Social media marketing tools
Social media connects businesses with consumers in powerful ways. Companies have made major investments in their social media marketing strategies, with marketers using purpose-built tools for tapping into social media's vast potential for driving brand recognition and customer loyalty.
Discover leading examples of social media marketing tools across multiple categories and use cases.
Basic toolbox
As a starting point, businesses often focus on discoverability, branding their online presence, and analyzing the results of their online marketing strategies.
Search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing improve discoverability by making the business more visible in search engine results. Web design and social media management tools create a consistent and branded digital presence. Analytics tools dig deep into the numbers, generating insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) like engagement and conversion rates.
Scheduling tools
Scheduling tools help digital marketers manage their content publishing needs. Professionals use them to:
- Post to multiple platforms and profiles through a single action
- Schedule posts and content publication for times when data indicates customers are especially engaged
- Create long-term content marketing plans
Popular examples include Sprout, CoSchedule, and Planable.
Meta
Meta's major social media networks include Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The company offers free marketing tools to its business users, but companies can also use third-party services that work well on Meta platforms.
Examples include:
- Facebook: Marketers use tools like Canva, Desygner, and Manychat as supplements to Meta's native marketing tools.
- Instagram: Widely used third-party services for Instagram marketing include LeeTags, VSCO, Iconosquare, and Gleam.
- Threads: EmbedSocial, Vista, and Social Champ rank among the leading providers of marketing tools that translate well to the Threads environment.
X (formerly Twitter)
Formerly known as Twitter, X supports many different analytics, publishing, scheduling, content creation, engagement, and affiliate marketing tools. Marketers often prefer tools with features that save time on X while improving on the platform's native capabilities.
Some of the options meeting that description include Hootsuite, Sprout, Later, Sprinklr, and Buffer.
YouTube
Like Meta, YouTube offers native marketing tools to businesses and content creators. You can boost their capabilities by using browser extensions, statistics trackers, SEO tools, and market intelligence assistants like TubeBuddy, VidIQ, Social Blade, and Tubics. These platforms and services have features specifically designed for marketing video content and YouTube channels.
This job search and career-building platform is popular with individual professionals seeking to build their online followings and with employers and recruiters looking to fill job vacancies. Companies also use LinkedIn to generate sales leads.
Categorized by purpose, popular LinkedIn tools include:
- Recruitment tools: Corporate recruiters use tools like Crystal and Aeroleads to screen and validate candidate profiles when seeking matches for specific vacancies.
- Outreach tools: Services like Expandi help individuals and businesses automate their LinkedIn outreach initiatives.
- Lead generation: Businesses use tools like Dux-Soup, Leadfeeder, eLinkPro, and Zopto to generate sales leads on LinkedIn.
Snapchat
Snapchat's marketing tools are mainly designed to encourage interaction and increase brand awareness. To these ends, companies can access the platform's native Snapchat Business Manager and Snapchat Insights services. These tools offer analytics, tagging, product marketing, and augmented reality features known to drive user engagement.
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