Social media, as we all know by now, is a fundamental part of any digital marketing strategy. It’s the quickest, most direct way to market your products or business to your audience, has fantastic advertising opportunities and is completely free to engage with. What could be better?
If you’re relatively new to social media marketing, we’ve rounded up our top 5 tools that can help you schedule content, take a peek at your analytics and even create bespoke graphics. Know of any other tools? Be sure to leave us a comment below!
Hootsuite
Perhaps the King of social media tools, Hootsuite is a fantastic platform for those looking to schedule content and manage various channels at once. It can be confusing having to dart between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Hootsuite allows you to check in with each one at the same time aross their easy-to-use management dashboard. The free plan does have restrictions: you can measure audience growth and plan ahead in terms of scheduling but you won’t have access to in-depth analytics. There are Pro plans that you can pay extra for and are certainly worth considering if you have the budget.
Sprout Social
This is a scheduling tool that our Social Media team here at BritWeb swear by and is definitely one to consider. Not only is the scheduling feature easy to use and manage, there’s a Discovery section that gives you tailored suggestions on people to follow on Twitter; a fantastic time-saving tool! The cheapest package is $60 a month but it’s worth it; and you can enjoy a 30 day free trial to get to grips with it.
Facebook Insights
Completely free to use and available as soon as your page hits 30 likes or more, Facebook Insights are a must for any social media marketer. Accessed via your company’s page, you can dig deep and uncover some invaluable stats about your performance and your audience; from the average age of your fans to the total reach your content has generated. It’s the best way to keep tabs on what you’re doing and how your content is performing and we’d recommend checking in with your Insights at least once a week to see what’s going on.
Google Analytics
We bet you’re thinking: “But isn’t Google Analytics for my website, not my social media?” In fact, the two come hand in hand and ideally, you shoud be using your social platforms where possible to encourage traffic to your website. Therefore, Google Analytics can really help you see how much referral traffic you’ve generated and whether or not people are visiting your site via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more. You can even track conversions from social media which can really help to paint a clear picture of how your audience is buying online.
PicMonkey
If Photoshop is perhaps a little daunting (or a bit pricey) for your liking, we’d recommend checking out PicMonkey. Essentially, it’s an image editing and creation tool that’s not only free but really easy to navigate. Upload an image and place text over the top; create bespoke logos or graphics; create a photo collage; the possibilities are endless! We love this tool for its simplicity and ability to make a stock image completely your own. Don’t forget: Facebook posts and tweets with an image receive around 150% more engagement than those without so great, engaging images are a must!