Whether you handle the social media accounts for one business or juggling multiple accounts for multiple businesses, there are so many tools out there that can help you get the job done efficiently and effectively! We have decided to dive into several tools that we at Social Ape use daily to make the most of our time and work. Hootsuite: Hootsuite should be your go-to tool for Twitter. It allows you to do everything you can do on Twitter, like tweet, retweet, direct message, view the Twitter feed, etc. But it takes Twitter a step further by allowing you to control multiple accounts at once and schedule your tweets in advance. This is a complete life-saver!
Sprout Social: Sprout Social is an extremely user-friendly social media dashboard with a clean and intuitive interface. At Social Ape, we use Sprout Social to monitor keywords for our clients’ businesses, find social media users who would be interested in our clients’ brands, and promptly handle customer service issues. We also use Sprout Social to schedule out content and create stunning analytics reports.
Evernote: This tool organizes all your social media materials in one place at the ease and convenience of your laptop or smart phone. Your notes, reminders, blog content ideas, photos, documents and more will be stored for you to access whenever you need. You can also share content with clients or employees, which is great for brainstorming ideas or keeping social media log-in passwords where social media managers can access them.
Buffer: Is an amazing social media management tool, especially for handling large or multiple accounts (although you do have to upgrade for multiple accounts on one social network). You can schedule posts for Twitter, Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn in advance, get detailed analytics, and share content easily with a Buffer extension. You can also download the extension and share photos, text, web pages at the click of the Buffer button.
PicMonkey:PicMonkey is a free picture-editing website. It’s easy to use and has quality options for editing pictures, making memes, etc.
Canva: I brag on Canva a lot, but it’s not without merit. This website is hands down the best program to make images for any marketing material you could ever need. It comes with pre-made customized image sizes for Facebook posts, Facebook Ads, Twitter posts, email headers, Instagram posts, invitations, fliers, etc. to make it easy to use proper image sizes for social media posts. It has millions of icons, backgrounds and graphics for free or awesome stock photos and illustrations you can purchase for $1. This website may as well be photoshop for people who don’t have the time or knowledge to deal with layers.
Iconosquare: Iconosquare is analytics tool you need for Instagram. All you have to do is log-in with an Instagram account and it lets you view posts, comments, messages, etc. Click Statistics at the top of the page and in 5-10 minutes you will receive an email with a report based on your Instagram activity and suggestions for optimizing it. It has other cool features like contests in your area, help for your own contests, help promoting your Instagram, etc.
Repost App: The Repost App is a great app to have for sharing other Instagram accounts’ Instagrams. Whether you are a restaurant wanting to share a customers’ picture of your food or simply love a quote that you want to share, it’s the easiest way to attribute where the photo came from, engage, and share Instagram pictures.
LikeAlyzer: LikeAlyzer will help you keep your Facebook on track with simple suggestions to make the most of your account. It gives insights into how many posts per day you should have, the optimal time to post, length of your posts, whether you should share more links or videos, and more! I actually don’t use this tool daily, but I plug in my multiple Facebook accounts every month-ish to see how I’m doing and what I could be doing better. It’s a free tool, all you have to do is paste the Facebook page’s URL and it gives you insights in 5 minutes or less.
Bit.ly: Bit.ly is a tool that takes links to a whole new level. Paste a long link into bit.ly and it will shorten the link, allow you to rename a bit.ly link like so, from “bit.ly/1JzTJT1” to “bit.ly/BPAOpenMicNight”, and give you stats on your links to see how many times it’s been clicked on. There’s no reason not to shorten and store your links in an organized fashion, while also keeping tabs on your link stats. Bit.ly makes it easy.
Are there other social media tools that you can’t live without? Let us know, we love learning about new ways to optimize social media!
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