I am the Digital Media Manager at Red Branch Media and with every month our client list gets longer and longer. Managing social media for 5 accounts is easy, try doing it for 3 times that! Each has their own blog posts, special reports, client shout outs and engagement and search terms. Not only do I run all of their social accounts I have the privilege of working on their digital media strategies as well. That means SEO, SEM, digital planning, budgeting and status calls with every single one.

Wonder how this social media mastermind gets it all done?

I do have as many hours as Beyoncé in a week, but who wants to work 80-hour weeks? Not me! I have compiled a list of the tools that I use to help me streamline my processes and ensure that I am putting out the best content for my clients. You should download the whole list!

EDGAR

A new tool that we discovered is Edgar. At first I was thrown off by the high cost ($450) and the time that it took to fill up the “buckets”. After spending 2 days filling it up it has made my job much easier and I recommend you take a look at it. Once you fill Edgar up with a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of content it automatically queues up your streams so you are consistently putting out content and old content isn’t forgotten. It’s not always easy to remember older resources when you are running a new campaign but Egdar won’t forget! Created to give “old content new life” we’ve found that it ups the engagement on stuff we hadn’t though to promote for awhile.

Great for: white papers, ebooks, social sales (recurring) and Follow Fridays.

BUFFER

I have loved buffer since the day I was introduced to it! It is an affordable, easy-to-use solution that allows you to easily share content to multiple networks! They just introduced a new scheduling piece to their already easy scheduler. Right now I only use buffer for my personal accounts so I can share content easy without having to promote it directly. Buffer also spaces out the content so you aren’t posting everything at the same time. You never want to look like you are spamming your followers. Now you can schedule and create groups as well. You may also want to check out the Buffer blog for great content that makes every SM manager look like a rock star!

Buffer is great for: When you have a thousand articles to share with people but don’t want to drive people crazy. Quotes from articles.

SPROUTSOCIAL

Some days I am a huge fan of SproutSocial, other days we aren’t friends. I will say though that their new inbox really helps me connect with my clients’ followers. It makes you check off each time you have completed an action like, responding to an inquiry, thanking a new follower, or giving thanks for a retweet.

I really like the design of their analytics. They are very clean and for the most part seem very accurate. You can sign up for weekly reporting or download the reports yourself. SproutSocial even gives you the option to customize the reporting with your or your clients’ logo. We use their reports as the basis of our more in depth biweekly reports for clients. They provide an in-depth analysis of what’s working and what isn’t.

If you ever have an issue with SproutSocial I can say that they have always responded to me very promptly and helped me come up with a solution. I can assure you they are way better than Hootsuite.

Try SproutSocial for: Scheduling, simple bookmarkelt, in-depth reporting and social media organization.

GRAMMARLY

Courtney discovered this new tool and I love it! It edits in real time all of my emails, social media posts and blog content. You might think, “well my spell check does that” but Grammarly catches a lot of mistakes that a spell check often overlooks. It doesn’t just check for spelling mistakes, it also alerts you of grammar errors. They have a free Chrome extension if you want to try it out; otherwise they have a full version that they charge for. Both versions are great but I currently use the free version.

Awesome for: Editing emails, social statuses and even blog posts in real time and giving you quick suggestions. It’s a must have!

YAMMER

We are huge fans of Yammer at Red Branch Media but it can also be a distraction! Yammer is in simple terms like Facebook for a business intra-network. While it has a lot of benefits to help your workforce communicate better, I hate their search bar. It actually might be the worst. Going through the stream every couple of hours usually gets me caught up with all the information that I need but if I have to go back to a conversation that happened a while ago, it’s really difficult. If they fix this feature I would have no complaints! And unlike Slack, your bosses can’t read your private messages.

Best for: remote workforces, posting awesome GIFs, alerting your coworkers to catastrophe or hilarity.

Bonus tools!

Instapult, Swayy and Canva… don’t forget to check them out.

What tools do you use to help you power through your workweek? Did I miss any amazing social tools?

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.