As we come to the end of another year, it’s time to look back at what helped us succeed this year. With most people working from home over the past two years, there has been a huge shift in the way workplaces operate and how everyone achieves results. Having apps and websites at our fingertips has been a godsend in marketing. This blog will look at just a few of our favourites from 2021.
As many offices moved to remote workplaces, the sharing and flow of ideas became much harder than calling over a colleague or having a chat. Accordingly, many of us began using even more apps and online tools to assist us in achieving the results we needed. Here, we look at four of the tools that made our jobs easier in a unique year.
Hootsuite
When it comes to social media management for business, Hootsuite is top tier. Easy to use and powerful, Hootsuite is a must for every marketing professional and small business. Of particular focus for most people should be the campaign management/analytics tools and the customer response and management system. Most businesses now have a huge array of social media profiles. Having one central location is a massive benefit, and every marketing professional should be recommending it to their clients. If your business manages its marketing and campaigns, get hold of it.
Besides that, there is also an extensive library of training courses and learning resources that are fantastic. No matter your level of expertise, there is something in the knowledge base for everyone that will help improve your social media. From providing advice on improving post quality and how to produce engaging content through to how to run your social media, the skills learned are invaluable. Get Hootsuite to start your social media management for your clients or your business the right way in 2022.
Canva
Social media upkeep is often stressful and difficult, especially with constant posting, managing engagement, or planning. With Canva, the creative element of post creation is simplified and streamlined in an extremely user-friendly way. Whether desktop or mobile, this app has incredible features and is a nearly mandatory creative design app for all social media work.
There are seemingly unlimited tools and templates for making Instagram posts, Facebook posts, videos, and even physical media. The whole system within Canva calms the creative stress that comes with constantly upkeeping your social media. Even more impressive, the free account tier is often more than acceptable for individual and small business social media. The paid subscription comes with more features, but if you don’t need them, you aren’t forced to pay for anything you don’t need.
This Mashable Article is a great little introduction to Canva and covers more depth about why and how you should be using it. Canva comes highly recommended for good reason, so get to it!
Hemingway/Gunning Fog Index
No matter what industry you are in, sales and marketing come down to being engaging and accessible. That starts with how easy it is to digest and understand your content for every potential customer that encounters your brand/product. These two tools should be used in conjunction and are vital for making sure your content is accessible. In Australia and the USA, well over half the population have a reading grade below Year 10. Accordingly, you want to make sure that any marketing campaigns, sales media, or website elements that publicly represent your business can be understood by everyone. Otherwise, you risk driving customers away if they don’t feel like they can understand or access your business.
That’s where Hemingway and Gunning Fog Index come into the picture. These two sites function in the same way – copy and paste your text into a text box (no uploading or saving necessary!) and it will assess the readability and reading grade. You can then edit the text while on the website, allowing continual reassessment and updating until you achieve a suitable level. The power of such simple tools cannot be overstated because it is such an easy way to ensure you are reaching the widest audience possible.
Now, if you’re writing a book or anything resembling a more academic/professional type of product, then Hemingway and Gunning Fog are probably too simplistic. But check out this blog for some great advice and assistance in finding the best app for you if these two aren’t quite advanced enough. They are always an excellent starting point, though!
Teamwork Apps
So, this is a bit of a quick catch-all for general collaboration and project apps. With many offices functioning remotely through COVID, these apps have exploded onto the scene for the average worker in every industry. The right one for each business depends on varying factors such as size, industry, clients, etc. – but, no matter what, you need them.
This year for us, we’ve seen Zoho, Trello, and the Google/Microsoft Cloud programs come to our rescue. But check out this guide from The Manifest for some help in finding the right one/s for you!
Plan to succeed in 2022
No matter what apps you choose to use, they all help improve productivity and streamline processes. Hopefully, this list gives you some insight into why you need them and, as always, get onto us if you need some more advice or help. Make your 2022 great and plan to have your business running smoothly from the start. Good luck!
By Daniel Markos – Daniel is the manager for a full-time model and influencer and works in content planning and creation.