Social media is one of the best ways to reach out to a large set of audience. And, there are so many innumerous tools to choose from that can help your business. All tools come with some or the other distinctive feature. From the long list available, you need to know which tools and features are the right ones for your business, because the tool you choose will be the key ingredient that will help you achieve your social media marketing goals. Here is a comprehensive guide that will lead you through the process of choosing the perfect tool for your business. You may go through this step-by-step process, or simply hire an expert and qualified digital marketing company in Bangalore who will not only help you find the best tool for your business, but will take care of every other digital marketing aspect that will help your business grow to new heights.
What goals do you wish to achieve?
Although you may think that doing a research will be the first step towards finding a new tool, it is advisable that you first and foremost start by defining your own priorities and goals first, rather than jumping straight into research. This will help make your research more clear and refined. You need to know what is important to your business and your team. This data will help you clearly measure your options when you start your research. Here are a few questions you must ask yourself to have a clear understanding of what you wish to achieve.
- What are your goals? – Are you looking for traffic, generating leads, driving sales, or increasing brand awareness? If you aren’t sure of what you wish to accomplish from your social media marketing efforts, it will be a challenging job to find the right tool.
- Why do you need a new tool? – Probably you didn’t have a good experience with your previous tool, which is why you are looking for a new one. You need to address all the issues that led you to look for a new tool, so that you can find a tool that address those problems and helps you do the things you weren’t previously able to.
- Which features are you looking for? – You need to know the exact features you are looking for in your new tool. Make a list of all the important social media features you think you might need. While doing so, keep in mind your daily tasks, weekly/monthly activities, and the capabilities you need to have. Next, review the list and highlight the top five features. These should be the features you just cannot do without. This will help you know what you just cannot miss out on while finding a new tool.
Do a research
Once you have identified your goals, you are in a better position to do a research. You can now easily compare tools and decide which ones are able to fulfill your goals. You need to find the tools that can help bring you the features you can’t miss out on. A few recommended resources you can use to find your tools are Google, YouTube, Quora, Product Hunt, AlternativeTo, and Capterra. Type in important keywords like social media, social media tools, social media marketing tools, social media management tools, and social media tools for business, to bring to you the most relevant tools.
Shortlist your most preferred tools
Now that you have a long list of tools in hand, shortlist them to come up with tools that best match your criteria. Exclude all those tools that don’t offer your ‘must-have’ features that you had highlighted earlier. Compare the tools and narrow down the list to only 3-5 options.
Evaluate the selected tools
Now, put together your team of professionals and those who are going to handle the tools in the future, and have them to evaluate the tools one by one. Include people with a variety of roles and responsibilities. Getting opinions from a diverse set of people will help you come up with the tool that is the best fit for your entire team. Some factors that you need to consider during this evaluation stage are security, customer support, training, and pricing. Also, make sure to choose a tool that is clear, simple and does not require a lot of training. Moreover, the tool must also help you measure the metrics you will need to track and report on.
