Small Business Toolkit for Busy Entrepreneurs
Today we are on our 6th topic under Small Business Toolkit for Busy Entrepreneurs series. Today’s topic is exclusively on tools, which could be helpful in your social media marketing efforts.
Everyone knows that social media plays a vital role in any business marketing efforts, but managing all of the different social networks can seem daunting. With the time limits and budget constraints, it appears to be more difficult than in actual.
ALSO READ: How to Establish Your Brand on Pinterest
However, don't worry, there are numerous tools that can help you manage all your social networking profile from a single place. These tools can help you in populating your Twitter feed, Facebook page, and Google+ Status and other social media websites relatively painless. Many of them are absolutely free, some of them need premium subscription for advanced features.
Before you choose one or more for your small business, make sure they perform at least the following features:
- Able to schedule posts at your selected time.
- Able connects all or most of your social media accounts at one place, so you do not have to visit multiple sites to update your feeds.
- Provides analytics for posts, which can help you determine the effectiveness post and which types of posts draws attention and engagement from your audience.
Here are few Applications, that we think can be useful for your Small Business:
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a free tool. It lets you add up to five social profiles; for additional social media profile you must choose one of their premium plan. Hootsute comes on a wide range of platforms such as Web Application; Mobile Apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and even Desktop Application.
Hootsuite allows you to manage your Twitter, Facebook and Facebook Pages, Google+ Pages, Foursquare and LinkedIn accounts.
Features include time Scheduling, Analytics, Dashboard to see all feeds and comments of all your social media account without visiting them. More advanced features are included in premium plans.
Tweetdeck
Tweetdeck is Free. Available as Web Application as well as Desktop Application for Windows and Mac.
With Tweetdeck, you can manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts at a time. It lets you monitor your feeds, and display search results continuously so that you can respond quickly when anyone mentions your company, brand or product.
But be warned, Tweetdeck does not integrate Facebook pages, Google+, LinkedIn, or any of your other social media outlets, which means you’ll need more than one management tool.
Tweetdeck also makes it easy to post (or schedule) tweets containing text, photos or links, and monitor Twitter interactions and direct messages.
In short, Tweetdeck is the best choice if you want to manage your personal and business account on twitter from one place.
Buffer
Again Buffer also a Free application. It is available as Web application and iPhone app.
Buffer enables you to schedules your posts and provides analytics on posts which enable you to know which topics and timings best engage your audience. Buffer also allows you to connect to Twitter, Facebook Pages and LinkedIn and 10 more social media sites.
Add your favorites in comment section!
Other topics from Small Business Toolkit for Busy Entrepreneurs series: