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Free Online Tools To Power Your Social Media Strategy in 2018

There are several free online tools to inspire and organise your organisation’s content strategy. Use these four free tools to plan your social media calendar.

There are several free online tools to inspire and organise your organisation’s content strategy.

You’ve decided that in 2018 you’re going to consistently post valuable content on your social media channels. But to start, you’re worried you’re going to run out of inspiration or you’re not sure how you will keep track of all those amazing content ideas.

This post is for you!

I’d like to share the free online tools I use to organise my ideas, and stay current on the latest developments in the topics I’m interested in.

Trello

Trello is a cross between Pinterest and the traditional felt notice board. You can use Trello from your desktop, or the mobile app.

You create boards (e.g blog posts) and create lists inside your boards. Here you can add your ideas or workflow for specific tasks. Document a set of processes for weekly tasks or drop inspiring visuals you’ve found online. I use Trello to keep track of my content ideas for my blog and social media channels.

A screenshot of a Trello card, with a list for a blog post
Trello helps keep your ideas organised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add due dates to your projects, and if you’re co-managing your social media strategy you can assign tasks to colleagues.

Feedly

The most important thing you can do through your social media accounts is to provide value to your followers. One way you can achieve this is to make sure you’re  briefed on the latest developments in your industry, and to share these on your accounts. This is where Feedly comes in.

Feedly is an online application to collect the latest posts from different websites all in one place. You select the topics you want to follow, and specifically which sites on each of those topics. You can share directly from Feedly or use the post as an angle for new content. Perhaps you want to create a video or infographic on the latest trends in your industry. Feedly makes sure you won’t miss a thing.

Buzzsumo

When you’re committed to providing value, it also helps to know what is the most popular content in your industry.

Buzzsumo let’s you search terms and identifies the content with most shares, by network.

This is a great source of ideas, and helps you identify the topics your target wants to know more about. If you are using influencer marketing in your business, BuzzSumo will assist in mapping out the influencers with the biggest reach in your industry.

Buffer

Scheduling your content is the secret to staying consistent. My favourite tool to stay on track is Buffer. With Buffer, you can schedule all your content on a range of different networks.

On the free plan (for individuals only) you can connect five social media accounts, and schedule 10 posts on each of these networks. If you have a larger team you want to connect you would have to purchase one of their paid plans.

There are loads more similar tools out there. Experiment to find the ones that work best to meet your needs. Happy planning!

By Bronwynne Powell

Writer and blogger

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