The Top 5 Must-Have Social Media Tools
Depending what level of the social media totem pole you’re on, what tools you use are always going to be an important part of the climb. You could just be starting out, or you could be a ninja and already know your favorites (if so we’d love to hear them). Either way, if you’re immersed in this modern realm, you know it’s an ever-changing one. Thus, staying on-trend and knowing what other gurus are using are two very important ventures.
Be it for your personal brand or your clients, managing social media boils down to a few things: creativity, research, staying incessantly up-to-date and having a handful of tools to help you execute along the way. Below are the key tools we believe you need to perform well and stay afloat in the social pond.
- Hootsuite – Social monitoring & scheduling
This is a vital tool when it comes to social media management, especially if you have a number of clients. Hootsuite lets you schedule posts out as far in advance as you want. They work with most of the big platforms, like Instagram, Facebook & Twitter. However, with Instagram, you still have to manually push your posts live. The post will pop up on your device at its scheduled time, but you still have to go through the motions of picking your filter or your preferred editing tactics in real time.
Another great aspect of Hootsuite is its social monitoring or listening features. Select a hashtag you’d like to track, or simply link your accounts so you know if they were mentioned by a consumer or other brand. This is a great way to keep up with what people are saying about your client or brand, so that you can respond or repost accordingly.
- Canva – Graphics in a jiffy
What would social media be without visuals? It wouldn’t be; that’s what. Canva is a super user-friendly tool that allows you to be your own makeshift graphic designer. They have ready-to-go templates for various social media platforms, or you can create something entirely from scratch. Upload your own pictures, slap on your logo, or dive in a little deeper and purchase their aesthetically pleasing graphics and make them your own.
Download your masterpieces to whichever format you need, PNG, JPG or even a PDF and you’re set! Post to social, upload to a blog, or use as a flyer. Canva is a quick & easy way to get beautiful custom graphics in a short amount of time.
- Analytics – Tools to track your performance
If you’ve successfully gained an audience and are starting to get traffic to your accounts or web pages, you must be doing something right! It’s incredibly important to track your performance. You can do this in a little known thing called Google Analytics for insights such as sessions from each platform, bounce rate, demographics etc., or the tool Sprout Social that provides more ingrained analytics for each platform.
Measuring KPI’s is not only valuable when it comes to knowing what you’re doing right, but also about what may not be going right. You could be allocating your budget to something that’s not performing well. These tools help you know exactly which path you should continue on to get the best ROI.
- iStock – Stock photo provider
Not everyone can be a photographer… or can they? There are lots stock photo sites out there to choose from so you can display your message visually. Choose a plan that’s right for you and start exploring thousands of pictures from photographers around the world.
- Bitly – Compressing your links
It’s the notorious #LinkInBio caption, or the click the link to shop or read the full article. Most of the time, Call to Action links hardly ever match their account name. That’s because if they actually displayed the web page they were going to, they would be super long! Bitly is a resource for shortening links so that their short & concise.
Pro tip: Before you make your Bitly link, put your URL into Google’s campaign builder. This creates a link you can track in Google Analytics. Then, copy and paste that link into Bitly and you have a beautifully made link!
Let’s Get Social
We hope you find these tools helpful on all your endeavors in the social media world! Let us know which tools you love to use and stay tuned for more tips on eCommerce, SEO, fulfillment & more.
