The community manager’s job used to include just Facebook and Twitter, but those days are long gone. Each time a new network launches, we know our bosses or clients will want us to be there (but they aren’t adding time to our days right?!?).

So now we must be multi-tasking pros. Fortunately, there are plenty of free social media tools to help community managers get everything done (or at least most of it!).

Today we bring you a list of some of our favorite free social media tools for finding the right people and getting your messages across in the most effective way.

7 Free Social Media Tools for Community Managers

1. SocialMention

SocialMention works like Google Alerts but exclusively for social media. Just provide specific keywords  and click search. You will get an insight on what’s being said, who’s saying it, and whether sentiment is positive or negative (or neutral). Knowing the latest and hottest trend is crucial when you’re creating campaigns for target audiences.

2. TweetReach

TweetReach enables you to track a campaign or conversation on Twitter. You will find results on reach, exposure, activity, and top contributors.

3. PostPlanner

PostPlanner is an application tool within Facebook that plans and manages content for you – a real time-saver! It provides real-time analytics on posts so you will see at once what’s working and what’s not.

4. TagBoard

Tagboard is a magical social media tool because it allows you to monitor specific keywords and hashtags in five leading social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Vine. It is useful for: brand monitoring, content curation, and real-time lead generation.

5. Swayy

Update: Since this article was written Swayy joined SimilarWeb.

Swayy is a sociable tool where the best feature is sharing and your dashboard shows interesting content ready for sharing. With just a few clicks, you’re able to share posts across Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin multiple times a day because Swayy allows scheduling of posts.

6. Mention

Mention is a powerful application tool that lets you monitor and get informed of trending keywords or hashtags in real-time and from any devices. It features an analytics tool that shows overview of all your mentions and also extracts reports to help analyze your visibility.

7. CompFight

CompFight is the most exciting tool here because it helps you find relevant, free images for your posts and blogs. This image finder searches Flickr for photos with appropriate Creative Commons license for Commercial Use. It is highly recommended to give attribution to the photographer. With CompFight at your fingertips, you’ll get relevant photos for your posts instantly.

Each of these platforms offers a paid upgrade, but check them out, you can get a lot done using free social media tools. We’d love to hear your suggestions for more!