Social media can be a nuisance, especially for those who don’t know how to use it to their advantage. The amount of different platforms and variety of target audiences on each site allow for optimal engagement in all business sectors (you can find a guide to each platform here). Social media is creating more and more ways to connect with your audience and gain insight like never before. In this day in age, not capitalizing on the trend of the online generation is one of the biggest mistakes businesses can make.

Once your marketing goals are established, social media strategy is the next step. Communicating to your audience online is the newest way to build brand awareness and loyalty. Think about it: if a favorite brand comments back on your post, likes it, or shares it on their own account, how would you react? Most people would not only have a positive outlook on the brand, but would also talk about it with others. This shows that the brand is interested in their customers and is listening to them. This is exactly how one simple action can multiply to reach a unique audience and generate buzz.

The first steps for creating a social media strategy include understanding your audience, who the top influencers are, the popular hashtags, what time and how often to post, how to use visuals and how to track engagement. This may seem like a lot to remember and keep track of, however, this can be made simple! For those just starting out or who are looking for easier ways to create engagement on social media, here are the top tools that will save you both time and money.

Top 6 Social Media Tools

1. Hootsuite
2. Snaplytics
3. Feedly
4. Canva
5. Bit.ly
6. CoSchedule Calendar

• HootSuite-

  This is a go-to for many companies. They offer a free package that allows for content scheduling on three platforms and track basic analytics. If you have a small budget however, HootSuite has multiple products that can greatly improve social media strategy; top items include HootSuite engagement and HootSuite insights.

• Snaplytics-

  We wouldn’t be surprised if you had never heard of this tool, simply because it is the first of its kind. Snapchat has been releasing more and more updates that it now makes sense to keep track of these analytics. Snaplytics keeps track of your brands number of opens, open rate, completion rate, screenshots, followers, and does competitive analysis.

• Feedly-

  Feedly acts as your one-stop-shop to content curation. You can keep track of a variety of blogs and webpages that relates to your brand. This way you can stay on top of what is trending in your field and compile all the latest news on your personal feed.

• Canva-

  This is one of our favorite tools. Canva allows for easy graphic creation by providing free templates and stock photos. We tend to use this tool often for post title images (such as the one at the top of this post). Anyone can use this tool and make high quality graphics perfect for social media.

• Bit.ly-

  When creating a social media strategy, tracking analytics is extremely important. This is where Bit.ly comes into play. Here you can shorten URLs so they better fit your post and then every time the link is clicked, Bit.ly records data and reports it in a visually attractive way. This is one of the best ways to measure performance.

• CoSchedule Social Media Calendar-

  Posting regularly and posting often is extremely important on all social media platforms. Without posts, you lack social media presence. This calendar is an excellent tool for keeping track of everything you need to post or schedule to post in the coming month. Being organized is the first step to a successful social media strategy.

There are many social media tools that can help simply your social media strategy. These are our top 6 that we consistently use. Let us know what you think and if there are any you would recommend that we have missed!