Every social media manager spends time trying to cultivate the perfect list of apps and products to make their lives easier. The Social U team has tried just about everything. We put together a list of our staff’s favorite things to get them through the day, and we want to share it with you!
TikTok
TikTok is one of our favorite apps. We use it for work, fun, recipes, ideas, and to cure boredom. Each member of our team loves TikTok and spends time on it daily. TikTok has our largest audience and we have the most fun creating content for this platform.
Patreon
Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. You can keep information on this app so that people have to pay to access it. We will begin using Patreon for our membership program, Social University, within the next month.
Toggle
Toggle is an organizational app that keeps track of how you spend and manage your time. You can see how much time you spend on each project in a pie chart. We find this to be the easiest way to visualize where you spend time.
Blue Snowball Mic
If you are recording audio for a podcast or video, Blue Snowball Mic is one of the best options. We are partial to it because it is the biggest bang for your buck. It is affordable, accessible, and a good quality product.
Apple Products
Most of our team uses an iPhone and MacBook. We recommend that they do because the quality of Apple products is better than that of other options. Airdropping is an Apple feature that you can not get with other brands, and it makes our lives easier. When we get videos and pictures from non-Apple users, we often can’t use them because the photo and video quality are not up to our standards.
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is a streaming service that starts free, but you can pay up to $9 per month for their services. Many of our team members love anime and Crunchyroll streams it.
Grammarly
Grammarly supports streamlined and effective writing. It starts free, but some of our team members pay for the $12 premium version. This app offers suggestions to replace wordy sentences, bad spelling and misused grammar. There is no excuse for grammatical mistakes or repetitive words when Grammarly is available.
Asana
Asana is a free project management tool. It helps teams organize, track, and manage their work. It is wonderful for content planning as a social media manager. It is what we use for clients to pre-approve posts before they go live. It is easy to go back and find old content on Asana if a problem arises.
CapCut
As you probably know, video content is on the rise in the social media world. CapCut offers easy-to-use video editing functions. It includes fonts, effects, animations, and more to capture your best moments. You can use cool templates or create videos from scratch.
Duolingo
If you are looking to learn a new language, Duolingo is the way to go. It has a free mobile app. You can learn a language in bite-sized lessons. If you do best with small amounts of information at a time, Duolingo might work for your needs.
Spotify
Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video service that gives you access to millions of songs and other content from creators all over the world. There are free and paid versions of Spotify. Spotify has great lists of songs and podcasts that are generated by users. It is a good resource to find new material.
Metricool
Metricool is free, but you can pay up to $15 each month for additional services. It allows users to analyze, manage, and monitor the success of digital content. There is a version of the app that allows you to spy on your competition.
InShot
InShot is a video and image editing tool that is free, quick, and easy to use. You can use it on your phone and quickly add stickers, arrows, text, circles, frames, or almost anything else to images and videos.
Gradient Tool on Canva
We love the Gradient tool on Canva. You can make a gradient out of any two colors using this feature. It is simple and quick to use. Many of our team members use this feature daily.
Blur Feature on Canva
The blur feature is another Canva tool that we use almost every day. We often use it to blur out our client’s private information on documents if they need to be shared. We can also use it to blur out our login information on screen-recorded video content.
Pinterest is one of the best search engines you will find. It is an excellent resource for finding content ideas and information. There are endless categories of information, ideas, and entertainment on Pinterest. You can find funny quotes, business tips, recipes, and craft ideas all in the same place!
Huckleberry
Huckleberry is an app for parents of young children that is priced at $3-$9 per month. It pairs pediatric experts with AI to create a custom sleep plan for your unique family in mind. You can also use this program to track your child’s daily activities. Keep up with their bathroom and eating schedule to simplify your life. There is an app to help you organize your parenting life as much as possible.
The Chick-Fil-A App
One of our team members, Madison, is known for her love of Chick-Fil-A. This app gives you points and free food for using their app. You can load gift cards, pay on the app, or order on the app with the plan of paying when you get there.
VLLO
VLLO is similar to CapCut. It is a video editing tool with a free version that allows you to use most of its services. You can pay to receive more services through the app. VLLO is the perfect video editing app for beginners, so if you are just getting started you need to give it a try.
PopSocket
Most social media managers spend a ridiculous amount of time on their phones. Some people who aren’t social media managers have the same problem. Using your phone too often can eventually cause wrist and hand pain. Popsockets are great because they can take away some of the pain you may be experiencing or stop it from occurring. You can also use PopSockets to prop your phone up and watch a video.
HootSuite
Hootsuite is one of our team-wide favorites. It is one of the few tools you can use on multiple platforms. You can use Hootsuite to plan content on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. They also provide fairly robust analytics for your accounts. You can create a custom dashboard that shows you exactly what you need to see at a glance. Hootsuite can also provide you with other people’s content that uses keywords relating to your business. You must know what people are saying about you and share positive feedback for your brand.
Content Calendars
A good content calendar is a lifesaver for managing social media accounts. We have a free content calendar that you can access at https://contentcalendar.yoursocialu.com/?fbclid=IwAR27Bkijk-ef_gM37Q0ToLz3fbuYI9pBSDRBFmKKhjk7NqV1vq-1ipCewnI. This content calendar is created with your personalization needs in mind. Once you download it you are free to customize it to fit your content creation needs!
Paper Planner
No matter how digital a company may be, a paper planner is often what works best for people. Many of our team members work best when using a paper planner. There is no substitute for writing down your list on a piece of paper.
Find Your Favorites From The List
Give the items on this list a try, and let us know which ones are your favorites! Our goal is to make your life easier and we can do that by sharing what works for us. If you like an item on this list enough to post about it, don’t forget to tag us!
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