Section 5.07 SM Tools

Module 5 

Section 5.07

 SM Tools 

“Social media tools are not just about giving people a voice, but giving them a way to collaborate, contribute and connect”

SM Tools

What are social media tools? They are tools that make it easier to use social networking. RSS, blogs, widgets, tags, forums, Web chats, instant messaging, podcasts, and microblogging services are just a few examples.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It’s an easy way to keep up with news and information that’s important to you, and it helps one to avoid spending time browsing or searching for information on websites.

A blog is an informational website published on the World Wide Web. Posts are typically displayed in chronological order so that the most recent post appears at the top of the web page and the previous one below.

Widgets can be added to phone screens as a quick way to access certain information from Apps without having to open the app itself.

Tags are descriptive keywords that can be added to a video to help viewers find specific content. The video title, thumbnail and description are essential pieces of ‘metadata’ for video content to be discovered. 

Webchat is a type of service available on the internet that allows you to exchange written messages with someone else online at the same time. Unfortunately, today this includes a robot or Chatbot. 

Microblogging is a combination of instant messaging and content production with minimal characters sharing short messages with an online audience to improve engagement. Social Media channels like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many others.

4-Steps process

You must look at the process to determine what tools are required for a successful social media campaign. It’s helpful to think of social media management as a four-step process:

• Content Creation: You’ll need to generate a continual supply of new ideas. After that, you must sit down, arrange your thoughts, and create content. This can contain things like blog articles, videos, and infographics, among other things.

• Content Publishing: After you’ve developed your material, you’ll want to share it with the rest of the world. This process can be automated using a variety of techniques. You must determine whether you want to use only free channels or whether you want to pay for more exposure.

• Listening and Responds: Good content will facilitate communication between your brand and its target audience. You must be ready to listen to and interact with their responses. Listening also entails keeping up with current events. You should utilise them to create current and relevant content.

• Content Analysing and Comparing: The last stage is to examine your results to determine what is thoroughly and is not working. You could be spinning your wheels if you don’t know whether or not your efforts are succeeding.

It needs a range of tools to manage every phase of your social media strategy successfully. You must make sure that they complement one another’s skills and weaknesses.

There are three types of social media tools in general. Platforms for listening, publishing, and competitive analysis are all available. Each tool approaches social media from a different perspective. They can work together to assist your company in meeting all of its social media and business objectives.

Listening Platforms

Salesforce Marketing Cloud is an example of a listening platform (which was previously known as Radian6). These tools can monitor a variety of social media channels to see what people are saying about your company. You’ll also learn about the most recent industry news and trends.

When it comes to creating content, this information will be beneficial. You’ll know what’s important to your target audience and what they’re interested in. However, you can’t rely on listening platforms. You’ll need a comprehensive competition study to gain a better grasp of the sector. These tools will be covered in more detail later.

Publishing Platforms

Platforms for publishing material assist you in reaching out to a global audience. The last thing you want to do after you’ve developed your content is spend time posting it. Platforms such as HootSuite and Percolate make it simple to share material across numerous platforms at once. It’s simple to create a posting schedule, making it simple to contribute content on a regular basis.

Competitive Analysis 

Other tools focus on users, whereas social analysis tools concentrate on companies and sectors. You’ll be able to keep track of the indicators that matter to your company. This comprises first-touch analysis, multi-channel analysis, content analysis, and timing analysis.

Most significantly, you’ll be able to assess the content of your competitors. This is why competitive intelligence solutions like Unmetric are so helpful. You’ll gain a thorough picture of what’s working in your sector. You can easily find hot topics and new niches.

Are Social Media Tools Useful for My Business?

Social media technologies, with their immense potential, are required if you wish to establish a presence on any platform. And it’s well worth the effort to establish this presence. The reach of social media is enormous. 

An average of active users on several of the most popular social media networks racking according to active global users per year (reported as of 2023) is shown below:

• Facebook: 2.96 billion 
• YoutTube 3.53 billion
• Whatsapp 2.00 billion
• Instagram 2.00 billion
• Twitter: 288 million
• Weechat 1.3 billion
• TikTok 1.10 Billion
• Facebook Messenger 1.04 billion
• Snapchat 0.75 billion
• Do You Yin .73bollion
• Telegram 0.700 billion
• Pinterest 0.450 billion

The good news is that you don’t have to be on all of them. Start with one or two that make the most sense for your company. It’s preferable to have a strong presence on one site rather than a weak presence on a dozen.

Choosing The Right Social Media Tool For Your Business

When choosing a tool for your business, there are so many unique options out there, so many excellent, time-saving capabilities, that deciding what’s ideal for you is a difficult challenge.

Because it may help you boost traffic and interaction, as well as measure how you’re doing, the tool you choose is typically a vital ingredient when it comes to reaching your social media marketing goals.

Rather than diving right into research – which may be daunting with so many possibilities to pick from – it can be beneficial to first clarify your own priorities and goals. Think about your team’s needs and what’s most essential to you.

Once you start investigating, evaluating possibilities, and comparing features, you’ll have a good set of criteria to compare your options against.

Defining Your social media goals

Here are a few questions to answer upfront to help you define your social media goals 

1. What are you looking to accomplish with your social media efforts?
2. What prompted you to start looking for a new tool?
3. What experience do you want your social team to have with the tool?

Social media itself is a very powerful tool besides digital tools – Melvin Mayard

Summary

• Social media tools include various online platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
• These platforms enable users to connect and interact with others, share content, and stay updated on news and trends.
• Social media tools can be used for personal and professional purposes, such as networking, marketing, customer service, and collaboration.
• Social media tools offer various features and functionalities, such as posting text, images, videos and live streaming.

5.07 How To Use Social Networks To Build A List

ACTIVITY 5.07

Using the guide questions above, research and note 3 social media tools suitable for your business and why

i.

ii.

iii.

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