Let's face it: when it comes to social media tools, your phone's native camera app just won't cut it anymore. You need to bring in the heavy artillery. And no, we don’t mean a ring light! We're talking about tools and apps that are the superheroes of the social media realm. With powerful tools, you can schedule posts, analyze data, create engaging images, and even engage with your audience while you sip your morning latte. After all, social media marketing isn’t as simple as posting coffee pics ad hoc. Any seasoned social media marketer knows that a powerful presence relies on a carefully thought out strategy. Read on to learn about the must-have social media marketing tools that will help you carry out your strategy with ease.
The right tool increases your productivity and takes some of the stress out of social media management
Investing in the right tools is a key investment in your brand. Just because success can happen “organically” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t devote resources to social media! From hiring the right team to giving them the tools to succeed, if you want to see results from your brand’s social media presence you need to devote time, energy, and budget to your socials. With the right tools and a non-shoe-string budget, your team will be on their way to making your brand a social media sensation! A great social media tool will:
Help your team do more in less time
Make it easier to carry out your social media strategy
Maintain consistency across platforms
Improve collaboration with your team
Track analytics and give you data-based insights
Elevate your overall presence
And more!
Sounds pretty good, right? As any seasoned social media star knows, mastering socials requires more than just charm and charisma. Whether you're a seasoned influencer, a small business owner, or just someone looking to up their Instagram game, we've got you covered. After all, it takes the right set of tools to help you navigate the world of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more. Finding the perfect tool for your social media journey unlocks a new synergy and flow for you and your team - and it’ll show in your KPIs! Deciding on a tool is tough, but we're here to help you decipher the tech lingo, sift through the endless options, and handpick the must-have tools that will elevate your social media game for years to come.
A solid toolkit will make you the best social media manager around
The World of Social Media Management Tools
Welcome to the exhilarating world of social media management! Let’s dive headfirst into the must-have tools that make running your social media empire a breeze - so you know what the options are when you get to deciding. Gone are the days of juggling multiple platforms and drowning in a sea of hashtags and emojis. With the right social media management tools in your arsenal, you can make social media management stress-free.
Defining the game changers
So, what are the magical tools that promise to transform your social media game? Social media management tools are your secret weapons, designed to help you schedule posts, monitor engagement, and track the performance of your content across various platforms.
The Kennedys of social media management
There are a lot of tools out there, and we’d be remiss if we thought we could cover every single one. From automation and scheduling to social listening and analytics, there are dozens of features to analyze across platforms (and dozens of platforms, for that matter). Some are all-in-one solutions, while others need some support from other tools. We’ll introduce you to a few of the classics.
Every brand needs a social media management tool to keep everything running
For more in-depth analysis of these tools and more, check out our roundup here.
This trusty sidekick allows you to schedule posts, engage with your audience, and even track social media conversations in one dashboard. It's like having a personal assistant for your tweets and updates. It’s as standard as a social media management tool can get, but pretty bare-bones.
Buffer is your go-to tool for scheduling and publishing content at the perfect times for maximum impact. Plus, it offers great analytics capabilities to help you fine-tune your strategy.
The Swiss Army knife of social media management, Sprout Social, offers scheduling, analytics, and social listening. It's like a superhero suit for your social media persona.
Synup Social has quickly become a favorite with agencies and small businesses alike. With revolutionary multi-brand and multi-location management capabilities, it makes juggling tasks (and sharing reports) simple. And don’t get us started on the AI-generated post creator!
Playing match-maker
With so many tools out there, how do you choose the one that's right for you? It's all about compatibility! Consider your needs, budget, and the platforms you frequent. Do you need robust analytics, or are you all about automation? Are you a solo artist or part of a social media squad? These are the questions that'll lead you to your perfect match.
Pro tip: Before committing to a tool, make use of free trials. Test the waters, explore the features, and see if it sparks joy in your social media journey. Remember, the best tool is the one that makes your life easier and your content shinier.
Next, we’ll cover content creation and design tools and capabilities. Read on to learn how to build visuals for your page that will make your audience go “OMG”.
Content creation is all about the vibes
Content Creation and Design Tools
How do you catch your audience’s attention? Let’s get visual! After all, posts with images can get up to 6x the engagement of text-only content. Of course, your competitors probably know about that stat, too. So let’s build visuals that will really stop your followers mid-scroll!
When it comes to social media, standing out is the name of the game. Your content needs to be more captivating than a viral cat video! Luckily, with the right tools (and attitude), you don't need a degree in design to create an engaging post. What you do need are the right tools in your creative arsenal 👀
The artistry of content creation
Now for the part you came for: the tools! While there are plenty of great tools out there, we’ll just introduce you to the big 3.
Canva
Everyone seems to use Canva these days. From middle schoolers making a snazzy presentation to social media managers without graphic designers on-staff, Canva is your one-stop shop. It’s intuitive, free, and sleek. What more could you want?
Adobe Creative Cloud
Want to take your content creation skills to the next level? Adobe Creative Cloud is your next step. With applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, you’ll be ready to produce the type of content that will have followers in your dms asking for a tutorial!
Unfold
If you love Instagram Stories, Unfold is your new best friend. With customizable templates and aesthetic fonts and decorations, you can make your Stories swipe-up worthy!
Design tools will keep your brand's aesthetic in check
Pro tips for content creation
Consistency is key: Use templates and your brand colors to make things consistent and cohesive. Your audience will start recognizing your vibe, and they’ll start looking forward to seeing your signature style on their feed.
Quality over quantity: It's not about how much you post; it's about the quality of your content. Spend time making something that stops your followers mid-scroll, and you’ll be smashing your engagement goals.
Tell a story: A picture is worth 1000 words, and that couldn’t be more true on social media. Whether it's the journey of your brand, a behind-the-scenes glimpse, or a customer success story, storytelling is great fodder for your feed.
With the right content creation and design tools in your pocket, you'll be ready to level up your feed and nail your brand’s aesthetic. The vibes will be vibing in no time!
Analytics and Reporting Tools
Some people are left-brained, and some people are right-brained. Turns out they both belong in social media management! While half the battle is honing and maintaining a certain je ne sais quoi for your brand, the other half is figuring out whether your careful work is actually yielding results. After all, your social media strategy is part of your overall marketing and business plan, and you need to have numbers to show you’re on the right track. Deciding which tool you want to use (or if you need an off-platform tool) will depend on your KPIs, of course.
Keeping tabs on analytics will keep your strategy in check
The titans of analytics
It’s not enough to post and pray! Here are a few tools that will help you figure out whether your strategy is really working.
Google Analytics
When it comes to web analytics, Google Analytics is the OG. With GA, you can track your performance and show you who’s visiting, what they're doing, and how long they're sticking around. Plus, it can even tell you which social media platforms are driving the most traffic. Hellooooo, conversion tracking!
Meta Business Insights
If Facebook and Instagram are your main squeezes, the Meta Business interface should be of help to you. You can get details about your page's performance, audience demographics, and the reach of your posts. While we wouldn’t recommend most platform-specific analytics systems, Meta Business Insights is helpful since it covers two of the most popular platforms for brands.
Along with many of the other social media management tools we mentioned above, Sprout Social offers analytics. While the quality (and helpfulness) of the analytics features vary, Sprout Social has a solid offering. And if you’re already using it, you may as well do everything in one place!
Synup Social offers unique, post-by-post analytics that make it easy to determine exactly what’s driving your day-to-day engagement. That way, when you’re building next month’s post calendar, you have a blueprint for what made your audience feral.
The right tool will give you a clear picture of your performance
Pro tips
Set solid goals: You remember the old “set SMART goals” thing from middle school, right? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals are the foundation of effective social media analytics. What do you want to achieve, and how will you measure it? Deciding this will guide your strategy and help you choose what to focus on.
Track key metrics: Which metrics matter most to your goals? It could be engagement rates, click-through rates, or conversion rates. Don't get lost in the data - choosing a few key metrics that are relevant to your overall business goals will help you narrow down your activities.
Regular check-ins: Don't wait for your annual report to check your data! Regularly check your analytics to spot trends, track progress, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
And just like that, we’re on to the next section. Remember, with the right analytics and reporting tools, you're ready to turndata into aligned action.
Social Listening and Monitoring Tools
Ready to be a social media detective? Don’t worry - we’re not talking about Sherlock Holmes. We’re talking about social listening! Social listening tools empower you to eavesdrop on digital conversations, uncover hidden insights, and become a master of online sleuthing. You can get to know your audience, track mentions, assess sentiment, and more. If analytics give you a picture of how you’re performing overall, social listening shows you the nitty gritty, day-to-day interactions that drive your growth and visibility.
The art of digital eavesdropping
Wouldn’t it be nice to hear what your audience is saying about your brand, your industry, and your competitors? Good news: with the right tool, you can. That's the power of social listening!
The spies of social media
There are a lot of tools out there that can help you get the 411 on brand mentions and industry chatter, but here are a few of the most popular.
Mention
Think of Mention as your personal spy. It scours the internet for mentions of your brand, products, or keywords, letting you know who's talking about you and what they're saying.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch delves deep into social data, helping you understand trends, track sentiment, and uncover valuable insights about your audience and competitors.
Talkwalker
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of the web, Talkwalker is your new BFF. It monitors social media, news sites, blogs, and forums to give you a comprehensive view of your online presence.
Pro tips for social media monitoring
Stay engaged: Don't just listen; engage! Respond to comments, answer questions, and join the conversation. Social listening isn't about lurking - it's about building relationships.
Competitive analysis: Use social listening to spy on your competitors. What are they doing right, and where are they slipping up? You can learn a lot from your nemeses!
PIVOT!: Be ready to pivot your strategy based on what you discover. Trends and conversations can change in an instant, so stay agile and be ready to shake things up.
With the right social listening and monitoring tools, you can stay on the pulse and learn who’s saying what about your brand, industry, and competitors. Staying ahead of the curve has never been easier. And now that you’re armed with knowledge, it’s time to boost your visibility!
Being a detective pays off!
Advertising and Promotion Tools
Organic growth is great, but what if you could speed up the process of becoming an overnight sensation by a few years? Say hello to promos and ads - the combo that will boost your reach to people who might become your biggest fans. Using a tool to help curate your ads will help mitigate spend, direct your posts to the right audience, and more. Let’s get into it!
The art of digital promotion
Getting noticed isn't just a goal - it’s a must. That's where advertising and promotion tools come to the rescue. They boost your visibility to new levels and expose your brand to untapped audiences, speeding up your growth while guaranteeing that you get eyes on the posts you work so hard on.
The Donald Drapers of social media
Ready to get into it? Here are the tools to know:
Meta Business Suite Ads Manager
If you're looking to target specific audiences on Instagram or Facebook, head to Meta Business Suite! It lets you create and manage ads, customize audiences, and track performance on both platforms. Some tools, like Synup Social, are even integrated with Meta Business Suite, enabling you to boost or promote posts straight from your normal social media management platform.
Google Ads
It’s no secret that Google dominates search. Buying ads on Google ensures your brand appears right where your potential customers are searching, whether it's on Google's search results or across partner websites.
Twitter Ads
Want to join the conversation in real-time? Twitter Ads lets you promote tweets to reach a wider audience, capitalize on trending topics, and spark engagement.
Ads get more eyes on your content
Pro tips for advertising mavens
Know thy audience: The key to successful advertising is understanding your audience's needs and preferences. Tailor your ad content to resonate with them.
Test, test, test!: Don't just set and forget. Continuously test different ad formats, headlines, and visuals to find what works best for your goals.
Stick to a budget: Set a clear budget and stick to it. Digital advertising can be cost-effective, but it's easy to overspend if you're not careful.
With the right advertising and promotion tools, you can boost your posts and expose them to your brand. When it comes to social media, visibility is key! Once you get the right eyes on your content, you’ll see growth like never before.
Community Management and Engagement Tools
The best way to stay on your followers’ minds? Build a community they actually want to be a part of. Once you build a community around your brand, you’ll transform your social media presence into an engaged, buzzing hive of activity.
The heartbeat of social media
Building a vibrant and engaged community is the same as building your brand’s personal fan club. Here are the tools that will help you on your community-building journey:
Sprout Social
Sprout Social again? That’s right - it isn't just about scheduling and analytics; it also helps with managing your social media community. With the inbox feature, you can seamlessly respond to messages and comments from all your social platforms in one place, effectively managing relationships with your fans.
Zendesk
If you want to take your community management to the next level, Zendesk is the place for you. It provides top-notch customer support, making your customers feel heard and valued whenever they have a question or issue.
Hootsuite Inbox
Hootsuite is back on the scene with its Inbox feature, designed to streamline your community management efforts. It keeps your messages organized - so you never miss an opportunity to engage with your audience.
Communicating with your fans will keep you tuned into what they want and need
Pro tips for community builders
Listen actively: Effective community management starts with active listening. Pay attention to what your audience is saying, their pain points, and their desires, and you can create content that really resonates with them.
Be authentic: Authenticity goes a long way in building trust. Be sure to respond to comments and messages genuinely. Bring a touch of humanity to your interactions with customers. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll earn a loyal fan!
Create a safe space: Foster a community where members feel safe to express themselves. Moderate comments and ensure that nobody is saying anything that goes against your values or makes others feel unwelcome or unsafe.
Building strong connections is what community management is all about! With the right community management and engagement tools, you can turn your social media following into a community that will serve your brand for years to come.
Automation and Scheduling Tools
If you’re overwhelmed with the tools and the tasks and the work ahead of you, we’ve got your back. When it comes to scheduling your posts and carrying out your strategy, an automation tool is your new best friend.
Automation makes your life easier and ensures nothing slips through the cracks!
The age of automation
Staying on top of your posting schedule and engagement is easier said than done. You can build a plan - but executing it consistently will make or break your strategy. That's where automation and scheduling tools save the day, so you can be everywhere at once (without actually being online).
The wizards of automation
The best way to automate your scheduling? With a tool, of course. Save yourself hours by using a tool built with convenience in mind. Here are some of our favorites:
Zapier
Zapier’s automation library is seriously impressive. From Slack to LinkedIn Ads and more, Zapier connects your favorite apps. It can do everything from automatically posting your blog updates to social media to sending thank-you emails to new followers.
SocialBee
If you're a social media content curator, SocialBee is worth a look. It lets you categorize and schedule posts according to your content strategy, ensuring a consistent flow of fresh content with less grunt work upfront.
Later
Later is perfect for planning and scheduling Instagram posts, stories, and videos in advance, complete with a drag-and-drop calendar for easy management.
Keep your strategy running smoothly with automation tools
Pro tips for automation mavens
Plan ahead: Plan your content calendar in advance. That way, you don’t have to be hovering over your computer every time it’s time for a new post. Consistency is key! And now, you can automate that consistency.
Stay engaged: Automation is fantastic, but don’t forget to keep engaging with your audience. Automation can make you removed from your brand’s community, but it’s crucial that you don’t abandon the fans you worked so hard to get. A blend of automation and real-time interaction strikes the perfect balance.
Test and optimize: Keep an eye on the performance of your scheduled posts. Social media isn’t just set it and forget it, after all. Always keep revising your content and your strategy so you stay on top of changing trends and optimize engagement!
Now, you’re the master of your time and your schedule. The right tools should save you time and energy - not give you a headache. Make sure your tech stack is working for you!
Emerging Trends and Future Tools
Social media is always changing. And if you want your brand to be at the forefront, you’d better keep up!
Keeping an eye on what's hot keeps you at the forefront of trends and innovation
The social media crystal ball
When it comes to socials, staying stagnant is not an option. To thrive in the world of social media marketing, you have to keep your finger on the pulse of the latest trends.
The trailblazers of tomorrow
AI-powered chatbots: Say hello to your new assistants! AI-powered chatbots are improving the user experience, fielding customer inquiries and providing information ASAP.
Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR): Get ready to step into the virtual realm. VR and AR are already changing the customer experience. From virtual try-ons to fun filters, the technologies bring the in-person experience to people in their homes. As the technology becomes more popular (and more accessible), think: how can my brand capitalize on this?
Voice search optimization: "Hey Siri, how can I optimize for voice search?" Voice search is on the rise, and it’s crucial that your content is visible to voice assistants like Siri or Google.
Pro tips for trendsetters
Stay curious: To stay on top of new trends, you need to be curious. Embrace learning and exploration, and don’t be afraid to try out new things.
Experiment fearlessly: Don't be afraid to experiment with emerging tools and trends! You don’t need to adopt every new technology, but trying them out will help inspire you and keep your socials fresh.
The customer is always right: Always keep your audience at the center of everything you do!
Keep tabs on innovation and stay trendy to keep connecting with your customers and building a loyal and engaged community!
Ready to gain followers?
Putting Your Tools to Use
Now you know the 411 on what tools are out there, you’re ready to add to your tech stack. Assess your needs, learn what’s out there, and choose the tool for you.
To stay at the top of your game, keep these tips in mind:
Authenticity is key: Authenticity is as good as gold on socials. Keep it human with your audience so you can build lasting customer relationships.
Stay data-driven: Your strategy needs to be data-driven to drive results and help you meet your goals. Keep an eye on your analytics so you know what you’re doing well - and where you have room to improve.
Keep an ear to the ground: Social listening tools help you understand your audience better. Then, you can build social campaigns that tap into what’s hot!
Innovation nation: Don't shy away from emerging trends and future tools. Experiment, test, and test some more.
Build community: Your fans are your biggest advocates. Build a community that will serve your business!
Automation is your best friend: Save time and energy by investing in smart automation tools, batch-tasking, and scheduling posts in advance.
Keep learning: Stay on top of what’s trendy and keep an eye on what’s hot in your industry.
With the right tools, strategies, and creativity, your socials will be popping off in no time. No matter what tools you use or what strategy you implement, remember that the key to success lies in your willingness to learn, adapt, and, above all, connect with your audience.
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