7 best social media marketing tools

UPDATE: This post on social media marketing tools was first published on 8 July 2019 and updated on 13 August 2021.

Social media is pivotal to any modern advertising strategy. Sharing interesting posts on Facebook or videos on YouTube helps attract new eyeballs, bringing new customers to your business. Luckily, social media marketing tools that can help you are easily available online:

• Design professional-looking posts, videos and infographics
• Save time by pre-scheduling posts in batches
• Understand what type of content is most popular with your customers
• Measure the results of your efforts
• Unlock tremendous potential for your business

Now even the smallest businesses can use social media to get more customers.

Do more on social with these 7 tools

For small businesses, getting attention in the times of intense digital competition can be challenging. Make use of these cool, easy social media tools to get better results on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other networks.

1. Hootsuite for better organisation

Managing more than one social media account manually can be challenging and very time-consuming. Hootsuite saves time by allowing you to manage all your social feeds through a single dashboard.

Key features

• Connects you with over 35 different social network platforms depending on the plan you opt for.
• Offers bulk scheduling of multiple posts, real-time analytics and unlimited RSS integrations.
• Includes a brand monitoring tool that allows you to pick up all the chatter surrounding your product or service.

Hootsuite offers three different plans based on annual billing, as well as a 30-day free trial with the option to discontinue the service anytime.

2. Lithium for response

Being available when a customer needs a response is key to keeping customers happy. But you have a business to run, right? With Lithium, your business can process voluminous customer interactions through social media platforms in a prompt and organised manner.

This can especially be useful for businesses that offer customer support through social media.

Key features

• Allows for segregation of inbound queries that can be tagged and routed to the most relevant associate.
• Includes six priority levels, to ensure each query receives an adequate and timely response.
• Offers access to its online communities, enabling businesses to provide solutions to customer queries through its social intelligence platform.

Lithium offers three packages, with pricing based on each business’ requirements. You can request for a trial or get a relevant quote directly.

3. GoDaddy Studio for stunning imagery

Creative, eye-catching visuals are key to getting attention on social media. GoDaddy Studio can help you design high-quality, professional-looking images for social posts, infographics and more.

Key features

• No design skills needed — simply choose and customize a template you like from 1000s available.
• Multitude of design, font, styling and illustrations to choose from.
• Can be used both as a mobile app or on your desktop

GoDaddy has two plans on offer, including one that’s free.

4. Animoto for attractive videos

Videos rule the roost when it comes to social media marketing. Businesses are able to send far more engaging and powerful brand messages through a visual format.

The world loves nothing better than a video.

Animoto drastically minimises the time and skill required to compile and edit videos for social media consumption.

Key features

• Simple drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to use.
• Hundreds of professionally designed templates available for you to upload pictures, video and audio files.
• High degree of customisation possible for any business, brand or occasion.

Animoto offers three different plans as well as a 14-day trial.

5. IFTTT for task automation

If This Then That (IFTTT) is a really smart (and free) app that allows marketers to automate tasks between various social media networks.

The apps that we use on an everyday basis are called ‘services.’ Different services can be asked to collaborate through conditional statements known as ‘applets.’ Based on certain rules you create (triggers), there will be a predefined response (action).

IFTTT offers a spread of applets specifically designed for marketers. You can search and pick from a menu of common applets or create your own custom applet with the easy-to-use tool.

Key features

• Improves interaction between social platforms, allowing for cross-posting of content.
• Streamlines workflow management and automates data backup.
• Notifies you every time your business gets mentioned or tagged on social media.

As of now the IFTTT app is absolutely free to use.

6. ContactUs for robust marketing campaigns

As the name suggests ContactUs allows businesses to gather contacts, then turn those leads into long-term customers. This automation software puts repetitive marketing tasks such as email marketing and drip campaigns on auto pilot.

Key features

• Provides in-depth customer information, enabling marketers to design personalised sales campaigns.
• Customer feedback regarding your business/product allow you to understand what works and what doesn’t.
• Serves up metrics on lead and sales generation, cost-per-lead and RoI (return on investment).

7. Google Analytics for interpreting traffic

Creating and running a promotional campaign is only half the battle. Analysing the data for better content or strategy is critical to stay competitive.

Google Analytics can provide comprehensive data on traffic, demographics, conversions (completed actions), subscribers (sign-ups) and more across social platforms.

Key features

• Identifies which social platforms are generating more leads.
• Analyses the engagement your business has across social media platforms and individual posts.
• Provides metrics on returning visitors vs. new visitors.

The standard version of Google Analytics is free to use for all Google account holders.

These social media marketing tools are worth a try

The number of social channels are increasing at a fast rate. While this list is not exhaustive, these tools can help increase your efficiency, automate redundant tasks and design smarter digital campaigns that reach the right target audience. Use them based on your goals and budget, and power through the digital super highway.