Hootsuite Review 2019 – Is Hootsuite a Wise Investment?

The rise of social media has been nothing short of meteoric. It is common for individuals and businesses to have a presence (social media profile) on more than one social networking site.

Be it for personal profiles, celebrity profiles or business profiles, the social media objective is to have more likes and followers. And, to achieve this and to be able to manage multiple social media profiles, there is a growing need for a one-stop platform or tool.

This is where social media management tools like Hootsuite comes into the picture!

So, how effective is Hootsuite as a social media manager? Does it really help you organise your social media posts, updates and analytics?

Many people create multiple social media accounts and later find it too difficult to keep their profiles updated on all the sites. Hootsuite is considered really good for handling multiple social media accounts by logging into a single dashboard.

Well, to learn more about this highly popular social media management tool, we decided to try Hootsuite out and share our experiences of using it.

So, in this article, we provide you with a detailed review of the features offered by Hootsuite for effective social media management and weigh the pros against the cons.

The objective is to help you make an informed decision about whether Hootsuite is appropriate for your social media management requirements.

Hootsuite-Social-media-business-solutions
Hootsuite Company Background

Before we delve into the world of the social media marketing features offered by Hootsuite, let us first take a brief look at the company’s background!

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To start, the popularity of Hootsuite has reached significant heights by managing to serve more than 10 million users across more than 175 countries.

With their headquarter in Vancouver, Canada, they have offices in eight different countries and offer support for the languages of all those countries.

Exploring the Hootsuite Tool and its Features

Getting Started

Anyone (and we literally mean anyone) can start off by registering for a free account with Hootsuite to explore its various features. Once you have registered for the free Hootsuite account with your preferred mail id and password, you can select the different social networking sites with which Hootsuite can integrate to view, schedule and post messages.

These sites could include Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn. It is important to note that Hootsuite is accessed directly from your web browser and you do not need to install any software on your system.

Connect Social Profile
While adding these multiple social networking sites, you are asked to enter your corresponding social media site login ids and passwords.

It is clearly mentioned that you are authorising Hootsuite to gain access to your information on those specific sites. It even goes to extreme detailed levels for seeking authorisation.

For example, when we gave it access to our personal Facebook account, it asked which business pages, groups and personal profiles we wished to add to the Hootsuite dashboard.

The important thing to note here is that every Facebook business page or group that you add for integration with the dashboard is counted as a social profile.

Authorization facebook
And, you can only add three social profiles with the free account. In order to manage more social media profiles (100 to be precise), you can upgrade to the Hootsuite Pro account for businesses at any time.

Moreover, we wanted to add our Google+ profile to it, but Google does not allow personal Google+ profiles to be managed outside and we could only add Google+ business pages for management from outside.

Authorization
Now, even though the Hootsuite dashboard gives you the liberty to manage multiple social media profiles from a single place, it does so without requiring you to log in to each social media site.

In short, you are not expected to reveal or share your password for different social networking sites with the Hootsuite dashboard.

Support Offered for Using Hootsuite

Once you have successfully registered for a Hootsuite account, they send you an email with various options for you to get used to the features of Hootsuite and its dashboard.

For example, you get a link to the Get Started with Hootsuite for Free page that shares some basic knowledge about how to set up and use the dashboard and the overall tool’s features.

Additionally, you can access Hootsuite Podium to go through some free online social media courses to develop better social media management skills and drive your career. You can even learn the fundamentals of social media marketing with their six free online courses and then get certified with a social media marketing certification.

On the dashboard itself, you get access to “Wise Guide” that shows you how to add a social network, schedule a post, monitor mentions or keywords, find and share content everywhere using Hootlet, and so on.

For appropriate answers or resolutions to your queries or issues, you can also browse through the Hootsuite helpdesk at any time.

Hootsuite Help Desk
You can also connect with the Hootsuite Facebook page or Twitter page and check out fruitful discussions in the Hootsuite forum (“Ask the Community” section).

Setting up Your Dashboard

At first, the Hootsuite dashboard may look a little complicated. But, once you start browsing around and taking a look at what it offers, you will realise that most of the features are self-explanatory.

The main layout of the dashboard gives you the opportunity to open tabs for your different social media profiles for easy viewing. For each tab, you can set an “auto refresh” interval for every two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes or 30 minutes.

Alternatively, you can even change this refresh setting and keep the “manual refresh” active. This means that you will get updates about posts, likes, comments and so on your social media profile at the frequency of your liking.

Moreover, you can add the social networks that you want to be managed from the dashboard itself by using the “Add Social Network” button.

It is even possible to add your WordPress blog with the free account. From the social networks chosen on the dashboard, you can then opt to view the associated streams by adding the stream views.

For example, you can add and view streams like events, pages, scheduled messages or your timeline for your Facebook profile.

Add stream
Similarly, for your LinkedIn profile, these streams appear in the form of the LinkedIn home page, your own updates on LinkedIn and any scheduled posts or messages.

Composing Messages

Once you have set up your choice of social networks and the relevant streams, you can use the Hootsuite tool to compose messages that you want to post. Simply hover your mouse over the top left side of your dashboard to get the option to select your social media profile on the left, with the section to compose a corresponding message on the right.

In the message, you can add your choice of text and attach media files in the form of photos or videos. In fact, you can even connect to your YouTube channel to upload new videos and share them with all your social networking profiles.

Compose message
You can either choose to schedule the exact date and time when your message should be posted to all the selected social media profiles or you can activate the “auto-scheduler” option. This lets Hootsuite determine the time when your messages are posted for optimal impact and better reader engagement, based on their experience.

Autoschedule
For these messages, you can even add your location by allowing Hootsuite to know your location of posting.

Moreover, the “Targeting options” enables you to select only your Twitter profile to target your audience by country. This is useful when you want to share some tweets to readers from a specific demographic.

Target message
And, the “Privacy options” is only applicable to your Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn profiles. This feature gives you the ability to decide who views your posts and updates.

You can even add links to your messages. These site links or URLs can be shortened, with URL shorteners like ow.ly, owl.li, ht.ly or htl.li.

URL shortener
Once you have written your message with all the settings and attachments, you can choose to send it immediately or save as a draft. A message draft can be viewed and modified later until the actual time of posting arrives.

In addition, you can use the “Publisher” section to get extreme details about the scheduled posts, drafts and messages that have passed the scheduled date or time, had required approvals, had expired approvals and had been rejected.

Publisher
If you possess an RSS feed, you can even use this platform to feed them all to the social networking profiles. With the free account, this type of auto posting is allowed for up to two profiles.

Additional Features with Hootsuite Pro

In the “Publisher” section, you even get access to the bulk message upload feature, which, unfortunately, is not available with the free account. We used this feature when we later upgraded to the Hootsuite Pro account.

We were even able to auto post (via RSS feeds) to more than two profiles. This publisher tab makes social media post scheduling a piece of cake.

And, the Vanity URL feature allows you to use your own domain name for shortened URLs, thereby creating a better brand recall value for your business or clients’ businesses.

Vanity URL
You can also check out detailed analytics reports for your social networking profiles in the form of Twitter engagement (detailed), Google Analytics, Twitter Aggregate, Facebook Aggregate, Facebook Insights, ow.ly (URL shortener) click statistics and more.

You can even build your detailed reports from over 30 modules to share them with other Hootsuite users as well.

The Pro account also offers a highly effective collaboration functionality that allows multiple people to manage different profiles from the same Hootsuite account.

This is especially useful for social media agencies and businesses that manage multiple social networking accounts by delegating the responsibilities of each profile to different people. Thus, working in a group is extremely easy, while using the Hootsuite social media tool.

If you have a team working on the Hootsuite dashboard, you can assign different streams and different messages to the team members. The “Assignment” section enables them to check the messages assigned to them or to assign messages to others.

You can even leverage the maximum benefits of the Hootsuite campaigns section which is aimed at the better engagement of your social media audiences. You can sign up for free and then publish sweepstakes.

However, for creating contests (photo contests, video contests, Twitter contests or Instagram contests) and for user-generated social galleries (Instagram and Twitter galleries), you need to upgrade to the Campaigns Pro plan. This functionality is currently available under the Beta version.

With the app directory, you can also avail the amazing features offered by some quality apps, such as SoundCloud, Google Drive and Salesforce. For example, Salesforce allows you to interact with your customers through the Hootsuite platform.

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Comparison of Different Hootsuite Plans

Apart from the free and Pro plans discussed above, you can also subscribe to the Hootsuite Business plan. Below is a comparison of the main features and services offered by the Hootsuite plans:

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Advantages of Hootsuite

There is no need to download Hootsuite, as it is a web-based tool.
It offers a free plan as well as a 30-days free trial period for the Hootsuite Pro plan which allows you to try out the various features and get used to the ways of working with this tool.
Hootsuite mobile apps for iOS and Android are available.
It gives you access to a massive library of apps (from its app directory) that enables you to significantly improve your social media marketing and management prowess.
It is one of only a few social media marketing tools that support the management of multiple YouTube accounts from the dashboard, along with the ability to schedule video posts to your social networking profiles. You can even use the custom search stream to find relevant videos for posting.
It gives you the ability to learn social media management and marketing with the free online courses and get certification.
It gives you the ability to compose messages and post them to any social media profile from any page or tab on the Hootsuite dashboard.
It gives you the option to add the RSS feed of your blog, coupled with the auto-sharing of your latest blog posts.
With Hootlet (a free add-on for Chrome), you can easily post content to your social networks from anywhere on the web.
If you do not have any content to post, the tool makes suitable recommendations that you can read to make relevant posts.
Disadvantages of Hootsuite

The Hootsuite free plan only allows you to manage three social media profiles. If you want to manage more profiles, you have to go for their paid or premium plans (starting with the Pro account).
The initial appearance of the Hootsuite dashboard may appear confusing and intimidating for newbies.
It only supports a limited number of URL shorteners (ow.ly, owl.li, ht.ly or htl.li) for adding links to your messages.
Adding more users than is allowed to access Hootsuite can prove to be very expensive.
The Verdict – Do we recommend Hootsuite?
In short, No we don’t.

I’d like to say that the pros of Hootsuite outweigh its cons, but in reality it doesn’t.  There are many benefits that you can leverage from Hootsuite for the effective management of your social networking accounts or profiles, but there’s better Hootsuite Alternatives out there that you should take time to investigate.

The fact that Hootsuite offers flexible plans that even enable you to try out the features for free and then slowly upgrade to higher plans, as per your requirements, makes it a hot favourite among most of the highly popular social network management tools, but over all it’s very expensive for what you get, considering that there’s platforms like Sendible offering the same things plus additional and innovative functionality for a lot less per month!

Have you already used Hootsuite for your social media sites? If so, please share your valuable experiences below.

Read more on Instagram Tools to help you increase social engagement and audience numbers.

The Best Instagram Tools To Help You Grow Your Followers & Revenue In 2019

Grow your audience with the help of some of these Instagram tools
Ah, the world wide web. A place where, knowing your success can hinge on your social media presence, it is very easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond. If you are feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of building an internet following, don’t resign yourself to ‘minnow’ status just yet; there are plenty of applications designed to help you market yourself to the world.

We are here to give you the lowdown on our top ten tools to improve your Instagram’s popularity and boost your business, personal brand or just your own personal accounts.

Wait, you might be thinking, Instagram?

Yes, the site once famous for viral photos and teenage girls flashing their best duck face has become an excellent tool for networking, marketing, and even for selling products.

Note: All links on this page are affiliate links which basically means that we receive a small commission when someone signs up to a paid plan. This helps us run this website and keeps all the guides, tutorials and resources free to use.

Analysis, Marketing, Scheduling and Networking
Figuring what to post, who to follow, what hashtags to use, and even when to upload content can be a vital part of connecting with the right audience. Since it is not exactly practical to while away your days scouring Instagram for trends and blindly following people in the hopes that they will follow you back, let’s take a look at some tools that do the heavy lifting for you.

Sendible
sendible instagram tools
A popular leader among social media management tools and one that is a real contender to Hootsuite’s throne, Sendible provides you with the ability to run accounts on different platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others) from one convenient dashboard. You can schedule posts, easily manage and track collaborative projects among your employees, and streamline the way you receive feedback from your posts.

Sendible is unique in several ways, the most notable being the array of social media platforms with which you can connect. Aside from Instagram, you will be able to access Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WordPress, and numerous others, from the dashboard.

Sendible also shines in how it works with other online programs. For example, its collaboration with Canva allows you to design and post your unique creations seamlessly.

Connecting your Instagram and other social media accounts to this online tool is a quick and straightforward process. After clicking the appropriate icon, you will be prompted to enter in some basic information, and then you are off to the internet races.

Once you have all of your accounts linked to Sendible’s dash, your online world will open up. This tool can generate detailed analytics reports within minutes, while some other applications can take an hour or more.


Whether you are creating reports for clients or for your own personal reference, Sendible can tell you how many people you are reaching, which posts are your most popular, the rate of the growth of your audience, and even determine the optimal time to post content during the day. You can generate reports for each account individually, as well as get the statistics for all your social media accounts combined. Sendible has the best instagram scheduler tool on the market, bar none, so be sure to check it out on the free trial.

All in all, Sendible is pretty great if you are looking for one-stop shopping for managing your online profiles and not just an Instagram scheduler. Instagram has been quite restrictive about allowing third-party tools schedule posts, but Sendible makes it as simple as possible.

New Sendible Instagram Features – Best Instagram Schedular
In January 2018, Instagram launched a new feature, allowing Facebook Marketing Partners and Instagram Partners (like Sendible) offer direct photo publishing to their platform. It’s early days so you can only schedule one photo at a time to your Instagram Business Profile, but this is perfect if you want to streamline your Instagram presence and have more time to grow your audience.

However, if you don’t want to switch your Instagram profile to business just yet OR wish to send more than one photo or video, read on.

Below: Adding the Instagram Business Profile (BETA) service:


Just like with any other social media network, you will need to log into the Sendible dash and schedule your post. Here, you can write the copy, add hashtags and select the photo or video to go with it. Once it’s time for your post to be published, you will get a push notification on Sendible’s mobile app (available on iOS or Android).

This may sound disruptive, but there’s a positive spin on having to publish your Instagram posts manually. First, you can make any last minute changes and use Instagram’s photo editing suite — the text and hashtags will be automatically copied to your clipboard. Second, you can choose whether the new post will be a posted to the Feed or your Instagram Stories (this works on iOS). And finally, you can add tags and a location to your Instagram post.

So whether you prefer to have more control and manually push your posts to Instagram OR schedule photos directly to your Instagram Business Profile, this social media management tool will work for you.

What’s great is that in addition to Instagram scheduling, Sendible also provides you with data about your top posts on Instagram, follower growth and the best times to post. Additionally, you can manage your stream, read and respond to comments and monitor specific hashtags.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: Yes – Sign up here
Plans: $$ – $$$$$ / Billed Yearly
Customer Support: Live chat, phone, and e-mail

Crowdfire

This A.I. driven tool is easy to set up, so you will have no problem adding your social media accounts. Once you connect your Instagram profile, you will receive notifications of any new followers you gain, as well as of those you lose. If you have followed a user, but he or she neglected to return the favor, this program will automatically unsubscribe you from that account. With these features, your contacts will always be relevant and organized.

Crowdfire can suggest hashtags to bring more viewers to your page, and even help you monitor the competition so that you can make sure you always have an online edge.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: n/a
Plans: Free – $$ / Billed Monthly
Customer Support: Ticket, Live Chat, E-mail

Hootsuite


With three monthly plans, Professional, Team, and Enterprise, Hootsuite can simplify your social media experience and expand the reach of your brand on Instagram, although services like Sendible offer a far superior offering to Hootsuite.

From its convenient dash, you will be able to examine businesses that are similar to your own. By looking at their existing hashtags and successful posting strategies, you will likely be able to incorporate that into your own marketing plan in order to reach a broader audience.

Hootsuite also allows you to analyze the strong and weak points of your profiles, easily reply to customer comments across your social media pages, and schedule posts. It’s worth noting that while you can schedule Instagram posts, you will still have to authorize them, as per Instagram’s TOS. Luckily, this is simple enough; Hootsuite will send you a push notification to approve. Just make sure you have Instagram on your mobile device.

This tool will also help you keep an eye on what customers are saying about your brand, allowing you to improve in any areas receiving negative feedback.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: Yes (Team and Professional plans)
Plans: $ – $$$$$ / Billed Monthly (Enterprise Plan requires you to contact the company for a quote)
Customer Support: One on One training (Team Plan), Live Chat, Twitter

Visual Marketing Index

The Visual Marketing Index (VMI) is a unique solution to measuring Instagram performance. This advanced analytics tool provides an overall IG performance score for your brand that is completely independent to its size on the platform. With 6 different metrics derived from Instagram, the tool generates a score between 0 and 10, which is developed using regression based modelling. This is what makes the VMI score different – it means that your report pinpoints exactly how your brand is performing relative to the whole array of other brands out there.

The VMI will give you a more comprehensive understanding of how well your brand is performing in terms of engagement rate, hashtag power, and top performing content. The reports are easy to read and present you with insights you can actually use. For example, let’s talk about hashtag power. According to the VMI, this is the extent to which a brand’s main hashtag is used and how much this use pushes the brand’s products to a wider Instagram audience. With these numbers, you’ll have the insights you need to adjust your Instagram marketing strategies and push your hashtag use to its full potential.

This version of the VMI is completely free. All you need is your brand’s Instagram information, and you’ll receive your free report in your inbox within 24 hours.

Buffer

Offering a freemium option, as well as several subscription plans, Buffer condenses all your social media platforms into one streamlined dash. You can schedule your Instagram posts, which you then authorize through a push notification, obtain statistics on your accounts’ growth, and easily view how your audience is engaging with your brand.

It is easy to create a consistent Instagram presence by planning posting reminders for yourself and collaborating with other users or employees who have access to your account. However, it currently lacks that ability for you to interact with your followers directly from its dashboard.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: n/a
Plans: Free – $$$$ / Billed Monthly
Customer Support: E-Mail

Tagboard

Whether you are on your mobile device or computer, Tagboard is designed to filter through Instagram’s content and identify relevant and popular postings. On the flip side, you can also block sites and users that you don’t approve of so that you won’t stumble upon their content.

If you are having trouble picking hashtags for your posts, you can run a search for items similar to that which you are posting and view their popularity. You can repost or share followers’ favorite content, allow multiple employees to access your account, and you will receive an automatic notification if a social media site features you.

Tagboard extensions, designed to work with Google Chrome, Hootsuite, and Eventbrite, make it a user-friendly tool as you navigate through the social media jungle. Some add-ons, such as the ability to have polls on your site or run an analysis on ROI, cost extra and each feature must be bought one at a time.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: No
Plans: $$$-$$$$ / Per Event (annual pricing available)
Customer Support: Live Chat, E-mail, One Site Support (available through add-on purchase)

eClincher

Although relatively new to the social media management market, eClincher brings quite a few features to the table for Instagram. Its simple design makes this Instagram scheduler very user-friendly, so scheduling posts, monitoring hashtags or keywords, and recycling your most popular content is a breeze.

It includes a basic analytic section for you to monitor how your social media pages are performing, but more in-depth reports require payment. Another feature incorporated into their second-tier and up plans is a unified inbox, so you can respond to messages without jumping from account to account.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: Yes
Plans: $-$$$$$ / Billed Monthly or Annually
Customer Support: E-mail, Phone, Ticket, Live Chat

iconosquare.com

Available in over 30 languages, this internet tool boasts a large Instagram search engine, a user-friendly platform, the capability to respond directly to comments on your page, and much more.

The ability to engage with Instagram in such a well-rounded way can be extremely beneficial to building your audience. You will easily be able to find Instagrammers who are interested in topics relevant to your brand, see which hashtags are receiving the most attention, and view an analysis of not only your account but of other Instagram users’ accounts as well.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: Yes
Plans: $ – $$$ / Billed Monthly or Annually
Customer Support: E-mail, Phone, Ticket, Live Chat

Social Rank

This tool allows you to track, sort, and categorize your followers. Find out who has the most influence on Instagram, who has been actively engaging with your brand and with what frequency, and who the verified users are on your follower list.

You can also search for bio keywords, hashtags, and more. All of this allows you to create an experience your followers appreciate and find relevant to their interests.

Mobile App Available: iPhone & Android
Free Trial: n/a
Plans: Free – $$$ / Billed Monthly (Contact company for Market Intel plan prices)
Customer Support: E-mail

E-Commerce & Instagram
Once you have a handle on engaging your target audience and monitoring your successes, you might want to utilize Instagram to make some actual sales. It is no secret that Instagram itself is a bit lacking in this area; you only get one hyperlink, and that is in your Bio section.

However, it offers such a great medium for posting pictures of your inventory that it would be a shame not to be able to allow people to buy right from your Instagram account. Luckily, these tools have that ability to do just that.

Soldsie

This web-based tool enables you to utilize comment selling on Instagram. You upload your product picture, along with any relevant selling information (price, size, etc.) and all a user has to do is write “Sold” in Instagram’s comment section. At this time, the buyer will be automatically e-mailed an invoice and can pay their bill.

There are transaction fees, which go down as you purchase higher plan tiers, and it’s worth noting that Soldsie will not mediate any purchase disputes between buyers and sellers.

Mobile App Available: n/a
Free Trial: No
Plans: $$-$$$$ + transaction fee / Billed Monthly (2400)
Customer Support: E-mail

Boost

Accredited by the Better Business Bureau, this app allows users to buy straight in Instagram’s comments. You come up with a hashtag for each piece of merchandise, which will be followed by a Boost-provided 3-digit number to ensure its uniqueness. When you post your product on Instagram, your followers can comment with that designated hashtag from their mobile devices or computers. They are then sent a text to confirm their order, you are notified, and your products are out the door in no time.

While there is a fee for sellers, buyers can sign up free to use this service.

Mobile App Available: n/a
Free Trial: Yes – Sign up here
Plans: $$ + transaction fee / Billed Monthly
Customer Support: E-mail

Best Free Instagram Tools
As well as all the paid Instagram tools on the web, there are loads of free ones to.

In this section I’m going to share with you my list of free Instagram tools that will not only help you to grow your instagram following but also help you to manage your accounts, grow your brand on social and engage with your audience. These free tools can help you with photo editing, finding the best hashtags, running Instagram contests, embedding your Instagram posts on your website, and so much more.

Note: Some of the tool mentioned in the free instagram tools list have limited features on their free packages. They do offer more features in their premium plans which you can sign up to via our links – these links are affiliate links which means that I get a small commission when you purchase a plan through my links..

#1 Canva
Canva is my favorite free Instagram tool. It’s great for creating Instagram stories as they have the exact dimensions for all Instagram image sizes, as well as easy to use design tools for producing images for other social media platforms.

Because all the templates are exact and correct to Instagram’s image specs, you can just get on with the design and not concern yourself about trying to sort out issues with aspect ratio, resolutions and getting the right pixel widths.

Canva also comes as an app for iOS which means you can use Canva to create images and graphics on the go on your mobile phone or tablet.

#2 Auto Hash
AutoHash has a very clever vision algorithm that looks at your images and suggests which is the best hashtags to use.

Launch the app and then select a photo in your library. The AutoHash app will scan your image, analyze the objects and features in your photo and then recommend which hashtags to use for that particular image. Really smart!! It will also suggest which location based hashtags to use if you have your GPS turned on.

AutoHash is currently available on Android and Messenger.

#3 Later
Later is a very cool visual Instagram scheduler tool. It has become a very popular marketing platform for Instagram over the past 12 months.

This tool does have premium plans which give you more features to use, but the free version is great for individuals. On the free plan you can schedule a maximum of 30 images per month and get access to the basic analytics package.

#4 ShortStack
Hosting a giveaway contest on Instagram is a popular way for companies and brands to increase audience numbers and encourage more engagement with their brand.

ShortStack is a wonderful a tool for quickly organizing user-generated content (UGC) contests. This is where participants can enter a giveaway contents by posting a photo with your specially selected hashtag on Instagram, which is associated with your content. ShortStack will then gathers up all the images that have been posted on your content hashtag and display them.

The service is free up to 100 entries. If you want more entries then you will have to upgrade to the more advanced plans.

Instagram Tools FAQs
I get asked a lot of questions via email regarding Instagram Tools and Social Media Management Tools, so I thought I’d add them here and try and answer them as best I can. If you have any further questions that aren’t listed here, then please feel free to drop me a line in the comments.

What’s the best instagram scheduler?

In my opinion there are two that I can recommend. Sendible has an excellent Instagram Scheduler built into their platform which you can trial for free here.
You might also want to check out eclincher which I have included in this run down of the best instagram tools. Buffer also has a very good Instagram scheduler.

The Best Search Engines To Use

It’s almost impossible to remember a world before search engines existed. Search engines enables you to make your blog or website visible to the world. Whether you use your computer or phone, you can now pull up a browser or an app and find anything you want. Each search engine uses its own algorithm, which determines what search results you see. You might notice that some give you localized results that provide you with information about relevant companies that are near you. Other engines will give you general information with the option to do more specialized searches. The best search engines will provide:
•Results that match your search criteria
•A basic interface that you can easily view
•Options to change the parameters of your search

Though you might think that all search engines are the same, there are some variations between the top options. Once you look at the best search engines of 2018, you can find the perfect one for use at home or work.

1. We Have to Mention “Google Search”

Let’s get this one out of the way.

When it comes right down to it, Google is the king of search engines. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were Stanford University graduate students working on a project together when they stumbled across a new method of doing searches online. They discovered that they could analyze the results found on other pages and use that information to rank the most popular pages across all search engines. During its early days, the duo actually used the Stanford website to host Google. They also made attempts to sell the search engine to others. When they did not get the offers they wanted, they put Google online and made it the top search engine of all time.

Google is popular because you can use on any device. When you do a search on your phone, you can access the same information and pages that you can from your computer. It uses its own unique algorithm, which determines how pages rank in its result based on keywords and other content. When it released its Panda update, it completely changed the ranking of websites. This update allowed Google to drop the ranking of sites that provided little information and those that used a large number of keywords without any related content. The sites that you now see at the top of the page contain relevant content based on your search.

The one downside to using Google is that it follows and tracks your online patterns. If you recently visited a website to check on the cost of flights to an exotic destination, you can expect to see ads about that destination the next time you go online. Google can transfer ads across devices too. The same content that you look up on your phone can result in the ads that you see on your computer and vice versa.

As a Google user, you’ll gain access to all the top information that you want. When you do a search, you’ll see more than just relevant websites. Google will show you trending videos and news relating to that topic and a description or definition of a word or term off to the side. You can use the buttons on the top of the page to view only news or photos relating to your search too. Google also has an advanced search setting and lets you customize what you see when you do a search. You’ll also find other tools that you can use online through Google such as Maps to find a new restaurant and Gmail, which is one of the world’s most popular free email services.

2. Duck Duck Go Search

When you head to Duck Duck Go Search to do a quick search, you might find that the site looks a little like other search engines that you used in the past. This one is a little different though because it will never share your information with anyone else. Are you tired of searching for birthday or holiday gifts and then seeing the same gift ideas pop up as ads when you visit your favorite websites? Using this search engine can help you avoid that problem and can also stop your loved ones from seeing what you bought later.

Duck Duck Go Search went live in 2008 after the founder sold his social networking site to Classmates.com. Though the site initially had quite a few ads, it now gives users the option of turning off those ads. Once you opt out, you’ll never again see ads when you visit the site. There is a connected site that acts as customer support too. You can visit this site to discuss any issues you had with others and to make suggestions or give feedback about your experiences. Apple added it as an option for using its search engine too.

In addition to being popular because it doesn’t share data, Duck Duck Go Search is also popular because it provides users with data sourced from more than 400 other sites. It uses Wikipedia to create short descriptions that let you view basic information about a search term. You can also use a feature called Instant Answers that show you answers to some popularly searched for questions. Duck Duck Go Search has prompts that function like predictive text also. As you enter a term or phrase, it will make suggestions based on what it thinks you want to help you narrow down the results that you see.

3. Bing

Some refer to Bing as one of the best ways to search for porn on the web because it doesn’t remove adult results from its searches. When you do a search on this site via the video or photo section, you can view adult content that you won’t see on other sites. If you share a computer with others or worry about your kids viewing that content, you can change the settings. Anyone who uses the same search engine will view content that is safe for the whole family. You can also use safe browsing to prohibit others from viewing your past searches.

Bing is one of the largest search engines in the world and backed by Microsoft. MSN, which the company also owns, previously offered a Windows Live Search. This would later become Live Search and then Bing. Bing went live in 2009 after Microsoft spent several years working with focus and test groups to pick a name. They settled on Bing because it is short and easy to type. The name also brings to mind the word bingo, which invokes the feeling of getting instant results.

When you use this search engine, you’ll find a simple interface that includes a background image that changes every day. There are also navigation panels and pages that let you view any past searches you did and view information relating to your current search. Some instant information is also available, including current scores in top games and final scores in previous games. You can also use a calculator and other tools. Bing even offers a cashback feature that lets you earn money for purchasing products online. With a Bing account, you also receive points for taking short quizzes and doing online searches. Those points let you enter contests to win big prizes and to get Microsoft items for free.

4. Yippy

Most search engines show you only the most popular information and results available. Those engines use tools that search the web to find new sites, which it will then index for future results. This can cause problems because there are so many sites that those engines won’t index. Yippy is an example of a metasearch engine that uses new technology to look for pages listed in the Deep Web and for pages that other sites skip. This is a great way to view content that you wouldn’t otherwise see and to find exactly what you need.

One thing that sets Yippy apart from all the other search engines is that it gives you results in a cluster format. Let’s say that you want to look for something really obscure such as how to get started in tractor racing. Most search engines will simply show you basic pages created by racers and racing organizations. Yippy will show you the top 15 to 30 results that it found and list those sites on your screen. You’ll also see related searches to the side that show you related keywords. You can click on any of those words to view those related sites.

Yippy is the best search engine to use when you want to go beyond official information. If you did a search for your favorite product online, you would likely see pages from the company that makes that product as well as sites that sell it and reviews that others posted. When you do that same search with Yippy, you can find articles about any of the dangers or issues related to that product and other ways in which you can use it. This search engine is also a good tool to use when you’re in school because it can provide you with academic journals and other references.

5. Dogpile

During the early days of the internet, it seemed like every development team had their own search engines. Dogpile was one you might remember using that later disappeared at the end of the 1990s. Many remember seeing the dog that the company used as its mascot running across the screen as it grabbed a search and brought it back to them. Though Dogpile never really went away, it became much less popular than other options to the point where you probably forgot all about it. It’s now back and fairly popular with many users.

Dogpile features a homepage that includes a search engine box and some other helpful tools. When you do a search, it checks the way both Yahoo! and Google ranked pages based on that same search and shows you what it found. This is a great way to make sure that you have all the available information that you need. Dogpile also shows you favorite searches that include the most popular searches of the day and quick starts that let you set it as your default search engine or homepage.

One of the best things about this search engine is that it lets you do one basic search, but it also lets you choose the type of content that you want to view. Not only can you search through images and videos, but you also have the option of searching through news and checking for local results. Dogpile has a shopping search that will show you an item for sale and the sites that sell it with the prices charged by each page. Dogpile has some features that you might recall using in the past too such as White Pages and Yellow Pages for looking up phone numbers and addresses. Many like that it checks for misspelled words and makes suggestions based on what it thinks you actually want to look up.

6. Yahoo!

Though Yahoo! is a name that many people know, it’s probably not the first name that comes to mind when you think of search engines today. In the early days of the internet, this became one of the top options for those who wanted to use the web. Not only did it offer one of the first email services, but it also offered chat rooms that let you talk with other users from around the world. The site even featured games that you could play with others. One thing you’ll notice about Yahoo! today is that it looks quite different than it once did.

Depending on your age, you might remember the days when you entered a term and then used arrows to navigate through different topics to find the information you needed. Created by two students at Stanford University, the site originally used the name Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web. The site grew rapidly through the late 1990s and acquired a number of smaller websites along the way. It purchased Associated Content, which allowed users to write their own articles for money. Yahoo! later purchased some of that content for use on its other sites before shutting down the main website.

Yahoo! is still fairly popular among those who want an aggregate website that lets them do multiple things. The homepage features a search engine that lets you do searches and boxes and links that allow you to visit other areas of the site. Those links take you to trending pages that Yahoo! gathers from recent searches. It still offers some games, though there are now fewer traditional games available and more mobile games listed. Yahoo! also features travel information that you can use before planning your next trip and funny videos that you can watch and share with others.

7. Quora

Have you ever used Google because you wanted an answer to a specific question? Depending on the question, Google may not offer the exact response that you want. The problem is that most search engines use aggregate data and shows results that will match what thousands of other searchers wanted to know. Quora is a unique little search engine that lets you browse through questions and read responses that others posted and post your own question. While some answers aren’t quite as detailed or mature as some would like, the site is a solid alternative for those who have questions that need answering.

With Quora, you can create your own account that includes as much or as little information about yourself as you would like. The site recommends filling out some of the sections though because it will use that info to recommend new content. You can use the category listings to view questions that other users asked. For example, you might use the New York City category and then select the Hotel category to find out what hotels people who live in the city recommend and which ones tourists stayed in and loved in the past. Quora also lets you post questions when you cannot find a good answer.

As a search engine, Quora is best for those who want to find little nuggets of information. When you use the search engine to write a question, it will find similar questions and let you click on them to read the answers shared. The Related Questions on the side of the screen show you similar questions to the one you clicked on, which you can access as you need. Quora will also notify you each time that you log in to show you any responses on the questions that you asked.

8. Google Scholar

The best search engine for academics and those currently in school is Google Scholar, which provides users with access to more than 150 million documents. This is a separate section of the main Google site that allows you to create your own personal library filled with documents and articles. The site added a citation feature in 2006 that makes it easier for you to cite the works that you want in your own papers. You can also use those citations to access articles that cited the same work, which helps you find relevant documents.

Google Scholar typically lists articles and journals that are no more than 10 years old. Content older than that is available via Google Books. Many academics like that they can use this search engine to narrow down their results. You can tell it to only show results from articles and documents published within the last year or the last two years. It also has a custom range that lets you enter the dates that you want to search through. There are separate search features that let you search by date or the relevance that each result has to your search term(s).

Not only does Google Scholar let you see articles from popular journals, but you can also view case laws and files relating to major court cases. It also has an alert feature that lets you enter your search parameters. You’ll receive a notification when any new article becomes available that matches those parameters. Academics like that this search also lets them look through patents and citations. If you want to find what articles mention a term you want to learn about, you can search through those citations. While Google Search isn’t a search engine that everyone will use, it’s a popular choice for writers, college students and teachers.

9. Ask.com

Ask Jeeves was one of those fun and unique search engines that existed during the early days of the internet. It featured a butler named Jeeves who would race off the screen when you performed a search and return with your results on a silver platter. Ask Jeeves went through a number of changes after its launch as new investors came in and its development team changed. After becoming Ask.com, the site went head to head with other search engines before deciding to shut down its own team and hand its search features over to another company. Ask.com still exists today and serves as one of the most basic search engines around.

Ask.com looks quite basic. Its homepage features just the Ask logo in red on one side with a search box connected to it. As soon as you enter enough letters that the site can predict what you want to find, it will provide you with a list of related searches. You can click on any of those searches and get results back in a fraction of a second. The results that you see are quite typical to those found by other search engines. If you search for a name, you’ll see the official site of that individual and his or her IMDB and Wikipedia pages.

The site also puts related searches off to one side. Those searches include the same ones that others did after looking at the same search you performed. You can use the videos area of the site to view videos relating to your search. This section allows you to view the most recent, most viewed and most popular videos. You can also view those videos based on how long each one runs. Ask.com also lets you ask questions and view sites that have answers to those questions.

10. Internet Archive

The Internet Archive isn’t one of those search engines that you’ll use on a daily basis, but it is a site that can provide you with information that you won’t find on other sites. One issue with the more popular search engines is that they constantly strive to provide users with updated information. When a site changes, the search engine will index its new pages and remove the old ones from its listings. This can result in you missing out on funny videos that you wanted to share or losing track of an article with tips you hoped to use at work.

Many people know the Internet Archive because of the Wayback Machine. Named for the time-traveling machine used by Mr. Peabody and Sherman, this search engine lets you enter any term and find pages that mentioned that term in the past. The Internet Archive maintains an active database of pages that it shot and indexed in the past. When you perform a search, you can view pages indexed years ago. Some of the oldest pages you can access date all the way back to 1995. The site also has an Archive-It feature that lets users create and share their own digital archives.

The Internet Archive really won’t help if you want to check on the price of plane tickets or see when your favorite band will tour next. It does come in handy when you want to watch live shows of that band performing in concert or if you want to see the hottest news stories from a date in the past. The site also gives users access to a large collection of digital books and archives. You can read books that are in the public domain and check out cultural artifacts from the comfort of your own home.

Millions of people around the world use Google every day to shop for new products and to get driving directions. Google started out as an aggregate site that used the searches done by other sites to rank its own pages, but it now has its own unique algorithm that ranks pages based on what it thinks users actually want to see.

Google is far from the only search engine that you can use those. This guide looked at nine other alternatives that are suitable for a range of different users. You might use the Internet Archive to watch videos of your favorite singers and bands before using Yahoo! to check the latest score when you’re away from your television. Other search engines can help you find the academic references that you need when working on a college paper. The top search engines can help you find absolutely everything you need.

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Best Social Media Management Tools 2019

Latest update: 1st January 2019

If you are on the internet, you are likely to have a social media account as well! That is how spectacular the rise has been with regard to the use of social networking platforms by users around the globe.

Whether it is individuals, professionals or businesses, most have a significant presence on social media sites. In fact, you are likely to come across a similar set of individuals and businesses on more than one social networking websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google+.

And, therein lies the difficult part! Most people or businesses create their profiles or pages on multiple social networks, but fail to manage the posts, updates or even analytics.

This fuels the need to have efficient social media management (SMM) tools that make it easy for you to handle one or more social media profiles.

In this age of the mobile revolution, most people access social media on the go and, hence, these popular tools empower you to achieve the same by scheduling your posts and managing them from a single dashboard (in most cases).

Importantly, these tools also assist you in achieving more traffic to get more likes or followers. And, for businesses, it triggers a good number of leads that have the potential to convert into sales or customers.

So, what are the top Social media marketing tools? Let us take a look at some of these tools by considering their features as well as advantages and disadvantages.

The objective is to understand which ones fulfil your Social media marketing requirements in the best possible way.

Sendible


Sendible is an up and coming SMM (Social media marketing ) tool suite with an excellent user interface. It’s is a fully integrated social media productivity tool and in my opinion, one of the best on the market. With Sendible you get 20 integrations with the top social media networks, blogs, social sharing sites. You can even hook it up to Slack, which makes communicating with other members of your content marketing team an absolute breeze.

Sendible is a great weapon in the arsenal of a social media marketer / content marketer, as it helps you create content that get’s you and your client the traction you need as well as helping you keep your editorial calendar busy and active.

This all-in-one tool helps you stay on top of the important stuff that appears on your social media profiles through its social inbox. You can track all your name or brand mentions and even immediately respond to any negative comments (from customers or readers) to establish a solid rapport and open a communication channel.

It also provides marketing automation tools and social CRM to drive leads and target prospects for your business.

Moreover, you can get beautiful and well-detailed analytics reports that show how well your audience has been engaged with your social sites.

Sendible has some awesome automation tools such as automatic replies set ups to tweets or DM’s, retweets and welcome messages. They’ve also developed an Instagram automation tool, which I must say is  so much better than Hootsuite’s Instagram tool. It will automatically set out to search for posts with a specific hashtag and likes them.

You can also set it to automatically follow the profile of the post and unfollow them if they don’t follow you back in 24 hours!

Pricing & Plans

Micro – $29 per month, 1 user and 12 services
Lite – $49 per month, 1 user and 20 services
Advanced – $199 per month, 4 users and 100 services
Pro – $499 per month, 10 users and 300 services
White Label – fully customized dashboard with API access, contact for pricing
Sendible offers a 30-day free trial for all plans.

Pros

Integration with all major social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest as well as blogging platforms  like Medium, WordPress and Blogger.com. Easy to manage multiple social profiles.
RSS Feed poster, content suggestions, in-built content library and easy access to the design tool, Canva.
Bulk-scheduling content with images via uploading a CSV file.
A good selection on automation tools
Visually stunning and accurate reporting
User permissions and team workflows are easy to set up.
Ideal for social media manager / social media exec.
Mobile app available for iOS and Android.
Cons

No free plan. They do however have a free 30 day trial
Geographic keyword monitoring isn’t spot on in terms of accuracy, so take with a pinch of salt.
Top Clients

Toyota, The Irish Times, Sony Music, Zynga, BBC Worldwide and so on.

Read our latest Sendible Review

Social Booster
Social Booster
Social Booster is another highly comprehensive SMM solution that makes SMM really easy. It automates the process of posting updates by scheduling them in advance (you can even schedule them weeks and months prior to the day that you want the posts to be published) and keeping your social media presence active, even while you are offline.

It also gives you access to a single dashboard that you can use to manage your multiple social media accounts and remain engaged with your audience at all times.

Moreover, you can get a complete insight into the performance of your social media activities and campaigns, which helps you develop a sound understanding of your audience. And, you can get these reports on demand.

For businesses, Social Booster also enables you to create a workflow from the dashboard for your team members, which will increase your overall business productivity. It also helps your business increase its reach through increased usage of social media, without spending additional time for the same.

Plans & Pricing

It offers a free account, with no credit card information required to sign up for the same. When you sign up for this free account, you can select one of two categories: Business & Personal or Social Media Agency (for agencies or companies that handle the social media accounts of multiple clients).

The four different plans offered are Personal, Toolbox, Pro and Enterprise, with prices starting at £7.16 per month (annual subscription) or £8.95 per month (monthly subscription).

Pros

It supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and more.
It is suitable for businesses of any size (small to large).
It offers 500 Twitter followers for free.
It provides 24×7 customer support for all your queries and issues.
You get the ability to run ad campaigns for your social media accounts right from the Social Booster dashboard.
Cons

There is no support for Google+.
No details about the pricing of the paid plans are shared on the official Social Booster website. You only get to check the pricing after you have logged in or signed up with your free account.
Buffer
Buffer
This is a smart SMM tool that helps you achieve consistent scheduling of your posts to your different social media accounts. You can quickly add articles, videos, photos and other content to the queue, even while you are on the move, and then stagger the posting times, as per your convenience.

This is possible by using the different Buffer mobile apps and browser extensions. You can also get valuable insight and analytics about the traffic drawn to your social media content with the Buffer app.

Plans & Pricing

For individuals, it offers a free plan and the Awesome plan (starting at $10.00). For businesses, it offers small, medium and large plans, with prices starting at $99.00 and reaching $399.00. It also offers an enterprise plan, starting at $899.00 per month.

Buffer Pricing Chart
Pros

It supports Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and more.
It provides a virtual queue to push through the content via staggered posting times throughout the day. In other words, you can schedule content across all the social media sites, without having to individually schedule them.
It gives you the ability to create your own content (images), using Pablo for social media sites.
Cons

It does not support Instagram.
Hootsuite
hootsuite-logo-dashboard
This is one of the most popular SMM tools to schedule campaigns across various social networking platforms as well as measure or track the campaign results via its simple web-based dashboard.

It allows you to schedule messages and tweets, track conversations, manage unlimited social media profiles, view Google Analytics and even offers Facebook insights integration.

Hootsuite displays all your social media accounts in multiple streams and provides good team collaboration features that can boost the overall productivity of your business. It also gives you access to about six social media marketing online courses, along with the option to get certified in SMM. Read more in my Hootsuite Review.

Plans & Pricing

You can avail Hootsuite’s free plan, Hootsuite Pro plan (with a 30-days free trial and the pricing starting at around $9.00 per month) or even the enterprise plan.

hootsuite-pricing-plans
Pros

It supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, YouTube and more.
This web-based tool does not need any software to be installed on your system.
It gives you the ability to manage multiple social media profiles from a single dashboard, without having to log in to each of those sites separately.
It extends support for the management of multiple YouTube accounts from its dashboard, apart from enabling you to schedule different video posts to your profiles.
The Hootsuite mobile apps are available for Android and iOS.
Cons

You can only add three social media profiles with the free account.
Only a limited number of URL shorteners (owl.li, ow.ly, htl.li and ht.ly) work with Hootsuite, for adding links to messages.
Top Clients of Hootsuite

DAVIDsTEA, Marketo, NYC, The Herschel and so on.

IFTTT
IFTTT logo
If This Then That (IFTTT) helps you establish or create connections for a variety of social media sites, services and channels. A staggering 306 channels’ connections can be created with IFTTT. Moreover, it improves your productivity based on an action-reaction mechanism.

For example, you can get a Facebook post or a tweet updated automatically once you submit a new blog post. So, you can choose to connect your preferred network with the action of your choice via IFTTT. This trigger-action setup for your profiles is termed “recipe” with regard to IFTTT.

Plans & Pricing

Not applicable, as it is a free tool.

Pros

It automates sharing on social media apps and sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram.
Cons

IFTTT may not always suffice all your SMM needs and is generally used along with other powerful tools, such as Hootsuite or Social Booster.
Sprout Social
sprout-social-logo-new
This is another highly effective SMM tool that possesses a seamless publishing system for posting your messages and tweets on social media sites. You can also get detailed analytics reports to keep track of the results from the activities.

Apart from the social content, you can also track the monitored keyword searches with Sprout Social.

Plans & Pricing

It offers three different types of plans (Deluxe, Premium and Team), with the lowest starting at $99 per user per month.

Pros

It supports Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.
It possesses social customer relationship management (CRM) tools, consisting of shared customer records, advanced scheduling tools (like ViralPost), team collaboration tools (including live activity updates) and more.
You get a 30-days free trial with all of its plans.
Cons

It lacks support for major social media sites like Pinterest.
Top Clients

UPS, Hyatt, PepsiCo, Stanford University and so on.

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AgoraPulse
agorapulse-logo
This tool offers you updates about your social content, using the social media inbox (an email-like inbox). It retains old conversations as well as syncs all your social media profiles in real time to ensure that you do not miss any comments, likes, tweets and so on.

Also, you can avail customised reports, which is presented in PowerPoint with amazing graphics, to measure your efforts.

Plans & Pricing

It offers four different plans (Micro, Small, Medium and Large), with prices starting at $15.00 per month.

agorapulse pricing chart
Pros

It supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.
It helps you achieve more with CRM software.
You get the ability to arrange custom contests and promotions for better social media engagement.
Cons

It lacks support for Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and so on.
The Micro plan only supports one social media profile, which proves expensive.
Top Clients

Yahoo, PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Nivea and more.

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PostPlanner
post-planner
PostPlanner not only helps you schedule posts, but also helps you get increased engagement from your readers or followers on the social media platforms. It focuses more on helping you find the right content and getting it published (via a queue or scheduling) to increase the traffic to your profiles. It has this unique “viral content” functionality that shows you the most viral images, videos, articles, news and more from your industry. You can then use such viral content to enhance the engagement on your sites.

Plans & Pricing

It offers three different plans (Love, Guru and Master), with prices starting at around $7.00 per month.

postplanner-pricing-chart
Pros

It supports Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
Low prices, starting from as low as $7.00 per month, are offered.
It helps you find viral content and use the same for increased engagement and traffic.
Cons

It lacks support for Instagram, Google+ and so on.
Top Clients

Hertz, Nike and more.

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Social Clout
This is another social media monitoring, social media listening and analytics tool that helps businesses make informed decisions based on thorough and scientific analysis of data.

You can track all your social conversations and it offers a keyword search feature, which allows you to keep track of what people are saying about your brand, business and competitors. You can even get analyses about your competition and gauge where you stand in comparison.

Plans & Pricing

It offers four different plans (Free, Starter, Value and Enterprise), with prices starting at around $49.00 per month.

social clout pricing plans
Pros

It extends support for Twitter, Facebook, Linked, Instagram and YouTube as well as news sites, blogs and online forums.
Social Clout helps you monitor your brand mention on social networks in real time.
Cons

It does not offer unlimited analytics reports.
SocialOomph
socialoomph_logo
SocialOomph was initially known as TweetLater.com, as it primarily focused on increasing productivity solutions for Twitter users. Later, it also started paying attention to overall productivity enhancement services (free and paid) for several other social media platforms as well.

For most sites, it offers the basic handling of unlimited accounts (with the paid plan) as well as scheduling posts and updates to their pages or walls.

With regard to Twitter, it offers some special features, including keyword searches, following those who followed you, Digital Marketing (DM) Inbox clean up, tracking mentions and retweets and tweet via email.

Plans & Pricing

It offers several services for free, while others are premium services. With the SocialOomph Professional account, you do not need any long-term contracts and can make payments (starting at around $17.97) every two weeks (after the initial seven-days free trial period).

You can also upgrade from the free plan to the SocialOomph Twitter Unlimited plan for $6.97 (payments to be made every two weeks).

Pros

It supports Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and so on. It also supports Tumblr, RSS feeds, Plurk and App.net.
Cons

It does not offer advanced SMM features for platforms other than Twitter.
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Edgar
Edgar_horizontal_logo
This SMM tool ensures that you get maximum benefits from every single social media update you make. In other words, even if you post an update when few people will be engaged, Edgar will still keep posting the same update automatically when you post another update for that category.

It thus ensures that none of your updates or posts go unnoticed. To achieve this functionality, Edgar maintains an online library where all your updates are stored as per the different categories, such as motivational quotes, news, blog links and images.

Plans & Pricing

You can start using Edgar by paying $49.00 per month. If you do not like its features, you can get your money back by cancelling your Edgar account within the first 30 days.

edgar pricing
Pros

It recycles categorised social media updates and reposts them repeatedly to get more likes, followers, and so on.
It supports Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Edgar is ideal for freelancers, bloggers and businesses.
Cons

It lacks support for Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and more.
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Rignite
rignite
This comprehensive platform enables you to get results for your social media activities from a single dashboard. You can carry out scheduled postings on a daily basis, establish goal-based campaigns (such as events, promotions and product giveaways) and analyse the campaign data.

It is best known for its ability to allow you to focus on campaign-based posting, where you can submit posts individually or in a series.

Plans & Pricing

You can enjoy a free trial period of 14 days, before starting to use any of their three plans (Silver, Gold and Enterprise), with prices starting at around $28.00 per month per user.

Pros

It supports Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and more.
Cons

It lacks support for a free plan or a cheaper premium plan, with fewer social media profiles. (The Silver plan itself supports 30 profiles.)
Top Clients

The Greenside Agency, Karma Inc. Apparel, Visit Detroit, Frends Beauty and so on.

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SocialFlow
social-flow
This is a smart SMM tool that uses predictive analytics to determine what the right time is to post your content. The ideal time to publish the content is determined by its software which uses real-time data, once you put your content in the queue.

In addition, it ensures that your updates reach the largest possible audience by posting the content when they will be most active and more engaged.

Plans & Pricing

No pricing details or plan details are shared on SocialFlow’s official website.

Pros

It offers the Video Vault Uploader for Facebook that supports the uploading of big video collections (up to a thousand video segments) on Facebook.
It supports Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.
A social media advertising platform is offered for marketers and agencies to reach out to a larger audience on Facebook and Twitter.
Cons

It lacks transparency about the pricing and plans, as no information is shared on the website.
Top Clients

Nickelodeon, BBC, L’Oréal and Walmart as well as publishers, such as Mashable, The Economist, National Geographic and The Washington Post.

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SocialCount
social-count-logo
While managing the different social media platforms for your website or blog, your aim should always be to get more traffic. And, an effective way to determine how quickly your site’s content is getting spread is to track the shares that you get for your social media posts.

SocialCount is a free tool that enables you to do just that; it gets the number of shares for your main site URL or even any other articles or news on your site. It also offers a detailed number of shares for every page on your site or blog.

Both freelance and professional blogger can easily use this tool by entering their site’s URL and learning how many times the URL was shared across social media platforms.

Plans & Pricing

Not applicable, as it is a free tool.

Pros

This is a free web-based tool that does not require any software to be downloaded.
It supports Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Cons

It lacks support for other popular social networking sites, including Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram.

What Is A Blog? – A Guide to Understanding The Concept Of Blogging

A blog is an online diary or journal located on a website. The content of a blog typically includes text, pictures, videos, animated GIFs and even scans from old physical offline diaries or journals and other hard copy documents. Since a blog can exist merely for personal use, sharing information with an exclusive group or to engage the public, a blog owner can set their blog for private or public access.


When a blog is made publicly accessible, anyone can typically find the blog through links available on the blog owner’s individual or business website, their social media profiles, emails and e-newsletters and online keyword search engines. Many blog owners also set up blogs on websites devoted to the creation, storage and sharing of blogs, such as Blogger, LiveJournal, Tumblr and WordPress.

Blog content can appear as posts on one continuous streaming page or posts on individual pages reachable through one or more pages set up in a list-style format as post title links, excerpts and related tags. All posts or links to posts are typically displayed to readers in reverse chronological order with the most recent content appearing first.

Have a look at some great blog examples here.

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History Of The Blog
Blogs started out as a natural extension of the increased use of computers and the creation of the earliest forms of the Internet as government military, scientific and academic networks. Before the World Wide Web, communities of people interacted on these networks. Individuals created content for themselves or others and stored that content on computers that were connected to the networks. Before blogs became popular, these communities often communicated and shared frequently-updated content through community message boards. The term “newsgroups” became coined to describe many of these discussion and information-sharing areas.

The earliest true blogs started appearing around 1994 or 1995 as open access diaries where individuals shared updates about their lives, such as personal thoughts and facts about events related to their families, academic studies, career, travels and other topics. Early online diary writers include Claudio Pinhanez, Justin Hall and Carolyn Burke. The media and public really started noticing the content and documenting its formation around approximately 1996 and 1997.

The exact date and year of the first use of the term “blog” is still debated by scholars. Most believe that it happened in 1999 as the natural truncation of a particular description of this type of content, “web log” or “weblog,” into the shortened form. Some debate exists on pronunciation. Obviously, the term describes a diary or log located and accessible on the World Wide Web. As time passed, some people thought that “weblog” should be pronounced “we blog” to refer to individuals performing the action of blogging.

Blogs vs Websites – What is the difference?
The primary difference between a blog and a website is that a blog is a specific type of content displayed on web pages on a website. Confusion often occurs because individuals and representatives of businesses often use the two terms interchangeably. For example, someone might say that they visited a company’s blog when in fact the blog was merely one part of the company’s website. Confusion also occurs because platforms that are devoted entirely to blogging create the impression that a person’s or company’s blog on one of these platforms is also their primary website.

To help sort it all out, keep the following in mind: In most cases, non-blogging websites are updated with new content less frequently then associated blog pages and blog-devoted websites. Blogs typically receive weekly, daily or even less than hourly updates. Non-blog websites, such as individual personal interest and biography or business sites, typically only update their news and blog content at that frequency and then add new pages or update some content as needed. Blogs also promote discussion. They have comment sections designed to create online conversations about blog content and blog owners in a similar fashion as comment sections provided to readers by news media platforms and other publishers under online articles.

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Blog posts Vs Pages – What is the difference?
Simply put, the blog content that you pull up in your browser appears on a web page. The term “page” describes the document and the location. It is important to note that the term “blog” is also frequently used to describe a collection of web pages that specifically share blog content, especially on blog-focused websites. This usage is similar to how people describe a collection of pages in a diary, journal or log collectively as the object. As previously mentioned, blog content is updated frequently. Many websites have non-blog pages that contain content that rarely changes, such as a company’s history page or contact page. Some web pages have not been updated beyond a few tiny refreshed and new content changes in years.

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Popularity Of Blogs & Blogging
A lot of people wonder why blogs and blogging have become so popular. Blogs provide a social outlet. Many people, by nature, are social animals. They actively seek out other people offline or online for interaction and sharing of knowledge and perspectives. Even many people who are anti-social in face-to-face, offline settings enjoy interacting online through social networks using their true identities or anonymous personas. Since a blog is a social tool, creating or reading blogs provides them with a better alternative method for interacting with others that did not previously exist.


Additionally, social and anti-social people use blogs to build new friendships and other types of relationships and gain a better understanding of the lives of people who they might not likely interact with on a daily basis. For example, blogs offer them opportunities to interact with people who are from others cultures and/or live in other geographic regions, people who work in different career fields and people who have taken up previously geographically-limited and rare types of hobbies. In these cases, blogs offer content that people could only find in the past through offline newspapers, magazines, television programs, films, documentaries and special festivities sponsored by communities, businesses art organizations, local, state and federal government administrations and academic institutions.

What kind of people blog?
Almost no limitations exist in regards to the types of people who create blogs. Blog creators, also known as “bloggers,” come from all walks of life and backgrounds from around the world. As long as a person has access to online tools that help them to create web page content, they can make a blog and promote it to attract readers. The most common bloggers include individuals who want to simply share personal information about themselves and/or their interests and hobbies with the world.

Some people use this web content tool to bring greater awareness to topics they feel are critically important to the betterment of others like topics related to political news, charitable organizations, safety issues, pet care and health conditions. Businesses typically use blogs to improve the lives of their customers in general, teach customers how to safely use products/services and bring attention to their expertise in a particular industry or their products/services.

Why do people bother blogging?
People blog for a wide range of reasons beyond those already mentioned. Many people simply dislike traditional offline diary writing and need an outlet for their thoughts and feelings beyond that format, face-to-face interactions, phone calls or online chat. Some people love that they can share their innermost thoughts and information with someone else half way around the world. Sometimes this outlet is desired because they have no offline friends or support system and use blogging to help them deal with stressful life events like acute and chronic health conditions or grief after the death of loved ones.

Since many other forms of content on various websites do not require frequent updates, a lot of people, especially business owners, use their blogs as part of their search engine optimization toolkit to maintain or improve their search engine result ranking and drive more traffic to their websites. Search engine algorithms rank fresh, valuable content higher than older content and when a website receives more traffic that site owner has a higher chance of increasing their revenue.

How Do Bloggers Make Money From Their Blogs?
Beyond improving website traffic by updating content regularly, individuals and businesses make money off of their blogs by building trust with members of their target market. They offer content that their target audience finds interesting and useful and that also establishes them as knowledgeable experts. Consumers often buy new products and services from individuals and businesses who they trust.

They are also more likely to be repeat, loyal customers to anyone who engages them and provides them with “free” valuable content. Consumers who trust an individual or business and start to rely upon a specific website for information are then more likely to recognize a brand, buy products or services and even provide word of mouth referrals about their positive experiences to members of their social networks.

Those referrals then often lead to new customers and future sales. Of course, by maintaining contact with members of their target market through their blogs, individuals and business owners who sell products and services are able to bring attention to new products and services and spread news about upcoming sales and deals to people who might not otherwise hear about these details through traditional advertising methods.

Some blog owners earn money every time someone merely clicks static or dynamic ads or other embedded links on their blog pages that go to affiliate partner websites or earn a commission when someone buys a product or service on a partner website after using their link.

Lastly, many blog owners make money by selling their blogs. Blog sales typically happen after a niche topic blog website starts receiving incredibly high traffic and becomes attractive to an investor as a potential high volume money-making tool. Some people buy a blog just so that they can merge it with their existing blog or shut down the purchased blog site entirely because the competition was driving traffic away from their own blog and/or other websites.

As you can see, a blog provides an individual or business the means to share all kinds of information and reap all sorts of rewards from their efforts. Blogs can be therapeutic alone or do double duty by both serving as a social outlet and money generator. If you do not currently have a blog, review some of the popular blogging sites listed in this guide or check out the blogs of your favorite celebrities, businesses or hobby associations to give you ideas about what a successful blog looks like and the elements that go into it. If you do have an online diary but you have not promoted or monetized it in the ways outlined in this guide, review these methods and give real consideration to the idea of turning your blog into a secondary income stream.

25 Social Media Campaign Ideas to Try in 2019

The summer before my sophomore year in college, I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw my friend dump a bucket of ice water on herself.

When I read the status update, I realized she was doing the Ice Bucket Challenge in an effort to promote awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease.

This was in 2014 when the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral and raised $220 million worldwide.

That's what a successful social media campaign looks like.

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As a marketer, paying attention to these social media campaigns is important, especially since 45% of the world population is active on social media.

Although every social media campaign can't reach the same viral attention as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, there are several things you can try to improve the results of your social media efforts.

Below, let's review the top social media campaign ideas to try this year.

Social Media Campaign Ideas
Build social proof
Post offers and discounts online
Showcase happy customers
Host contests
Create calls-to-action on your posts
Encourage engagement with polls
Put together an influencer giveaway
Go live
Have a takeover
Publish behind the scenes content
Livestream events
Design a viral campaign
Write event hashtags
Interact with your customers
Use the holidays as inspiration
Provide educational content
Repurpose high-performing content
Curate content
Participate in popular trends
Adopt new social media platforms
Plan “caption this” contests
Design geofilters on Snapchat
Generate hype for your launches
Come up with human interest campaigns
Develop entertaining segments
1. Build social proof.
One of the main benefits of social media marketing is that you can build social proof online. Your online reputation is one of the most important aspects of your brand. On social media, you can personify your brand and speak directly to your customers.

To build social proof, you might start a hashtag for users to submit testimonials. For example, P90X is an at-home training program that uses the hashtag #p90xresults to gather customer results.

This helps build social proof that their product works without seeming promotional. Additionally, you can share posts and interact with customers who mention your brand to spread awareness of the positive results your customers' get from using your product or service.

2. Post offers and discounts online.
To complement your marketing campaign, you can promote discounts and offers on social media. In fact, there's even a special section for offers on Facebook.

Discounts can help spread awareness and bring in new customers who might not have tried your product or service.

For example, a video game store, Play N Trade, uses the Facebook offer section to promote a free year membership:

Play N Trade offers discounts on Facebook.Image Source

3. Showcase happy customers.
The best people to promote your brand are your current customers. Using social media, you can showcase happy customers and their stories by liking or sharing posts of them using your product or service.

You can encourage customers to share photos of themselves with your product and create a hashtag to promote it.

For example, Coca-Cola started a marketing campaign called Share a Coke. The hashtag #shareacoke became a place where people would take pictures of the new product. This promoted their campaign and drove more customers to purchase their product so they could find a Coke with their name on it.

4. Host contests.
People love winning free stuff and getting discounts — which is why a content is such an effective social media campaign idea.

Hosting a contest on social media is an excellent way to drive engagement, traffic, and create brand awareness.

You can run several different types of contests including asking followers to tag a friend in the comments, answer a question in the comments, or send a photo of themselves with your product or service.

Additionally, if you're creating an ad campaign, you can host a casting contest and feature your customers in your ads.

5. Create calls-to-action on your posts.
Just like in the real world, being mysterious doesn't get you far. If you want your customers to do something, ask them to do it.

A call-to-action (CTA) does just that. By including a CTA on all your social media posts, people are more likely to interact and engage.

CTAs can be simple -- like asking people to sign up, subscribe, learn more, or comment below. A CTA can increase your click-through-rate (CTR), engagement, and success of your social media campaigns.

6. Encourage engagement with polls.
Who doesn't love a good poll when you're scrolling through your social media feed? Personally, I vote in every poll I see. I'm even tempted to vote in the ones that don't apply to me -- although I try not to because I don't want to ruin the numbers.

With polls, you'll learn more about your audience and increase engagement.

For example, TurboTax used the polls feature on Twitter to see if people considered rideshare drivers self-employed:

Turbo Tax posts a poll on Twitter.Image Source

If you're running a social media campaign, or any campaign for that matter, you should consider adding a poll to your social accounts.

7. Put together an influencer giveaway.
Influencer marketing isn't a passing fad.

In fact, the influencer marketing industry is set to reach $10 billion by 2020. Additionally, 80% of marketers say influencer marketing is effective for their businesses.

That's why you should consider putting together an influencer giveaway social media campaign. Working on your relationships with influencers in your industry will help increase brand awareness and build social proof.

After researching the influencers in your industry, contact them and suggest a giveaway.

8. Go live.
When you're putting together a social media campaign, don't underestimate live videos.

In a recent survey of 1,000 respondents, 80% said they would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog, and 82% prefer live video to social media posts.

You can use this to your advantage.

Try hosting a live stream, talking to your customers in real-time, or asking and answering questions. This will help you connect with your audience in a way that personifies your brand. By personifying your brand, people are more likely to feel connected to your company in the same way they feel connected to a friend.

9. Have a takeover.
Takeovers is an opportunity to keep things interesting in your Stories section of your social profiles. You can have employees, partners, or guests host a "takeover" for the day. This entails having someone else — apart from your social media team — regularly post content on your social media page(s) for a day.

For example, every day The Skimm has an employee take over their Instagram Stories. Typically, they show followers what they do in a day, discuss what their job is, what their responsibilities are, and give career advice. This helps with branding and also promotes their workplace culture.

If you're running a social media campaign, adding a takeover to your promotion can help increase engagement — additionally, having a guest or partner takeover your account can help your brand reach their audience, as well.

10. Publish behind-the-scenes content.
Behind-the-scenes content is one of the best ways to connect with your audience.

By showcasing a behind-the-scenes look, you can keep current and prospective customers up-to-date, brag about your team, and create an emotional connection that makes you relatable.

With any social media campaign, behind-the-scenes content can show off your personality and broaden your content.

11. Livestream events.
A social media campaign is one of the best ways to promote your events. But the promotion shouldn't end on the day of the event.

Instead, consider live streaming certain parts of the event on social media. This will create more buzz about the event, encourage interaction with attendees, and is helpful for people who couldn't attend the event.

12. Design a viral campaign.
Creating a viral marketing campaign is an easy sentence to write, but a hard concept to execute.

When you're brainstorming your next social media campaign, answer these questions:

Does it appeal to your target audience?
Does it have strong visuals?
Does it have an emotional appeal?
Is it creative?
Is it easy to digest, and share?
Does the timing make sense?
Like the ALS challenge, creating some sort of online challenge that influencers can easily participate in will help spread the word.

13. Write event hashtags.
If you're hosting an event, don't forget to create a hashtag. With a hashtag, you can reply to attendees and keep track of questions.

For example, at INBOUND, the event hashtag is typically #INBOUND19 (or whatever year it is). This hashtag helps HubSpot curates content related to INBOUND, including attendees' pictures of themselves at the event, and attendees' testimonials/opinions on the event.

If you can get an event hashtag trending, then you'll be able to create more brand awareness and interact with your customers.

14. Interact with your customers.
Speaking of interacting with your customers, you can design a social media campaign specifically around talking to your customers.

For example, in 2014 Taylor Swift did something called “Swiftmas.” This is when she went on social media, looked for highly engaged fans, chose her top fans, and then sent them presents. She even coined a term for this process, called “Taylurking.” If she commented a Christmas tree on one of your posts, you're getting a present.

This is a great example of interacting with your audience in a way that doesn't feel promotional, yet still creates brand awareness.

15. Use the holidays as inspiration.
Similar to the Taylor Swift example above, you can use the holidays as an inspiration for a social media campaign.

You can use your social accounts to promote a holiday sale, a Halloween contest, or sell holiday products like ornaments.

When it isn't the holiday season, you can still use current events to inspire your social media campaigns. Remember, your social media posts don't happen in a silo. They're happening in the real world, and they should be timely.

16. Provide educational content.
It's easy to get in the habit of just posting your products or services on social media. But that would be a mistake.

Your content should be educational and create value. When you're creating a social media campaign, ask yourself what value it'll bring to your audience. That's how you'll brainstorm content ideas that could go viral.

17. Repurpose high-performing content.
Every time you run a social media campaign, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You can use old content that has performed well in the past.

Do you have a podcast that has really high downloads? Or a blog that has the most views? You can repurpose that content for social media. Create a video for Stories or IGTV and summarize it in a caption.

Old content is a great way to boost your social media campaigns.

18. Curate content.
Your social media doesn't have to include content that's only from you. In fact, sharing other people's content is a great way to humanize your brand and create value for your audience.

If your social media campaign needs some more post ideas, consider curating content from other people that complement your promotion.

Again, you don't want your social media profile to feel too promotional. Your posts should have variety.

19. Participate in popular trends.
It's always important to remember that the world is still spinning while you're in your marketing meeting, brainstorming social media campaign ideas.

Consider trends, like popular hashtags, and participate in them. For example, #throwbackthursday still hasn't gone out of style. If your posts need a little inspiration, look for popular hashtags and trends and jump on board.

Customers like to see that the brands they follow are staying current.

20. Adopt new social media platforms.
If a new social media platform comes out, be an early adopter and run social media campaigns on it.

These campaigns are more likely to be seen by your audience because the sites haven't developed complicated algorithms yet.

Plus, you should always look for new places to engage with your audience and learn more about them.

21. Plan “caption this” contests.
A fun and unique contest, the “caption this" contest is especially helpful for those times where you have a very intriguing photo but are having a hard time writing a caption.

These contests encourage creativity and are a fun way to interact with your audience.

When you're planning a social media campaign, consider a "caption this" contest to encourage engagement.

22. Design geofilters on Snapchat.
Geofilters on Snapchat are an excellent way to increase brand awareness and create memories with your audience.

If your customers take a photo at an event, they'll appreciate the geofilter. By posting photos of themselves with this filter, your customers are a free, walking advertisement.

Again, the best way to promote your brand is through your current customers. Geofilters will help you do just that.

23. Generate hype for your launches.
When you're about to launch a product, service, or event, you should create a social media campaign to generate hype.

Previews of your product or contests to figure out what the product is will create excitement among your customers.

For example, in anticipation of the summer launch of Kylie Jenner's eye shadow palette, she posted swatches, videos, photos of her in the makeup, and tutorials on her Instagram.