Here is my year end list (by category) of social media strategy tools and resources. I start with my big picture strategy book that lays out a process for developing a social media marketing plan followed by all the tools and resources you need to create and execute your own plan.

Click here for an updated list of free tools & resources.

Social Media Strategy Book

1. Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution: https://www.postcontrolmarketing.com/social-media-strategy-book/

Social Media Monitoring & Metrics

2. Addict-o-matic: addictomatic.com

3. Brandwatch: brandwatch.com

4. Cision: www.cision.com/us/social-software

5. Critical Mention: www.criticalmention.com

6. Hootsuite: hootsuite.com

7. How Socialble: howsociable.com

8. Iconosquare: iconosquare.com

9. Klear: klear.com

10. Lithium: lithium.com

11. Meltwater Ice Rocket: www.icerocket.com

12. Nielson Social: www.nielsensocial.com

13. Oracle Social Cloud: www.oracle.com/us/solutions/social

14.Radian6 (Salesforce): exacttarget.com/products/social-media-marketing/radian6

15.RankSpeed: rankspeed.com

16.Row Feeder: rowfeeder.com

17.Simply Measured: simplymeasured.com

18.Social Mention: socialmention.com

19. Social Bakers: socialbakers.com

20. Social Blade: socialblade.com

21. Sprinklr: www.sprinklr.com

22. SumoRank: sumorank.com

23. Sysomos: www.sysomos.com

24. Trackur: www.trackur.com

25. Visible Measures: visiblemeasures.com

26. Unruly: unruly.co

Online Data Collection & Analytics

27. AlexaL alexa.com

28. Consumer Barometer With Google: consumerbarometer.com

29. Compete (Millard Brown Digital): compete.com

30. Cyfe: www.cyfe.com

31. Databoard for Research Insights: think.withgoogle.com/databoard

32. Display Benchmarks: richmediagallery.com/tools/benchmarks

33. Google Analytics: www.google.com/analytics

34. Google Mobile Planet: think.withgoogle.com/mobileplanet

35. Google Trends: www.google.com/trends

37. iSpionage: ispionage.com

38. Keyhole: keyhole.co

39. Kiss Metrics: www.kissmetrics.com

40. Kred: kred.com

41. Klout: Klout.com

42. Mention: en.mention.com

43. Nexalogy: nexalogy.com

44. Omgili: omgili.com

45. Quantcast: quantcast.com

46. SEEN: seen.co

47. SEMrush: www.semrush.com

48. SharedCount: www.sharedcount.com

49. Shopping Insights: shopping.thinkwithgoogle.com

50. SimilarWeb: similarweb.com

51. Soovle: soovle.com

52. Talkwalker Alerts: www.talkwalker.com

53. Tweetreach: tweetreach.com

54. Twitter Advanced Search: twitter.com/search-advanced

55. YouGovProfiles: yougov.co.uk/profiler#

56. YouTube Analytics: www.youtube.com/analytics

57. YouTube Trends Dashboard: youtube.com/trendsdashboard

Social Media Research

58. Affinio: www.affin.io/

59. Forrester: www.forrester.com/social-media

60. Gallap: www.gallap.com

61. Global Web Index: www.globalwebindex.net

62. Kantar Media SRDS: srds.com

63. Nielsen Social Media Reports: www.nielsensocial.com

64. Pew Research Center: www.pewinternet.org

65. Roper Center: www.ropercenter.uconn.edu

66. Simmons: simmonsssurvey.com

67. Social Explorer: www.socialexplorer.com

68. Social Media Collective: socialmediacollective.org

69. Social Technographics Profile: www.empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html

70. Statista: www.statista.com

Social Media Content Creation Tools

71. Adobe Kuler: color.adobe.com/create.color–wheel

72. Canva: www.canva.com

73. ContenIdeator: contentforest.com/ideator

74. Design Seeds: design–seeds.com

75. Easelly: www.easel.ly

76. Emotional Marketing Analyzer (Advanced Marketing Institute): aminstitute.com/headline

77. Google Fonts: www.google.com/fonts

78. Google Image: images.google.com

79. Grammarly: grammarly.com

80. Headline Analyzer (CoSchedule): coschedule.com/headline-analyzer

81. Hemingway Editor: hemingwayapp.com

82. Over: madewithover.com

83. Pictaculous: pictaculous.com

84. PicMonkey: picmonkey.com

85. Piktochart: piktochart.com

86. Pixlr: pixlr.com

87. Recite: recite.com

88. Word Swag: www.wordswag.co

89. Yost: yoast.com

Social Content Scheduling & Automation

90. Buddy Media: www.exacttarget.com/products/social-media-marketing/buddy-media

91. Buffer: bufferapp.com

92. Chartbeat: chartbeat.com

93. Contentgems: contentgems.com

94. Crowdbooster: crowdbooster.com

95. dlvr.it: dlvr.it

96. Edgar: meetedgar.com

97. HubSpot: hubspot.com

98. IFTTT: ifttt.com

99. Later Bro: laterbro.com

100. OptinMonster: optinmonster.com

101. Outbrain: outbrain.com

102. Post Planner: www.postplanner.com

103. Short Stack: www.shortstack.com

104. SocialOomph: www.socialoomph.com

105. Sprout Social: sproutsocial.com

106. Social Warefare: warfareplugins.com

107. Thunderclap: thunderclap.it

108. TweetDeck: about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck

109. Uberflip: uberflip.com

110. Woodbox: woobox.com

111. Zapier: zapier.com

112. Zendesk: www.zendesk.com

Trade Associations, Awards, Conferences

113. Brand Innovators: brand-innovators.com/events

114. Content Marketing World: www.contentmarketingworld.com

115. INBOUND: www.inbound.com

116. INTEGRATE: imc.wvu.edu/integrate

117. Online Media Marketing Awards: www.mediapost.com/ommaawards

118. Social Media Marketing World: www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld

119. Social Media Strategies Summit: socialmediastrategiessummit.com

120. Social Media Week: socialmediaweek.org

121. Summit: summit.adobe.com/na

122. SXSW: sxsw.com

123. SXSWedu: http://www.sxswedu.com

124. The Webby Awards: www.webbyawards.com

125. The Shorty Awards: shortyawards.com

126. The Mashies: mashable.com/mashies

127. Word of Mouth Marketing Association: womma.org

Social Media Channels

128. Overdrive Interactive’s 2015 Social Media Map list of social media channels & categories.

Social Media News & Insights

129. Chris Brogan: http://chrisbrogan.com/blog

130. Jeff Bullas: jeffbullas.com

131. Content Marketing Institute: contentmarketinginstitute.com/blog

132. Convince & Convert : www.convinceandconvert.com

133. FTC Disclosures: http://1.usa.gov/1eBRixc

134. Gartner Digital Marketing: blogs.gartner.com/digital-marketing

135. Grow: www.businessesgrow.com

136. Hubspot’s Inbound Hub: blog.hubspot.com

137. Marketing Profs: www.marketingprofs.com

138. Mashable Social Media: mashable.com/social-media

139. RazerSocial: www.razorsocial.com/blog

140. Social Media Examiner: www.socialmediaexaminer.com

141. Social Media Explorer: www.socialmediaexplorer.com

142. Social Media Marketing Magazine: www.smmmagazine.com

143. Social Media Today: socialmediatoday.com

144. Social Mouths: socialmouths.com/blog

145. Social Media Law Bulletin: www.socialmedialawbulletin.com

146. YouTube Video Creators: www.youtube.com/videocreators

Social Media/Marketing Podcasts

147. Content Inc.: contentmarketinginstitute.com/content-inc-podcast

148. Content Pros: convinceandconvert.com/podcasts/shows/content-pros-podcast

149. Social Media Examiner: www.socialmediaexaminer.com/tag/podcast

150. Social Pros Podcast: socialpros.podbean.com

151. The Business of Story: convinceandconvert.com/podcasts/shows/business-of-story-podcast

152. The Marketing Companion: marketingpodcasts.com/the-marketing-companion

153. This Old Marketing: contentmarketinginstitute.com/pnr-with-this-old-marketing-podcast

For more insights into the big picture in social media strategy consider my book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution. To consider the bigger picture in measurement see Why You Need A Social Media Measurement Plan And How To Create One. To consider the bigger picture in social media marketing Ask These Questions To Ensure You Have The Right Strategy.