Social media is such a great way to get your business in front of more eyes, but there is so much more to it than simply signing up for a Facebook page or Twitter account. If you want to market your business effectively you need to be able to create compelling, attractive, and effective content on a regular basis and when most eyes are likely to see it. And for that, you need to know the 20 best social media tools for those who mean business.
Keep reading to find out which apps and tools you need to boost your social media marketing to the next level. There is an audience out there waiting to be entertained and informed and it could be your business that does that. However, you need to know how to do it in the most efficient manner possible. That is where these tools come in:
The 20 Best Social Media Tools
Design Tools
1. Adobe Photoshop Mix
Everyone knows about the power of Adobe’s desktop Photoshop and Photoshop Elements programs. However, they can take a bit of getting used to when creating social media images. A great mobile alternative is Adobe Photoshop Mix, which is an intuitive and effective photo editing app for your smartphone. It’s free and you can layer images and text on top of other images to create stunning designs.
2. Canva
If graphic design really isn’t your thing, Canva is your saviour. It starts with a free plan but is worth opting for the paid option to get hold of more stock images, templates for all manner of different types of social posts, the ability to resize images for the various networks, and a whole load more too.
3. Remove.bg
Very simply, this app removes the background from your images, allowing you to really jazz up product photos, team pictures, or whatever you want to add to a funky background.
4. Unfold
When someone has a good idea, others soon imitate it. Snapchat’s posts were aped by Instagram for their Stories feature, which has now been followed up with Twitter’s Fleets. If you want to make beautiful images for all of these platforms, Unfold offers templates for creating stunning collages that fit them perfectly.
5. Pexels
One of the most difficult parts of creating social media content is finding royalty-free images. There are more than three million of them on Pexels, so you should easily find something to fit your post.
Best Social Media Tools For Scheduling
6. Buffer
Starting with a free plan that allows you to attach three social channels, Buffer is a simple way to schedule social media posts. You can create a schedule based on the times that your followers are most likely to be online and share the same content in different ways to suit the various networks.
7. Loomly
Loomly is known for its simple but effective interface as well as its easy-to-follow calendar workflows for collaborators. It can even create draft posts from RSS feeds to help you share relevant information with your followers.
8. Tweetdeck
For posting solely to Twitter, Tweetdeck is an excellent free service. You can manage multiple accounts and create columns to follow hashtags and keywords as well as your mentions and Direct Messages.
9. Later
Although Later allows you to post to a number of networks, it focuses mainly on Instagram. If Instagram marketing is your priority, this tool manages your grid as well as your stories and you can create a media library with tags and notes that help you search out that perfect image when you need it. You can also add a first comment on a post to stick your hashtags in, as well as being able to manage general comments in the app.
10. Feedly
Feedly can categorise blogs that you follow into different themes so that you can easily share and schedule them on your social media channels, all through this single app.
Video Tools for Social Media
11. Headliner
Whilst social media is based on visuals, sometimes you need to share audio such as clips from podcasts and the like. Headliner allows you to create slideshows and images with moving waveforms to display your audio. You can add subtitles too for that “sound off” audience.
12. Quik
This tool finds the best bits of your footage to help you display it in the most striking way. It edits your clips with transitions and effects too, all from your smartphone or tablet.
13. iMovie
If you have an Apple device, iMovie is a free but extremely powerful program for editing videos to share on social media. You can add backgrounds, themes, voiceovers, and more, all whilst you are on the go.
14. Adobe Premiere Clip
If iMovie is Apple’s version of its desktop editing software, Adobe Premiere Clip is a mobile version of its well-known software for use on all platforms. It can even create its own videos from your footage.
15. Wave.video
One of the problems with sharing videos on social media is that all the networks have different requirements for dimensions. Thankfully, Wave.video can take care of that for you. This makes sure your video looks as good as possible across your social media.
Social Media Content Generation
16. Buzzsumo
If you want to know the type of content that is trending in any particular niche, Buzzsumo is the place to go. It can give you a heads-up on the best type of content to share and analyzes your social performance to help you finetune your content strategy.
17. Google Trends
Whatever type of content you are trying to create, looking at Google Trends helps you plan posts that strike a chord. It tells you what people are searching for online, which translates into the type of content they want to see on social media too.
18. Days of the Year
One great way to generate content is to look at the national days and observances coming up. Days of the Year will help you plan what will trend so you can jump on it in advance and schedule posts to coincide with National Organising Day, Random Acts of Kindness Day, and so on.
19. Instagram’s Search Facility
In the Instagram app, there is one of the most powerful social media tools you can find. Search for hashtags relating to your niche and find a list of similar suggestions that you can add to your posts to boost your reach. Hashtags are how new people find you and the key is right there in the app!
20. Hashtag Expert
For more hashtag help, try Hashtag Expert. You enter a term relevant to your business and the app throws up a collection of related terms. You can copy them all in one go and paste them onto your posts to help grow your profile. Simple!
More Help With Social Media Marketing
Now you know the best social media tools for businesses, you can up your social game. You can also get access to even more helpful tips, downloads, and done-for-you content via The Time Freedom Lab and our Comprehensive guide: Crafting content for your marketing plan. It features design templates, cheat sheets, and more items to help you level up your online presence. Join us to get access to this invaluable collection.
