Five Favorite Social Media Tools

It’s extremely easy to get caught up in all the elements needed to make a social media post. There are new apps released every week  (or every day) that aims to simplify the process, but it’s hard to keep up with the latest & greatest. Today I’ll break down some of my favorites to use which most have free and subscription based levels.

fivefavsmtools

Evernote – to collect your notes

I’m getting back into using Evernote after having an account for years. I enjoy having the access to the app their iOS desktop app, iPhone & iPad apps and website. Evernote allows you to organize thoughts and web clippings into notebooks and tags. I will admit it takes some getting used to organizing notebooks, individual notes and tagging items, but well worth the effort.

Note: the link shared above is a referral link, meaning that I’ll receive points and rewards for directing you to the application. 

Canva – to design images in a pinch

Canva is a free tool which offers templates for common ad sizes for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, podcasts, you name it! Also there’s a custom option when you can’t find a template to fit your needs. Canva also sends tutorials and alerts of new product sizes to your inbox (examples include: menus, business cards, invitations and more) with great information regarding design basics. If you need stock photos or icons for your creations, many are free, but others are available for $1 each. There’s a Canva for Work paid subscription option where you can quickly resize images for different platforms and create templates.

Pro tip: establish a level of consistency with your graphics. I’d highly encourage you to contact a graphic designer to layout your logo and branding first.

Buffer and HootSuite – to schedule & post content

It’s easy to scour the internet for opinions on which is the best app/platform for scheduling posts. The two major contenders are HootSuite and Buffer. I like both offerings, but for different reasons.

Hootsuite: When working with clients, I like to use HootSuite because many are familiar with it already, and it’s simple to implement. I’m able to set up my own tabs to map out scheduled posts and create streams to follow current updates for replies and retweets. In a past life I worked with a non-profit who utilized the platform in being able to schedule daily posts and keep up with responses to the account in real time. HootSuite provides tools to manage the best of both social media worlds – scheduling future posts and real-time responses. There’s a pro account available where you can build a team, assign content, upload posts in bulk, and more. Now users can schedule Instagram posts using Hootsuite.

Buffer: Buffer is for scheduling posts for several social media platforms and check the reach When I’m doing postings for my own company (SNE, LLC.), I have certain promotions that occur on a weekly/monthly basis. I love, love, love the rebuffering function within Buffer for those reoccurring posts.

The latest supplementary app built into the web version of Buffer is Pablo, a quick and simple way to incorporate images for your Facebook and Twitter posts. Pablo offers a library of thousands of royalty-free images to use with three image sizes suitable for most social media platforms.

Feedly – to find industry-related articles

It’s almost unrealistic to search all the interwebs daily for specific industry-related content. This is why Feedly is so awesome – it brings the content to you in an RSS feed. You can set up categories for your favorite websites (some of my business sources include Marie Forleo and Denise Duffield-Thomas) and discover new resources based on keyword searches within the app. You can read (most) articles within the app, and save them for later. I recommend saving only the absolute favorites or for items your curating for social media posts. The more you read, the more you’ll save; the digital clutter can get out of hand. Just a word to the wise!

There are plenty of apps out there with new ones constantly added to the market – this is just a short list of tools that I find useful. By determining your needs first will help in your quest to determining apps to enhance your social media.

Let’s talk! 

Do you have any apps that are useful to your social media experience that aren’t covered in this post? Share them in the comments!

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