Looking for ways to created new content and analyze what your audience is most receptive to? This article is for you. Here are 10 apps and resources for you to develop your social media presence.
Croppola
Croppola is an app that helps you crop your photos using Artificial Intelligence. It focuses on the most important part of your picture and allows you to reshape your photo to the format you desire. It can be used to adjust your pictures to an Instagram format for instance. Croppola is free to use.
Chirr App
Chirr App is helpful if you write Twitter threads a lot. It prevents you from having to split your thoughts into several tweets. Twitter only allows you up to 280 characters in one tweet, therefore when you work on longer stories you will have to split it into different parts. With Chirr App, you can just type your text, add images and links, and it will post on your Twitter as a thread. It is free to use.
Typefully
Typefully is very similar to Chirr App. The concept is the same: it allows you to type your thoughts as a whole and then divides them into several tweets. The main difference with Chirr App is the interface: Typefully looks more similar to the regular Twitter than the other. It is free to use too.
Buffer Publish
Buffer is best known for being useful for scheduling posts. It allows you to plan updates for your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linked In accounts. It creates slops per day/week where you can schedule content to be posted at certain times. It works as an app, as well as a browser extension. There are two types of plans: the free one that includes only a limited amount of accounts and posts per profile, and a premium that also includes features like some insight into post performance.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite allows you to manage your social campaigns from one platform, where you can schedule and publish content on the media you want, track its effectiveness in real time, and put forward your most performing content. It also includes an inbox where you can keep in contact with your private and public channels, as well as a content library full of on-brand contents and assets. Finally, Hootsuite can be used by teams, in assigning tasks to a certain person and offering permissions and different types of accesses. It has a free 30-day trial, but all plans are available for purchase.
Kicksta
Kicksta is an app focused on Instragram growth, that uses Artificial Intelligence. It helps to get real followers by suggesting accounts similar to yours (i.e. your competitors, whose followers might be interested in your content too), keeping track of these followers’ interactions, and helps you engage with them. The objective is to grow your viewership without having to buy followers or likes for exposure. Kicksta has a standard and a premium plan, both available for purchase.
Unfold
Unfold is THE app storyteller should know about. It will transform your story into an interactive and visually-pleasing display. It allows you to develop your brand image by focusing on a certain color palette, fonts, logos, and stickers so your branding stays consistent. If you would rather use it for an occasional story, you can easily create web stories on the app using a variety of templates. You can then share your story on your social media. Unfold also has a “bio site” feature, allowing you to gather all of your social media bios in one link. Unfold has a free plan, as well as a premium plan.
Muck Rack Trends
Muck Rack Trends allows you to analyze and visualize news on any topic published by any media outlet around the world. It is particularly useful to track what journalists are currently writing about, with what intensity, which are the most prominent media outlets, and what percentage and the number of articles mentioning some terms. It is comparable to Google Trends but searches for articles and worldwide journalism.
Totem
Totem is not an app but a course for journalists about online privacy, developed by the IWMF (International Women’s Media Foundation) as well as digital security experts, journalists, and online education experts. It will help you develop your online presence while protecting yourself from digital harassment and online attacks. The course will help you understand what data to share and to keep private, how to better protect your privacy, how to speak up about online harassment, and how to be more secure online in general.
Mobile and Social Media Journalism (a practical guide)
Just like Totem, Mobile and Social Media Journalism is not an app, but a guide full of resources. It is divided into several categories (blog, tutorials, industry, from the newsroom, checklists, syllabus). The tutorials will help you navigate through social media, while the newsroom will help you connect with journalists who are working in the media landscape. Everything is accessible for free, so do not hesitate to navigate into the different chapters.
