Social Media
A community manager’s work is fairly versatile, which means using many different tools. But what tools should you choose when it comes to maintaining a strong online presence?
In this article, the community management experts at the Montreal social media agency My Little Big Web present the social media management tools they use on a daily basis.
Plan your posts with the Hootsuite social media management tool
Hootsuite is a social media management tool that lets you plan your posts and analyze your performance.
The free version of this tool lets you add up to 3 social media accounts and publish a limited number of posts.
You can also sign up for paid versions. The first paid version lets you add up to 50 social profiles and 10 users can manage these accounts. In addition, it lets you publish as many posts as you want.
Manage your social media with the Buffer tool
Buffer is another social media management tool, similar to Hootsuite, that lets you schedule posts for different social networks and analyze your results.
Buffer offers a free version with a limited number of features where you can only add 3 social media accounts and schedule a limited number of posts for each.
The cheapest pro version allows you to add up to 8 social media profiles and up to 100 messages per social network account. However, you won’t be able to add other members of your team like in Hootsuite.
This tool is available on mobile phones with the Buffer application and on desktop via the website or a browser extension.
Manage your social media and analyze your online advertising with Metricool
Metricool is definitely one of the most comprehensive tools of its kind if you choose one of its paid versions because it allows you to do more than simply measure your activity on social media.
With Metricool, you can program and analyze all your data related to your social media posts and your online advertising campaigns (Facebook Ads and Google Ads), from start to finish.
The advantage of this tool is that you can also monitor the competition, allowing you to always stay a few steps ahead by publishing better content.
Swello, an alternative to Hootsuite
If you’re a fan of trying out different tools, Swello is a great alternative to Hootsuire that can help your business save time!
This tool lets you build a full-blown social media strategy on the most important platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can manage up to 15 different profiles with a single account. Needless to say, it saves you a lot of time.
With this tool, you can simultaneously schedule a post or content on several different platforms and publish it at the right time. If you want to get a head start, you can even pre-save your posts to publish them on a recurring basis.
Finally, Swello makes teamwork easier by letting you define the role of users on the platform. A hierarchy system enables you to assign a specific role to each of the members you invite.
If you encounter a problem or have a question, Swello’s support is available free of charge from Monday to Friday.
Create your visuals with the Canva community management tool
If you are a novice in graphic design, Canva is the ideal tool for creating your visuals.
This user-friendly tool allows you to create quality visuals in formats adapted for various social networks. In addition, if you want to save a little time on image creation, you have access to a large number of free templates or you can opt for other paid templates.
Use the VistaCreate image editor
Similar to Canva, the VistaCreate tool is also an online image editor. However, it offers very different visuals from its competitor and gives you access to a larger database of photos.
Unlike Canva, VistaCreate also allows you to create a logo, campaign banners and Instagram stories, making your profile more interactive.
Access a large number of images with Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock gives you access to millions of images, videos, illustrations, vector graphics, 3D resources and high-quality models, all royalty-free and suitable for all types of projects.
Needless to say, this tool is not free of charge since you have access to a royalty-free image bank. The first version is available for $49.95, allowing you to use 5 credits per month and the most expensive version is $1,200, giving you 150 credits per month.
To give you an idea, a standard high-resolution image is worth 1 credit and a 4K video is worth 20 credits. The number of credits you spend therefore depends on the type of visual you want to download.
Boost your social media with video editing from WeVideo
There are many video editing software programs available, but few allow you to edit online using a Cloud system.
With the WeVideo tool, you get the features of a video editing software and can work as a team on a single project thanks to the Cloud.
A free version is available but it is very limited, only letting you post 5 minutes of video per month in a low quality. The first pro version is available for $4.99 and allows you to download up to 30 minutes of video per month in high definition quality.
Create animated visuals with the Headliner community management tool
Video is becoming increasingly popular on social media. In fact, a CISCO study revealed that 75% of mobile traffic will be video by 2020. This makes it all the more important for any community manager to post videos to keep up with the competition.
This can be done using the free Headliner tool, which allows you to create animated visuals for social networks. Upload your videos or photos, add animations and export them directly to the social network of your choice.
Edit your images with VSCO
VSCO is the most advanced application when it comes to photo editing.
This application lets you create your most beautiful images by adjusting the intensity of presets and using a precision slider or adding filters to your photos.
If you decide to use the free version of VSCO, you will have access to standard editing tools such as contrast or saturation adjustment. Whereas the paid version gives you access to many more tools and tips for your edits.
Track your online reputation with Alerti
Alerti is a reputation management tool that allows you to track what people are saying about your brand in real time and get stats about your online activity. Alerti is a great way to improve your e-reputation.
The free version only lets you add one social network and receive one alert per month. If you want to add more social networks and access more information, you can create a custom package.
Organize contests on social media with the Woobox tool
Want to organize a contest on your Facebook or Instagram page? Once the game is over, you will have to choose a winner, and you can use the Woobox tool to do this.
Woobox is a sweepstakes tool that allows you to choose the lucky winner(s) in just a few clicks. A free version is available but only includes a maximum of 100 participants per month, then you will need to subscribe to a paid version, the cheapest being $32, which allows you to include an unlimited number of participants.
Increase your visibility on Instagram with the Combin tool
With the Combin tool, you can manage and promote your Instagram account to attract new users. You can get meaningful likes, comments and subscribers and discover influencers you can collaborate with.
Concerning prices, Combin offers a free version that allows you to manage an Instagram account, perform 50 search results for posts, 25 search results for users and 250 daily action limits.
The first paid version is available for $10 per month and gives you access to more features. You can perform 1000 immediate search results for posts, 1000 immediate search results for users and also update search results and statistics or automate certain tasks.
Create and send your newsletters with Mailchimp
Mailchimp allows you to send custom emails to your audience in a few clicks with a “drag and drop” function.
The free version allows you to send your mail to 2,000 contacts. There are also other paid packages, allowing you to send your newsletter to more people and access a greater number of features.
Analyze your results on Google Analytics
Google Analytics is essential for any community manager for the simple reason that it provides excellent data for free.
Google Analytics gives you access to analytics that let you determine the source of your traffic, which will tell you if your efforts on social media are attracting visitors to your website.
This tool lets you analyze the demographic and engagement information of your website visitors. This can help you understand whether your social media marketing strategies are effective enough to attract the right type of audience.
Moreover, you can analyze traffic from social media with the conversion report.
You also have access to a dedicated social media report that provides you with an overview of social traffic to help you understand the impact of the social media segment.
Finally, you can access a Benchmarking report giving you an overview of your traffic by comparing it with your main competitors. This report helps you improve your social media marketing strategy.
Tools to maximize your presence on social media
You now have many tools to help with good community management and increase your online reputation. If you need help managing your social media, don’t hesitate to contact our experts, they will be happy to support you in this mission!
Send a message
