The most useful tools for a social media strategy
Managing a company's social networks, whatever the field, is not an easy task. Contrary to what some people think, it is not just about posting a picture a day on Instagram and uploading a tweet. Nor is it a job that can be done by anyone. You have to be creative, constant and multidisciplinary. Those who work with social networks need to control different resources for each task. Therefore, in this article we present 25 tools that optimise the work of the community manager:
Design
- Canva, the application par excellence for editing templates of different sizes and styles depending on the social network you are targeting. It can be used to create animations, stories, videos, infographics... You name it, it's very intuitive. The free version is quite complete, but with Canva Pro you can expand the number of resources or schedule publications on networks (we'll talk about this later).
- VistaCreate is very similar to Canva and offers the same services, although it is less well known than the previous one. In fact, they have a very similar interface, so they are direct competitors. One option would be to combine templates from both tools, taking advantage of the fact that VistaCreate's templates are less popular. It used to be called Crello.
- Illustrator is a more professional Adobe programme than the other two resources. In this case, there is no free use option (beyond a one-week trial). It requires more design knowledge, which offers more freedom and creativity.
Video editing
- Premiere Pro, like Illustrator, is a paid tool from Adobe that offers a multitude of options for editing videos. If your social media strategy prioritises audiovisuals over still images, it may be worth investing in this programme.
- Inshot: This application is much simpler than the previous one, but also more limited. It can be used to trim, combine videos, add filters or effects, select music, add text... It is available for free download.
- Capcut, which can be downloaded to your mobile and computer or used directly from its website, is similar to the previous one and is also free, but offers a very useful tool if you want your content to be more accessible: creating automatic subtitles for videos and transcripts.
Image editing
- Photoshop, Adobe's world-renowned photo-editing programme. Like the company's other resources, it is paid and more professional.
- VSCO: Although it specialises in images, it also allows video editing. It has a free and paid version, which increases the editing possibilities. It allows easy editing of contrast, exposure, size and saturation, as well as adding filters to photographs.
- PhotoScape is a free tool for computers. Its image editor is more complete than VSCO's, and adds more effects, text, clone stamp... In addition, you can create animated GIFs, murals, mosaics..
Image, video and music banks
- Freepik: If you need visual resources, there are several websites that allow you to download free material for free use. In this case, you can download vectors, illustrations or images in good quality. To find what you need, use the search bar.
- FiftySounds: Although audio-visual editors usually include music to add to videos, this platform is more complete and varied. You can search for songs by genre or theme for free use, also for commercial purposes.
- Pixabay: The good thing about this site is that it incorporates the resources of the other two: you can download images, illustrations, vectors, videos, music, effects and GIFs.
Programming publications on social networks
- Facebook Creator Studio, a free platform within Facebook for programming content on this social network and Instagram.
- Buffer: The free version is quite limited, but you can invest €60 a year in the essential plan and optimise your work.
- Hootsuite is a more expensive tool than the previous one, but also more complete as it offers unlimited publications.
Statistics analysis
- Metricool: This website has a very complete free plan to check the repercussion of your brand on the different social networks. You can track your followers, impressions, likes... In this way, you can check if you have reached your objectives and in what way. It also allows you to schedule publications.
- Social Blade, very similar to the previous one, but requires a payment plan.
- Analytics for each social network. Each platform provides users with the basic statistics of their content.
Conducting sweepstakes
- Sortea2. Sweepstakes are the order of the day in social media marketing, but before launching one you have to be prepared. This website is free and quite simple, even too simple in case your sweepstakes has a lot of participation. It allows you to include a list of participants and select the number of winners. From there, the website automatically extracts the winners.
- Easypromos: This website is much more complete and allows you to design sweepstakes, promotions, contests and other events on social networks on a large scale. In this case it is necessary to register and choose a payment plan (the cheapest one allows you to carry out sweepstakes for 290€ per year).
Keeping up to date
- Twitter trends: If your social media strategy includes building a community with your followers (which you should do if you want to be successful), staying on top of what's trending is essential to interact with them. It may seem obvious, but Twitter's trending topics are the easiest and quickest way to see what's on everyone's lips. Use them and use your imagination to create quality content.
- Buzzsumo is a useful platform for finding out what strategies are working best on social media at the moment. There are several paid plans, but the free version allows you to do 10 searches a month.
- Feedly: With this tool you can keep up to date with what is happening in your sector through blogs, websites, Twitter accounts or newsletters. In this case, there is no free option and the cheapest one costs 6 dollars a month.
Extra
- Preview: If you want to take care of the design and aesthetics of your Instagram profile, this free tool allows you to visualise how your posts would be organised before making them public.
- Influencity is very useful if you bet on influencer marketing, as it finds the optimal profiles for your campaign. Again, it does not have a free plan.
