A Few of my Favorite Online Tools

Below is a list of my favorite online tools for social media management, SEO, keyword research, audience intelligence, social listening and more. Do not feel like you need to use them all, but pick a few and see how you like them.

Social Media Tools

There are 1000s of social media management tools, this is only a small list of tools we currently use.

SmarterQueue: The social media power tool. Smarter Scheduling. Convenient Curation. Advanced Analytics. This is a tool we have used for several years and I love it, with the exception of their Instagram functionality, they are awaiting their partnership approval, but until then, all you can do is schedule and it does not auto-post. You can manage Facebook, Facebook Groups, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn Personal Accounts and Company Pages. Use our link to try SmarterQueue for a month free.

eClincher: Powerful social media management advanced publishing, social inbox, analytics & collaboration tools, direct integration with Instagram, also integrates with Canva and Wave video. They have amazing customer service and training.

Social Report: Is another robust social media management tool. You can manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and more. They have a nice social inbox and good reporting tools.

Later.com: #1 Marketing Platform for Instagram. Visually Plan & Schedule Instagram Posts. They have a free plan that works well. Can also roll in scheduling for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest – but it is a powerful Instagram tool, if that is your platform upgrade to a paid plan and learn how to use the various functions. They also have one of my favorite blogs.

TweetDeck: This incredibly valuable free Twitter tool is a great resource for tracking conversations and engaging real-time on Twitter. This is covered in the Social Listening video in this workshop.

Buffer: Need something simple, try Buffer, they have a free plan or an upgrade to $15 per month. It does basic scheduling, but if that is all you need it’s a great option.

Hashtag Tools

Hashtag Tracker: This is a relatively new hashtag tool that I love! There is a free version, but the paid version is well worth the investment. Hashtags are often overlooked or misunderstood, they’re so much more than a word with a symbol… these are the campfires where people who care about the same things gather online to have conversations. Hands-down a good hashtag strategy is the best way to organically identify and connect with your perfect audience… and using a good tool to track and listen to hashtags is crucial to successfully engage your audience and unlock opportunities you had no idea existed…

TWUBS: Is a TweetChat tool and you can also register hashtags.

Hashtagify: Is a hashtag research tool, the free version does not provide much information, but usually enough to help you find a few new and related hashtags to research. This is covered in the Social Listening video in this workshop.

Keyword/SEO Tools

TextMetrics: This is an amazing SEO tool. It is not free, but only $19 per month. TextMetrics allows you to created consistent content that maximizes your chances of being found. It works with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Google Docs, WordPress and more. Select a focus keyword for your content and as you type your content the tool tells you how to optimize for SEO. It does much more and they keep improving too, I recommend requesting a demo.

Answer The Public: This tool is free for up to 3 searches per day, but that might change they just launched a pro version. Simply enter a keyword and it pulls data from Google with actual phrases people are using to search using that keyword. It also sorts the data by type of question How, What, Why, etc. This is a great way to find all of the titles for your articles in one place as well as see the types of questions people are asking. Note that people pose a question based on what they are looking for… someone looking for a DIY solution will probably as a how question and someone looking for a more strategic solution might be asking a why question. Know your audience and design your writing for them.

Buzzsumo: Use the free version, I believe you get 5 free searches per day. Enter a keyword and Buzzsumo will pull up the most active related articles. You can see how they were shared on social media. You can only pull the more detailed data with the paid plan, but I don’t think it is necessary.

Ubersuggest: Free and paid versions – easy keyword tool – enter a keyword to find alternative words and phrases – great for finding article titles, social traffic, and articles to externally link to.

Neil Patel is the creator of the tool and someone I have learned so much from over the years. Here is a great blog he created on how to use it. And a free training too.

Moz: Moz has a suite of free SEO tools, including MozBar – This is where you measure Domain Authority – Examine and analyze important search, social and page metrics of any site you visit right in your Chrome browser and other great stuff.

Keywords Everywhere: Great free Chrome extension that shows you related keywords when you run a search.

Related Words: Fun free tool for finding new words.

SEO Minion: A free Chrome or Firefox extension that helps you find info on any page on the fly.

Analytics Tools

Google Analytics

Use the analytics tools built into the Social Media Platforms and the Social Media Management Tools you use.

Diib: I super easy to use dashboard tool. The free version is very limited, paid version is $30 per month. You can see all of the moving parts of your website, email marketing, social media, and more in your dashboard view.

Alerts for Social Listening

Set-up Google Alerts and/or Talkwalker Alerts for any term, name, organization, hashtag you want to keep track of. Both are free services, they are both great services, but Talkwalker has more flexibility and finds more results.

Audience Intelligence Tools

Novarize: A relatively new audience intelligence tool that is currently free. The topics are limited but definitely worth trying and they will likely start charging for this service.

Audiense: This is a very pricey audience intelligence tool, they have a free option that allows for one topic per month. So much good information, but choose your topic carefully.

PR Tools

HARO: Help A Report Out is an email that goes out 3x per day with real media opportunities, most are on a tight deadline. The emails go out to a lot of people, respond quickly and use the information in the emails for intelligence… these are the topics that are in the news. Sign-up for the free option

Spot-a-Guest: A free membership group full of podcast hosts and guests.

PodcastGuests.com: A free community with podcast guests and hosts.

Image/Design Tools

Canva: Design presentations, social media graphics, and more with thousands of beautiful layouts. Canva makes it easy to create well-designed digital and print marketing assets from social media posts to presentations to media kits and more. Use their templates and take the time to go through their free design school, you will learn how to really use this tool. Definitely worth the investment of the pro account.

InVideo: Videos are no longer optional on social media. It’s increasingly harder to stand out and to gain the attention f the people you want to connect with. InVideo makes it easy to create short, quality videos to include in your social campaigns and more.

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is a free transcription service that is an amazing tool.

Note: I only recommend tools and resources that I have vetted and use. Some links may be an affiliate link, this means that if you register through the link, I may earn advertising or referral fees, without any additional cost to you.