5 social media tools to be using in 2018
How social media tools can save you time:
Sometimes it feels as there are just not enough hours in the day, especially when it comes to keeping on top of all your social media. From creating and publishing content to analytics and reporting. It can be quite overwhelming to think of all the jobs relating to social media that need to be completed every day, and that is without live content!Thankfully, there are a wide variety of impressive social media management tools available to help. These tools can help streamline your workflow, help you create awesome content and save you some time. Plus they can ensure your content reaches the right audience at the right time!
Here are 5 of our favourite social media tools:
1.Hootsuite
(There is a free plan that you can access and is perfect for individuals who want to start managing multiple networks, schedule content, and engage with their audience, all in one place. It is for 1 user only and allows you to manage up to 3 social media profiles and schedule a maximum of 30 messages at any one time).With Hootsuite, you can monitor keywords, manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Instagram and WordPress profiles. It allows you to schedule messages and measure your the success of your content. By using Hootsuite you can schedule your posts and any given time that suits your audience. Another great feature of Hootsuite is that it allows you to track key phrases and terms across other user’s posts to determine when your expertise could be beneficial. This can be an excellent way to bring in new clients, simply by being in tune with their needs!
2. Tweetdeck (this is a free web-based tool)
TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts. Like other Twitter applications it interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets, view profiles and also allows you to schedule tweets! Within the interface you can re-order the columns, delete them and add new ones from other Twitter accounts. You can also create columns for specific hashtags, trending topics and scheduled tweets.
3. Facebook scheduling (this is free and part of Facebook)
Scheduling on Facebook allows you to post more regularly and increase your posting, without spending all day on your Facebook page. This will allow for improved engagement from the regular and consistent content. By spending 15 minutes or so at the beginning of every day to schedule Facebook posts, you are freeing up the rest of your day for other marketing activities. Make sure that you have notifications enabled on any Facebook messages so that you can respond to any comments throughout the day.
4. IFTTT (If This Then That)
(a free tool that gets your apps and devices working together.)IFTTT is both a website and a mobile app which was launched in 2010. It has the slogan "Put the Internet to work for you" and is one of our favourite tools. The idea is that you use IFTTT to automate everything from your favourite apps and websites to app-enabled accessories and smart devices. An example would be ‘when I post to Facebook using the hashtag #TheMarketingCollective then it will automatically be 'tweeted’. By having this triggered it means that you do not then have to go onto Twitter separately and post the image. It also works well with Pinterest allowing selected images to appear as pins on your boards.Be careful though! If you have already enabled sharing across the apps themselves, you can end up in a loop of cross posting. So, try mapping out the connections before you set up too many social media tools.
5. Character Count Online
(this is a free web-based tool)Character Count Online is an online tool that lets you easily calculate and count the number of characters, words, sentences and paragraphs in your text. This will help to ensure that your messages are within the social media platforms’ limits. It not only counts characters, words, sentences, and paragraphs, but also tells you how many times you’ve used each word in a chunk of text. Handy or what?!Read the blog pages for more hints and tips for social media tools and social media marketing.