Every small business owner should have an effective social media strategy to succeed in the very competitive digital marketplace of today. By harnessing the power of social media, a small business can create customer loyalty, attract new customers, and increase revenue. Marketing tools plays vital roles here.
More businesses are using social media to boost their competitive advantage. In a 2019 survey, 77% of small businesses are found to use social media, with Facebook being the most popular platform of choice. Around 44% of local businesses also use social media to increase awareness and 41% use it to generate more revenue.
And the results are excellent: 50% of marketers report that the sales of their small businesses have increased due to social media promotion. As more businesses expand their digital marketing strategy, this figure is bound to increase in the next few years.
Don’t miss out on plenty of opportunities for growth using social media. For beginners, starting your company’s social media marketing campaign can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are free and paid tools that you can use to jumpstart your small business’s social media marketing strategy today. Here are eight tools that you can use:
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1) Hootsuite is a social media management tool that lets you schedule and post content to different social media channels, monitor the conversations about your business and niche, and measure and analyze results. Hootsuite offers many useful features, some are free but most are paid. If you want to make your social media strategy more efficient, you should definitely look check out Hootsuite.
Website: Hootsuite
2) Canva is an easy-to-use tool that lets non-designers create attractive and engaging images for posting on social media channels. They offer many free templates, fonts, and colors as well as an easy to use drag and drop interface. Canva is free to use, with a paid tier offering more design options like templates.
Website: Canva
3) IFTTT which means “If This Then That”, offers automation of your social media workflow. Using IFTT, you can create custom triggers that are essentially a set of instructions for what you want to happen. These are called ‘applets’. In an applet, you create a sequence of triggers on what you want to accomplish. For example, you can create an applet that posts the same update on Twitter and Instagram every time you post something on Facebook.
Website: IFTTT
4) Everypost is another social media manager that provides its users with the basics, including social media posting, collaboration on posts, and scheduling. However, Everypost doesn’t have more advanced features like insights or post-approval processes. Everypost also offers a wide array of plans that are tailored to your company’s needs. They do have free memberships but a monthly $9.99 pro plan is recommended.
Website: Everypost
5) Buffer is another social media scheduling tool but has a cleaner interface and simpler analytics features. Just like Hootsuite, you can share content across multiple accounts and networks from one dashboard. Buffer also has a Chrome extension that makes it easier to post on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. They also have a very informative blog offering guides and case studies you can learn from.
Website: Buffer
6) Social Clout is a social media analytics tool that helps you track engagement and calculate social media ROI. When you use Social Clout, you get access to important metrics such as which demographic provides the best engagement and conversion rates.
Website: Social Clout
7) Feedly is a news aggregator or RSS feed reader that helps you find inspiration for your content ideation. Just add RSS feeds from your favorite blogs and websites and Feedly will create your daily magazine curated by topic. Feedly is a great way to stay up to date with your industry’s latest trends and listen in on the conversations around your niche. This app also integrates with other apps like Buffer and Hootsuite.
Website: Feedly
8) Socedo is a B2B demand generation tool that helps you automate lead generation by discovering and acquiring leads via social media platforms instead of email as in most demand-gen platforms. Socedo uses keywords and demographic criteria to find and engage prospects from across different social media channels.
Website: Socedo
These are just a few of the thousands of tools that you can use to streamline your social media marketing strategy. Whether you are just starting to establish your business’ social media presence or aiming to grow it across social media channels, these tools will definitely help in your day to day tasks.
Author bio:
Dexter Baldon is an SEO and Content Specialist of Inkjets.com, a trusted supplier of remanufactured and compatible printer inks and toner cartridges. Inkjets.com has been providing small businesses a more affordable solution to printer ink.
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