Social media marketing is a wasteland of productivity. Are you part of that issue? Marketers use social media marketing tools to grow their businesses. Many, however, are wasting their time.

Social media marketing tools.

I love to read, learn, and try new things. Like new apps for my smartphone and iPad. Often, I’ll see something that I want to try, save, and connect with other new apps I am using. Ideas that come from previously unconnected planes of thought.

There are many apps for workers looking to improve social media marketing that can be a big help in this regard. And less wasted time? Yes, very good for that also.

Related: 12 Extraordinary Graphic Design Tools You Should be Using

Ponder for a moment … the iPad, Cloud computing, and Apps. A few years ago, they barely existed. Now they’re an integral part of our lives. That swift journey from nonexistent to indispensable seems to happen a lot these days. But it gives us unlimited access to improve our learning and utility for things like through apps and idea connections.

This makes you think: What social media marketing apps were you not using two years ago that today you can’t imagine living without today?

There are hundreds of social media tools specifically designed to make the lives of social media marketers easier.

To be successful, you must have a consistent sharing strategy. These tools will also help you do that.

Here are my favorites:

Social media marketing tools are free … IFTTT

IFTTT is a fantastic tool for all types of marketers. Best of all, you can use all of its functionality for free.

IFTTT stands for:

IF This…
Then That

You get to define “this” and “that.”

Each series of events that you define is called a “recipe.” You can create as many recipes as you like.

One other neat thing about IFTTT is that you can add recipes created by other people. While it’s good to think about how to customize a recipe for your specific business, sometimes you’ll find that the perfect one is already made.

Kingsumo Headlines

This WordPress plugin is one of a few that allow you to A/B test (split test) headlines against each other.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, you’ll notice that there are multiple spaces for titles on any post you create.

Those titles will randomly be served to visitors whenever possible. As those titles get more impressions, you’ll notice the percentages beside each title change. These tell you which headlines are most effective, and you can select a “winner” when you’re satisfied.

Note that this plugin only works on sites with a good level of traffic. Otherwise, you’ll never have a statistically significant sample size for each headline.

You are probably thinking, what does this have to do with social media?

The answer is by finding the best-performing headline for your post; you can often increase traffic to the post (from social media and other sources) by over 50%. Not bad, eh?

Social media marketing tools for small businesses.

Social media marketing tools for small businesses… Bundlepost

This tool includes the ability to schedule posts on all major social networks but has a few great features that will save you, even more, time.

I will say, though, that Bundlepost isn’t quite as intuitive as most other tools, so while it is useful, it will take some time to learn the ins and outs of it.

One of the main features of Bundlepost is the ability to replace common niche keywords with hashtags automatically.

For example, you can add the phrase “social media” to a hashtag folder in the tool and tell it to replace any mentions of that phrase with #SocialMedia.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is one of the best tools on the web when it comes to finding the most popular content.

While it’s typically used from a content marketing perspective, it can also be very useful from a social media competitive analysis standpoint.

Buzzsumo allows you to “spy” on competitors and see what has worked for them. When you enter their domain name into the search box, you will get a list of their most popular social content, sorted by total shares.

If you look at 5-10 competitors, you can get a really good idea of which content resonates best with your target audience.

We also recommend the Ninjaoutreach. It is similar in nature to Buzzsumo in that it can dive into competitors’ insight as well as generate a list of most popular content and influencers. But in addition to all of that, NinjaOutreach is also a powerful all-in-one influencer outreach tool with customizable email outreach templates and CRM software built-in for easy email management.

Inkybee

Influencers are a big part of most social media marketing strategies. The goal is usually to connect with them, establish a relationship, and get them to share your stuff.

Finding the right influencers, however, can be tricky. That’s where tools such as Inkybee come in.

Inkybee lets you search for top bloggers in your niche on all major social networks.

Once you log in, search for a keyword in the bar on the “search” page.

It will quickly find a large list of related blogs. It also ranks them based on relevance, visibility, and engagement, all of which are positive traits for an influencer.

Tagboard

One of the reasons that marketers want to be on social media so much is to monitor any brand mentions or opportunities to interact with followers. Tagboard is one way to eliminate the worry over missing one of these chances.

To use this tool, simply search for a hashtag in the main search bar.

Social media marketing tools free — Social media marketing tools are free.

Quill Engage

I’ve heard just about every opinion out there on using analytics. Most complaints are that they are too complicated, or they’re too many options.

Quill Engage is a smart little tool that can scan your Google Analytics account and produce a report in plain English.

Instead of reporting everything, it makes notes of big changes that warrant your attention.

The bottom line

I’ve given you some very effective social media tools that you can use to:

gain more followers
engage with social media users better
drive more traffic to your website (that converts)
do it all in a reasonable amount of time

My recommendation is to, pick just a few tools and incorporate them into your social media strategy. The best way to learn is through doing, yes?

Also, there are many other great social media tools, so if there’s a specific problem you’re having, look for a solution.

If I forgot any of your favorite social media tools, please leave them in a comment below so that other readers can learn about them as well.

Need some help in building better customer insights from your customer engagement? Creative ideas to help grow your customer base?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new insights that you have learned.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

Check out these additional articles on customer insights from our library:

Lessons from the Yale Customer Insights Conference

Small Business Customer Insights 101

Remarkable Marketing Using These 17 Customer Insight Techniques

A How-to Guide for Small Business Social Media Marketing

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small businesses. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.

Social media marketing is a wasteland of productivity. Are you part of that issue? Marketers use social media marketing tools to grow their businesses. Many, however, are wasting their time.

Social media marketing tools.

I love to read, learn, and try new things. Like new apps for my smartphone and iPad. Often, I’ll see something that I want to try, save, and connect with other new apps I am using. Ideas that come from previously unconnected planes of thought.

There are many apps for workers looking to improve social media marketing that can be a big help in this regard. And less wasted time? Yes, very good for that also.

Related: 12 Extraordinary Graphic Design Tools You Should be Using

This makes you think: What social media marketing apps were you not using two years ago that today you can’t imagine living without today?

There are hundreds of social media tools specifically designed to make the lives of social media marketers easier.

To be successful, you must have a consistent sharing strategy. These tools will also help you do that.

Here are my favorites:

Social media marketing tools are free … IFTTT

IFTTT is a fantastic tool for all types of marketers. Best of all, you can use all of its functionality for free.

IFTTT stands for:

IF This…

Then That

You get to define “this” and “that.”

Each series of events that you define is called a “recipe.” You can create as many recipes as you like.

One other neat thing about IFTTT is that you can add recipes created by other people. While it’s good to think about how to customize a recipe for your specific business, sometimes you’ll find that the perfect one is already made.

Kingsumo Headlines

This WordPress plugin is one of a few that allow you to A/B test (split test) headlines against each other.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, you’ll notice that there are multiple spaces for titles on any post you create.

Those titles will randomly be served to visitors whenever possible. As those titles get more impressions, you’ll notice the percentages beside each title change. These tell you which headlines are most effective, and you can select a “winner” when you’re satisfied.

Note that this plugin only works on sites with a good level of traffic. Otherwise, you’ll never have a statistically significant sample size for each headline.

You are probably thinking, what does this have to do with social media?

The answer is by finding the best-performing headline for your post; you can often increase traffic to the post (from social media and other sources) by over 50%. Not bad, eh?

Social media marketing tools for small businesses.

Social media marketing tools for small businesses… Bundlepost

This tool includes the ability to schedule posts on all major social networks but has a few great features that will save you, even more, time.

I will say, though, that Bundlepost isn’t quite as intuitive as most other tools, so while it is useful, it will take some time to learn the ins and outs of it.

One of the main features of Bundlepost is the ability to replace common niche keywords with hashtags automatically.

For example, you can add the phrase “social media” to a hashtag folder in the tool and tell it to replace any mentions of that phrase with #SocialMedia.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is one of the best tools on the web when it comes to finding the most popular content.

While it’s typically used from a content marketing perspective, it can also be very useful from a social media competitive analysis standpoint.

Buzzsumo allows you to “spy” on competitors and see what has worked for them. When you enter their domain name into the search box, you will get a list of their most popular social content, sorted by total shares.

If you look at 5-10 competitors, you can get a really good idea of which content resonates best with your target audience.

Inkybee

Influencers are a big part of most social media marketing strategies. The goal is usually to connect with them, establish a relationship, and get them to share your stuff.

Finding the right influencers, however, can be tricky. That’s where tools such as Inkybee come in.

Inkybee lets you search for top bloggers in your niche on all major social networks.

Once you log in, search for a keyword in the bar on the “search” page.

It will quickly find a large list of related blogs. It also ranks them based on relevance, visibility, and engagement, all of which are positive traits for an influencer.

Tagboard

One of the reasons that marketers want to be on social media so much is to monitor any brand mentions or opportunities to interact with followers. Tagboard is one way to eliminate the worry over missing one of these chances.

To use this tool, simply search for a hashtag in the main search bar.

Quill Engage

I’ve heard just about every opinion out there on using analytics. Most complaints are that they are too complicated, or they’re too many options.

Quill Engage is a smart little tool that can scan your Google Analytics account and produce a report in plain English.

Instead of reporting everything, it makes notes of big changes that warrant your attention.

The bottom line

I’ve given you some very effective social media tools that you can use to:

gain more followers

engage with social media users better

drive more traffic to your website (that converts)

do it all in a reasonable amount of time

My recommendation is to, pick just a few tools and incorporate them into your social media strategy. The best way to learn is through doing, yes?

Also, there are many other great social media tools, so if there’s a specific problem you’re having, look for a solution.

If I forgot any of your favorite social media tools, please leave them in a comment below so that other readers can learn about them as well.

Need some help in building better customer insights from your customer engagement? Creative ideas to help grow your customer base?

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new insights that you have learned.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy to improving your continuous learning for yourself and your team?

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.

Check out these additional articles on customer insights from our library:

Lessons from the Yale Customer Insights Conference

Small Business Customer Insights 101

Remarkable Marketing Using These 17 Customer Insight Techniques

A How-to Guide for Small Business Social Media Marketing

Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small businesses. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.