Skip to main content

Original text


Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
10 Free Social Media Marketing Tools Every Business Owner Should Use
by Larry Kim
>
May 5, 2022
Rating
Woman using phone applications in warehouse

Just about anyone can get into social media marketing with a smartphone and little to no extra cost. But as you keep doing it, you’ll want to find ways to make it more efficient, especially as a business owner.

Fortunately, there are plenty of tools available online to make social media marketing easier and less tedious. A lot of the best tools have paywalls, which is not ideal for small business owners looking to up their game.

What you need are free social media marketing tools to take your business to the next level.

1. Hootsuite

Social media marketing is so much easier and more comprehensible with a good management tool. There are quite a few out there, but most of their features are locked behind a paywall.

If you want one that’s free and easy to use, then Hootsuite is your go-to option for planning and scheduling posts. With Hootsuite, you don’t have to split hairs having to remember to post during your peak hours.

2. MobileMonkey

A good chatbot can greatly help you handle customer service through chat by handling most inquiries for you. You can get started with chatbots using MobileMonkey which is a free chatbot platform for Facebook Messenger.

For a free tool, it is jam-packed with features while still being incredibly beginner-friendly. It lets you capture, qualify and nurture leads.  You can even automate your messenger marketing using automated sequences. Ultimately, it enables you to send messages to your Facebook contacts!

You can learn chatbots easily with MobileMonkey, which lets you build your own chatbot in as little as 5 minutes. You can tailor your MobileMonkey chatbot to your business needs easily with its hassle-free interface.

3. Answer The Public

Content planning can be a struggle, but you can overcome that mental block by drawing inspiration from your audience.

Answer The Public is a free consumer insight tool that compiles search results from Bing and Google. It then creates a visual map called a search cloud, which organizes results into categories. This can help you get a better understanding of what topics your audience in your niche may be interested in.

Content marketers can use this to better know their audience, improve keyword research, and optimize long-tail key phrases. You can then use that to make content that discusses topics and answers questions taken from that search cloud. Not only can you make more content for your social media audience, but also get into Google’s featured snippets.

4. ContentCal

ContentCal is yet another social media management tool like the previous two, but this tool doesn’t just schedule posts, it also has tools for content planning and team management.

This free tool has a pinboard for brainstorming content ideas and topics, helping you and your team get on the same page.

With ContentCal, you don't need to use multiple tools to bring everyone together and communicate ideas. You can then approve topics, then approve and schedule or publish posts, all within ContentCal.

5. Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog can help you maintain that website by crawling through it and finding all the holes you need to patch up, such as broken links, missing pages and metadata, duplicate content, and URLs. It can even audit your redirects. The free version lets you crawl up to 500 pages, which makes it great for small businesses.

6. Wave Video

Online video makes up a massive percentage of consumer internet traffic, and for good reason. People find it more engaging to consume video content, which is why it should be a big part of your social media marketing. But making videos can be time-consuming, complicated, and requires equipment and expertise most don't have.

If you want to present information about your brand to your audience in video, Wave Video can help. It's a free online service that lets you create your own videos without having to install a video editing program.

Wave Video has a library of stock videos and audio files you can use when assembling your video. You can add text, graphics, stickers and other elements to add information, leave a personal touch, and so on.

7. Google Keyword Planner

Whether it's for content marketing or a pay-per-click campaign, having a keyword tool can be invaluable.

If you need a keyword research tool, there's no need to look further than Google's own Keyword Planner. This tool can help not only your social media marketing, but all of your digital marketing.

Google Keyword Planner can help you plan out your marketing strategy to the finest detail. It lets you know which keywords are worth the most in your niche so you can make use of what actually ranks well.

8. Moz Local

Small businesses need to be able to reach as many people as possible within their vicinity to build a customer base. Being in local business directories helps a lot with this, but getting on all of them can be tedious.

Moz Local makes it a lot easier to be added to Google, Yelp, Facebook, Yellowpages, and so on. It's a free tool that can help you audit your listings on all the major online business directories. You can make sure your business contact information is consistent and updated across the board. Consistency is key to showing up on search engines more and bringing more customers in.

9. Facebook Audience Insights

There are many online analytics tools that can help you see what's going on in your marketing campaign. But if your main concern is social media marketing, you want to look at specific metrics to track your performance.

Facebook's own Audience Insights tool lets you see how your audience is engaging with your brand.

10. Pablo by Buffer

While this list features Hootsuite instead of Buffer, there's one thing Buffer has over its rival.

Pablo is the stock image service of Buffer, designed to provide images that are best for use in social media.

The service makes it easy for you to include images in your social media posts and customize them to your liking. It lets you choose the size, overlay it with text, add filters and logos, and download and share it. If you're not that proficient in graphics or image editing, Pablo can make adding images to your posts easier.

Making your social media posts more visual with images can pique interest and boost engagement.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
About the author
Larry Kim
Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey, the World's Best Facebook Messenger Marketing Platform and free chatbot builder. He's also founder of WordStream, Inc., the leading provider of Google Ads, Facebook Ads and keyword tools used by over a million marketers worldwide.
Read full bio
CONNECT
712 H St NE PMB 98848
}
Washington, DC 20002
1-800-634-0245

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

Chat generously provided by:LiveChat

In partnership with
Jump back to top