If you’re an entrepreneur or solopreneur, you need an impressive tech stack for your business to compete with major corporations. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of tools available to help you stay productive and reach your goals across all channels, especially if you use social media.
Social media marketing is one of the most important strategies to get noticed online, and it can be difficult navigating each one if you’re not already familiar. But you can’t afford to ignore them – each of these platforms has a large, engaged audience and can be used to supplement a wide variety of tasks that ultimately make your brand stand out and increase the ROI to your business.
Here are some tools to check out for each platform that you can find either on their website or on marketplaces like AppSumo. They have a wide range of uses, from scheduling and automation to data mining, content creation, and more. If you’re looking to get more visibility on social media platforms, these are some of the tools you’ll need in your toolkit.
Facebook has 2.91 billion monthly active users and was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, who still serves as CEO. It has a wide range of features, including Pages, Groups, Live Audio/Video Events, a Marketplace, and a Messenger. Its back-end business tools are already filled with a lot of useful data, but there are more tools to add to your arsenal to supercharge your Facebook content.
Group Collector is a group management tool that lets you collect group member data and export to a spreadsheet and email marketing software without Zapier. It’s a useful tool for building email campaigns and lead generation to ensure you’re maximizing your time in Facebook Groups.
Jasper is an AI writing tool that isn’t great for long-form writing, but it’s amazing at social media posts. Using Jasper can help summarize longer content to create short and engaging Facebook posts, comments, and even bio information.
Wolfram Alpha’s Facebook Analyzer isn’t as powerful as it used to be, thanks to a nerf of the data API the platform relied on. You can still see some great insights for your profiles that you’re able to sign into though. You may learn some insights that help drive your communications strategy from it.
ManyChat is one of many Facebook bot apps that helps automate the responses on Facebook pages and Groups. This is a useful tool for making community members feel heard and ensure you’re addressing the most frequently asked questions in the most efficient way possible.
Otter AI is an AI-powered transcription app that’s perfect for transcribing live audio and video events so you can repurpose that content. The biggest mistake businesses make is not repurposing content that they end up spending more for later down the line. Otter gives you text for every speech that can be reformatted later.
Discord
Discord has 140 million monthly active users and was founded in 2015 by Jason Citron and Stanislov Vishnevsky. Its content is not indexed in Google. Servers are typically invite-only, and each server has a variety of voice, text, and stage channels. The platform was originally used by gamers and is now popular with the crypto community too due to the ease of use, content distribution capabilities, and control over privacy.
It has a variety of bots that can be found in third-party directories like Top.gg and Discord Bot List. These bots can be programmed to do a variety of automated tasks, like answering questions, assigning roles, and messaging members.
In addition, Webhooks allow Discord bots and servers to pull information from outside sources. You can create automated messages or import data to make it more accessible to users via a specific channel.
And Discord supports custom server emojis that you can use to increase your branded experience within servers. Either search online for different available graphics or create your own using graphic design apps explained more below.
Collab.Land is a unique web3 Discord bot integration that connects to a user’s wallet to check for a non-fungible token (NFT). If the user is holding the correct token, they receive an automated role that enables access to set channels within the server. This creates token-gated content that makes it easier to manage a server community.
Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users and was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who remained in charge until selling to Meta in 2012. It’s a popular visual platform that continues to add new features into its suite of tools for creators and businesses. This includes IG Reels, Stories, and shoppable posts, all of which provide a different way to keep its user base engaged.
Facebook’s business tools also integrate Instagram, so you can schedule and promote posts while checking engagement across both platforms in one place. These powerful tools shouldn’t be ignored, as Meta’s comprehensive data makes it easy to target the audiences you need to reach.
Canva is one of the easiest and most capable graphic design tools to add a professional touch to your IG posts. Because it’s a visual platform, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd, and this is the way many modern creators choose to go about it. Adobe’s suite of design tools are much too expensive, so this is more accessible.
If you have a bit more technical experience, Gimp is an open-source platform that has much of the functionality of Adobe Photoshop. This will allow you to create and adjust vivid and high-quality graphics and photographs that will draw much more attention to your Instagram posts.
And if you’re looking for an AI-powered photo editor, Luminar has an expansive feature set that can really take your pics to the next level.
StoryLab is an AI-powered caption generator that helps you find the perfect description for each photo you post, cutting the processing time exponentially. If you’re a professional Instagrammer, you should have any automation tools to make your life easier.
LinkJoy makes it easy to direct traffic from posts to your external websites. One problem with Instagram is that all the work you put into building a following is wasted because of poor on- and off-platform search visibility. Essentially, 1000 posts and 1 million followers equates to one Google search result, and that’s simply not enough to be seen.
LinkedIn has 810 million members and was founded in 2002 by Reid Huffman, Konstantin Guericke, Jean-Luc Vailant, Allen Blue, and Eric Ly. Although it never reached the level of buzz that personal social media platforms do, it’s undeniable that LinkedIn has a big influence in the professional world. It has a variety of features, including long-form blog posts, live audio/video events, and premium learning courses. What features you have access to depends on whether you’re registered as a hiring business, sales, job seeker, or creator.
OBS Studio is the go-to open-source platform for recording and live streaming across platforms like LinkedIn. It has all the features you need to create and broadcast a professional live video stream.
Later helps you automate your LinkedIn posts so you don’t need to pay close attention to what’s happening. This is a large and engaged community, and the B2B reach makes it the go-to professional social platform. Later’s automation and scheduling is a must-have to build this community.
Rewatch is a great video and audio streaming platform that includes a host of features. One of the most powerful is the ability to transcribe recordings live. You can organize video meetings internally with an easily searchable archive. Or you can upload them as business content on the public LinkedIn page or groups.
ArticleForge is an AI content writing tool that helps you create short-form posts. This makes it especially useful for crafting content for LinkedIn’s various channels. It’s a bit expensive to unlock all the features, but those features could be worthwhile if you want to fully polish the content before you post.
Pinterest has 444 million monthly active users and was launched in 2010 by Evan Sharp, Paul sciarra, and Ben Silbemann. The company positions itself more as a portal to the internet than a social network, so you’ll get the most bang for your buck by posting pictures that lead to somewhere else on the internet. And the company launched a bevy of new features over the past few years, including live TV and Pinterest Lens, which lets you search the platform just by pointing your camera at things in the real world.
Tailwind is a social media automation tool that works with Pinterest and other platforms to help with your automation. This means it could replace your Facebook scheduler by adding even more analytics and reporting for FB/IG while adding Pinterest publishing and analytics to the mix.
The best way to be noticed and build a community on Pinterest is by leveraging group boards. PinGroupie is a Pinterest board search tool that helps you navigate collaborative boards and find the most engaged and relevant to your business. This is an indispensable tool for Pinterest creators looking to leverage this vibrant community to drive traffic and generate leads.
And because Pinterest has live video streams, OBS Studio will be useful here as well.
Prisma Labs has two AI image platforms of use to Pinterest creators. Lensa is an AI-powered photo-editing platform that can clean up and enhance all the photos on your camera. Meanwhile, Prisma is an AI-powered image editing platform that can help give your pinterest posts a gorgeous edge by instantly applying a variety of artistic filters.
Reddit has 430 million monthly active users and was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, and Aaron Swartz. This social news aggregator is an active and dedicated forum where you can find a lot of ideas for newsworthy articles, scrape audience analytics, and simply lurk to people watch. It has a ton of new features, including live audio/video broadcasts, and an AMA in a popular subReddit could put you on the map.One thing to avoid is being too overly promotional, which could get you banned from a moderator.
As with any video streaming platform, OBS Studio is a popular go-to tool for preparing your recording or live stream broadcast.
Front Page Metrics and Subreddit Stats are sollid places to find subreddit leaderboards and discover a popular new community. This can help you determine which communities can provide the largest audience for your messaging. But, as mentioned above, avoid promotional material.
Meanwhile, Gummy Search is a comprehensive Reddit search engine that helps you uncover relevant conversations on topics that can position you as a thought leader. These analytical tools can help you determine which topics could be of interest to you and your audience.
RedditMetis is a tool that helps you search through Reddit’s large user base for audience analytics.This is a fantastic way to ensure you’re properly allocating your time, money, and resources to create the most visibility for your business.
The last thing you need is to be trolled by an angry Redditor, so Grammarly is somewhere you need to post your content before publishing there. It’s a great foundation to help you write more dynamic copy and ensure you’re not making egregious typographical mistakes that will get you mercilessly mocked by this sharp crowd.
Telegram
Telegram has 550 million monthly active users and was founded in 2013 by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. The founders are also responsible for launching VK, Russia’s most popular social networking site, which they left in 2014. Telegram is a basic text-based chat app with the ability to create group chats that were quickly adopted by the crypto and SaaS communities.
Assistant.IM is a necessary tool for Telegram channel administrators. This tool can help with post scheduling, button design, analytics, and more. It’s the key to bridging your Telegram community with your CMS and greater community and marketing strategies.
Boei is an all-in-one chat app that helps you streamline conversations across all messaging platforms, including Telegram, Skype, Line, SMS, WhatsApp, Discord, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat.
If you want to build a community, Telegram Scraper can help you target people across channels related to yours. While it does have the capability to automatically add them to your channel, you risk being reported for mass spam and blocked. Be sure not to be spammy, or you’ll do more harm than good for your brand.
Telegram supports a variety of bots, and Botfather helps you make them. They can perform a variety of tasks, just like Discord bots, and that includes scheduling posts in the future with Delorean Bot.
And if you’re seeking a conversational AI, OpenAI’s API is now open to the public. You can try a variety of functions to generate content and fill your Telegram chat with information, entertainment, customer service, and more. OpenAI’s GPT-3 technology is the best open-source model available. Microsoft and Nvidia’s Magatron-Turing Natural Language Generation (MT-NLG) model is the next generation, and I can’t wait to see what it does.
TikTok
TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users and was launched in 2016 by Chinese company ByteDance. It’s known as Douyin in China, and neither service is accessible to the other, although they both use the same interface and features. Like Instagram, TikTok is a walled garden unseen by search engines, and this makes discoverability difficult. But it has a lot of powerful analytics, and TikTok influencers can generate big revenues for brands they partner with.
Upfluence is a platform for finding the right TikTok influencers to become partners. Influencer marketing can make or break a brand, and it’s important to understand what return on advertising spend (ROAS) you get when buying. Upfluence makes it easy with a sleek interface and great customer support.
Analisia is an AI analytics platform for both TikTok and Instagram. It helps you search profiles, followers, and hashtags for insight into the authenticity of the numbers you’re seeing. Find historical information, content engagement, demographics, and more.
You can also find similar analytics on Popsters, which includes platforms like YouTube in its capabilities.
Augmented-reality (AR) filters are a staple of TikTok videos, and you need more than the defaults to stick out. Subvrsive helps you create custom AR filters that are polished and professional to really make an impression on your audience.You can also accomplish this with Tej.
Twitch
Twitch has 140 million monthly active users and was founded in 2005 as Justin.tv by Justin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel, Kyle Vogt, and Kevin Lin. It was sold to Amazon in 2014 for $970 million. Initially popular with gamers, the platform grew to accommodate musicians, artists, podcasters, comedians, and more. It grew so big so fast that YouTube made the switch to livestreaming to catch up to its on-demand and live streaming format.
If you’re planning to stream on Twitch, I always recommend OBS Studio. However, some power users and professionals prefer to upgrade to options like Streamyard and Restream, both of which allow you to bring on guests and multistream across multiple platforms.
Twitch supports bots, and Fairly Odd Streamers has a great directory of these bots. They can automate responses, moderate chat, and add links into your stream at the push of a button, making it easier to access while both gaming and streaming live.
Canva has a specific section for Twitch custom emotes, which can really drill your brand in, just like Discord’s custom emojis. Be sure to create something that encourages your fans and viewers to join the community, participate, and pay to subscribe and support you.
Descript is a useful tool for any audio or video streamer. It’s a multi-purpose audio and video editing tool that also does transcriptions. Twitch has terrible discoverability on-platform or on the general internet. Using Descript lets you publish written transcripts of videos to draw contextual search bots and make you more visible.
Twitter has 211 million daily active users and was founded in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass. Started as a microblogging service, it continues to try (and often fail) with new features. Currently, it’s focused on the social audio revolution with Twitter Spaces, but it’s best not to get comfortable, as they could go away like Vine, Periscope, and Fleets. However fickle it is, Spaces are a popular place to gather, and tweets still make the news. This means it’s still worth being seen there.
TweetDeck is Twitter’s power-user tool that can help you better navigate the platform, monitor mentions, and schedule your tweets. It also has a powerful analytics tool that can help you track down the best audience for your messages.
If you’re not satisfied with on-platform search, Tweepsmap helps you find more information about users in a more visual and interactive way.
Meanwhile, Followerwonk helps you analyze Twitter bios to find the right people to connect with and advance your career.
It’s important to understand that tweets are forever, so you’ll want to use an AI writing assistant like Ryter to craft your tweets. Be sure to proofread all tweets before publishing them, whether written by AI or human.
YouTube
YouTube has 2 billion monthly active users and was founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It’s the second most visited website in the world, so it’s no surprise it was bought by Alphabet in 2006. This social video site has recorded, live, and short-form video, and you can post pictures and updates much like Twitter in its posts section.
If you’re planning to stream on Twitch, I always recommend OBS Studio. However, some power users and professionals prefer to upgrade to options like Streamyard and Restream, both of which allow you to bring on guests and multistream across multiple platforms.
VidIQ is a great way to boost YouTube views by leveraging powerful analytical insights on your videos, channel, and profile. It uses AI to audit key information, from your thumbnail and metadata to find what’s working and not in your niche.
Meanwhile TubeBuddy helps you optimize content through advanced keyword research. It also has tons of templates to help you cut your publishing time in half by pre-filling fields with necessary data in formats that are already proven to work.
Descript is a useful tool for any audio or video streamer. It’s a multi-purpose audio and video editing tool that also does transcriptions. Twitch has terrible discoverability on-platform or on the general internet. Using Descript lets you publish written transcripts of videos to draw contextual search bots and make you more visible.