Social Media Toolbox

by Ciara Koth

Social media is a key ingredient in implementing a successful online marketing strategy.

It’s vital that a brand be able to consistently produce inspiring, educational or entertaining content and be active on the social media channels accessed by its audiences.

Last week, we shared our favourite tools for digital marketing, and today we’re going to look at the social media tools we love and advise you try out for you and your business. Many of the tools we talk about in this blog post are also featured in our social media training courses.

There’s an array of tools on the market, and navigating them can be a nightmare. So we’re here to share our wisdom on the tools that will save you time and help you get the best results from your social media marketing.

Scheduling and discovery

MeetEdgar - We love this easy-to-use scheduling tool. Our favourite feature has to be categories, which allows you to create content to be published randomly at selected times. We’re also fans of their variations tool, where you can create multiple versions of the same post - great for testing copy.

Hootsuite - This popular social media engagement console will help you keep track of social conversations on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more, all in one convenient location.

Brandwatch - It’s no secret we are big fans of this social media listening tool. It’s the best tool on the market for in-depth information on social conversations, demographic reports and much more.

Feedly - This handy tool allows you to keep tabs on your favourite online blogs, magazines, newspapers and share them directly to your social platforms.

How to create beautiful social imagery

Canva - A favourite tool of Social Media Managers everywhere! Canva is a place where you can create your own professional-looking social images, blog graphics or customised quotes which you can then share to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Unfold - Smarten-up your Stories with pre-built templates. Add multiple videos and images and add text/overlays.

Giphy - Discover or create animated files to share on your social media platforms.

Tools for Twitter

Twitonomy - Track the daily growth of your followers, receive search analytics on hashtags and download reports on tweets, mentions or RTs. Get the stats and data you need to improve your Twitter performance.

Hashtagify.me - Ever been stumped thinking of the best hashtag to use? This tool can help! It's great for analysing trending hashtags and discover the best ones to grow your reach.

Followerwonk - Explore and analyse who your Twitter followers are, where they are located, when they are tweeting and much more.

Fire-up your Facebook

Likealyzer - Understand the impact of your Facebook page through reports and metrics with this tool. A reliable way to audit not only your own page but also your competitors’ Facebook page.

Socialbakers - This is a social media analytics tool with useful stats around popular Facebook Pages. Great for that all important competitor research and industry benchmarks.

Supercharge your social advertising

Smartly - This platform automates the repetitive work necessary with social advertising, leaving you more time to be creative or focus on your strategy.

4C - If you have a big budget for media spend, we highly recommend you look into 4C for your media buying needs. We love its focus on helping you find the right audiences and relieving you of repetitive advertising tasks.

Discover how to use these tools and more on one of our social media training courses.

Looking for more tools? Check out our Digital Marketing Toolbox.