While the world of social media remains accessible to all with a capable device and an internet connection, certain content is more visibly effective than others. In order to enhance your company's social media efforts, it's important to follow a clear editorial plan to secure and optimize your content. Thankfully, a number of technologies are available for use that will come in handy before the execution stages.
Consider adding the following four tools to your pre-publishing arsenal to maximize your social media output before it goes live:
If you've ever had a case of writer's block, then this here is the tool for you. This blog title generator by the inbound marketing experts at Impact helps you craft witty and engaging titles for your blog posts. Just type in your main subject, hit next, and let the generator help you get the creative juices flowing in the right direction. Blogabout also offers a doodling feature that allows you to visually capture your thoughts before they're put into words, or at the very least lend you a fun distraction before you're ready to pen your new optimized blog post.
Video content is dominating the social media sphere, and the trend appears to only be getting stronger. If your brand outsources its video production efforts, a collaborative review tool like LookAt can ensure that your company's vision is being executed in exactitude by the video makers. LookAt's capabilities include annotations via comments as well as a freehand drawing tool that allows you to pinpoint, down to the very pixel, the edits you wish to be made. The platform will remain free of charge through the rest of the year. Get social with collaborators within the platform before publishing your video for viral domination.
One of the most widely used social tools on the web is Bitly, which shortens your URLs for efficient social sharing. Not only does Bitly save precious characters so that you have maximized space for writing (particularly on Twitter), but it also tracks how many clicks are generated and from which social channels the engagement takes place. This bite-sized branding--the characters of which are optimized for biggest impact and reach--allows you to manage and control your marketing and analytics in one fell swoop.
With the swift and instantaneous nature of social media output, don't neglect to backup your content. Unforeseeable glitches could arise within the social networks, or your account could perhaps one day get hacked. The app IFTTT allows for automatic, pre-conditioned commands that could protect you from a major loss--not to mention headache--one day in the future. The name behind IFTTT communicates one simple statement in the form of a classic hypothesis: If This Then That. Taken socially, IFTTT can be programmed to learn something along the lines of "If I post a photo on Instagram, then save it on my Dropbox." The app is optimized for nearly all major social networks and associated communicative platforms, and in addition to backups offers services including social media syncing and stylistic email automation.
Have you used any of these tools? Are we missing one of your favorites? Please let us, and the rest of the social media stratosphere, know and learn by writing in the comments below.