You’re already sold on the benefits of social media for your business – you know it can increase your visibility, help build your brand, connect you with potential suppliers, improve your website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and generate more leads.
So you also probably know what a drain on your time it can be. We’ve all been there, you log on to Facebook and two hours later you’re still ‘laughing-out-loud’ at YouTube videos of cats playing the piano…
While it’s good to throw yourself into social networking, you don’t want it to take away from actually running your business. Using social media management tools can be a good way to combat this.
Here’s a list of some tools that I like or that have been recommended to me. Of course, scheduling posts shouldn’t replace actually interacting with people online – you should ideally aim to do both.
Where Facebook is concerned, you might also want to consider the effect one of these third-party apps could have on your Edgerank (the algorithm Facebook uses to decide how many people see your status updates).
So take a look at my list of social media management tools, and find the ones that will help you get ahead in your business.
Use tools to manage your social networking
Hootsuite
My personal favourite. Designed to ‘save your time and sanity’, the Hootsuite dashboard offers a simple solution for monitoring, engaging and measuring your social media networks. It enables you to schedule messages to be sent out across various platforms, and provides customised reports using social analytics tools. It also allows you to manage multiple accounts at the same time.
Free, or $9.99 a month for upgraded version
Tweetdeck
Billed as ‘Your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now’, Tweetdeck is a Twitter app that allows you to arrange your feeds into manageable columns and then filter them so you only see what matters to you. You can also schedule your tweets, and you can monitor and manage unlimited accounts. Very good for filtering content, however, as of May this year, Tweetdeck will be available as a web app only, and will no longer support Facebook integration.
Free
Buffer
With Buffer you can click on interesting articles, videos or images whilst surfing the net, and they will automatically be shared with your networks throughout the day. The app allows you to post to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A handy tool that you can use in conjunction with other apps.
Free, with options to upgrade
Vertical Response
The Vertical Response social media marketing app claims it can help you to publish an entire campaign for the month in less than 20 minutes. It allows you to post the same image, link or status update to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in one go, or you can schedule an entire month’s campaign in advance.
$18 per month
Sprout Social
This tool aims to streamline your social media efforts, by allowing you to manage your social presence across various networking channels, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and more. It enables you to monitor your activity and check analytics – you can compare yourself with competitors, check past conversations with customers and make searches based on location.
$9 per month
For more help with your social networking, take a look at these secrets of a successful social media campaign and to really supercharge your efforts, why not try some of these tips for improved social media.
Do you have any thoughts or questions about these or any other social media management tools? Leave a comment below and let me know. And for help with your social media campaign tweet me at @DinaBehrman, or contact me here.
