Five Types of Tools You Need For Social Media Management
Whether you’re just starting your social media accounts, or you’re a seasoned veteran, there are always companies saying they have THE solution to all of your social media woes. After years in the business, we’ve come up with five types of tools that ACTUALLY make your life easier when managing your social media accounts.
Now veterans… I’m talking to you. These five types of tools might not be revolutionary to you, but before you exit the window, can you count to like 10 Mississippi for me so I don’t get a terrible bounce rate on this article? Kidding! (Kind of)
1) Graphic Design Tools - Don’t Let Them Scare You
As soon as we say “graphic design tools” many people think of Adobe products like photoshop and sometimes get intimidated. But there are actually a variety of tools out there that don’t require a lot of tech background to use. In fact, tools like Canva and Crello have pre-designed templates created by graphic designers for your use. You can simply switch up the colors, text, and pictures, and Voilà! That’s not to say the Adobe products aren’t a good option, in fact, they have their own similar concept called Adobe Spark. However, we think Canva and Crello are the best tools for any experience level. And perhaps the best part, they have free versions!
2) A “Link in my Bio” Landing Page
This is extremely important for Instagram accounts. As many of you know, Instagram does not allow for “clickable” links in regular posts. And that “swipe up” feature for stories? You have to have over 10,000 followers in order to access that feature. So for the rest of us mere mortals, the one link you get in your bio is precious.
Instead of having to change out the link every time you refer to a new one on a post, story, etc. it’s useful to use a tool that creates a landing page of sorts for your followers. Popular and affordable options include Linktr.ee, url.bio, Lnk.Bio, and many more. We personally use Linktr.ee and have enjoyed the Canva integration and analytics platform.
3) A Social Media Scheduling Tool
Believe it or not, a social media scheduling tool can free up time for you to work on your business. Getting into a habit of planning your content and scheduling it ahead of time leaves more time for you to focus on the other parts of your business. We know, we know. We can hear your groans over here after we said that. It can feel daunting or challenging at first, but we suggest trying to schedule three posts per week and increase if you can from there. We’ll be doing another blog post on this topic, so stay tuned!
The more you do it, the easier it gets. Try to schedule one week ahead of time, then try to increase it to one month. This isn’t to say you can’t create content on-demand or to make sure you don’t miss a trend, but we want to make your life as easy as possible when it comes to social media.
There are a ton of different options out there and it can be hard to cut through the noise. When choosing a tool that’s right for you, here are some items to consider:
Does the tool also have an analytics feature?
Looking at analytics on the social media platforms themselves isn’t always easy. In fact, Facebook is actually just announced they will be getting rid of their analytics platform. You will still be able to get analytics from Facebook moving forward, but it will be easier to connect your account to a social media tool that aggregates the information in a simple dashboard.
Does the tool offer a “best time to post” feature?
This feature isn’t vital to your success, but it is a nice bonus. These tools use AI to see when the majority of your audience is online at the same time, then they suggest times to post based on that information.
Does the tool have the ability to post on all of the social media platforms I use?
There are some scheduling tools out there that only specialize in one platform, so it’s best to double-check the integrations it has.
Cost
This one is self-explanatory. Most of the social media scheduling tools out there offer a free trial to make sure you like it, but some can be quite costly compared to others. Check the price so you don’t fall in love with one that isn’t the best financial decision for your business!
If you’re brand new to scheduling tools, here are the ones we’ve used and would recommend.
Sprout Social $$$$
Buffer $$
Hootsuite $$
Tailwind $
4) A Productivity/Project Planning App
Using productivity/project planning apps such as Trello, Asana, or Office Otter are super helpful to keep creative minds organized. Sometimes you get an idea out of nowhere for your content and need a place to jot it down that’s not one of the 500 sticky notes on your desk. With these apps, you can organize your brainstorming, tasks in progress, or even write out your social content and attach any graphics to it before you schedule it for real.
5) Coolors.Co
Okay, so this one isn’t a category, but it’s super helpful to create a cohesive brand look and feel. Did we mention it’s also free?? Coolors.co allows you to put together color palates for your brand and any graphic assets you may create for it. Say you have one or two colors in your logo but don’t know what other colors would go well with them? Coolors makes it easy to pick harmonizing colors or use palates that other users have created. It’s also great for when you need to keep those dreaded color codes on hand. You can print it out, or use the digital version by clicking on a color and it will automatically copy the Hex color code to your clipboard for you.
We hope these tools will be as helpful to you as they are to us. If this sparked any questions for you, feel free to let us know in the comments, DM us on social media, or contact us via the button below. We’d be happy to share what we’ve learned over the years!