Ways to communicate between people has evolved over the years. In this modern age where computers and internet have a profound influence on our lives, social media has made it possible for people from various parts of the world to share and exchange information through virtual communities. Social media allows us to meet people who share our views on various topics and gives us an opportunity to express our views with ease. To know more about social media, click here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media. As social media gained popularity, it started opening up new opportunities for online marketing.
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing is a type of marketing that uses social media as a marketing platform. The advent and increase in popularity of social media has changed the way marketers, approach online marketing. If you are interested to know more about Social Media Marketing, click on this link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing. The platform that social media networks provide for marketing is enormous and therefore it is not possible for any marketer to cover all possible options that social media provides for marketing. As most of social media marketing is done manually, there are limitations to the amount of marketing that is done. However, a few social media automation tools have entered the market that allows you to automate certain marketing processes. In this post, we will discuss about some top tools in social media automation that will help marketers achieve their marketing goals.
Why you should use Social media automation tools
It is true that there can be no substitute for authentic and genuine interaction with your social media audience. However, there are limitations to what people can do and achieve in any specific period. It is not possible for a person to be available in all social media platforms always. The fact is that, by using the right social media automation tool at the right time, you will be able to save time and that will allow you to engage more with your audience. Selective automation will allow you to communicate with your audience without the audience being aware of your absence. Let us have a look at some of the top social media automation tools that have been designed for marketers.
Top Social Media Automation Tools
1. Buffer:
- This tool allows you to share information to your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln and App.net accounts from one place.
- You can schedule the time when the updates have to be posted in the respective social media.
Platforms: Web application, iPhone App, Browser Extension for Chrome, Safari and Firefox
2. IFTTT (If This Then That):
- IFTTT gives you the option to create and share recipes to fit a simple statement.
- ‘This’, in the statement, acts as a trigger in the recipe. (Eg. If I log into Facebook)
- ‘That’, in the statement is the action in the recipe.
- Trigger and action combination is called a recipe.
- This service provides triggers and actions for more than 56 channels like Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, WordPress, etc.
Platforms: Web application, Mobile Apps, Browser Extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari
3. Hootsuite
- It is considered the leader in social media management tools especially among social media management clients. However, the tool is only available as a chrome extension and only caters to Google+ accounts.
- Can create posts and publish them instantly or according to a schedule
- It can support multiple accounts and has a scheduler and an auto scheduler
- Can work offline
Platforms: Brower Extension for Chrome
The social media automation tools discussed in this post is what I consider as some of the top tools available today. Various factors have been considered while deciding on these three tools and is solely based on my experience in working with these tools.
Matthew Anton is a Social Media Marketing expert who has had the experience of working with many social media automation tools.
