Probably the question I get asked most, is which tools I use for Social Media Management. It’s evolved and changes all of the time, so this will almost certainly be out of date in a year’s time – but I thought I’d list all of the tools I use daily and couldn’t be without when it comes to scheduling my client’s social media content.
💻 I schedule in Business Suite for Facebook & Instagram. You can schedule single images, videos, carousels and even stories. But sadly you can’t put stickers on the stories. Fingers crossed for the next update as it would be so handy! It’s also free and because it’s not a third party – your posts don’t get penalised for being scheduled.
💻 For LinkedIn, Twitter or Pinterest – I use Hootsuite. You can use this for Fb & Insta too but I find BizSuite more seamless (and free!). There is a free version but it’s pretty limited, so I do pay for their next tier up which gives me plenty of space for all of my clients. It can disconnect at times which is annoying but is definitely happening less and less.
🎨 I use Canva to create the visual feed. Everything that you see on a client’s feed has been through Canva at some point. Even images from a photographer get input into canva so that I can visually see their feed laid out. It doesn’t replicate a 3 x 3 Instagram Grid which would be useful, but I can visualise it well enough. Again, I have the paid version which is so valuable to my business and is one thing I’d recommend spending £9.99 on.
📸 Lightroom is one of the latest additions, and again it is paid for. But I use Lightroom for any photo editing and more and more clients are starting to have custom presets to make their feed to look seamless. It’s interesting to see presets and editing styles become part of brand guidelines!
💌 Clients send me content through Dropbox, WhatsApp or Google Drive. WhatsApp is great, but changes the file name and if the client deletes it before I’ve downloaded it then it’s lost forever. With Drive or Dropbox they can upload it and delete it from their phone and it’s protected in there forever.
🤓 Hashtag Research is done through MetaHashtags, another paid for subscription though I think there is a super limited free version. This automatically finds relevant and related hashtags so it’s a mega timesaver.
🗓 Planning is done on ClickUp, AirTable or a printed calendar. I personally work with a printed calendar for all of my clients as I’m a bit old school and like to put pen to paper – but some clients like to see their calendar so we use either ClickUp or AirTable. All of my team are organised through ClickUp too.
and that’s it!
It kind of looks like a lot, but I whizz between these sites faster than my MacBook can keep up sometimes, and they all create the lovely social media feeds you see!
Am I worried that by telling you this, no-one will want to pay me? No, because you still need to actually go and do it 😉