The internet is a great source of knowledge and support, especially when it comes to running your business. Getting going with social media might seem daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone. To help you get started, we’ve selected some of the best tools for you.
If you’re looking for the best tools to add to your marketing arsenal, then check out the following social media marketing tools.
Buffer
Social media marketing can be a time-consuming task if you want to get it right. This is where automation comes in, helping you save loads of time on social media. With Buffer, you can create your own posting schedule that determines when your content is sent to your social platforms.
Just select your timezone, the days you want to post, and the times you want to post on each day. You then add posts to your Buffer and select which profiles you want them shared to. They will then be shared on your selected profiles according to the schedule you have set.
You can connect the following social media profiles to your Buffer account:
Buffer offers a free version for single users. With this, you can add up to 3 social profiles and schedule up to 10 posts at a time. If you want to add more profiles or schedule more posts, then you can subscribe to one of their paid plans, starting at $15 per month (approx. £12).
You can also monitor your social profiles using Buffer. Its built-in analytics and reporting tools show you how well your posts have performed on each platform, allowing you to tailor your social media strategy in order to improve performance.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is another social media management tool that’s a great alternative to Buffer. With Hootsuite, you can manage your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles from one place.
Like Buffer, Hootsuite allows you to schedule posts in advance, although it does not use the same scheduling mechanic as Buffer. When creating a post, you select the time and date it will be published. This makes the process a little more manual but also more flexible compared to Buffer.
Through your calendar view, you can see all of the posts you have scheduled to go out. This is helpful when managing your content, preventing you from sharing too much or too little in a single day.
Hootsuite’s column view allows you to view your posts and interact through your social profiles from one place, rather than logging into each website individually. Select which columns you want to see, such as retweets, mentions, replies, likes, etc. You can then share or reply to posts directly from here.
Like Buffer, Hootsuite also offers a free membership as well as paid memberships. The free version allows for 1 user, 3 social profiles, and up to 30 scheduled posts. The paid versions start from £25 per month, and a 30-day free trial is available for these.
BuzzSumo
The above two tools make it easier for you to post and share content on social media, but how do you find the best content to post? With content curation tools like Buzzsumo! Because social media isn’t just about creating original content; it’s also about sharing existing content that you think your followers will find interesting.
With Buzzsumo’s Content Analyzer, you can see the most popular articles related to a particular keyword or phrase. Various metrics are shown, such as the number of Facebook engagements and Twitter shares each article has received.
Let’s say you own a clothing store. Your audience on social media is likely to be interested in fashion. You could type “fashion trends” into the search bar at the top of the Content Analyzer page and see all the latest articles mentioning this keyword that have been shared a lot online. Browse through the articles listed, click on them to read more, and share them on your social media profiles if you think they’re interesting.
Then there’s the Influencers tab, which allows you to find the most influential people on social media for a given topic. By searching for fashion influencers, for example, you could find some great profiles to follow and take inspiration from on social media.
Buzzsumo does offer a free plan, but the number of searches and search filters are pretty limited. The paid plans start from $79 per month (approx. £63), and you can try a 7-day free trial to test it out before committing to anything.
Mention
An important part of social media marketing is managing your online reputation. Luckily, there’s a tool to help you do this – Mention. This online tool will notify you whenever your brand name is mentioned on social media or other places across the web. This helps you monitor how your brand is perceived by people online.
Tracking brand mentions is also helpful for customer service. Maybe you get alerted about a tweet from someone complaining about your brand or your products. Left unchecked, this comment could damage your reputation. But since Mention has notified you about it, you can respond to this tweet and offer to help your disgruntled customer, turning a negative into a positive for you and the customer.
You can create other Mention alerts allowing you to monitor your competitors, for example, or a topic relevant to your brand. The free version of Mention only allows 1 alert and 1 social account, but you can pay $25 per month (approx. £20) for a plan that gives you 2 mentions and 2 accounts.
Social media and more…
There you have it. These 4 social media marketing tools will help you to find content, share it, and analyse it all afterward. If you’re looking for more analytics and reports, then check out the on-site analytics for each of your social media sites.
