3-Piece Small Business Toolkit
As a small business, it is imperative that your money is well spent, especially when it comes to tools to manage your online presence. It is also important that you have enough money to go around for the variety of tools that you need for activities like social media, SEO, and communication.
Since I’ve worked with a variety of organizations, ranging from large corporations to small businesses, I’ve acquired a toolkit that I believe is beneficial and cost effective for any size business. The best part? Most of these tools have different levels of membership or subscription, which can be selected based on your company’s needs.
1. Authority Labs
With all the algorithm changes and highly competitive businesses out there, it is really hard for small businesses to compete in SEO land. Furthermore, most of the SEO tools out there are designed for enterprises with enterprise pricing, which basically makes them out of reach for small business.
Over the past two years, we’ve used Authority Labs to monitor specific keywords and keyword phrases for our company and our clients. Essentially, all you have to do is add specific keywords and keyword phrases along with the domain that you’d like to monitor. Then, Authority Labs provides you with the type (image, video, etc.), volume, and rank in Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
The Small Business Package is only $49 a month, which includes 250 tracked keywords and up to 25 domains. There is also a 30-day trial available so you can try it out before you commit.
2. HootSuite Pro
For a number of years, I’ve personally used HootSuite to manage my social media networks with great success. When I joined the team at DK New Media, I found that the rest of the team was doing the same. Finally, we decided to become a HootSuite Solution Partner in order to educate our clients and friends on how HootSuite Pro can be leveraged to create a successful social media team dynamic.
HootSuite Pro is really a one-stop shop for managing ALL of your social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and many more. Not only can you respond and post to your social media networks, but you can autoschedule messages with the Hootlet button, access social analytics reporting, and create and manage team assignments for your organization.
HootSuite Pro is only $9.99 a month for anyone, and you can also do a 30-day trial with no obligations.
3. Yammer
While email is still widely used to communicate internally, we’ve recently started using Yammer, a tool that lets you have a social network just for your company. You can post status updates, alerting specific members of your team; upload files, including image files and videos; and post a poll, asking employees what they think of a new policy or guideline.
All of the communication is secure, and mobile, tablet, and desktop apps are available for download on multiple devices. It’s especially great for a ROWE organization like ourselves, where we can still be in that mindset but check in when necessary. It also cuts down on email communication so that you can focus on clients!
There are a variety of plans available, including a free plan, a $5 per user/month plan, and $15 per user/month plan.
There you have it folks. One tool for one specific marketing activity: SEO, social media, and internal communication.
Jenn Lisak is the Marketing Consultant and Client Advocate for DK New Media, a new media agency specializing in search, social, content, analytics, and marketing technology. She runs the content and infographic programs, as well as manages client projects and deadlines. She can be reached at jenn@dknewmedia.com.
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About the Author
Breena (@beefain) is the PR and marketing specialist at Formstack. She oversees media relations, social media, and content strategy. She graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in Journalism degree from Indiana University. When she's not spending her time bragging about how sweet Formstack is, she's usually drooling over fashion sites, writing, or going to shows... and probably eating.
