Post Control Marketing

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.

“See the forest for the trees” is a saying that means getting caught up in the details and failing to understand the bigger picture. With all the new social media channels vying for our attention these days it is easy to get bogged down by all the particulars and immediate demands. Yet being able to discern the overall pattern or vision from the minutia of specific social media options and tactics is a valuable skill. Strategy – taking a broad, long-range approach and thinking systemically – is a very valuable skill. A 30,000 foot view, not a 3 foot perspective is what is needed to plan and marshal organizational resources to meet and exceed business goals.

How valuable is strategic thinking? A global study of over 60,000 managers asked them to access over 20 leadership practices (such as innovation, persuasion, communication, results orientation) and 20 measures of effectiveness (such as future potential, credibility, business aptitude, people skills). “Having a strategic approach” was seen as 10 times more important to effectiveness than other leadership behaviors and nearly 50 times more important than tactical behaviors. Another study asked 10,000 senior executives to select the leadership behaviors most critical to organizations success. “Strategic” was chosen 97% of the time.

Most people may agree that strategy is very important yet thinking strategically is not easy. Strategic thinking is especially hard when immediate demands are often rewarded over long-term vision and planning. Yet seeing the forest for the trees is a leadership quality necessity for social media success. When faced with 800+ social media sites, apps and services – a lot of trees – being able to focus on a long-term approach is the only way to see the path to reach your ultimate business or organizational goals.

Many marketers, advertisers, public relation professionals and entrepreneurs are jumping into the social media race, but they must be in it for the long haul to see real, lasting results. They must take the time to take a step back and see the big picture through a strategic social media plan. Trying to apply old marketing control strategies in this new consumer controlled social media environment does not work. Social media marketing is a different game with different rules.

Sure, there are plenty of tips. A Google search of “social media marketing tips” returns 135 million results. But very few tell you to do the same things and what worked for one business will not exactly work for others. For marketers and advertisers to succeed at social media integration, they must first start in a place rooted in their distinct situation and drive a strategy of choosing social platforms and creating content based on their business objectives, marketing strategy and target audience. This can be accomplished by following a 5-step process:

Define current business and social media situation
Create a big idea and plan integration
Selection social media channels
Integrate non-marketing social media activity
Finalize social media plan and sell

That is what I have detailed in my new book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution. It is a roll up your sleeves roadmap to sound social media strategy that draws from the best in academic research and professional business practice. An approachable text to teach my social media marketing students, it lays out a method that cuts through the hype and sets a strategic mindset to take advantage of the exciting opportunities of social media. This text provides the context, process and tools needed to create a comprehensive and unique social media marketing solution.

Are you having trouble seeing past the trees of social media channels and tactics? Perhaps you need to take a step back along with my students and invest some time into getting above the forest and plan a path for long-term strategic success. Do you see the value in strategic thinking? How can you take the time to make it happen?

\For more insights into the big picture in social media strategy consider my book Social Media Strategy: Marketing and Advertising in the Consumer Revolution.