Some of the messages I received recently go - "Hey bud! Are you up for the latest Instagram trend?", "I came across a few job openings on LinkedIn. Maybe, you should take a look.'' “What the heck? Renee is on my Facebook Mutuals now."
If you look at all three messages, you will notice how they differ in terms of what it conveys. Surprising, right. No?
Okay, here is the part that will surprise you. Each message has mentioned different social media platforms - Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Now, you may wonder what the point of it is, and the point is to signify the influence of social media in our daily life.
Small businesses have so much to gain in 2023 and later in this new marketing frontier known as Instagram. With more than 1 billion users, the platform is ripe for creating your customer base. With its upbeat vibes and vibrant, visual solid, Instagram is a package for small businesses to explore their potential. But it needs marketing to be done right, and here are the tips you must practice.
Impact of Social Media
Social media has been there with us for a while, comparatively. However, it is all needed to redefine the word "social." Back till the late nineties or even early twenty, when social media barely existed, people used the term socialising differently. For them, it was a get-together, attending marriage functions, or playing with other kids. But now, if we take a look - children are barely outside, people rarely hang out together, and several marriages and other functions get attended to through video calls. In all cases, people are found glued to their smartphones and laptops.
The reason behind such drastic change is the explosion of social media. Social media has become an indispensable part of our life, and with the digital era booming hard, getting rid of it will be no more accessible than a Herculean task. Also, digital marketing has shown us the potential of social media.
Social media has made everything possible, whether it is personal branding, running an online business, or connecting with an old friend.
Also, if you can leverage social media right, you can make huge strides with its help. And to leverage social media better, there are hundreds of social media management tools for use. However, it can become highly confusing for anyone to select which tools they must use. So, here I bring you some selective exciting social media management tools that you must use to impact your life positively.
Social Media Management Tools to Use
A massive benefit of social media is that some of the best social media management tools come at no cost. Yes, it means they are free. And who doesn't love free stuff? So, let's check out some best free social media management tools you must use to up your social media performances.
Hootsuite
If you are looking to build your personal brand and image on social media, consistency is a must. You must engage with others and, more importantly, share engagement worthy posts consistently. However, we all can relate to how the real world can bamboozle all such plans for the virtual world. A random urgent meeting or your falling sick can disrupt your line of consistency. We have an excellent social media management tool known as Hootsuite to avoid such mishaps.
Hootsuite allows its users to schedule their social media posts for the next 30 days. And you guessed it right, for free. It has a dashboard to manage your social media strategy. Also, it offers more excellent features, but they are subject to applied charges.
Buffer
Buffer is designed to create a custom post schedule for different platforms. Mainly, if you run a small business online, you must try Buffer. With Buffer, you can create scheduled customised posts accordingly for the platform you want to promote your business. It has a trial free version post which you can choose to stick with the free version or the paid features. However, I suggest that you use Buffer only if you have an online presence and want to promote your small business. Also, it allows you to schedule 10 posts in advance.
SproutSocial
You may get worried about how your audience behaves towards the content you share on social media? Especially if you run an online business, it is invariably critical to ensure your audience perceives you in a positive light. SproutSocial is designed to get rid of such anxiety or worrying buttons.
It is a top social media management tool that can assist you with publishing, social listening, engagement, and event analysis. SproutSocial can streamline the process of sharing relevant content on your social media platform. Furthermore, it can effectively create and send personalised messages to followers, customers, and prospects. It even has the customer service features to check and monitor customer behaviour while saving you a lot of free time. Thus, it allows you to spend more time planning and strategizing to offer better assistance and service to your customers or audiences.
Falcon.io
Falcon.io, as the name hints, is a social media management tool to reach higher reach and maximise impact and engagements. Also, similar to SproutSocial, it has social listening skills to track and identify audiences and their behaviour towards your product or service. So, with Falcon.io, you can even identify opportunities for engagement and course correction where required. Further, it also supports a cross calendar to ensure more straightforward and quick social media planning across social media platforms.
TwitterDeck
If you are into digital marketing and not using Twitter, you are missing out on a lot. Over the past few years, the world witnessed an astronomical rise in the number of freelancers, entrepreneurs, and startups. Its impact has vastly revolutionised Twitter in terms of engagement and opportunity. Furthermore, Twitter features such as "TwitterSpace" became instrumental in assisting so many people in finding some work in the dire times of the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, Twitter is a difficult place to leave a mark due to its dynamics. It would be best if you stayed consistent there. You need to post and engage with others daily. Furthermore, it would help if you kept a watch on your competitors' activity to improvise on your performance there. All of it can become tiring and difficult to put up with regularly, and therefore, TweetDeck exists.
TweetDeck is an excellent social media management tool created to track competition and monitor your Twitter activity, schedule Tweets beforehand, and set alerts for critical tweets. More importantly, the tool is entirely hassle-free, allowing it to customise the timelines across multiple accounts and respond through its dashboard.
Agorapulse
So far, we have read how the essential best free social media management tools help with reach, engagement, social listening, monitoring competitors and even strategising. However, there is still one frontier left to conquer - measuring the depth and effect of them all. It can get confusing to understand how much the things you try on social media are working or not.
To get rid of such confusion, we have Agorapulse. The primary purpose of Agorapulse is to help its users understand the ROI of their social media strategies and tactics. Also, it has other excellent features, such as increasing social media engagement and scheduling social media content.
Conclusion
Hootsuite, TweetDeck, SocialSprout, etc. What do you have to say about them? Aren't they brilliant free social media management tools? The six tools can cover every inch of your social media presence, add more visibility and credibility, and elevate your entire social media performance.
