21 Useful Digital Tools For Business Owners

Last week, a member of the Social Media Marketing Society Facebook Group put out a question looking for other members’ TOP digital tools. I gathered the list together and added a description and a link below as I thought these tools would be useful for my network of business owners. I haven’t used all these tools myself but my top tools are Canva, Wordswag & Evernote. I hope you find a tool or two that helps you in your business. The one I am interested in myself is the 1Password or Last Pass. Let me know what tool you found useful.

1 Password

A password manager, digital vault, random password generator, form filler and secure digital wallet. https://1password.com/

Last Pass

LastPass remembers all your passwords so you don’t have to. https://www.lastpass.com/

Trello

Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details. https://trello.com/

Canva

Create beautiful designs with your team. Use Canva's drag-and-drop feature and layouts to design, share and print business cards, logos, presentations and more. https://www.canva.com/

Wave

Track your expenses, send invoices, get paid and balance your books with Wave.ck your expenses, send invoices, get paid and balance your books with Wave. https://www.waveapps.com/

Every Pixel

Stock image finder for all who hate bad stock photos. Use it to find the best licensed images for the lowest price. More than 50 image sources. https://www.everypixel.com/

WordSwag

Now you can create beautifully custom text layouts that would normally take minutes - or even hours - with just a tap http://wordswag.co/

Lumen5

Lumen5 is a video creation platform powered by A.I. that enables anyone without training or experience to easily create engaging video content within minutes. https://lumen5.com/

Answer The Public

Find out what questions and queries your consumers have by getting a free report of what they're searching for in Google https://answerthepublic.com/

Dashlane

Change, Generate, Secure Passwords. Organize & Secure All Passwords https://www.dashlane.com/

Wunderlist

Plan for anything. Organize and share your to-do, work, grocery, movies and household lists. No matter what you're planning, how big or small the task may be, Wunderlist makes it super easy to get stuff done https://www.wunderlist.com/

Adobe Spark Post

Adobe Spark Post is a free online social media graphic design software that lets you add text, apply filters, resize, crop, and rotate photos. Easily create flyers, posters, memes, and more. https://spark.adobe.com/about/post

Adobe Spark Video

Adobe Spark Video is a free online video making software. Easily create beautiful slideshows, presentations, ads, and stories using your own photos, videos, and music. https://spark.adobe.com/about/video

Agorapulse

An easy social media management tool that works with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube. https://www.agorapulse.com/

Ripl

Create eye-catching animated videos that help your business stand out on social media and improve customer awareness. http://ripl.com

Over App

Your business, on your phone. Why use anything else when you can create all your eye-catching, professional marketing and social media content in one place. https://madewithover.com/

Co Schedule

Get your entire marketing strategy under one roof with CoSchedule, the #1 marketing calendar for everything you need organized https://coschedule.com/

True Key

The True Key app protects your passwords by scrambling them with AES-256, one of the strongest encryption algorithms available. Only you can decrypt and access your information with the factors you choose https://www.truekey.com/

Camtasia

Camtasia is a software suite, created and published by TechSmith, for creating video tutorials and presentations directly via screencast, or via a direct recording plug-in to Microsoft PowerPoint http://discover.techsmith.com/camtasia-brand-desktop/

Evernote

Organize your work and declutter your life. With Evernote on your desktop and mobile devices, your notes are always with you and always in sync https://evernote.com/

Zoom

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems https://www.zoom.us/

Happy Client

I was delighted to receive this review from Kate, a recent client based in St Albans

'Marian was recommended to me by a friend and I had an initial meeting with her to assess my needs. I felt that she was a perfect fit for me as she has all the skills that I struggle with, mainly a sound knowledge of social media and how to use it to maximise and support awareness of my business. We then had several sessions together and despite my extreme technology block I was never made to feel hopeless! Marian helped me orientate around Facebook and set in my first post to attract new customers to a new yoga class I was offering. She also helped me design and create an advert using a tool I was previously unaware of. I was able to learn quickly as Marian's teaching style is calm, knowledgeable and very open - her manner is really perfect for this type of work and her sessions were invaluable. What is more - my yoga course was a complete sell out the first night and this was entirely thanks to the work we did together. I have overcome my fear of social media finally - thank you so much Marian!' 

If you would like to read more reviews from my clients you can go to Google Reviews

I am looking forward to writing some new developments in the social media world so keep updated!

Have a great day!

Marian

The Power of Facebook Groups

3 weeks ago, I was introduced to a lady who I was told was recruiting for the NHS and needed help with social media. I got very excited at the prospect of working with the NHS and thought, this is my big moment.  It was a big moment but not in the way I first envisaged.  This lady was caring for her brother and it turns out she was recruiting 5 carers to help her.  She had been given a budget from the NHS so she could find people herself.  I asked her what she had already done to advertise the positions.  She said she had advertised in the local job centre and the newspaper but with no success.  She had been told by someone to try social media.  I asked her if she had a Facebook profile.  She said she had set one up the week before but did not know how to use it. 

I asked her for her local area and then I did a search for a Facebook Group for her location. I found a community Facebook group with over 15000 members.  I asked the lady to email me the job description and on the following morning which was a Saturday, I posted the job ad.  Within 3 seconds people were tagging people about the post and other people said they were interested. The lady contacted me that night to say she could not thank me enough, she had received 19 calls and was deciding on who she wanted to interview.  A week later, she emailed me to say she had interviewed 10 people and 5 of them would be meeting her brother the following week. 

While I did not charge the lady for this, it brought me great joy that I could help her out and told her to contact me again if she needed help

New Review

I was delighted to receive this review from a client a few days ago ( June 2017), It makes all the hard work worthwhile when you know you are making a difference to a business
' I recently had a Facebook Ads training session with Marian. I was bowled over by how knowledgeable she is. Plus she is so easy to chat to, very well-prepared and is extremely helpful. All great qualities in a trainer. I came away having learned a huge amount - not only about the topic we were meant to be covering, but other topics too that crept into the session. I can really see how the power of Facebook Ads can be utilised for many of my clients and how i can put everything into practice in my workplace. Marian has since come back to me with further support and answers - going above and beyond what I expect to receive from a training session. Plus the training notes are detailed and will enable me to work independently with FB Ads. I can't recommend Marian enough for all your social media training needs.' (Claire Flawn, St Albans, Hertfordshire) 

2016 SOCIAL MEDIA INDUSTRY REPORT FINDINGS - SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER

For those of you who may not have seen the results of the 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, I have pulled out the main findings. Social Media Examiner is my go-to source for all developments in the social media space. This is the 8th annual study carried out by Social Media Examiner. This study uncovers insights from over 5000 marketers. Most participants were between the ages of 30 and 59. The gender split was 57% female and 43% male. 

Main Findings

1.      Video has become essential. 60% of marketers use video in their marketing and 73% plan on increasing their use of video.

2.      Live Video is hot. 50% of marketers plan on using live video services such as Facebook Live and Periscope, and 50% want to learn more about live video.

3.      Facebook and YouTube hold the top spot for future plans. At least 63% of marketers are planning on increasing their use of these social networks. 

4.      Snapchat. 5% of marketers are using Snapchat currently but 16% plan on increasing their Snapchat activities and 28% of Marketers want to learn more about Snapchat. See latest news today on Snapchat Snapchat 'files for stock market float'

5.      Facebook is the most important social networkfor marketers by a long shot. When asked to select their most important platform, 55% chose Facebook, followed by LinkedIn at 18%.  67% plan on increasing their Facebook marketing activities.

6.      40% of marketers don’t know if Facebook traffic has declined in the last 12 months and 35% aren’t sure if their Facebook marketing is effective.

7.      Facebook Ads. 86% of social marketers regularly use Facebook ads, while only 18% use Twitter ads.

8.      Tactics and Engagement.These are the top areas marketers want to master. 90% of marketers want to know the most effective social tactics and the best ways to engage their audience with social media.

Other significant information from the research shows

-         90% of marketers said that social media is important to their businesses.

-         41% said they were able to measure their social activities.

-         63% of marketers are using social media for 6 hours or more and 39% for 11 or more hours weekly, 19% spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

-         For people just beginning with social media, 54% spend 5 or fewer hours per week.

-         The two top benefits of social media marketing are increasing exposure and increasing traffic.

-         68% of marketers are using social media to develop loyal fans and gain marketplace intelligence (66%).

-         Over 50% of marketers who have been using social media for at least 2 years report it helped them improve sales.

-         With spending as little as 6 hours per week over 92% indicated their social media efforts increased exposure for their businesses.

-         Over 88% who have been using social media marketing for a year or longer report it generates exposure for their business.

-         Over 50% of marketers who have invested at least 2 years in social media marketing reported that new partnerships were gained. 

-         With as little as 6 hours per week, 66% of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media.

-         Improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who’ve been using social media for 1 year or longer, with 54% reporting a rise. 

-         Over 79% of participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.

-         Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google +, Instagram and Pinterest were the top 7 platforms used by marketers.

-         Marketers plan to increase their use of videos, visuals, blogging, live video and podcasting in that order. 

If you would like to go deeper into the report where there are over 90 charts to examine click here for the full report.

A nice way to end a Wednesday

I got this lovely message from one of my clients this evening 'Just wanted to say thank you so much for the time you spent helping me understand LinkedIn. You are very knowledgeable, patient and a good teacher and I would recommend anyone that needs to know how to get the best out of LinkedIn to help move their business forward and get it noticed.'

Social Media Marketing Society - Created by Social Media Examiner

I have recently become a founding member of the Social Media Marketing Society, created by Social Media Examiner. Social Media Examiner has been a fantastic source for my business in the past 2 years, providing up to date information on the ever evolving changes in the social media space. The Social Media Marketing Society is a community of Social Media Marketers around the globe, there are forums, live hangouts, training sessions. I only joined the Society in May but so far I have found it fantastic and am really excited to share it with you - enrollment for 2015 ends on the 30th June so if it something you are interested, have a love at the link here to find out more 

http://society.socialmediaexaminer.com/

Looking forward to keeping you updates on all thing social media

Marian