Hootsuite and TweetDeck aren’t doing it for you or your clients anymore? Not sure? Vicki Blair at Visible wrote a helpful post on when to make the leap to paid social media SaaS.

First off – Do you need it?

The free tools are great to know retweets, clicks, and replies. But if you want to track sentiment, centralized publishing and deeper data, you should upgrade. The increased information will make your time more productive and your engagement more effective.

So what do you need?

Imagine buying a car without ever having driven one. Knowing what you need is critical to paying for the right service. First, do some free trials and get your footing. Find what you like and need. Consider their customer support, training, data history storage, engagement tools and hidden costs.

Key Takeaway: Do your homework. The market is very new and leaders are still emerging. Know your needs and find a solution, not the other way around.

Read more tips at Visible’s blog