As a busy small business owner, keeping up with social media can feel like a never-ending battle.

From content creation to the curation of relevant articles, maintaining a consistent presence takes more time than you have in your day. So, how can you remain interactive while still running your business?

That’s where the right tools come in!  While there’s a plethora of tools available, I have found a handful to be invaluable.

If you’re eager to add a few hours to your day while improving your productivity, read on for my top ten must-have social media tools!

Social Media Management

1. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is my daily go-to management tool. With Sprout, you can monitor, track and update your social media presence in one location.

This tool has the ability to automatically schedule updates across multiple social platforms and acts as a curation tool, pulling content from your Twitter lists or favorite RSS feeds.

2. Buffer

Buffer is my other daily tool that I couldn’t live without. Buffer allows you to schedule your social network posts easily, creating queues of content in the leading social media platforms.

As you read content you’d like to share, add it to your Buffer account from your browser or mobile device where it will automatically post based on your pre-determined schedule.

Data Analysis

3. Followerwonk

Have you wondered when your community is spending their time online? Would you like to know when your tweets will receive maximum exposure?

Followerwonk takes the mystery out of your best time to tweet. Not only will it analyze your followers, but will then determine your best time to tweet and then automatically sync that schedule to your Buffer account.

4. Simply Measured

Whether you’re looking to increase exposure on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn or Vine, Simply Measured has you covered.

Simply Measured offers multiple free reports that will analyze your accounts, helping you put your content in front of the right people at the exact right time.

Research

5. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is an amazing search tool that allows you to get inside the head of your consumer, research current content or identify top competitors.

Whether you’re researching content for your latest blog post or tracking your competitors, BuzzSumo will give you insight into popular content and the shared sentiment.

6. SEMRush

Another incredibly helpful tool is SEMRush. Want to better understand what keywords you’re ranking for or how consumers are finding your competitions website? Use SEMRush to gain insight into competitors, both real and perceived, and the opportunities around them.

Content Curation

7. PostPlanner

Have you ever found yourself struggling to find content to share? No matter the social platform, finding meaningful content that’s interesting to your audience can be a challenge.

That’s where PostPlanner comes in! Integrated directly within Facebook, PostPlanner does the heavy lifting for you. They identify popular content across Facebook and curate it right into your PostPlanner account where you can quickly and easily schedule across any of your managed Facebook Pages.

8. Swayy

I’ve used Swayy for quite some time and truly appreciate the personalized content it delivers. By linking your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages, you will be able to see top trending content within your community.

This is content your audience is interacting with, as well as suggested content that you can post directly to your social profiles.

Graphic Design

9. Canva

Nowadays, social networks are becoming more visual, but how can you come up with visual content without Photoshop skills?  There are two tools that solve this problem.

Canva is an ideal solution for any businesses in need of making their social media posts more visual; without the need of a graphic designer or spending too many hours trying to create a design of your own.

10. PicMonkey

Like Canva, PicMonkey will help you ensure that your images are professional and branded to your business. Upload your graphic and then turn an otherwise boring picture into your masterpiece.

What are your favorite social media tools? Whichever tool you decide to use, make sure it improves your efficiency and ability to interact and maintain a thriving online community!

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Rebekah Radice

CEO and Founder at Rebekah Radice, LLC

Rebekah Radice is the founder of Rebekah Radice, LLC and a founding partner of Imagine WOW; digital marketing agencies committed to helping business professionals align strategy and intention for breakthrough social media results. Rebekah is the author of and the author of “How to Use Social Media to Virtually Crush the Competition and recently named an Inman Top 100 Most Influential Leader for the second year in a row, as well as one of the Top Social Media Professionals to Follow.

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