Social Media Automation Tools That Make Getting Down to Business Easy

Marketing automation is essential to attracting and cultivating qualified leads.

As covered in our previous blog post , marketing automation is comprised of a variety of resources to more effectively market on multiple channels and automate repetitive tasks to nurture prospects with personalized, useful content that helps convert prospects to customers and retain them. Now, as promised, we're taking a look at tools that make managing your social media scheduling, postings, campaigns and analytics easier.

The Benefits

As succinctly stated by entrepreneur and writer John Rampton for , the advantages of social media management automation software and apps is that they all allow you to schedule social media posts for different social media platforms in advance and monitor your accounts when someone mentions your brand or leaves a comment.

"While having a social media marketing strategy is a necessity," says Rampton, "it can become extremely time consuming. Between updating your profile, responding to customers, coming up with content and sharing content, managing your social media accounts can become a full-time job." For business owners - as well as digital marketing agencies in behalf of clients - who are looking to connect with customers, influencers and even potential investors through social media, management tools are essential.

A big advantage for businesses that have more than one person writing social media posts is the collaborative capability of social media management solutions. Multiple users can schedule posts, allowing greater efficiency. Some solutions incorporate a publishing calendar to help you visualise or better plan a posting schedule.

However, k nowing your target demographic is extremely important. Unless your content and information target the right people, you won't receive the traffic to show for it. This comes back to a fact that bears repeating ‒ content marketing can not succeed without and quality content . The best content is credible, relevant and . Although regularly achieving such a high standard can be difficult, as long as you are reaching for it, you're on the right track. will last longer than a week

Getting the Big Picture and Extending Your Reach
The cherry on top of social media automation is real-time analytics and performance data. You can measure engagement results to continually alter and improve your strategies. Progress requires constant evolving to stay ahead of trends and cater to the preferences and interests of your target demographic. Users can boost their relevance by utilizing automation software features to search for influencers and curate content. Some of the best content is that which is already written. Chances are if you find relevant content worth hunting down, so will a number of your viewers. It is for this same reason that social media influencers can lead to significant conversion rates.

Once your brand has reached the right audience and is proving to be well-received, social media automation can help you (or your client) retain customers through reinforcing brand loyalty. All of these actions can be completed in the software as well, reducing the time it takes to directly engage with traffic. This is accomplished by composing personal messages to make a brand more inviting. It also builds your credibility as a trustworthy and reliable business, hopefully providing you with impressive reviews. Automated content can be beneficial for highly trafficked sites, but unless it is quickly followed up with a personable response, it will not assist in building strong customer to business relationships.

Costs vary among social media automation solutions. As budget is usually a major factor, do your research, and be sure to compare features to avoid paying for bells and whistles you don't need. For a comprehensive breakdown, take a look at the 11 Best Social Media Automation Tools to Use in 2018 , by for Pankaj Narang . Jeff Bullas

The Tools to Succeed

Here are some of our favorite social media automation solutions that will make your goals easier to achieve.

Each brings a different specialty to the table that may best address the primary needs of your social media strategy and long-term goals.
* HootSuite - A household name for most marketing professionals, HootSuite encompases end-to-end social media automation. Beyond channel-agnosticism and live brand monitoring, HootSuite includes SEO and personalized lead management. While favored for being user-friendly, it also provides in-depth analytics for seasoned marketers.
* Sprout Social - Featuring smooth collaboration and engagement capabilities, Sprout is ideal for CRM. The software is concise, such as single-steam messaging and a shared content calendar, and is accessible from any device, anywhere. Its well-renowned analytics also include an impressive reporting suite that is presentation-ready.

- Self-described as "simple and affordable," Agorapulse is a triple threat. The software features include team collaboration, scheduling and performance tracking, to name but a few. Agorapulse also offers some tools for free, such as

* Facebook Barometer and Twitter Report Card Agorapulse .