5 SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS THAT WILL SAVE YOU LOADS OF TIME

Managing multiple profiles across different social media platforms can be pretty overwhelming – even if it is just a business Facebook page and LinkedIn profile.

But there are a bunch of tools out there to help you save time while still managing them all easily and effectively, especially if you’re a digital being and spend your days on YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest – and therefore getting very little ‘actual work’ done.

We’ve found five of our favourites that will manage to keep you (somewhat) socially organised.

Download the Best Social Media Scheduling Tools To Use Right Now here.

Everypost

A straight-forward interface is the best asset of this software. You can add your Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Tumblr accounts simply and easily and the no-fuss dashboard allows you to publish to these platforms now or schedule for later.

One interesting feature of Everypost is that it allows you to pull visual content from many different sources to create your own unique content. And it also has easy-to-understand analytics included.

From $9.99/month (or use the free version)

Buffer

Simple, easy to navigate and with the all main features you need when starting out, Buffer is the go-to software for those looking to streamline scheduling social media.

You can link your account to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest all in the one place. Then you can create content to share across one or more of those platforms simply and easily.

Buffer also has an Analytics tab, where you will find detailed reports on your platforms in a set timeframe, as well as a Scheduling tool that allows the software to create a custom posting schedule for you – just choose the frequency of posting and Buffer will do the rest, including determining the best time to post for your brand based on the engagement of your audience. You can also add team members and shorten links.

Use the app on your smartphone or the Google chrome extension on your desktop, and you can share content wherever you are. The best part is you can use Buffer for free with limited features. But if love it and require the full functionality, it’s also an affordable price.

From $10/month (or use the free version)

Hootsuite

Hootsuite has been around since the early days of social media and used by millions of marketing professionals around the world. It has a variety of functions and recently added Instagram to the platforms the software can manage (joining Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+).

The main dashboard is where it all happens – you can keep an eye on your Twitter followers, Facebook page feed, LinkedIn followers, and so on, all in the one place. Posting content is also really simple and the content window gives you details on character limits for each of the platforms, as well as allows you to shorten links, attach photos and schedule posts.

Adding team members is also quite simple, analytics and insights are readily available and campaign management for all of your social networks is organised in an easy-to-read layout. To get access to the full features, you’ll need to invest in the paid plan but it’s definitely worth it.

From $10.99/month (or use the free version)

Sprout Social

Sprout Social has all the bells and whistles you could ask for, which can be pretty overwhelming for the novice social media user. But the insights and reporting this software can provide leaves the others behind – if you know how to use the results.

Audience demographics and trends, detailing interactions and impressions you’ve made during the past day or week, are available each time you log in; you can assign tasks to team members and, of course, the ability to publish posts in real time as well as schedule for later. You can allow attach images and shorten links.

A unique feature of Sprout Social is the Discovery tab that allows you to see who followed, mentioned, or conversed with you on social media. This is useful for building up your follower base of like-minded profiles. Plus, you can also use the Smart Search to find out what your followers are talking about and what’s trending.

From $59 per user/month (or 30-day free trial)

CoSchedule

If you ever wished your social media calendar could seamlessly integrate with your publishing platform then this is the program for you. CoSchedule is the first (and, so far, the only) social calendar plugin for WordPress that allows you to schedule both your blog and social media posts at the same time.

Basically, this program allows you to drop and drag social media posts into a calendar to simply and easily promote your blog posts. This also means you can reschedule and, if you drag a blog post from one date to another on the editorial calendar, your social media messages move with it!

You can also add multiple team members and assign them tasks within the program. Therefore, saving loads of time, getting more done and taking the stress out of scheduling blogs and social media posts to generate more traffic.

CoSchedule can be integrated with Twitter, Facebook (profiles, pages and groups), LinkedIn Profiles, Google+, Tumblr and Pinterest.

From $60/month (or 14-day free trial)

Download the Best Social Media Scheduling Tools To Use Right Now here.