6 new social media marketing tools the experts use

Social Media has grown gradually with both globalization and ingenuity spectrums. Today, as we know it, we are looking forward towards a digital age that has reformed our lives competently.

The advancements made by humans has created a single platform where everyone could gather and share their professional involvements into something much bigger, better, and business wise it really hits the chartbusting success.

Over the past few years the SM development has become a necessity in order to gain a virtual victory for your endeavors. Whether it’s your E-commerce involvements or a new brand you want to introduce on social media, you’ll be needing some essentials tool out of hundreds of them available. Though, there are hundreds of online platform utilities available and almost all of them have that particularizing nitty gritty wonders to give your digital ventures. But here are my top favorite 6 that’ll give you a head start towards a prolific career in 21st century’s cyberspace domain.

Buffer: Best social media managing tool

Here is one of those crop of the cream management tools you’ll definitely require in order to create a perfect pathway for your progression processes to follow on. What does it actually do is that it keeps your publications align in an accord synchrony. Your timeline will become more efficient in a timeline flow and give users a perfect timing of viewing your posts in a specific timeframe.

Buffer comes in both free and paid versions and creates an ideal analytics dashboard in order to give your social media streamers a spellbinding back to back streamline effect. Moreover, it lets you evaluate the performances of each and every post letting you direct your publications on specific niches and day to day conducts. In short, it also gives you an unswerving memo of what type of posts are trending on which days of the week. Hence, letting you know your users backgrounds and interests that keep them online for ours on various social media platforms.

Sprout Social: Customer relationship management tool

This one comes on the top of the list due to its dedicated diversities in offering various tools for your social media improvements. Founded in 2010 by Justyn Howard, Aaron Rankin, Gil Lara and Peter Soung and ever since it made its debut, is expanded just like ink on a piece of cloth. One of the best catalogue of SM tools for your esteemed customer care cordiality. A great management tool with proficient advocacy and an integrated analytics’ software for businesses.

Furthermore, Sprout’s summing up success acquires users the ability to assimilate with social media giants’ such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Google Analytics, Feedly, Zendesk and a few more as well. Alike Buffer, it also offers’ some great free to paid utilities alongside with its exclusive customers’ relationship management tool.

A few important features defined by SS in terms of cramming up E-businesses credibility for its employing consumers comprise scheduling abilities, social listening operations, analytics platform, and multi-purpose access for integrated coordination between teams. Likewise, Bambu by Sprout Social lets user curate content so that coworkers can access and share each other’s posts across different social networks. Astoundingly, Sprout Social allows managers to nurture associations via prompt replies to reviews and requests by respected clients.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the biggest social media utility brands that has come across user-management magnitude gratitude by about more than 15 million users worldwide. Created by Ryan Holmes in 2008 and since a decade it has superbly multifaceted to offer supreme analytics sophisticates to let you operate better online on plentiful social media platforms.

One of the best UI systems that assumes a preamble of tools adjusted dashboard that upkeeps your social network combinations comprising a revolving circle between SM sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube. One of its best feature is the whole of it due to its free availability, and to add the treat twist to it, the paid features are relatively economical in costs as compared to its SM augmenting counterparts.

Feedly

One of the best auto organizers and a news aggregator application for your social media postings. This social media marketing tool keeps your content on autopilot mode with the best timeline preferences. It is better known as a great social media discovery tool like another popular one known as BuzzSumo, but has a bit different operational standards. All you have to do is add the RSS feeds of your preferred blogs and writers, and let Feedly create a composite magazine for you related to the niche and nature of subjects you’ve selected.

Feedly performs posts on up to date indexes and keeps you online UI neat and tidy. Besides, it lets you create the perfect social media scheme and a syncing chronology for your SM postings schedule. The best part of this feeds amplifying tool is that it always offers you something out of millions of publications and out there and keeps you socially active throughout the day with your online E-commerce endeavors. You always have something to share with your customers via the basic to boosting posting tool Feedly.

Bitly: Best content summarizer

Here you go with another amazing find that lets you keep your illustrated content into a proficient précis that really helps your business grow on a rapid pace. Simply put, it mostly shortens your URL address to keep your non-friendly URL social media apps like Instagram and Twitter on scope with business cycle unifications.

Besides, Bitly assists you in understanding which abridged web addresses are working more accurately to your desired e-marketing goals straightforwardly on a single platform without hitching out tool-to-tool analytics here and there. A great concept to let you keep up with single to multiple linkage CTA (call to action) persuasions by users as well as giving you significant insights. Hence, letting you optimize your online business efforts via statistics you’ve collected.

What makes Bitly so important for your social media ventures, is that it lets you summarize your website addresses for social networking websites to proficiently adjust on their in-mobile applications. Simply put, Bitly keeps your web pages well managed with short lengths. It lets you adjust them on a single page without the need of hesitantly distorting your written profiles into a mess that no one wants to land on.

Canva: Best visual content architect tool

Canva gives you the best consolation for your creative concepts. One of the wonderful visual amplifying tools for your social media E-commerce enterprises. The visual content is such an important aspect for your SM oriented e-commerce regulations that you cannot throttle around progressive online marketing grounds without it. Canva comes with a lot of options you can render graphic immersive gimmicks to your genuine content online.

One of the best suite of Productivity Apps and powerful editing templates with a better usability interface than Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. The best part of Canva is its minimalistic and has a rather easy-to-use palate to go with the best visual endorsed renderings for your content.

It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s When You Say It – Timing is Everything When it Comes to Social Media Marketing Success

Social media marketing has become overwhelming and confusing for many marketers. As social platforms like Facebook have changed their algorithms, many brands, companies and small businesses have struggled to adapt. It’s left them with one really big question: Is social media marketing still a good investment of time and money for your small business brand?

The short answer is “Yes, but…”

Yes, social media marketing still works. It’s one of the most efficient and authentic ways to find customers and engage them as fans.

But that doesn’t mean your strategy can stay the same. The same set of tactics that worked a few months ago might not work today. Social media marketing success in the Age of Algorithms requires a more adaptable approach – there is no single right way to do social anymore, and what works for other companies might not work for you. So much depends on your audience, your type of business, your industry, and your overall preferred styles of communication and engagement.

We at Sensai monitor what types of small business posts engage customers most effectively. The results surprised us. It turns out that the workday isn’t always the best time to post on your socials. Sometimes you should be scheduling them for the middle of the night!

Below are a few key strategies to help you re-evaluate the timing of your social media marketing efforts:

Timing is of the Essence

One of the most underappreciated aspects of today’s social media marketing landscape is the matter of timing. Social media platforms are more crowded with posts than ever before, and so the major platforms fight this overcrowding with algorithms. Just because you think your customers are consuming your content in the morning, it doesn’t mean you should post then. In fact, the best time to post to Instagram, on average, is 2am ET/11pm PT. Your best time will vary, but you should experiment with scheduling posts for different times of the day and night. You may be surprised what happens.

Engagement Drives Duration of Views

All the major social media platforms are increasingly driven by algorithms, and the algorithms reward the posts that are driving engagement. This means: getting your timing right – posting at the optimal times of day or days of the week – is even more important. Because if you can reach more of your audience right away and grab their attention when they’re most receptive to hearing from you, they will be most likely to engage with your post by liking, commenting, or sharing. Engagement creates momentum all its own – and the best way to drive engagement is to get your timing right in the first place.

Some Days Are Better Than Others

You might assume that you should be posting on social media every day, to have a consistent, reliable presence. This might not be the best strategy for your business. Depending on your audience, some days of the week are much better for driving engagement – more of your audience will see your posts if you post on a day when more of your audience is checking their social media feeds. For example, one of our customers, who’s a platinum-selling recording artist, was posting for years on Saturdays, assuming that his fans were most active on the weekends. But when we did an analysis of his social media performance, we found that music-related activity peaked on Tuesdays. This surprised him, until he remembered that Tuesdays are the traditional days that record labels ship new LPs to record stores. When this musician switched his promotion to Tuesdays, he saw his engagement increase dramatically.

Again, there is no single “magic day of the week” that works for everyone; it all depends on your industry and your audience. But it’s worth doing some experimentation to see if certain days of the week give you a bigger boost in engagement.

Timing Can Confound Your Assumptions

Optimal time of day can be wildly counter-intuitive. Just because you think your audience is active at a certain time of day doesn’t mean they actually are! I had always assumed that I should post to Twitter on weekdays around lunchtime, but Sensai’s A.I. told me that I should post around midnight instead. I tested it, and it actually worked! More of my followers were active late at night than during the workday, and the Twitter algorithm served these posts to them when they woke up in the morning.

Getting your social media timing right is not the only factor in social media success, but it’s becoming more important than ever before – and the answers might not always be obvious. With careful analysis and testing, you can figure out which time frames are the best moments to post on social media in order to reach more people and engagement. Regardless of what you post, you can get better results if you get better at knowing when to post it.

PPC VS Social Media Marketing: Which is better?

It has been one of the most discussed topics within the digital marketing arena in recent years; the question of which one is more effective – PPC or Social Media Marketing?

Each obviously has its pros and cons and of course we at Click Guardian have something of a soft spot for PPC. Undeniably, Social Media Marketing has its strengths, and in a digital world where brand awareness is becoming increasingly important, Social Media may seem like the safest bet. However, PPC has the added benefit of a longer history and the positives are easier to find. So with that in mind, let’s dig into the debate.

PPC Marketing

Now, it’ll be hard for us not be a little biased with PPC. After all, we’re a company with lots of success in this area. But there are certainly plenty of pros and cons and the trick is to maximise the pros and minimise the cons (simple isn’t it?).

The Pros

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of PPC marketing is the fact that the customer is searching for the product or service they require at the first instance of a search. But there are other benefits which are less obvious to a user. Firstly, it can be said that PPC allows you to measure and optimize data much more thoroughly than Social Media Marketing platforms. For example the keyword planner available in Google AdWords gives a user the best possible results for keywords – using a combination of factors to determine value. This is most often based on historic data which has been analysed over a period of time and utilizes a number of algorithms which can change over time. If you’re a locksmith, you’ll be able to find the best keywords that are relevant and cost-effective for your industry.

Furthermore, the variety of reports available to a user provide a more thorough analysis of KPIs (or Key Performance Indicators). These reports allow users to really dig down into the data and compare their campaigns in more detail. If you have a particular ad or URL extension that just isn’t working then you’ll be able to make a comparison at campaign or ad group level and make a more informed choice.

The Cons

Now this is difficult to write but it has the ring of truth to it. PPC Marketing can be expensive BUT only if it is not managed and optimized correctly. It is important to get your keywords, ads, campaigns, extensions and landing pages all firing in unison. If you do then you can expect a quick and consistent ROI and a healthy profit margin for your business.

Alternatively, if you do not pay attention to the particulars (and the devil is always in the detail), then you can expect to notice your budget to diminish pretty rapidly. In the competitive world of PPC, mismanagement can be a death sentence for your advertising budget. It is also worth noting that one of the least understood threats to a PPC campaign is that of Click Fraud. Put simply, Click Fraud is when your ads are deliberately and consistently clicked on in order to diminish your ads visibility and drive up the cost to maintain a competitive position. This is usually performed via bots, pre-determined programmes and individuals. Unfortunately, this phenomena is becoming increasingly prevalent and it was estimated that around $16.7 Billion dollars was lost to Click Fraud in 2017 alone. There are many predictions that this will grow to over $50 Billion dollars in the next ten years. At present, advertisers are more reliant on third-party providers to secure their campaigns against the effects of Click Fraud.

Social Media Marketing

The importance of social media marketing has rapidly increased in recent years. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram offer businesses an opportunity to display their products and services in more direct and creative ways. With this in mind, it would be unwise to not utilize these opportunities, but once again there are the pros and the cons.

The Pros

In certain ways Social Media Marketing works in a similar way to PPC marketing. For example, Facebook Ads allows users to create ads and location and audience targeting, much like AdWords and Bing Ads allows you to. However, where Social Media Marketing really triumphs is the variability of tools advertisers can utilize to deliver their message. With video ads, vlogging, hashtags, image-centric ads and categorized targeting, advertisers can display services and products in more niche and creative ways. If you wanted to create a campaign with a variety of tools at your disposal, Social Media Marketing offers plenty of options and can create interest in ways which are sometimes beyond the remit of PPC Marketing, however it must be said that Social Media Marketing has a strong emphasis on creating awareness rather than creating action. For example, one of the more exciting developments within Social Media is the increasing use of viral marketing. This method can be a great way to increase brand or product awareness and it can give any business an edge.

It is also worth noting that, Social Media Marketing is generally less expensive than PPC Marketing and if money is limited it can provide a cheaper alternative – although it is not entirely without expense.

The Cons

Overall, Social Media Marketing is harder to optimize than PPC and as a consequence, ad campaigns are less effective. Neither Facebook, Twitter, Instagram nor LinkedIn offer the same level of analysis as Google AdWords or Bing Ads and consequently ad campaigns cannot be scrutinized to the same extent. ROI and keyword effectiveness cannot be measured as thoroughly. The level of reporting is not adequate enough to make a really informed choice. Sure, you can find these within Facebook Ads, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, but just don’t expect it to be at the same level as that found on PPC platforms.

It is also worth noting that, as a whole, Social Media Marketing is more time-consuming than PPC. Due to the constant need to update content, Social Media Marketing only truly works when you have the time and content to remain interesting and relevant for a potential customer or follower. With so much ‘noise’ in the Social Media arena it can be tricky to keep your content visible. Sure, you might have a knack for taking visually engaging images but that will only carry your business so far. Furthermore, Social Media Marketing cannot be automated in the same way as PPC Marketing. Primarily, content for Social Media Marketing is influenced by how ‘human’ it feels. It has to account for trends, language, creativity, taste, emotions. These things cannot be automated and are reliant upon human judgement. In short, you have to think more about your Social Media content and that can be a time-consuming and energetic task.

To Summarize

In a world which is becoming increasingly dependent upon digital marketing it would be unsurprising to argue that both PPC and Social Media Marketing bring a combined value to any campaign. Deciding to use both platforms as a way to generate both conversions and awareness is the ideal that many businesses should aim for.

Both PPC and Social Media Marketing have their strengths and weaknesses. It is important to stress that it is really dependent on what your goals are when deciding which one to focus upon. Unsurprisingly, we would argue that PPC has an edge on Social Media. This is due to the optimization and analysis that PPC offers. The more information you have the more informed decision you can make – it simply empowers you more. That said, Social Media is much more creative than PPC and if you want to create a strong brand identity then marketing with Social Media provides the more options.

If this debate could be visualized Social Media Marketing would represent the old shop front: it’s designed to capture your attention with visuals and emotions and draw you in whilst PPC represents the shop aisles and customer service where you can make a more informed choice and can find the right option or product.

Six Ways You Can Use Yoga Principles In Your Social Media Marketing

Most social media marketers know that their jobs can be hectic. With customers using social media 24/7, and with so many platforms to use, where policies and best practices seem to change daily, comparing social media marketing to yoga might sound like a stretch (no pun intended). But it’s not. Here are six ways you can find your social media Zen.

Strength

Yoga is a great way to help strengthen your body. And just like a pose to tone up your tummy, you need a strong core to get started on a successful social media campaign. Brands cannot “do” social media just to do it. Before the first line of content gets written, objectives and goals must be well laid out. Ask yourself:

• Why are we using social media?

• What do we want to accomplish?

• Who do we want to reach?

• How do we reach them?

• Where do we reach them?

• Do we have enough time and resources to not only allocate to social media but also to do it consistently well?

A solid plan with proper goals will lead to a strong and successful campaign.

Alignment

Proper alignment in yoga not only allows students to really feel the benefit of the pose, but it also helps to keep them safe and free from injury. Your social media marketing goals need to be in alignment with your brand’s voice, the content being produced and, most importantly, with the audience’s expectation and perception of your brand. If they are not all cohesive and aligned, your brand messaging will be mixed and confusing to consumers, and you just might hurt your brand image.

Balance

Tree pose, where you’re standing on one leg with the other leg bent, foot pressed flat against the standing leg’s inner thigh, is a tough pose for many. Balance is hard on one leg, just like balancing a career and life is hard in reality. However, balancing your social media content should not be.

Ensure that your content is a mix of promotional, educational, fun and even includes behind-the-scenes posts that keep readers and viewers engaged. Think of social media like walking into a bar with friends. You don’t automatically try to start selling your friends and bar patrons a product. If you do talk about your product or brand, it should come up naturally, organically. No one really enjoys in-your-face, “salesy” promotions.

Be transparent, have fun and show the story behind your brand. People are more apt to buy and become brand loyal when they either identify with the brand or get to know it more than just as a flashy logo. It’s OK to push out a promotional piece of content, just review your content calendar to ensure that you have a balance of other types of content, too, and that anything you push out is in alignment with your goals and objectives.

Flexibility

Not every yoga student has the flexibility to do all yoga poses to their fullest expression. That comes with time and practice. However, social media marketers don’t have the time and definitely don’t want to practice to get good at flexibility. They need to be flexible the second their social media efforts go public.

Social media, by nature, is fluid and ever-changing. From online campaigns that seek a mass boycott of products to a sudden shift in how major platforms show customers your content, social media is not a set-it-and-forget-it form of marketing. An action plan for any predictable occurrences is always smart.

From having a response plan for a product that has unintentionally caused harm to consumers to a change in reach on Facebook, being proactive is beneficial to your brand and will ultimately protect your brand image and the hard work you’ve put into your social campaigns. While we can’t always predict what might happen, social media marketers must be prepared for what could happen on a national level and how it might impact their brand. If a national incident occurs, going dark on social might be the best option. Review upcoming content and gauge the mood of the audience before relaunching any social media efforts.

Patience

It can be frustrating for yoga students to see others easily getting into poses that they are struggling to try. Patience should be applied to any social media marketing plan. While social media moves fast, sometimes your campaigns and page growth lag a bit behind. It takes time for people to find your pages and start to engage. Of course, marketers need to help them out by promoting their social pages, creating engaging content and including a social ad spend in their budget for promoted posts, pins and tweets.

Most marketers have looked at a post that they thought was fantastic, only to hear the proverbial sound of crickets as no one shares, likes, retweets or comments on it. It happens to the best of us. But with patience and perseverance, pages and posts will start to gain traction.

Retrospection

Self-reflection, also known as Svādhyāya, is a key part to any yoga practice. And while sometimes that review of who and what we are can be uncomfortable, knowing where we need to grow is always enlightening. A key part of social media marketing is a reflection on how well you’re adhering to the previously determined goals and objectives, as well as the metrics on the pages and posts you’ve created. If the numbers aren’t meeting your expectations, it’s the marketers’ responsibility to reflect on what is working, what’s not and why, and then make changes. 

A teacher once said, “It’s called yoga practice, not yoga perfect.” And that is how social media marketers should consider their social media. Instead of striving for that viral video or the post that gets a million impressions, find what works for your brand and never get stuck in complacency. What works one day may not work another. Always keep trying.