Aggregation dashboards
1. NetVibes.com—NetVibes
is one of the original content aggregation dashboards and still one of
the best. The best feature of NetVibes is the abundance of ready-made
feeds and widgets that can get you up and running in minutes. Freemium
and premium versions are available.
2. Symbaloo.com—Symbaloo
is almost identical to iGoogle but is presented in a much more
image-shaped manner. If you’re looking at an easy-to-use dashboard that
aggregates all the forms of content important to you (images, blog
posts, videos etc), this is a great way to go—and it’s free.
3. ProtoPage.com—Completely
free and straightforward. ProtoPage, despite the odd bug or two, is
worth consideration as it gives you the most manual control over
relevant content. The benefit that Protopage delivers, and that most
others don’t, is a bookmark-style dashboard which reminds you to
manually consult non-blog platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram. You
can even set up Twitter hashtag feeds to monitor multiple conversations
relevant to you.
4. Feedly.com—Feedly
has been around for a while but has become more popular since the
departure of Google Reader. Feedly enables you to add content by URL,
title, and topic. It is great for blog post aggregation but doesn’t pull
in other forms of content (such as images), which would make it a more
complete solution. Free and premium versions available.
5. Individurls.com—One
of the most basic aggregators out there and very similar to Feedly.com.
The best part of Individurls is the ease in which content scanning
takes place and is replicated on your mobile phone for discovery on the
move. This one is free, too.
6. Google Sites—Another
free option, this is the least sexy, but it enables you to customize a
dashboard-style site featuring bookmarks and links to your favorite and
most relevant sources.
Content discovery tools
7. iFlow.com—iFlow
is a part dashboard, part discovery tool. The interface looks very
similar to Google Reader and helps you to find content based on keywords
and topics. It is another tool that helps with real-time discovery and
sharing.
8. Zite app—Zite
a free mobile-only app which finds and aggregates content based on
topic and the popularity of individual articles (based on a proprietary
algorithm). If you can dedicate only a few minutes a day to content
discovery and sharing, Zite is the perfect app for your toolkit.
9. ContentGems.com—Monitors
200,000 RSS feeds and social media accounts and finds content that
matches your custom keywords. The nicest part of ContentGems is how
often it scans the Web for new content, which helps with real-time
curation. Freemium and premium options available.
10. Scoop.it—Users
of Scoop.it tout it because of the user experience and the continuous
stream of content it delivers. It automatically finds and features
comment from places like Twitter and Google blogs based on your target
keywords and interests. It is also customizable, allowing for additional
sources to be added to your stream(s).
Discover and deliver
11. Trap.it
(enterprise solution)—Trap.it positions itself as a “smart” curation
tool, increasing in intelligence and relevance the more you use it. It
features more than 100,000 vetted content sources and includes “hidden
gems” that have the potential to make your presence stand out.
12. PostPlanner.com
(enterprise solution)—Though there is some free access to PostPlanner,
you’ll have to upgrade to one of the premium packages to benefit from
the content engine feature. PostPlanner is housed within Facebook (as an
app) so if Facebook is your primary focus, this one might be worth
considering.
All-in-one solutions
These next tools are great if you have the resources (people and budget) to make them work.
13. Curata.com
(enterprise solution)—Curata bills itself as one of the only discovery,
organization, and sharing tools. It has a number of features that will
suit only big organizations that have high volumes of content to scan,
repurpose, and publish.
Content planning tools
14. Kapost.com
(enterprise solution)—If you’re a content planner or community manager,
you’ll love Kapost. It does away with those pesky Excel spreadsheets
and gives you a content calendar template that can be added to,
reviewed, revised, and scheduled in the one place. It also enables you
to categorize your posts by channel (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, blog).
15. Compendium.com
(enterprise solution)—Compendium is a content marketing platform that
helps organizations capture and create original content in a branded hub
for distribution to any marketing channel. It will make social media
marketers drool when they see the features and interface.
10 digital tools recommended by social media pros
I was one of those people who clung to Google Reader, holding out hope
until it smacked me with a breakup notification. I was forced to play
the field. I reluctantly gave Feedly a chance, and now I realize what I
had before: nothing. Feedly enables me to embrace my passion for
organization. I can create folders for various topics and then add
content to them, so everything is easily accessible. My inner journalism
major digs the clean “magazine” view, which displays large images with
articles.
2. Offerpop.
I’ve planned dozens of social media promotions for clients, so I’ve
tried out quite a few different apps. Offerpop offers a wide range of
products across social platforms—Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
Instagram, even Tumblr and Vine—and it’s not lacking in options for
promotions, from Pinterest contests to Facebook and Twitter sweepstakes.
Maybe most important: It’s easy to get along with. We can draft
customized content for each promotion, and the text instructions and
image dimensions are out there for everyone to see. So, our graphic
designer can easily come up with visuals and drop them in, no coding
needed.
3. PromoJam. Though
it doesn’t have quite the number of promotion options as Offerpop,
PromoJam is significantly more affordable (about $30 each month for a
basic account), so it works well for one-off Facebook promotions and for
clients with limited budgets. The interface is user-friendly and
requires no coding, so customizable promotions can be set up quickly.
I’ll also give them kudos for customer service. I had an issue a couple
of weeks ago setting up a promotion on a client’s Facebook page, and
they were enthusiastic about helping to fix it.
4. GroupHigh. I
was not a fan of GroupHigh a couple of years ago, but since its
makeover it is growing on me again. I work closely with food bloggers on
behalf of clients almost every day, so a database of bloggers sounds
like it’d be a stellar fit for me. It is, to a point. GroupHigh is a
useful tool for identifying topic-specific bloggers in various
locations. It is also very helpful for quickly finding bloggers’ social
media stats and information, which I often include in proposals and in
reports for clients. What it isn’t is a substitute for creating genuine,
strong relationships with bloggers and for really getting to know them.
A food blogger does not want to know that you found them through a
search on GroupHigh. They want you to read their blog, connect on social
media, and get to know them before shooting off a blind invitation to
get together.
5. Followerwonk.
Just who are your Twitter followers? Scrolling through to find
information about followers—and search for new users to follow— quickly
becomes exhausting. Followerwonk enables you to see where Twitter
followers are located, analyze Twitter profiles, and search for keywords
in Twitter bios. It also has a simple display that organizes data into
basic graphs and charts that are easy to understand and use. One other
function I find useful for clients: Comparing the social graph of one
Twitter account to as many as two others, such as those of competitors,
friends, or industry leaders.
6. Sprout Social. People
at the roundtable were raving about Sprout Social. I like that it
focuses on a team approach, as there are usually multiple people
managing social media within an agency. Also, all the functions to
manage and monitor engagement across platforms are quite attractive.
7. Canva. Looks
really do matter. Visual social media content has been on the rise
since 2012, when Pinterest and Instagram saw a huge surge in popularity.
Some predicted
2014 would be the year visual content truly takes over in social media,
and that seems accurate. Think of Canva as an affordable personal
stylist to help you stand out at the overcrowded social media party.
This free app enables users to create basic design pieces in a snap,
such as graphics for blogs and social media. It clearly makes the
distinction between itself and pro tools such as Photoshop or InDesign.
Instead, Canva simply helps with content layout, and it may be helpful
to those who don’t always have access to a graphic designer and just
need to create simple, attractive graphic content.
8. Pulse. This
app aims to simplify our news experience by delivering news direct from
influencers (identified through LinkedIn) that interests us most, all
in one place. Basically, it’s a personalized newsfeed.
9. Camtasia.
Shorter is better when it comes to video these days, and this tool
makes it a snap to edit or combine short videos. I’d like to try this
out for projects that don’t require—or don’t have the budget
for—professional video but still have to look somewhat polished.
10. LinkedIn tags.
Did you know you could tag your LinkedIn contacts? Similar to Twitter
lists (another one of my go-to tools), you can assign tags to your
LinkedIn connections, such as “Clients” or “Social Media Roundtable
Participants,” for easy access.
How to get your own Email Newsletter off the ground
Email is an easy, fast, and affordable way to send monthly newsletters, special offers and invitations to keep customers coming back again and again. Keep your readers or customers coming back again and again with emails that take only minutes to make.
- VerticalResponse email marketing it’s completely free if you have 1,000 contacts or less. This isn't a time-limited trial – you can use it until your needs grow. Build your list with web signup forms and integrations. Reach your email and social audiences with beautiful messages on any device. Send up to 4,000 emails per month.
- Create a beautiful email in minutes: Just drag image and text blocks right into your email and move ’em around with the click of a mouse. Get the look you want with cool image tools including crop, resize and flip. Be creative with filters, frames, stickers, and custom text.
- Build sign up forms to grow your list.
- Welcome new members automatically: Autoresponder – welcome emails (included for a limited time)
- Reach people across phones and tablets. reports make it easy not only to see what’s working but also make it clear what to do next.
- Easy-to-read charts give you key stats, and show who opened your email and what links they clicked on. Quickly create a list of people who may have missed your message, or those who clicked, to make follow-up campaigns a breeze.
- Contact Upload:Just drag your list onto the target. Done. Don’t know what a .csv file is? No problem - upload your lists in an Excel file, or type them right in.
- HTML Editor: Sporting some coding mojo? Unleash your skills and create your very own custom template.
- Scheduling: Send your emails and social posts immediately, or schedule for later. Create them whenever it’s convenient for you.
- Connect one & one account
- Unlimited signup forms
- Unlimited social followers & posts
Mailchimp
it’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers and you have control over how everything from the landing page to the email newsletter itself looks.
Those with developer inclinations can build their entire email newsletter template if they choose, otherwise Mailchimp has a drag-and-drop editor along with built-in themes for those that don’t want to deal with coding to get the look they want for their own newsletter.
Mailchimp offers some smarter ways to send the email itself, too, like automatic delivery based on subscriber timezones.
Tinyletter
The no-frills place to go if you want to get your newsletter off the ground with minimal effort. Tinyletter is perfect for just writing whatever you like and hitting send to a group of people. It offers the things you need, like subscription landing pages and subscriber tracking, but not much more.
Tinyletter is a great place to start when you’re unsure about your newsletter or when you just want to write and see what happens. Since it’s free, there’s no risk in just trying it and seeing what happens. This is my favorite way to send a random, off-the-cuff email newsletter out to people to just test how it’ll go.
Campaign Monitor
In the same vein as Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor gives you control over your emails and landing pages. It features an easy to use drag-and-drop email interface and templates to get you started.
For developers, Campaign Monitor offers lots of awesome features and doesn’t force branding on you along with helping to make it easy to design for mobile phones and more.
My favorite feature is Campaign Monitor’s analytics, which are incredibly in-depth and offer the ability to watch real-time email open tracking visualized on a map. Just like Mailchimp, you can test your email’s appearance easily and if it’ll make it through spam filters in a cinch.
The difference with Campaign Monitor is that there’s no free plan.
Curate
Curate interesting content and build a relationship of expertise and trust with your customers.
Until now, putting together a digest newsletter was time consuming. Curated lets you focus on the links and add your voice. You'll find the entire process effortless. No free accounts.
This newsletter platform is relatively new, but offers a unique angle on managing the process of building a weekly newsletter that’s made up of a bunch of links. As you find articles you like, you can add them as items in Curated for a future edition, then quickly add each one with a blurb to your newsletter.
The idea behind Curated is that it removes all the work of actually designing and laying out the newsletter. There are few options when it comes to the look and feel of the design, outside of colors, icons and titles, but it also saves you a significant amount of time by gathering them all in one place for you.
Email Excellence
This tool is free and will provide you with templates for different types of messages, so it will be simpler for you to construct a proper email by following the basic outline.
Cf.
- Writing tips, building an audience and measuring success.
- 12 of the Best Email Marketing Examples You've Ever Seen
- The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing Apps
- 25 best apps to send email newsletters
- 25 best apps to send drip emails
- 7 best apps to send transactional emails
- One place to get inspiration with examples of templates: here and here.
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| App | Best for | Free features |
|---|---|---|
| TinyLetter | simple, free newsletters | Unlimited emails to 5k people |
| Mad Mimi | just the features you need | 5 emails/month to 2.5k people |
| Campayn | upgrading from basic email apps | 10 emails/month to 2k people |
| Benchmark Email | international support | 7 emails/month to 2k people |
| MailChimp | a suite of mobile apps | 6 emails/month to 2k people |
| Sendloop | automated email marketing | 5 emails/month to 2k people |
| SendinBlue | SMS and transactional email marketing | 4 emails/month to 2k people |
| Mailjet | data-driven newsletters and transactional emails | 3 emails/month to 2k people |
| SendWithUs | code-driven email marketing | Unlimited emails to 1k people |
| VerticalResponse | social media and email marketing | 4 emails/month to 1k people |
| FreshMail | advanced email templates | 4 emails/month to 500 people |
| Sendicate | simple, elegant emails | 2 emails/month to 500 people |
| Django Drip | self-hosted email marketing | Unlimited emails |
Cf.
crash-course on email marketing - Zapier gathered the best apps for each type of email marketing—newsletters, drip emails, and transactional messages (The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing Apps). Plus, it pulled together tips on building email lists, segmenting those lists, testing your email copy, and saving your emails from the spam filter.
If you haven't read them already, these are the posts are your master class in email marketing:
- What is Drip Marketing?
- The 25 Best Email Marketing Apps to Send Drip Campaigns
- Successful Drip Email Campaigns: How to Pick the Best App, Add Advanced Automation and More
- The 25 Best Email Marketing and Newsletter Apps
- A/B Test Your Email Marketing
- Transactional Email: The 7 Best Services to Send 1000s of Emails Daily
- How to Segment Email Lists for More Opens, Click-Throughs and Conversions
- Grow Your Email List: How to Get Subscribers, Organize Lists and Follow Spam Laws
- Email Marketing List Hacks, with tips on how to automatically build and organize your email lists.
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Canva and Pablo - This tools allows users to search for the best graphics, photos, and fonts (or upload your own) then use Canva’s drag-and-drop tool to create a new design.
For plenty more options for making original art, quote images and even infographics, check out Buffer’s 14 Great Tools to Create Engaging Infographics and Images for your Social Media Posts.
53+ Free Image Sources For Your Blog and Social Media Posts
74 Best Sites To Find Awesome Free Images
Cf.
- Create Social Media Images in 30 Seconds Flat: meet Pablo by Buffer
- 10 Ways to Use Pablo to Create engaging images for your social media posts
- Canva offers brilliant training resources and tutorials. Just explore the “Design School” tab
- Pablo by Buffer – Cool Tool of the Week
- Canva – Blogging Cool Tool of the Week
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