Top 20 Social Media Automation Tools You Must Have In 2024

In today’s society, social media is no longer just for personal use but is a vital part of our daily lives. More and more businesses are turning to social media to reach their target audience, build brand awareness, and increase their online presence.

During January 2021 and January 2022, social media usage grew from 4.2 billion to 4.62 billion people worldwide. That’s a year-over-year increase of 10.1% in people using social media worldwide. A more modest +137 million users were added in January 2024, representing a rise of only 3%. ~Source

Do you want to spend hours every day managing your social media accounts? Wish you had more time to devote to your business or personal interests? 

You’re lucky because social media automation tools are here to save the day!

By automating your social media accounts, you can save time and focus on more important aspects of your business or personal life. These tools can help you schedule posts, monitor your social media accounts, track your analytics, and engage with your followers.

So without further ado, let’s dive in and explore the top 20 social media automation tools you must have for 2024.

What is a social media automation tool?

Social media automation tools are software that helps you schedule social media posts and manage multiple accounts.

Automating social media operations frees up employees’ time, increases the efficiency of teams, and allows businesses to do more with fewer resources.

In the first year following automation implementation, 76% of marketers saw a return on investment, and 80% saw an increase in lead generation due to automation. Businesses gained from marketing automation since it increased productivity by 20%. The numbers are irrefutable!

These tools are useful for people who need more time to manage their social accounts in real time, but they can also be a great resource if you want to build up a following on multiple platforms at once.

For example, if you want to gain more Instagram followers, you can use a tool like Contentstudio to post photos from your gallery every day or two automatically. This will ensure your account stays active while allowing you to grow organically.

Different types of social media automation tools are available, but they usually include some combination of the following features:

• Scheduling posts for the future
• Scheduling posts for different times in different locations (e.g., Monday morning in New York, Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco)
• Posting from multiple accounts at once
• Managing multiple accounts from one dashboard (with or without scheduling)

Why should you automate your social media campaigns?

Automating your social media campaigns can bring numerous benefits to your business. Automating can increase efficiency and productivity and improve your brand voice. 

According to Statista, the martech industry worldwide was worth 344.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

With automation, you can track valuable data and metrics to gain insights into your audience and make informed decisions.

Additionally, automating your campaigns can help with time management and resource allocation, allowing you to focus on other important tasks. 

Automation also makes planning and scheduling content easier, increasing your reach and allowing for more targeted advertising. Not only is automation a cost-effective solution, but it can also streamline collaboration and teamwork within your organization. 

Related Read: Automate your Marketing Campaigns using ContentStudio’s Automation Recipes 

The benefits of automating social media: Why every business should consider it

Automating your social media helps you save time and money while improving your brand’s consistency and visibility across multiple platforms.

Social media automation offers the following benefits

• Increased efficiency and productivity

Automating certain tasks can help you focus on more important things, like growing your business or running other aspects of your business. 

You can even use automation tools to schedule posts, respond to customer inquiries, track conversions, monitor keywords, and more — all while saving weekly hours on tasks that don’t require human intervention.

• Improved consistency and brand image

Consistency is key when it comes to marketing your brand online. It’s important that every post looks professional, fits into the overall visual theme of your company’s website, and aligns with the values that you want potential customers to associate with your brand.

Automation tools make it easy to maintain consistency across all social media platforms by allowing you to set up templates for each post or campaign, so you don’t have to think about what needs to be posted each time an event occurs for it.

• Cost-effective solution

Automation is a cost-effective solution because it frees up time and resources for your team, allowing them to focus on other aspects of running your business.

The automation software will automatically post content in the appropriate time slots each day so that it only takes up valuable time from employees who could be doing other things.

This way, you can spend less time worrying about posting on social media and more time working on other projects that are more important for your company’s success!

• Improved collaboration and teamwork

Social media automation software allows you to create tasks for team members and assign them to specific platforms. This helps you to keep track of what’s being done on each platform. Everyone knows their responsibilities and how their actions fit into the overall strategy.

• Ability to scale campaigns and reach more people

Automating social media helps you scale campaigns quickly by allowing teams across different geographies or time zones to work together on content creation. 

Social media automation software lets you target specific audiences based on their location or interests, so you can reach more people with your messages.

• Data-driven insights and metrics tracking

With the help of automation, you can easily track your ROI, conversions, and other important metrics. You’ll know where you’re spending your time and how much time each platform takes to maintain. 

This allows you to allocate resources more effectively so you don’t waste time on platforms with low engagement rates.

• Better time management and resource allocation

Automation helps you allocate more time toward developing new strategies and implementing them instead of dealing with day-to-day tasks like posting updates or interacting with customers regularly. 

You can also use this extra time for other important tasks like content marketing or improving your website’s SEO ranking.

• Increased reach and audience targeting

The most obvious benefit of automation is the ability to reach more people on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can target specific groups based on age, interests, location, and other attributes. 

This way, you can reach people who have never heard of your brand but might be interested in your offer.

• Enhanced customer engagement and interaction

The main reason why businesses use automation software is to improve their customer engagement and interaction. Automated chatbots and smart scheduling software can help you do this.

This helps to boost customer satisfaction by increasing your brand’s visibility across multiple platforms. Your content is also more controllable, allowing you to interact more effectively with customers.

• Better planning and scheduling of content

Automating social media allows you to schedule content in advance, which means you can get it out there when your audience is most likely to see it.

Posting on social media is no longer a time-consuming task. You also know when your posts will go live so you can plan for them.

What can social media automation tools automate?

Social media automation is the future of social media marketing. There are plenty of tools to choose from, but not all are created equal. If you’re looking for a social media automation tool, it’s important to consider what you want to automate and how much time you want to spend on it.

Social media automation can help with the following:

• Automated responses and customer service

Responding to customer inquiries quickly is key in helping them resolve their issues and preventing negative reviews that could harm your business. Automating responses through tools can help you respond faster while freeing up your time so that you can focus on other important tasks.

• Post scheduling

Scheduling posts ahead of time will allow you to post consistently without worrying about it every day. This helps build a strong brand presence while freeing up more time for other tasks.

Social media advertising

Automated social media advertising is one of the most popular uses of social media tools. These tools allow you to create and launch ads on various platforms from a single interface, streamlining the process and saving time. Some tools even allow you to create ads in bulk so that you don’t have to create them one at a time over multiple days or weeks.

• Content curation and distribution

Many social media automation tools allow you to schedule the sharing of content across multiple networks at once. You can even set up rules that automatically share similar types of content on each platform so that you don’t have to keep track of what goes where.

Multi-author blogs or articles can benefit from this; they can write their content in one place and share it automatically across all platforms where it makes sense.

• Social media monitoring and listening

Social media monitoring & listening are two very important parts of social media management. These tools allow you to listen to conversations about your brand and respond appropriately when someone mentions your brand or product.

It’s a basic social media management function, yet one of the most important when establishing your brand as an influencer.

• Social media Analytics and Reporting

Suppose you’re interested in understanding how people are engaging with your content. In that case, many tools can help you measure the performance of individual pieces of content. Also, how each piece contributes to the overall performance of your social media strategy.

• Automated Social Media Contest and Giveaways

One of the most popular uses of social media automation tools is to run contests and giveaways on Facebook and Instagram. 

These contests can be anything from asking customers to share photos or videos for a chance to win a prize to offering discounts for those who share the post on their page.

Contests like this help build brand awareness and increase engagement with your audience by incentivizing them to participate in your contest. 

You can also use automated contest tools to monitor entries and filter out any inappropriate content before it goes live, so you don’t have to worry about removing comments or posts yourself after the contest ends.

• Multi-Channel Social Media Management

Automation tools can also help you manage all of your social channels in one place. Team members can collaborate on multiple projects without switching between platforms all day.

• Social Media Influencer Outreach and Management

Automated social media influencer outreach is one of the most popular features of social media automation tools. These tools allow you to find relevant influencers based on various criteria, including topic, location, audience size, etc.

Then they let you manage your relationships with those influencers by social media scheduling posts, replying to comments and messages, sending them gifts or other incentives, etc. 

The goal is to build relationships with influencers so that they will share content from your company or product with their followers.

What are the Best Social Media Automation Tools?

There is a range of automation tools that can be used to streamline your social media presence. These automation tools streamline your social media presence by automating posting content, engaging with people, and scheduling posts in advance.

Here are some of the best social media automation tools:

Related Read: Top 26 Social Media Management Tools for 2024 

• Content Studio

Content Studio is a social media automation tool that offers a suite of features for managing and automating your social media presence. It allows you to schedule and publish posts, track performance, and analyze social media metrics. 

Content Studio allows you to manage multiple social media accounts from one dashboard and collaborate with your team. It also offers advanced features like social listening, influencer outreach, and lead generation.

Social media automation tools such as Content Studio are a good option for businesses looking for comprehensive solutions. It offers a range of features for managing and automating your social media presence and advanced capabilities for social media marketing and lead generation.

Features

• Schedule and publish posts
• Social media metrics tracking
• Multi-channel management
• Social Media Publishing & Scheduling
• Content Calendar
• Best Time to Post
• Network Tailored Posts
• First Comment with Bulk Uploader via CSV
• Mobile Apps (Android & iOS)
• Multiple Publishing Queues 
• Twitter Threads
• Google Business Profile
• Two Factor Authentication
• Shareable Planner for Posts Approvals
• UTM Tracking
• Content Discovery
• RSS Feed Reader
• Analytics and Reporting
• Content Curation
• Competitor Analytics
• Media Library
• Social Media Automation
• Social Inbox
• AI Content Generator
• Social Media Approval Workflow
• Team collaboration
• Influencer outreach
• Customer support

Pros

• User-friendly interface
• Advanced features for social media management and automation
• Multi-channel management capabilities
• Excellent customer support

Cons

• The steep learning curve for some features

G2 Ratings

• Hootsuite

Hootsuite is an automated social media management tool for businesses. With Hootsuite, you can schedule and publish posts, monitor and engage with your followers, and track your social media metrics.

Features

• All your social networks in one place
• Schedule posts across multiple networks
• Monitor the performance of your social media campaigns

Pros

• Easy to use the interface

• Great customer service

Cons

• Free version only allows you to manage up to three social networks

G2 Ratings

• Buffer

Buffer is a popular social media automation tool that allows businesses to manage and automate their social media presence. It provides a range of features for scheduling and publishing posts, tracking metrics, and managing multiple social media accounts from one central dashboard.

Features

• A/B testing, analytics and reporting.
• Analytics tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics integration.
• An integrated CRM system for tracking customer interactions with your brand on various social networks.
• A large library of templates for creating branded content across all social networks.
• An easy-to-use interface that lets you post from multiple accounts at once.

Pros

• Easily schedule posts for multiple social media accounts
• Track the performance of your posts

Cons

• Requires a paid subscription for more than one user

G2 Ratings

• Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management and automation tool for businesses and organizations. The tool supports multiple popular social media platforms and provides advanced engagement and conversation management tools to help businesses and organizations manage their social media presence effectively. 

Sprout Social is a feature-rich tool well-suited for businesses and organizations looking to streamline their social media management and increase their social media reach and engagement.

Features

• Social media scheduling and publishing
• Social media listening
• Team collaboration and task assignment
• In-depth analytics and reporting

Pros

• Easy-to-use interface
• Able to schedule content in advance
• Analytics reports

Cons

• Not the best for managing large numbers of users or pages

G2 Ratings

• Agorapulse

Agorapulse is a comprehensive social media management platform designed for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and conversation management tools. 

With Agorapulse, businesses and organizations can effectively manage their social media presence and increase their reach and engagement.

Features

• @mentions
• Activity Tracking
• Alerts/Notifications
• Approval Process Control
• Automated Publishing
• Access Controls/Permissions
• Activity Dashboard
• Automated Scheduling

Pros

• The best-in-class customer support
• Impressive and effective email automation features
• The easiest-to-use content marketing tool on the market

Cons

• Limited post-scheduling capabilities

G2 Ratings

• Planoly

Planoly is a visual social media scheduling and planning tool for businesses and organizations looking to streamline their social media management. 

It offers a user-friendly interface, a drag-and-drop calendar, and a visual content library to help businesses and organizations plan and schedule their social media content.

Features

• Analyze reports
• Schedule content
• Track comments
• Visually plan
• Automate content
• Save hashtags

Pros

• Easy configuration for Pinterest and Instagram Supports Pinterest pins, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels.
• Solutions that can be implemented in practice to enhance Instagram links, especially those about social commerce

Cons

• Instagram is the only app that connects to Facebook and Twitter.
• Only Instagram Business accounts are supported for automated posting (not Personal or Creator)
• Each social media platform has its calendar.

G2 Ratings

• SocialBee

SocialBee is a comprehensive social media management platform designed for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools. 

SocialBee helps businesses and organizations increase their social media reach and engagement by automating their management processes.

Features

• Set up individual schedules for each content category
• Up to three users per workspace
• Unlimited content categories
• Unlimited requeue schedule
• Up to 25 social profiles
• Up to 5,000 posts per category

Pros

• In addition to their helpful customer service, they provide in-depth recommendations on how to approach social media marketing and administration best.
• SocialBee’s content categories simplify the process of managing and scheduling your updates.
• Concierge services like these are ideal for time-pressed business owners who need a full-time employee devoted to social media marketing and maintenance.
• Thanks to the straightforward interface and polished onboarding procedure, account creation is a breeze.

Cons

• No option to export client reports.

G2 Ratings

• CoSchedule

CoSchedule is a comprehensive social media management and automation platform for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling and publishing, monitoring, reporting, and team collaboration features to help businesses and organizations streamline their social media management and increase their reach and engagement. 

CoSchedule is well-suited for businesses and organizations looking for a comprehensive and integrated social media management solution.

Features

• Mobile access
• Document management
• Budget and expense management
• Timesheet tracking
• Change request and case management

Pros

• Creating and scheduling posts is extremely easy
• Mobile app works quite well
• Centralized dashboard and calendar
• Easy collaboration for teams and clients

Cons

• Quite expensive
• Interface isn’t user-friendly when it comes to admin
• Not enough customization options
• Slow loading

G2 Ratings

• Later

Later is a social media scheduling and visual content planning tool specifically designed for Instagram. The tool offers a drag-and-drop calendar, automatic posting, and a visual content library to help businesses and organizations plan their Instagram content and schedule posts.

Features

• Campaign Scheduling
• Content Library
• Content Management
• Data Import/Export
• Drag & Drop
• Engagement Tracking

Pros

• Hashtag suggestions helpful
• Options to customize for each platform is helpful

Cons

• Premium consulting

G2 Ratings

Read More: Top 15 Best Later Alternatives For Your Business in 2024

• MeetEdgar

Businesses and organizations can automate their social media postings and increase engagement by using MeetEdgar, a social media automation tool. It offers scheduling, recycling, and categorizing content to help businesses and organizations manage their social media presence effectively. 

MeetEdgar is well suited for businesses and organizations with a large content volume, as it can automatically recycle and reuse old content to keep the social media presence active and consistent.

Features

• Campaign Scheduling
• Content Library
• Content Management
• Multi-Account Management
• Multi-Channel Management

Pros

• Affordable
• Drive visits to your pages
• Regular page updates

Cons

• Only 3 platforms to post on
• Only have one-way control. 
• No access to manage the real conversation

G2 Ratings

Related Read: ContentStudio vs. MeetEdgar | G2 

• Zoho Social

Businesses and organizations can manage social media with Zoho Social. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools.

Zoho Social helps businesses and organizations streamline their social media management and increase their reach and engagement by automating their social media processes.

Features

• Alerts/Notifications
• Automated Publishing
• Automated Scheduling
• Brand Guidelines
• Brand Tracking

Pros

• Easy to use
• Good platform for providing a solution for multiple social media handle in one place
• Can schedule multi-page posts

Cons

• Doesn’t have an analysis for hashtags
• Posts are sometimes published with a bit of delay
• Has a restricted number of integrations
• No WordPress support

G2 Ratings

• Sendible

Sendible is a platform for businesses and organizations to manage social media. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools. 

With Sendible, businesses and organizations can effectively manage their social media presence and increase their reach and engagement by automating their social media processes.

Features

• Activity Tracking
• Ad hoc Reporting
• Alerts/Notifications
• Approval Process Control
• Automated Publishing

Pros

• User-Friendly Interface
• Simultaneous Posting of Content, Post Scheduling, and In-Depth Analytics]
• Lead Generation Functionality and Platform Customization
• Manage Social Media Activities from a Single

Cons

• Premium consulting

G2 Ratings

• Loomly

Loomly is a social media management and automation tool for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, content creation, and visual content planning features to help businesses and organizations streamline their social media management and increase their reach and engagement. 

Loomly is well-suited for businesses and organizations looking for a user-friendly and visual social media management solution.

Features

• @mentions
• API
• Access Controls/Permissions
• Activity Dashboard
• Activity Tracking
• Advertising Management
• Alerts/Notifications

Pros

• Easy to use
• Section with post ideas for inspiration
• Integration ads manager feature

Cons

• No free plan
• Too many bots can become annoying
• Require buffer integration 

G2 Ratings

• SocialPilot

SocialPilot is a comprehensive social media management platform designed for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools. 

SocialPilot helps businesses and organizations increase their social media reach and engagement by automating their management processes.

Features

• Social Publishing
• Scalability
• Report exporting
• Content calendar
• Shared Inbox
• Approval workflows

Pros

• Extensive focus on automation
• Easy-to-navigate dashboard
• Simple search features for past content
• Integrations with almost every social platform

Cons

• Must edit the same post for each channel individually
• Outdated interface
• Lacks advanced features
• Tagging only works for business pages

G2 Ratings

• Hubspot

Social media management tools and inbound marketing tools are part of Hubspot’s inbound marketing and sales platform. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools. 

With Hubspot, businesses and organizations can effectively manage their social media presence and overall inbound marketing and sales efforts.

Features

• Landing Pages and Forms
• Dynamic Content
• Mobile Optimized
• Lead Management
• Data Quality Management
• Segmentation
• Lead Nurturing
• Online Behavior Tracking

Pros

• All-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software
• Offers a free CRM software
• Acts as a marketing platform, data warehouse, and communications tool at the same time

Cons

• Expensive 
• Difficult to use
• Limited reporting 
• Additional charges for technical support
• Contracts aren’t flexible

G2 Ratings

• Tailwind

Tailwind is a social media automation tool designed specifically for businesses and organizations looking to automate their Instagram and Pinterest posting. 

It offers scheduling, content creation, and visual content planning features to help businesses and organizations streamline their social media management and increase their reach and engagement on Instagram and Pinterest.

Features

• Workflow management
• Content planning and scheduling
• Content optimization

Pros

• Control Over Styling
• Responsiveness and Security 
• Faster CSS Styling Process

Cons

• Takes Time to Learn 
• Lack of Important Components

G2 Ratings

• PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic is a social media management and automation platform for small businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, content creation, visual content planning features, and a library of pre-designed templates and posts ideas.

PromoRepublic helps small businesses and organizations streamline their social media management and increase their reach and engagement.

Features

• Analytics
• Automated Publishing
• Multi-Account Management
• Content Management
• Post Scheduling

Pros

• Analytics dashboard is excellent and easy for clients to understand.

Cons

• Can only post 1 image directly to Instagram.

G2 Ratings

• Crowdfire

With Crowdfire, businesses and organizations can increase their engagement and reach through social media. It offers scheduling, monitoring, and reporting features and advanced engagement and analytics tools. 

Crowdfire helps businesses and organizations automate their social media management processes and increase their social media presence.

Features

• Content curation option
• Unlimited fresh content
• Comprehensive social inbox
• Auto posting on best timing
• Detailed social analytics

Pros

• Offers free plan
• Content curation option for source new content
• Content scheduling option, automated suggestions
• Manage multiple social accounts

Cons

• Issues in fetching self-hosted content
• Basic plans are limited

G2 Ratings

• eClincher

eClincher is a comprehensive social media management platform designed for businesses and organizations. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, collaboration features, and advanced engagement and analytics tools.

eClincher helps businesses and organizations manage their social media presence and increase their reach and engagement by automating their social media processes.

Features

• Auto Publishing and Scheduling
• Autopost with Queues
• Engagement
• Social Media Box
• Analytics
• Pocket Integration
• Social Media Curation

Pros

• Scheduling and duplication
• UTM codes
• Reporting
• Auto-posting with queues
• Monitoring

Cons

• Intuitiveness is somewhat lacking with some workflows.

G2 Rating

• Oktopost

With Oktopost, businesses and organizations can increase their reach and engagement on social media in a professional setting. It offers scheduling, monitoring, reporting, and collaboration features, as well as advanced engagement and analytics tools, with a focus on B2B and LinkedIn. 

Oktopost helps businesses and organizations effectively manage their social media presence, track the results of their social media efforts, and measure the ROI of their social media campaigns.

Features

• Campaign Management
• Employee Engagement
• Social Compliance
• Reporting and Analytics

Pros

• Has a WYSIWYG editor for creating content
• Allows you to pull analytics by tags, social platforms, users, etc
• Includes a built-in image library.

Cons

• The set of the functionalities is relatively standard.

G2 Rating

Ready To Pick Your Own Social Media Automation Tool?

Choosing the right social media automation tool is crucial for the success of your business. With the numerous options available, including

best social media automation tools, free social media automation tools, and social media marketing automation, it’s important to determine your unique needs and goals.

Whether a small business owner or a large enterprise, the right social media automation tool can take your business to the next level by saving you time, increasing efficiency, and helping you achieve your goals.

When selecting a tool, evaluating factors such as ease of use, integrations with other platforms, customer support, and pricing is important. You should also consider the most important features of your business, such as social listening, lead generation, and advanced advertising options.

If your primary goal is to increase brand awareness, look for a tool that offers these advanced options. On the other hand, if you need to manage multiple social media accounts, look for a tool with multi-channel management capabilities.

It’s also worth mentioning that some social media automation tools offer free versions with basic features, such as post-scheduling, while others offer paid versions with advanced features. Regardless of whether you choose a free or paid option, it’s important to take the time to research, compare different options, and choose the best fit for your needs.

With automated social media posting and the right automation marketing tools, you can streamline your marketing efforts and achieve your goals more efficiently.

Be Aware that You can’t Automate Everything!

While utilizing social media automation tools like the best social media automation tools, free automation tools, and social media marketing automation can greatly streamline your social media tasks, it’s important to remember that not everything can be automated. Human interaction and personal touch are key to a successful social media campaign.

Automation tools can effectively handle routine tasks such as post-scheduling and customer service responses, but personal engagement and human interaction must still be a priority. For instance, responding to customer complaints, answering questions, and creating personalized content require a human touch.

Moreover, it’s important to remember that automation tools can only work based on the information and rules you set. Regularly reviewing and adjusting your automation strategies to align with your goals and objectives is crucial for success.

Long story short, to maximize the benefits of your social media automation tool, it’s essential to strike a balance between automation and human interaction. Whether you’re utilizing free or paid options, the right automation marketing tools, combined with automated social media posting, can help you achieve your goals efficiently while maintaining a personal touch.

FAQ

How much does social media automation cost?

You may need to pay much more for social media automation tools if you have specific features and capabilities in mind. Free automation tools are also available, but others can cost hundreds of dollars a month. 

Social media automation tools can also vary in price depending on the size of your business and the number of accounts you need to manage.

In general, the more advanced the features, the higher the cost. It’s important to research and compare different options to find the one that fits your budget and meets your needs.

Is Social Media Automation Safe?

Social media automation tools are generally safe to use as long as they are used responsibly. However, it’s important to ensure that the tool you choose complies with the terms of service of your social media platforms. Make sure you don’t share sensitive information or violate privacy laws accidentally by automating and sharing information.

What is the best social media automation tool?

The best social media automation tool depends on your specific needs and goals. Some popular options include

• Content Studio
• Hootsuite
• Buffer
• Sprout Social
• Agorapulse

Consider factors such as ease of use, customer support, pricing, and the specific features you need when choosing a tool. Research and compare different options before choosing one.