How to work efficiently and still have a great social media marketing strategy!

Implementing your social media marketing strategy can be a time consuming task. Most small businesses that I work with look for ways to work smarter and more efficiently.

Creating content, generating images or video, scheduling, publishing, engaging and reviewing analytics can take a lot of time out of the working day.

At times social media can be overwhelming! We all want to experience fantastic results from social media marketing, but it’s important to find ways to work more efficiently.

There are some fantastic social media management tools available to help you work smarter and more efficiently!

Here are some of my favourites to help with your social media marketing strategy –

Hootsuite

‘Manage all your social media in one place. From finding prospects to serving customers, Hootsuite helps you do more with your social media. Hootsuite can make connecting with customers faster, smarter and safer.’

Hootsuite is my go to social media marketing tool! It’s the one I usually recommend! If you’re just starting out with your social media marketing strategy, then Hootsuite is a great place to start.

I think Hootsuite is the best ‘all in one’ social media management tool. The platform allows you to easily schedule, curate, engage and monitor metrics for your social media channels.

If you run several social media accounts, then it’s a great place to manage and monitor everything from.

Currently used by over 15 million people, so it’s probably the biggest social media management tool.

Hootsuite is a comprehensive tool – but it’s great value! There’s a free plan for up to 3 social media accounts and then several ‘paid for’ options which come with a 14 day free trial.

Buffer

‘Save time managing your social media. Buffer is a simpler and easier way to schedule posts, track the performance of your content, and manage all your accounts in one place.’

Buffer was originally viewed as a scheduling tool, but it’s evolved and developed or acquired products to include publishing, engagement, analytics and team collaboration.

The Buffer interface is very white and minimalistic and really simple and intuitive to use. They also rate highly on fast and friendly customer service and support.

One advantage of using Buffer is having compatibility with Pinterest. Most other tools don’t offer this, however it’s only available on ‘paid for’ accounts.

They do offer a free plan, and their ‘paid for’ plans come with a 14 day free trial.

Sprout Social

‘Powerful Social Media Software. Social media management made easy.’

Sprout Social is the heavy-weigh option! It’s similar to Hootsuite in that it offers scheduling, monitoring and reporting for multiple social media accounts, all from one place.

It’s more advanced than both Hootsuite and Buffer – it offers a customer relationship management (CRM) option.

Sprout allows you to manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn accounts.

The reporting options that Sprout Social offers is also very powerful.

Sprout Social is often viewed as a tool more suited to social media mangers or marketing managers instead of small business owners.

The advanced features mean that the price tag is somewhat higher than Hootsuite or Buffer. There is no free option, the paid for plans start at $99 per month.

Which tool is right for you? I think it depends mainly on the size of your organisation, how many social media accounts you run and the objective and goals of your social media marketing strategy.

I think most people can fulfil their requirements and implement a more efficient social media marketing strategy with the help of Hootsuite, Buffer or Sprout Social. However, there are lots of other options available. Tools like Edgar, SocialOomph, Tailwind and CoSchedule are also very popular.

If I’ve missed your favourite social media management tool, then drop me a line.

If you need help developing your social media marketing strategy then check out my mini guide – The Secrets of Social Media Marketing Strategy.

Let’s get connected! You’ll find my on LinkedIn and Twitter.