It’s incredible – just think about all the connections you’ve made through LinkedIn for example, without actually meeting them in person. Like with all technology, social media has adapted and changed along the way, with new platforms appearing and captivating new audiences.
Last year, we looked at tools you can use to take your social media to the next level. Well, one year on, we have four more tools you can use to boost your social media in 2022!
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is one of our favourite tools here at PRG. When thinking about what to post on social media, or even looking for potential blog and news piece topics, AnswerThePublic is a brilliant tool to help steer users in the right direction and, literally, answer the public!
AnswerThePublic is a search listening tool, that allows you to look up a search term and find out what people are asking about that topic. So, if you want to write a social media post about chocolate, but don’t know what questions the public are asking, use AnswerThePublic.
It will produce a diagram that splits the questions into what, why, when, where, and many more. For chocolate, the ‘how’ produces questions like ‘how is chocolate made’, while the ‘which’ shows people are asking ‘which chocolate is vegan’. This tool gives you a great understanding about what people are searching for. So, next time you write a social media post, if you’re answering the questions people are asking, there is more chance they’ll engage with you!
VistaCreate
VistaCreate is an image and video design tool that allows you to create multiple image sizes. This means you can create the correct dimensions for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or even a website banner using this one platform! VistaCreate has a huge library of photos, graphics, backgrounds and even music to bring your content to life. VistaCreate allows you to develop a brand tool kit, make logos, add frames to photos and even remove backgrounds for free!
You might be thinking that this sounds a lot like another free online graphics tool. You’d be right. VistaCreate is similar to Canva. The beauty of these programmes is that they are a simplified Photoshop, so you don’t need to be an Adobe whizz or pay for the Adobe suite to use them.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a great tool for keeping in touch with the latest news about certain subjects. If you’re not familiar with Google Alerts, then it is really simple to use. Open your Chrome browser, make sure you are signed into your Google account and search ‘Google Alerts’. When you open Google Alerts, you will be greeted with a box, here you can enter the search term you want to keep up-to-date with. For example, if you were to enter your company name, you will get alerted every time something is published about your organisation!
There are some tips and tricks you can use with Google Alerts to make your Google Alerts more specific. If you surround your search term in quotation marks, then Google will only show you articles with that exact terminology. Whereas, if you have multiple words in your search term without quotation marks, Google will show you a wider variety of mentions.
Another trick is to add alerts for common misspellings of your search term. So, if people pluralise your business’ name when it is singular (e.g. WH Smiths instead of WH Smith) then add that as an alert to cast your net of search terms even wilder. You can set up multiple alerts, so use them!
Bit.ly
Bit.ly is a URL management platform that allows you to shorten web address links. Some social media channels will automatically shorten links, for example Hootsuite shortens to Owl.ly, and LinkedIn shortens to lnkd.in. But there are some advantages to using Bit.ly.
With the free version of Bit.ly, you get a simple breakdown of the clicks your link has received. Although most social media platforms will tell you this through their own built-in analytics, with a Bit.ly link you will see the total number of clicks across every platform you’ve posted it on, not just one single platform. The paid versions give you even more features, like customisable links and in-depth reporting.
Whether you’ve been using social media for years, or you’ve recently picked it up, these tools will certainly give your social media an extra boost. If you need any help in launching your social media channels, or need some fresh creative ideas, please get in touch with the experts at PRG and find out how we can help!
