This is the second in a series on the Best Mobile Digital Marketing Apps.
In my last post I covered several of what I consider to be the best mobile blogging apps to help you get your posts out while on the road. In this article, I share with you my best social media apps that enable you to do your social media marketing while waiting in line at the store, at the dentist’s office, or in places where it’s not convenient to pull out a laptop.
Here are a few of my favorite social media apps that will help you maximize your social media marketing using your mobile phone or other smart device.
1. Hootsuite
I’ve tried quite a few social media apps both for desktop and mobile to manage multiple social media networks. And I have found Hootsuite to be overall the most comprehensive, and affordable for desktop and mobile use.
I can schedule posts from my phone or iPad with Hootsuite’s app, as well as track messages on Twitter, do research on trending topics and users on Twitter and Instagram, and edit scheduled posts across most channels. You can also view Twitter statistics for individual tweets.
While Instagram’s API doesn’t allow auto posting to its platform from other apps, you can schedule posts and get a reminder when they are ready to publish. Captions are automatically copied for you to paste into Instagram, so the only thing you need to do is add extra hashtags, tag people and publish.
The downside to Hootsuite’s mobile app is you can’t manage Google Plus or YouTube, except viewing your YouTube stream, and you can’t view Facebook messages. There’s also limited management of LinkedIn on its mobile version.
However, in conjunction with Buffer or IFTTT, both of which I include in this post, I find I’m able to keep a handle on most of my mobile social media marketing with Hootsuite.
The app is free, but with a limited number of networks that you can hook up. If you use Hootsuite Pro at $10 per month, you can add more networks, and a team member.
2. Buffer
Buffer is an invaluable social media app in that I can schedule posts across most of the big social media channels, including Instagram and Pinterest. You have to have a paid account in order to schedule posts to Pinterest.
You can also view analytics for all channels, and rebuffer posts that have done well.
If you upgrade to a paid account, you will be able to add team members as well as import your favorite blog and RSS feeds to find and share content via Buffer to your social media channels.
3. Twitter Dashboard
If you only use Twitter for your social media marketing, Dashboard is a great app to manage your Twitter marketing.
The home stream on Dashboard shows recent mentions of your brand on Twitter, to which you can easily reply to from the app.
You can also view your timeline, see recent activity such as likes, retweets and new followers, and get analytics on your tweets, new followers, profile visits and tweet reach.
There are multiple prompts to share new tweets or GIFs, which you can schedule via the social media app.
To learn how to use Dashboard read this post. It includes a video tutorial.
Twitter Dashboard is a free app.
3. Crowdfire
This is another great Twitter management app that has recently been retooled to be more user-friendly. It also helps you manage your Instagram account. The new version of Crowdfire guides you through your daily social media marketing tasks with “prescriptions.”
When you first log on, you are shown your daily report card with the number of new followers and unfollowers. You’ll get recommendations on Tweets to like, who to follow or unfollow, and content to share. You can schedule Tweets directly though the app.
Crowdfire bases its recommendations on who your already follow, in addition to those tweeting about your keywords.
For Instagram users, you can see who’s liked your posts, and share the love by liking theirs. You can also see and add new followers, and unfollow accounts.
It’s a good app to grow your Twitter and Instagram fan base, as well as keep your follower-following ratio balanced.
The one negative about using apps like this is I believe it encourages the unfollow habit too much. Not everyone can respond to a new follower the same day. Sometimes it takes a bit to check in.
But if you want to stay on top of your marketing, and not lose followers, it’s wise to check in for a few minutes everyday with this app or another.
The app is free to use for Twitter accounts, but with limited engagement. If you upgrade at $3.99 per month (via discount) you can add Instagram and extra options.
4. CoPromote
This app is a recent one I’ve added to my arsenal of social media apps.
CoPromote is all about boosting the shares of your social media posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Vine and Tumblr.
You choose what Tweet or other post your want to boost, categorize it, tag it and then you start sharing other people’s posts to get points. The more points you have, the more likely your post will appear before other CoPromoters for them to share your content.
The app is free, as long as you keep sharing posts. There is a paid version for agencies or large campaigns. Rather than having to boost other posts, you pay to get boosted.
5. IFTTT
IFTTT (If This Then That) is a social media app that I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, because it’s such a great one to use. They offer both desktop and mobile versions.
The app works based on “recipes” that create automated workflows by connecting multiple other apps or software platforms.
For instance, I have a recipe set up to publish new blog posts from my site to my Tumblr and Blogger pages. I never have to lift a finger to share my content on those sites, other than the initial setup.
For social media marketing, I have another recipe that automatically schedules new Facebook posts to my Google Plus account via my Buffer account. This is my workaround for Hootsuite not offering Google Plus on its mobile app.
Their mobile version is super easy to use. If you have Twitter connected on your phone, you can sign into IFTTT with your Twitter ID.
After connecting your existing social media and other apps to IFTTT, you can copy recipes that are already created by others, and modify them to your needs. Or you can create your own from scratch.
In Summary
There you have it. My top 5 social media apps to take your digital marketing on the road. There are plenty of other apps out there, some I’ve tried and some that I haven’t used, but these are my favorites. I recommend testing them, and perhaps doing some review and testing research on other social media apps to find the perfect combo for yourself.
If you find any that you think are fantastic, let me know in the comments section.
