Marketing in this day and age has grown far more complex than merely designing and putting up advertisements or handing out flyers.
Marketing today is mainly done online, and it involves driving traffic to your business, and converting these visits into actual sales.
In January 2021, it was recorded that as many as 86% of Malaysians were on social media. This makes social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp the perfect platform to grow your brand.
Additionally, with the Covid-19 pandemic still raging, many people have turned to online shopping to fulfill their needs.
This is to fulfill the need for social distancing, and it keeps many people feeling safe.
Thankfully, there are many online social media tools designed to improve your marketing campaigns and these tools comes in several different types, namely:
- Social Media Analytics Tools. These tools give you data on how well your content is performing, as well as behind the scenes data like optimal periods when users interact with yoru post.
- Content Creation Tools. These help you come up with one of a kind content, like articles or videos that are grammatically correct and unique.
- Monitoring or Sharing Tools. Tools like these help you plan who,where and when to share your content. They also help you identify your social media target audiences where your content will perform the best, and then help you monitor and improve your strategy.
- Graphic Tools. Professional and modern looking graphics will make your content stand out and be recognized. It will also create respect and recognition for your brand. You can improve your graphics with some of the free graphic tools available online.
- Others Social Media Tools. There are also many niche tools out there dedicated to different fields of content.
Top Picks: The 20 Must-Have Social Media Tools for Marketers
As a marketer, you want to have the best social media tools that will help you create quality content, and come up with the best strategies to spread those content.
The tools that are available online today are helpful and varied, but they’re not suitable for all platforms.
We’ve compiled the best social media management tools for you and listed which social media platforms they go best with.
Here are some of the most useful tools available today, arranged according to each of their different features and function of the social media tools!
Read Also: How to Use Social Media Memes for Effective Content Marketing?
Free Social Media and Website Analytics Tools
1. Facebook Business Suite – Facebook All In One Account Manager
Previously, Facebook provided Facebook Analytics. However, they’ve since removed that feature and integrated it into the FB Business Suite package. Facebook Business Suite is Facebook’s complete solution for businesses. Once you set up a business account on Facebook, you’ll be able to access all of the Facebook Business Suite’s features for free.
Our Favourite Features:
- Quick insights into content analytics
- Check inbox and get notifications from all accounts
- Create ads quickly
| Best with: | Facebook, Instagram |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | – Ads manager – Inbox notifications – Ad creators – Content analytics |
2. Tiktok Analytics – Insights Into Your Tiktok Account Analytics
In order to access TikTok analytics, you first have to switch to a Tik Tok Pro account. This account is especially created for businesses and creators on TikTok. Once you’ve switched to a Pro account, you’ll be able to enjoy a slew of marketing-centric features, the key one being analytics.
Our Favourite Features:
- Demographics of viewers, including gender and age under each video
- Track followers, video views and profile views over 7 days or 28 days.
- See where your viewers are coming from for each video ( For you, followers or profile views)
- See what videos your TikTok followers watched for content ideas.
| What’s included in the free subscription: | TikTok Followers analytics TikTok viewer analytics TikTok profile analytics TikTok video analytics |
3. Instagram Account Insights – A Built-in Tool To Track Your Account
So far, the Instagram Insights tool is only available if you have a business or creator account. Therefore, in order to access this tool, you have to switch to an Instagram business or creator profile. You’ll be able to view the analytics for your posts for the last 7 or 30 days.
Our favorite features:
- Get notifications on any surge in account performance with ‘Recent Highlights’
- Analytics available for the last 7 days and the last 30 days
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Accounts reached Content interaction Total followers. |
4. Twitter Analytics – Track And View Twitter Growth For Free
You can turn on Twitter Analytics for your account easily by just visiting the Twitter Analytics page. If you’re already signed in, this will lead you straight to your main social media analysis page with data from the last 30 days.
Our favorite features:
- A list of your best performing tweets, by month.
- Summary of monthly tweet performance for the past one year.
| What’s included in the free subscription: | 28 day summary Tweet impressions Profile visits Follower count Monthly tweet performance summary Tweet activity Videos tracking Conversion tracking |
5. Google Analytics – Track Audience Engagement With Your Website
Rather than being a social media management tool, Google Analytics is actually built for websites. This means that if you own a website of any kind, you can take advantage of Google’s free data analytics tools to understand your customers’ habits better. Additionally, you can also upgrade to Google Analytics 360 which requires some payment for a deeper analysis.
Our favorite features:
- Detailed conversion reports
- Identify visitors that interact with more than one of your online platforms.
- Demographics of visitors, and how long they’re spending on your site
| Best with: | Any websites |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Audience reports Advertising reports Acquisition reports Behavior reports Conversion reports Real time reporting User flow reporting |
6. Linkedin Analytics – Gain Knowledge On Your Linkedin Page
LinkedIn Analytics can be easily accessed if you’re a page admin. LinkedIn Analytics gives you insight on your posts and videos, your followers and visitors and more.
Our favorite features:
- Detailed analytics on views and impressions for each post
- ‘Companies to track’ option lets you view follower metrics for other companies like your own.
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Updates analytics Visitors and followers metrics Talent Brand Analytics |
Other Subscription-Based Tools
7. Buzzsumo – Find The Right Influencers To Grow Your Brand
BuzzSumo is a social media management tool that lets you plan and put out the best content, and allows you to identify the best influencers that can help you grow your reach, using the power of data, rather than social recommendation. Packages start from USD99 to USD499
Our favorite features:
- Detailed analytics on views and impressions for each post
- ‘Companies to track’ option lets you view follower metrics for other companies like your own.
| Best with | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Content discovery Content research Find influencers Monitoring Backlinks monitoring Social media analyzers |
8. Google Trends – See What The World Is Searching For
Google Trends is a simple tool to let you see what the top search trends are in real time, according to your country or choice. Apart from seeing the top searches in each country, you can also see the performance and popularity of different search terms.
Our favorite features:
- See search trends from any country in the world.
- Track the popularity of a key words over time
- Popularity of search terms can be tracked all the way from 2004
| Best with | Any websites that intended to do SEO strategy |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Top search terms on Google for every country Analytics for search terms of your choice Compare analytics of search terms Annual search term trend analysis |
9. Hubspot – Comprehensive Customer Relationship Management Packages
HubSpot provides complete solutions for businesses to enhance their customer relationships, social media management, content, lead generation, SEO and more. They offer five packages, namely Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub, and Operations Hub.
Our favorite features:
- Customize services packages according to your business needs
- Live chat set-ups
- Lead generation strategies
| Best with | Any business offering products or services |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Lead generation Automated marketing Analytics Customer feedback Knowledge base SEO recommendations Website themes Data quality automation |
10. Sprout Social – Manage All Your Social Media Accounts Under One Roof
Sprout Social makes is a social media monitoring tool and management tool that lets you consolidate all your social media activities under one roof. They’re able to customize the services you need according to your business size and type.
Our favorite features:
- Schedule posts across social media platforms
- All-in-one social media inbox
| Best with | Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Manage 5-10 social media profiles Integrated inbox Publish, schedule,draft content across platforms Group, profile and post performance reporting Competitive reports Paid social reporting and much more. |
Read Also: Top Social Media Platform To Market Your Business
11. Se Ranking – Professional SEO Tool For Your Brand
Search for the best SEO keywords for your content and push your site to the top of the search engine results. SE Ranking services come with various SEO tools and monitoring tools as well. Pricing starts from USD31 a month.
Our favorite features:
- Find the highest ranking keywords to drive traffic
- Check and monitor backlinks
| Best with | All platforms and websites |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Accurate SEO recommendations and tracking Website audit SEO competitive research Backlink tracking and monitoring Competitor sites monitoring, etc. |
12. Hootsuite – Manage Your Social Media Accounts As A Team
Hootsuite is a social media management tool that provides you to schedule posts and monitor engagement. The special feature here is that there are packages that allow you to manage the accounts as a team, up to an unlimited number. Plans start from USD19 a month.
Our favorite features:
- Allows more than one user to manage the social media account.
- Allows management of up to 50 accounts
| Best with | Popular social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Schedule unlimited posts in advance Access messages in one inbox Manage the team Team communication platform 24/7 customer support |
13. Agorapulse – Free Social Media Management Tool For Start Up
Agorapulse is yet another free social media management tool, although only for single users and up to 3 social media accounts. As your business grows, you’re allowed to add users and accounts to manage, with subscription plans starting from USD79 per month.
Our favorite features:
- Free for 1 user managing 3 accounts
- Social listening lets you keep track of trends and competitors
| Best with | Popular social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Unified inbox Social media publishing Social media monitoring Social media reporting |
14. Optinmonster– Lead Generation & Conversion With Powerful Tools
Optinmonster is a tool that strategizes your content design and allows you to target it at the right group and the right time.
Our favorite features:
- Template designs for sales offers and promotions
- A/B testing of your content to see how it will perform.
- Exit Intent® technology to personalize campaigns based on customer behavior
| Best with | Instagram, Facebook |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Unlimited campaigns Page level targeting List Segmentation Subscriber Recognition Simple reporting |
Read also: Top WordPress Website Design That You Should Follow
15. Ahrefs – All In One SEO Keyword Research Tool
Ahrefs is a tool that helps you explore the best SEO keywords and track your site ranking when you’ve inserted those keywords into your content.
Our favorite features:
- Keyword ideas with search volumes
- Content explorer allows you to see what’s trending among other sites
| Best with | Any websites |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Site audit Website Backlinks profile Keyword research Site explorer Content explorer Rank tracking system |
16. Coschedule – Schedule & Organize Your Marketing Campaign
CoSchedule is a tool which allows you to track and organize different aspects of your marketing campaign. It’s basically a marketing calendar and work organizer which makes it easier for you to tie your campaign together.
Our favorite features:
- Free headline optimization tool
- Flexible organization platform
| Best with | Any websites |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Calendar organizer Content organizer Work organizer Asset organizer |
17. Socialbakers – Unified Social Media Marketing Platform
SocialBakers is an A.I. powered social media analytics tool that also let’s you manage all your social media accounts under one roof.
Our favorite features:
- Discover the best influencers to help you in influencer marketing
- Dedicated account manager available when you upgrade
| Best with | All popular social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Essential analytics Publishing calendar Content analysis Social media listening Audience analysis Influencer marketing Community management and more. |
18. Zapier– Automate Workflows Between Web Apps
Zapier is an online platform that connects various web apps and automated work-related tasks, saving you time and effort. For example, you can automatically download any attachments from your Gmail and back them up on Google Drive. Subscriptions are free for 100 Zaps per month, but start at USD 19.99 for 750 tasks per month.
Our favorite features:
- Connect from more than 3000 plus apps
- Zaps can be created intuitively without much instructions.
| Best with | All popular social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Create Multi step Zaps Premium apps Connections via Webhook |
Bonus: Free Design Tools
19. Canva – Make Professional Designs Via Templates
You don’t have to be a professional graphic designer to come up with modern, sleek designs for your social media posts. Canva has thousands of templates for everything, from name cards to social media posts.
Our favorite features:
- Special section for social media posts templates, including Instagram stories, TikTok,Facebook posts, Instagram highlights and more.
- Section for social media marketing templates including Facebook ads and Instagram ads.
| Best with | Marketers who are just starting out and can’t hire graphic designers yet |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Free access to thousands of templates Intuitive editing of templates to personalize them |
20. Unsplash – Royalty Free Pictures For Every Occasion
If you need professional looking pictures and graphics to illustrate your content or enhance your design, Unsplash is the place to go. There are over 1 million curated photos on this platform that you can use for free.
Our favorite features:
- Large and clear professional images
- Easy to search for images by keyword
| Best with | Any social media platform’s content |
| What’s included in the free subscription: | Free access to stock images. User can join for free and wish to contribute pictures |
The Best Social Media Tools Will Help You Grow
A well built and long-lasting house needs the correct tools to build. In the same way, your business will also need the correct social media monitoring tools and management tools in order to grow from the ground up.
This is why we have listed all these useful tools to help you.
If you need help deciding which social media marketing plan are the ones you need, come talk to us at One Search Pro.
Drop us a message and we’ll set up a consultation session to advise you on which tools will suit your business the best.
