My Favorite Social Media Tools That Just Make Life Easier        

Mastering social media is not easy, so I collected some of my favorite social media tools that helped me master the impossible.

Scheduling

Once social media platforms started allowing users to schedule their content in advance, I hit a gold mine. The actual posting part should be the last of your worries when creating and preparing content. For me, a sense of relief comes with scheduling my content ahead of time. Scheduling allows me to focus on continuing to create quality content without the uneasy feeling of remembering that I forgot to post yesterday!

Facebook Audience Insights

Something fundamental but sometimes challenging to determine is figuring out who your audience is. I am a big fan of audiences and Facebook provides a tool that allows me to learn about my audience. By understanding my audience’s job titles, interests, locations, and purchasing behavior, I better understand how to communicate with them. This lets me meet my audience where they are!

Bit.ly   

This is a recent favorite of mine and is now on my “must-have” list. Not only does Bit.ly shorten links, it also tracks the link and determines which channel brings in the most traffic. I initially used this tool to shorten links because it makes the post look more aesthetically pleasing but when I figured out I could also use Bit.ly as a daily tool to track growth, I was thrilled. Not only can I avoid long, drawn-out links, but I can also track performance with shortened links that now help all my posts have similar structures.             

Polls

Whether on Twitter or Instagram, polls are a quick and fun way to collect data. These mini-surveys help collect social data while also helping drive up engagement. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! I am currently studying marketing research, and I have learned that this form of data storytelling is highly beneficial when creating data-driven content! When in doubt, ask the people what they want (or what they don’t want).    

While these are only a few of my favorite social tools, there are several tools available to help us become better marketers and creators.  Social media can already be a handful which is why there are tools out there to make our lives easier. Remember, work smarter, not harder!