Hi, retailers, it’s Kira!
Is it just me, or has this week seemed crazy hectic? My boss was traveling, the government shut down, and I had FOUR midterm exams. FOUR!
Cue the dramatic music and hair-ripping.
OK, maybe that’s just me. But luckily, I have a really great tech-friend (everyone needs one of those, by the way) who showed me this week that just because I have a lot on my plate, doesn’t mean my performance has to suffer. Assuming that I was going to eat and sleep this week, I didn’t see how it was possible. But then he sat me down and introduced me to the real internet – programs, gadgets and gizmos that I had no idea existed and would undoubtedly save me massive amounts of time.
While the programs my friend showed me really helped me with my schoolwork, his contribution inspired me to compile a list for the more business-oriented.
Top online tools that every marketing team should utilize:
1. An email marketing site like MailChimp which helps keep track of all your emails in one place, as well as design amazing email marketing campaigns. MailChimp also includes analytics and polling abilities to see how the marketing is being received.
2. Speaking of analytics, Google Analytics is the king pin. They can tell you how many visitors your site gets, what social networking sites your customers are on, when and what type of services customers are looking for – and much more. There are hundreds of features that conveniently track and analyze all your web traffic.
3. If you’re on social media, then you can save hours a week using HootSuite. It’s a one-stop shop for all your social networking needs like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress and more. Everything can be controlled from one dashboard, if desired. One of my favorite features is “Scheduled Tweets” which allows me to set a message to go out at a specific time when I know I’ll be away from the computer.
4. Another analytics site, Crowd Booster, is made specifically for social networking sites. You can see your fans, likes, times visited, people reached and more all from one location. We just started using this great tool and it’s already proving to be beneficial – not to mention a big time saver.
5. Being prepared and informed about your company or your field is always important, and for that Google Alerts has been a huge help. This tool allows Google to alert you whenever new content is posted (or however often you set) about your related term. For example, when I was frequently doing PR work, I had a Google Alert set from my company’s name as well as my boss’s name.
While these tools will take a little bit of time to get used to, you won’t believe how effective they are! They have definitely saved me from a lot of stress, and a lot of hair pulling.
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Top Online Tools for Every Marketing Team
