Ever since I started writing in December 2018 I have seen considerable improvements in social media management in Zimbabwe. Not many businesses or startups were actively using social media back then. Today, countless enterprises now use social media virtually daily. Of course, there is still much ground to cover as most are still to grasp the essence of social media management. I do believe we will gradually get there. It is also refreshing to see even individuals e.g. celebrities effectively using social media in Zimbabwe. All of this got me thinking that I should discuss some essential tools for social media management.
Canva
I am including this one because it is a content creation tool. (Bear in mind that social media management tools are mainly 4-tier namely, content creation, content curation, scheduling, and analytics). Anyways, this one should be your go-to for social media content creation needs. There is a long list of content you can make with Canva namely, presentations, resumes, social media posts, logos, posters, thumbnails, wallpapers, infographics, brochures, certificates, labels, invoices, banners, worksheets, business cards, newsletters, e-books, and so much more. There are over 50 000 customizable templates to choose from for whatever you wish to design. The remarkable thing is you can use Canva just using the free plan and still produce high-definition stuff. The free plan is more than enough for a small (even a medium) enterprise. If ever you pay to access the premium features, the value you access is even more. I highly recommend Canva if you regularly post content online.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is excellent when it comes to analytics, scheduling, and monitoring. It is comprised of several services e.g. Analytics and Streams. Hootsuite enables you to, in real-time, track and analyse engagements on your social media profiles. This is cross-platform by the way i.e. it can be for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn from one place. You get to access comprehensive data analytics on both organic and paid posts. It has a freemium model so you can start out using the free features and upgrade to premium features. Under the free plan, you can schedule up to 30 posts in advance. This free plan suffices for small to medium enterprises. With Hootsuite, you can schedule messages or posts and put together publishing calendars for your content. Hootsuite even provides you with data on the best time for you to post content. Essentially it can inform on opportune times when your audience will most likely be active and interactive. As for the premium features, there are professional, team, business, and enterprise.
Tweet Deck
I have often encouraged you to seriously consider using Twitter more, particularly for business or entrepreneurship. Tweet Deck enables you to manage several Twitter accounts from one dashboard. The cool thing about Tweet Deck is that it is freely available to any Twitter account holder. Tweet Deck allows you to have an overview of and control things like notifications, lists, collections, trends, likes, mentions, activity, and more. So with Tweet Deck, you can easily view several different timelines via a single interface. It makes managing your Twitter accounts smoother.
Sendible
With Sendible you can build your online audience, generate leads, and accomplish your social media goals all through one platform. You can manage your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google My Business from one place. It is integrated with Canva to enable you to keep your images perfectly sized when you post. With a single click, you can see your most engaging content. You can schedule posts and be shown content suggestions as well. The platform also gives you access to regular training or how-to sessions on how to best use the platform.
Zoho Social
Zoho Social supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business, and more. That makes it an all-in-one social media management tool for many entrepreneurs. There is a free plan and paid ones too (which are fairly priced). It is considered one of the most affordable paid plans when it comes to social media management tools. With the free plan, you can manage 7 different social media platforms. One of the bonuses of Zoho Social is that it also comes with customer relationship management functionality. This, for example, allows you to manage communications with leads via emails.
If you are using social media, especially for business or entrepreneurship you need to use these tools. They will help you save time, become more organized, and most importantly empirically track your social media performance. By using them you tend to automate most of what you do and it makes everything easier. Plus anyone can use them without any specialist knowledge of coding or other specialized expertise. They are essentially your no-code tools for effective social media management. Give them a try.
