AI-generated content is not disclosed on certain social media channels, you could be violating the Terms of Service, or your posts can be taken down.”
If you plan to use AI for social content, Celestini recommends familiarizing yourself with each platform’s terms and conditions. YouTube, for example, asks you to indicate when you’re uploading altered or synthetic content so it can label the video for viewers.
Save time managing your social media presence with Hootsuite. Publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage your audience, measure results, and more — all from one dashboard. Try it free today.
Save time and grow faster with OwlyWriter AI, the tool that instantly generates social media captions and content ideas.
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