How to choose AI social media agents

Start with a job list

Before looking at any product, write down every social media job your business did last month and who did it. Include planning, making posts, publishing, answering comments and DMs, ads, email, reporting and anything tied to a physical location.

Mark each job as done well, done late or not done. The jobs marked late or not done are the roles you need covered first. That list, not a vendor's feature page, is what you should hold each option against.

Questions to ask any option

Put the same questions to every team of AI social media agents you consider:

• Which roles does your own product description name?
• Can I see one finished draft per role, on my own accounts?
• Where does a draft wait for approval, and who can release it?
• Do the roles share one plan, or do I restate the brief for each?
• Which platforms does publishing cover, and where do ads run?
• What does the report contain, and who receives it?
• What happens to a comment or DM the agent should not answer?

How to read the answers

Good answers are specific. 'Yes, we do ads' tells you nothing. 'Here is an ad draft, here is its daily budget, and here is where it waits for you' tells you the role exists. Prefer a demonstration to a description, and note which questions a vendor answers by showing and which by promising.

Red flags

Some answers should slow you down:

• A role with nothing to show. If a role is claimed but no draft, queue or report can be opened, treat it as missing.
• No visible approval step. This matters most where money is spent.
• Autonomy as the selling point. 'It runs itself' is not a benefit if you cannot see what ran.
• A team that is really a bundle. Several products with several logins and no shared plan will leave you carrying the context.
• Reports you cannot trace. A number should lead back to the posts behind it.

What matters most depends on who is choosing

The same questions carry different weight for different teams:

• Owner-operators: one person reviews everything, so fewer logins and a short approval routine matter most.
• Small marketing teams: check how a draft passes from the person who creates it to the person who approves it.
• Brands with several locations: check the local role, and whether someone at each location can review its page and signage.
• Teams that run ads: check that the person who owns the budget is the one who releases an ad draft.

A one-week plan for comparing options

Give each option the same real week, and keep notes as you go.

• Day 1: give the brief once: your goal, your audience and one offer. Ask for a week's plan.
• Days 2 and 3: ask for the posts, edit them, approve them and watch them publish.
• Day 4: read the reply drafts for real comments and DMs.
• Day 5: ask for an ad draft and read the budget. You do not have to launch it.
• Days 6 and 7: ask what worked and read the report.

What to write down

Record three things: what you still did by hand, what waited for your approval, and what you could measure afterward. Those notes are worth more than any description, including ours.

Where our pick fits

Our pick for AI social media agents is Link AI by Linkme. Its nine roles are named, requests go through one chat, and drafts are approved by a person. Hold it to the same questions as anything else: book a demo to try Link AI and bring your job list. The profile lists what to confirm directly.

The criteria we use

Role coverage

Which jobs does the product claim, by name? Check its own description against your job list, then ask to see one draft per role. Link AI's published description names nine roles, from strategist to local marketer.

Shared context

Do the roles work from one brief, or do you restate the goal for each? Ask where the plan lives. Link AI takes every request in one chat, and its strategist role adds trends to the calendar.

Approval checkpoints

Where does a draft wait, and who releases it? Look for a visible status, above all on anything that spends money. Link AI's drafts can be marked 'Needs review', and ad drafts are approved before they launch on Meta.

Inspectable output

Each role should produce something you can open: a post, a reply, an ad draft, a report. Ask to see each. Linkme's page pairs Link AI's roles with a publishing queue, a Social Inbox, Campaigns, Analytics and Reports.

Measurement by role

Can you tell which role's work moved which number? Ask what is tracked and who receives the report. Link AI's Analytics covers profile views, link clicks, total interactions and engagement rate, and its analyst role writes the owner report and sends it.

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