14 Instagram Tools For Busy Marketers

Are you a busy marketer?

Wondering which tools and apps will help you stand out on Instagram?

Using the right Instagram tools can improve your images, sell products, and save you time.

In this article you’ll discover 14 Instagram tools to help busy marketers use Instagram for business.

#1: Photo Apps

Not long after Instagram started gaining popularity, new apps began popping up with features like photo editing, new filters, and options to make your images more dynamic. These apps allow you to make your posts more diverse and interesting, increasing views and engagement in the process.

Layout

Layout from Instagram is a free app available for both iOS and Android that makes it easy to create multi-image collages to post on Instagram.

The collages can be visually dynamic and you can feature multiple images (and products) within a single post. Choose from various formats that differ in layout and number of images.

Layout allows you to choose from multiple formats and feature up to four images.

This app was created by Instagram, so integration is easy and the quality is high.

Quick

Quick makes it easy to add text to an image, allowing you to adjust the placement, size,color, and font.

Quick makes it easy to place text and edit its font, color, and location.

You can share the edited image on multiple social network sites in addition to Instagram, including Facebook and WhatsApp.

The app is free, but you can make in-app purchases to access more features.

Afterlight

If you feel limited by the extent of Instagram’s photo editing options and filters, look no further than Afterlight. This app makes photo editing fast and easy.

Afterlight offers a ton of great photo editing features, including filters and light effects.

Currently you get access to 15 adjustment tools, 74 filters, 78 textures, 128 frames, and 15 preset cropping tools. It’s $0.99, and available for both iOS and Android.

Superimpose

Superimpose allows you to take an image in the foreground, remove it from its background, and place it on another.

This app offers features like allowing you to rotate an image on the foreground and blend two images or their textures. The masking capabilities of this app are amazing.

Superimpose makes it easy to edit and blend images.

Superimpose is surprisingly easy to use, and comes with all of the necessary features to accomplish your editing goals. It’s $0.99 and available for both iOS and Android.

#2: Video Apps

Videos are an important part of social media marketing and are available for both regular Instagram posts and Instagram ads. It’s good to have a few apps on hand that can enhance and improve your Instagram videos.

Vintagio

Vintagio allows you to edit both photos and videos and apply filters to give them a retro or vintage look. You can apply different effects and filters, including sepia and black-and-white tones, along with filters that offer color effects from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Vintagio adds a vintage tint to your videos.

Choose from a number of built-in songs or a projector sound effect, or import songs from your library.

Currently available only for iOS, Vintagio costs $3.99.

PicPlayPost

PicPlayPost offers features to make your posts more dynamic and engaging. You can create video collages using a combination of photos, videos, GIFs, and sound. You have the option to put an image (or multiple images) next to a video and have music play in the background.

PicPlayPost is free and updated frequently. It’s available for both iOS and Android and supports Live Photos for iPhone users.

Lapse It

Lapse It allows you to make time-lapse videos, which give an accelerated version of slowly changing events (like seeing a flower go from bud to bloom in seconds). You can import videos and add a time-lapse effect or capture videos within the app.

The app allows you to speed up and slow down videos, and add any song from your library to the background of the video. The interface is easy to use and it comes with 50 filters, including the tilt-shift effect.

Lapse It has an easy-to-use interface, but doesn’t sacrifice editing options and additional features.

Available for both iOS and Android, the app is frequently updated and has great support. The standard version is free, and you can purchase the pro version in-app for extra features for $1.99.

Boomerang

If you want to catch the attention of users as they’re scrolling through the news feed,Boomerang from Instagram is an app you should be using. It’s both a photo and video app, and allows you to shoot brief videos.

Once you post your video, Boomerang will play it forward and backward on a never-ending loop. The repetitive motion is dynamic and eye-catching.

In this boomerang, the handstand will play forward and back on an endless loop.

Boomerang from Instagram is free. It’s available for both iOS and Android.

#3: Scheduling Tools

Social media marketers know that there are peak times to post. This can vary based on industry, audience, and time zone, but there’s a best time to post for your specific audience.

Scheduling apps and tools make it much easier to post at these peak times to maximize engagement. Here are three handy scheduling apps to consider.

Latergramme

Latergramme is a great tool for businesses that want to improve their Instagram marketing. It has an easy-to-navigate interface and you can use it on multiple devices (including desktop, mobile, iOS, and Android).

The app lets you schedule new posts and monitor current scheduled posts, and you can manage two Instagram accounts with it.

Latergramme makes it easy to upload and schedule your posts.

The only downside is that Latergramme doesn’t actually post the content. You’ll receive a reminder, and then you need to go into the app and post the content.

These features come with the free package (you can upgrade for additional features), which would meet the needs of many small- and medium-sized businesses.

ScheduGram

ScheduGram is a great scheduling tool that allows you to upload single or multiple images at once (you choose Bulk Upload if uploading a video). You can then edit the images and post them either immediately or schedule them for a later time.

You also have the option to receive an email notification once your content has been posted.

ScheduGram offers a wide array of filters and editing tools for your images.

This tool allows you to manage multiple Instagram accounts and give access to team members.

ScheduGram allows you to schedule posts and can email you when they go live.

Schedugram offers a 7-day free trial, and plans start at $20.

Hootsuite

Many businesses and marketers are already using Hootsuite to manage their social media activity. Hootsuite’s Instagram account management options allow you to schedule posts via the Hootsuite mobile app.

If you choose, you can cross-post the same content on other social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Hootsuite allows you to upload content and schedule it for multiple platforms at once.

It’s a good tool to consider if you’re looking for a more inclusive, all-in-one management dashboard for multiple social media sites. If you’re only looking to schedule posts for Instagram, the interface may be a bit complicated.

After a 30-day free trial, the advanced plans (which include scheduling) start at $14.99 per month.

#4: Selling Tools

Unlike most social media sites, you can’t add links to each post on Instagram, which has frustrated a lot of marketers. Fortunately, there are tools you can use to turn Instagram into a platform for selling.

With selling tools available for several approaches, choose what will work best for your audience and business.

Have2Have.It

Have2Have.It uses one of the most popular approaches to selling on Instagram. It willencourage users to click the link in the business’s profile (the only active link account owners can utilize), which sends users to a virtual storefront. Users can purchase directly from that storefront, increasing your sales and revenue.

You can tag multiple products in an image, making it easier for users to buy a complete set of products.

Nylon Magazine’s profile link sends users to a virtual storefront of content.

Have2Have.It offers a free 30-day trial. After that, pricing depends on how many clicks you’re getting a month. (It’s free for 0-49 clicks, but goes up to $300 for 3,000 clicks or more a month.)

Shopseen

If you already have virtual storefronts in multiple places, Shopseen could be the selling tool that works best for you. It allows you to sell on Instagram by creating a storefront through your profile link.

Shopseen will link this storefront with your stores on Shopify, eBay, Etsy, and Woo, making it easier to manage and monitor your inventory and your sales.

Shopseen creates storefront links to post on your profile and syncs your products across multiple storefronts.

After linking your Instagram account with Shopseen, all you have to do is upload images of your products to Instagram and add a price to the description. Shopseen uploads the product to your inventory page.

You encourage users to click to this virtual storefront, and you can collect payment by credit card. Buyers don’t have to download an app.

Pricing is based on the amount of sales and the number of stores you’re running, starting with a free plan for one store and a 10% commission fee.

Soldsie

Soldsie promotes sales on Instagram by allowing users to purchase by commenting on a shoppable post. Both sellers and buyers install the app (which easily integrates with Instagram) to enable comment selling.

Soldsie makes purchasing easy, which can increase impulse purchases.

Soldsie comes with an easy-to-use selling dashboard, where you can turn product images into sellable posts on Instagram. You can include specific product details like color or size choices and product materials.

In the same caption, ask users to purchase by commenting “sold” on the image,along with any necessary selection (size/color) information. Once they do, Soldsie emails them an invoice that they can pay via credit card or PayPal.

Soldsie has a variety of pricing plans, starting with a basic plan that costs $49 per month and a 5.9% commission fee on all sales.

Final Thoughts

Instagram is a major player in social media marketing, and it’s got the complementary tools and apps to prove it. Every business is different, and some tools and apps will work better for you than others will. Test them out and see what works best for you.

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/14-instagram-tools-for-marketers/

#Twitter Is More #Business Friendly Now

TreceBits

Social media is being used for all sorts of businesses now, and Facebook have been especially taking advantage of this. However a lot of the time, it still seems easier to talk to businesses on Twitter and now it’s set to be an even easier experience.

How many of you have had bad service and have then gone and complained about it on Twitter? How many of you have then had a positive response such as a refund or a free product just so you'll withdraw that complaint? I'm betting that a lot of you have experienced something like this. That is because the beauty of Twitter is that it's quick, mobile and easy to access.

Once your tweet is out there and you've @ mentioned them, it'll be a lot easier for anyone else on the service to see it. It's not like Facebook where it's merely comments on a page that you have to worry about people seeing, on Twitter everyone and anyone can easily stumble across the complaint. But for them to be able to deal with your message privately or to ask for details then they have to ask you to DM them. In the past that meant going out of your way to message them and sometimes people wouldn't see the point.

Businesses will now be able to give you the option to privately message them from their tweets. A little link will appear above the re-tweet and reply buttons and a box will open up in the same screen. It makes messaging them quicker and smoother. Businesses will now also be able to ask for feedback in private messages. If they ask you to provide feedback then you'll get numbers pop up from which you can choose a rating. You can then provide a reason as to why you rated the company that number. This should be good customer service in the long run as it means that they can improve how they respond to things on social media by finding out what people expect using the services.

Twitter Blog

This is still nothing compared to what businesses can do on Facebook but it's a really good step. On a scale of 1 to 10 of how likely I'd be to recommend this to a business; I'd give it a 7. And next time I have a complaint to make, I'll be looking forward to testing it out.

http://www.socialsongbird.com/2016/02/twitter-is-now-more-business-friendly.html

11 Ways To Increase Facebook Followers

Increasing your Facebook followers is a definite ‘must’ when it comes to marketing. Why? it is easy to distribute new content, recommend products and most importantly a way for readers to share your content with others. If you have a large amount of Facebook followers it also provides social proof that you are the person to learn from, meaning more and more people will want to follow you.

If you came across a Facebook page with tens of thousands of followers what would your first thought be?

Most likely ‘this person knows what their on about if this many people are following them’. You have probably read the best ways to increase your followers is to join lots of groups and spend weeks discussing topics and creating relationships etc.

While this is a method that works, it’s not going to knock those numbers up at a very fast rate. Below Jays blogging have revealed 11 effective ways that will teach you after a few little ‘tweaks’ how you can increase your Facebook followers dramatically. Please also see the Infographic at the bottom of this post.

1. Side Bar Widget

The Facebook side bar widget on your site gives you social proof as visitors can see the faces of your current followers. As new readers can see that REAL people are following you it indicates that not only is your page worth following but that your site is trustworthy as well.

2. Change Your Contact Method

Changing your contact method is a great way to increase Facebook followers as readers are automatically directed to your Facebook page whenever they have a question. The beauty of having of having questions on your FB page is that it can initiate discussions with other followers which will help to create stronger relationships. As an added bonus when a follower comments on these discussions it will appear on their news feed, making your page viewable to their friends.

3. Comment Close Down

Closing your comments box and having readers write on your FB page is another great way to increase the amount of discussions on your wall, giving the same benefits as stated in the previous point. Furthermore you will not have to put up with all those spammy comments that appear on a regular basis.

4. Call To Action With Your Posts

This is something not a lot of people realise to do in general.

It’s important to spell out what you would like from your readers to do.

…whether it’s liking your FB page to increase your Facebook followers or clicking the Buy-button to purchase a product. I know it seems like this is a straight forward thing but your readers may not think to follow you otherwise.

5. Author Byline

Adding in an author by-line gives you another way to show your link in case the reader has missed it previously. A lot of readers will want to find out more about you if your content is really good so this area is a great place to re direct them.

6. Facebook Paid Ads

Facebook ads are a great way to reach a lot of people. Believe it or not the cost isn’t very expensive, so it can be a good method to get the ball rolling and reach out to a decently sized audience with just a few clicks. As I say to everyone about paying for marketing: don’t just pay a lot of money and hope for the best; pay small amounts and experiment to find out what works and doesn’t work.

7. Convert Unknown Friend Requests

Keep your Facebook account and page separate as you mostly likely don’t want your readers as a friend as there is no benefit. Any reader that sends you a friend request is to be redirected to your FB page. Not only does it increase your Facebook followers for social proof, it also gives to a platform to communicate with your readers all at once instead of one at a time.

8. Facebook Comment Box

Facebook comment boxes work like the normal comment box on your blog except the additional benefit is that when a reader writes a comment on your post it appears on their FB news feed. This gives you the chance to promote your page for more followers as all the readers’ friends will see the comment. You can see one below created for this post. Give it a go will ya?

9. Like Facebook Pages

Ever thought to yourself Haven’t I seen you somewhere before? If you like as many Facebook pages within your niche there is a higher chance your face will appear on these websites Facebook side bar widgets (if they have one). When visitors visit several websites they may recognise your face and may have a nose.

10. Mingle

This method was mentioned in the introduction. Even though it can take weeks to create relationships it’s a great way to network and meet some influential people as well as to increase your Facebook followers.

11. Facebook Like & Share Buttons

Whenever you write a post make sure you add social media ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ buttons to make your content easy to share with others in just one click. The easier you make it for visitors the more chance your content will be shared through Facebook.

11 Ways To Increase Your Facebook Followers – Infographic

Here is a shareable Infographic explaining the 11 things you can do in order to increase your Facebook follower count.

TIP: You get a handy Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest share button when you roll over the image with your mouse.

[Infographic by James Brookes]

http://socialmediarevolver.com/11-ways-increase-your-facebook-followers/?

Facebook Changes Algorithm

The days of people asking for likes to get their content seen easier are over. Facebook are changing the algorithm they use to decide the order of posts in your news feed. They're claiming they want it to be more human so people will see more of the posts they want to read and interact with rather than the most popular posts.

Of course you still won't personally get to say what posts you'd like to see which, all in all, does make it a little less personal. But Facebook are at least trying to get our news feed to provide a better experience for us. They've had a test group of users rating the posts that pop up on their time line since 2014 in America and that number has slowly grown to more than one thousand people. Now they appear to have all the data they think they need and are planning on rolling out this update sometime in the near future.

What Facebook discovered is that people will want to see posts like a friend mourning a family member's death, a family member having a baby and so on. Like many other social media services Facebook want to make the big events more accessible but in their case it's sharing the big events in an individual's life. Of course this might mean that posts of memes and how much exercise someone has done etc will disappear somewhere below, until something gets big again, which will be an unpopular change in some people's eyes. 

The algorithm is going to be constantly changing so this does mean that the types of post we see less and more of will shift regularly as well.Part of the reasoning for this change is to encourage more interaction, it was only last week that they announced the new like options and now this is something that they hope will encourage users to actually use them. This change has been a long time coming but at the same time, some of us are going to be asking ourselves, why bother? If you can't tell the system what's important to you or your values on social media are different to the American values then you'll still likely see lots of posts you don't care about. Hopefully over time the algorithm will cause the news feed to show you only things you want to look at, but I expect it's still a long time coming.

http://www.socialsongbird.com/2016/02/whats-at-top-of-your-news-feed-facebook.html