FOR SAVING TIME WHILE MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
- Hootsuite: Most people have heard about this tool already, but it still deserves a shout out. I have connected my facebook and twitter accounts to it, and through the dashboard I am able to comb through content as well as post/schedule updates. The built-in URL shortener is super handy, as is the image upload feature. If you are looking for an alternative, check out Sprout Social
- MeetEdgar: If you are currently using Hootsuite or Buffer and want to kick it up a notch, definitely check out MeetEdgar. Personally, I am not quite there yet with the amount or breadth of social media posts I have, but the tool is on my radar for 2017. MeetEdgar does the basic social media scheduling that Hootsuite does but offers a library feature to rotate in older posts that meet certain criteria. For example, if you have nothing schedule to go out with a 3 hour block, MeetEdgar will look to your library and specified rules and send out something for you.
- TailWindApp: If you are looking to schedule your pinning and get useful Pinterest analytics, then TailWindApp is for you. You can create a pin schedule to schedule multiple pins at once with their Google Chrome extension. Monitor your brand, boards, and individual pins to see what’s trending and what is driving visitors to your site. Slightly more basic (and cheaper) version is Boardbooster, though the free version of TailWind is pretty sweet!
- IFFFT: This is a pretty nifty service that let’s you connect multiple apps or services together. You create “recipes” which are simple connections between products and apps. For example, one of my recipes is to post an instagram images with a particular hashtag to a specific board on Pinterest.
- Repost App for Instagram (Apple App or Android App): Use this app to repost photos and videos from Instagram. Save time using this tool instead of saving and cropping screenshots!
BUILDING YOUR TRIBE
- Tweepi: This is a Twitter tool that will help you get more followers quickly. Instead of spending hours trying to find and engage with users on Twitter,Tweepi helps find your targeted group of users. You can use Tweepi to engage and interact with them by ‘following’, ‘adding to list’ or ‘@mentioning’ them on Twitter
- Circloscope – Google+: A way to manage your Google+ Circles. You can find your followers, people that don’t follow you back, and people followed in your circle. Also, search for relevant people in your circles.
- Instagress: Similar to Tweepi, Instagress let’s you auto like, comment and follow posts/users that meet criteria set by you. Word of caution, Instagram knows when you don’t play by their rules and will shut down your account. If doing anything automated, do it on the slowest, least invasive way possible and be sure to log in and dedicate some of your actual time to building your Instagram community.
FOR SPICING UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
- Bit.ly: This online tool let’s you create shortened URLs to use in social media, etc. You are also able to analyze the URL click-through numbers and dig into who is engaging with your content and where they are hanging out.
- Hashtagify.me: I started using this tool recently and am loving it. By effectively using hashtags, you can help grow your business, build brand awareness and market to the correct audience. Hashtagify.me helps you find the best hashtags for your brand so you can get noticed.
FOR CREATING KICK-ASS GRAPHICS
- Canva: Probably one of the fastest growing user bases out of all the tools listed, Canva continually pops up as people’s favourite new kid on the block. What’s awesome is that it’s super simple and very fast to create all the graphics you need for social media. I use it to create my blog post’s featured image, Instagram quote posts and Twitter images. Though, if you are doing serious graphic design or photo editing, you’ll still need Illustrator and Photoshop!
- Pixlr (Apple App or Android App): My go-to app for editing photos on my smartphone. Easy to use with lots of options.
- Unsplash: One of my favourite places to get free hi-res photos, sign up and you’ll be notified when the 10 new images get published each week. Check out a post post, 7 Places to Get Royalty Free Photos That Every Online Empire Builder Should Know About, for a longer list of awesome royalty-free photo options.
- Coolors: Super simple, and fun, to use color scheme generator for all your branding and design needs.
- Piktochart: I have tried a few inforgraphic creators and I found that Piktochart was really awesome. While Canva has introduced an infographic template, there are lots of limitations. If you love visually presenting your ideas or data, check out Piktochart.
- Coverr: Like the Unsplash of videos, 7 new free videos are posted every week for your downloading pleasure. If you are looking for vintage footage, you should check out Pond5.
FOR FINDING WICKED CONTENT TO SHARE
- Reddit: Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” has a massive community of users who are constantly adding content to the site. Know how to navigate the subreddits and you’ll quickly be on your way to finding relevant content to share with your audience.
- Buzzsumo: Find out what is being shared across all social networks. Find influencers in your niche, review content and share it. You can also set up alerts to receive notifications when content is published mentioning saved keywords. Free version gives you a limited number of results, so if you want more options, you’ll have the start paying.
- Scoop.It: Build a calendar of when content needs to be scheduled for your blog, social media and newsletters. The tool pulls content from millions of websites each day and will deliver personalized content to you that you can use.
- Bloglovin: Sign up to follow your favourite blogs.
- Feedly: Content aggregator Feedly ensures you don’t miss content from a huge number of publications, blogs and YouTube channels. You can organize your content, save it for later and search for content that interests you, and most importantly share it via Hootsuite.
- Post Planner – Part content curator and part management tool, Post Planner offers both services for a relatively low monthly fee. Focused on getting engagement, the tool posts content to Facebook and Twitter that according to them is scientifically proven to get results.
FOR MANAGING ALL YOUR ASSETS LIKE A PRO
- Google Drive : I seriously don’t know if I could live without Google Drive, really all the google products. I have Google Drive’s application installed on my laptop so it appears as if it was a drive on my computer.
- LastPass: I’ve been using LastPass for over a year and it’s proven to be super helpful. You can store your passwords in your “vault”, share with other LastPass users, and generate secure passwords on the fly.
- DropBox: DropBox keeps your files synced, stored and easily shareable. Personally, I use Google Drive for this, but I know others love DropBox.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of tools out there and this is just a sprinkling of them. If you use an awesome tool that saves time, makes you more product or helps your business make more money – let me know!
