9 Extremely Effective Social Media Tools for Bloggers

Social media has skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade. As a result, various social media tools are available to help bloggers reach a wider audience and promote their content more effectively.

If you're serious about promoting your blog, you must be active on social media, and there's simply no getting around it. You know that social media is a powerful tool to reach new audiences and grow your blog.  

But with so many social media platforms, it's challenging to get started and know how to make the most of them.

Why Do Bloggers Need Social Media Tools?

There are a few key reasons you should use social media tools for your blog. First, they help you save time by automating or simplifying tasks related to sharing and promoting your writing. 

Second, social media tools can help you optimise your social media activity to get the most out of your efforts. And third, they can help you track your progress and measure your success over time.

Now that we've covered why you should use social media tools for blogging, let's look at the tools out there. There are a number of great social media tools available to bloggers, but some of the most popular ones include Hootsuite, Buffer, and CoSchedule.

These tools can help you automate your social media sharing, track your progress, and measure your success. So if you're looking to get the most out of your social media efforts, be sure to check out one of these great tools. Let's look at the top 10 social media tools that can help bloggers expand their audience and reach.

Top 9 Social Media Tools for Bloggers

To save you time, we've put together this list of social media marketing tools every blogger should use. These tools will help you get the most out of your social media marketing efforts, from scheduling posts to analyzing your social media activity.

Let's get right into the list!

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a must-have tool for any serious social media user. It allows you to manage all your social media accounts in one place, schedule posts in advance, track who's talking about you, and measure your success over time.

Some of the best features of Hootsuite:

• Schedule posts in advance

• Track who's talking about you

• Measure your success over time

Pricing: Starts at $65 per month

SocialMention

SocialMention is a great way to track your brand's online presence. It allows you to see what people say about you across the web, including on social media, blogs, and news sites.

Some of the best features of SocialMention:

• Monitor your brand's online presence

• See what people are saying about you across the web

• Find out which influencers are talking about you

Pricing: Free

InVideo

Perfect social media marketing tool for marketers and bloggers into producing videos, InVideo helps you create wonderful marketing videos in just a few minutes. Users also get access to features like masks, stickers, and vector shapes to make their videos interesting. InVideo comes with an 8M+ iStock library, 3M+ standard media library, and 1M+ premium media library. Users are allowed to export more than 60 videos per month at 720p resolution.

InVideo serves as a sophisticated social media asset management tool. It provides all capabilities to create impressive videos for a vibrant social media presence. 

Pricing: The pricing model allows monthly and yearly subscriptions. The pricing model comprises of 2 plans, $15 for Business(Monthly) and $30 for Unlimited (Monthly) and $180 annually for Business and $360 for Unlimited.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a simple but handy tool that can help you keep track of the latest news and information about your topic of interest. You can use it to find out what's being said about your company or product online, get the latest news on a competitor, or stay up-to-date on current events related to your industry.

Some of the best features of Google Alerts:

• Get notifications whenever someone mentions your brand or blog online

• Track your online reputation

• Find out which influencers are talking about you

Buffer

Buffer is one of the most popular social media marketing tools. Like Hootsuite, it allows you to manage all your social media accounts in one place and schedule posts in advance.

Buffer also has unique features, like customising when and how your posts are published.

Some of the best features of Buffer:

• Schedule posts in advance

• Customise the time of day when your posts are published

• Buffer posts to multiple accounts at once

Pricing: Starts at $15 per month

Tweriod

Tweriod is a must-have tool for Twitter users. Tweriod is a tool that helps you figure out the best times to tweet. It analyzes your tweets and followers to determine the best time of day for you to tweet to get more exposure and engagement.

Some of the best features of Tweriod:

• Analyse your Twitter account to find the best times to tweet

• Find out when your tweets get the most engagement

• Schedule your tweets in advance

Pricing: Starts at $19 per month

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a tool that allows you to see the most popular content on social media. It's an excellent way to find new content to share with your followers and help you identify influencers in your niche.

Some of the best features of BuzzSumo:

• See the most popular content on social media

• Find new content to share with your followers

• Identify influencers in your niche

Pricing: Starts at $99 per month

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media tool that helps businesses grow their social media presence. It offers tools to help businesses schedule posts, analyse social media analytics, and manage social media accounts.

Sprout's tools help companies save time and money while growing their social media presence. 

Some of the best features of Sprout Social:

• Schedule posts in advance

• Generate reports and analytics

• Monitor your social media activity

Pricing: Starts at $99 per month

HubSpot's Social Inbox Tool

HubSpot's Social Inbox tool allows you to monitor and respond to social media comments from one central location. It's an excellent tool to keep track of all the conversations about your brand online, making it easy to respond quickly to any comments or questions.

Some of the best features of HubSpot's Social Inbox:

• Monitor and respond to social media comments from one central location

• Keep track of all the conversations happening about your brand online

• Respond quickly to any comments or questions

Pricing: Included with Marketing Hub, which starts at $45 per month.

Canva

Canva is an excellent tool for creating visuals for your social media posts. It's easy to use and has a wide range of templates, so you can create professional-looking images even if you're not a designer.

Some of the best features of Canva:

• Create professional-looking images

• Wide range of templates

• Easy to use

Pricing: Starts free. Upgrade to Canva Pro for $12.99 per month

These are just some of the social media marketing tools available. If you're serious about growing your brand online, it's worth exploring all the options and finding the best tools for you.

Conclusion

There are various social media marketing tools available, each with unique features. These tools can help you manage your social media accounts, track your online reputation, schedule posts in advance, and more.

Each social media marketing tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to choose the right one for your needs. Test out a few different tools before settling on one, and make sure to read reviews to get a sense of what other users think. With the right tool, you can make social media marketing a breeze. Thanks for reading!

The Importance of Creativity in Business

Creativity allows us to view and solve problems more openly and with innovation. More specifically, creativity skills are a key factor in having a successful life as they foster self-esteem and self-worth, and contribute to self-efficacy. Creativity also draws on individual skills and resources such as motivation and drive. Additionally, with the uncertainty of COVID-19, as well as the future, creativity may be more important now than ever before. Having a creative mindset toward your business or the company for which you work may make the difference between success and failure in these volatile times. While typically practical people, business owners can survive this economic hardship — and those to come — with out-of-the-box thinking, and perhaps even discover ways to grow.

Why is being creative so important?

1. Fast Problem-Solving Skills

   For something to be innovative, there are two requirements: It must be novel and useful. Once an idea is possible, innovation tends to be an easier challenge for more players to achieve. Creativity is the novel step of being the first to identify that something might be possible in the first place. But innovation is the action of putting things into practical reality, despite challenges and resistance, rather than just contemplating. While creativity is crucial to generate ideas that are both unique and original, they’re not always inherently useful. Innovative solutions can’t exist, however, without a component of creativity.

2. Allows for Innovation

   For something to be innovative, there are two requirements: It must be novel and useful. Once an idea is possible, innovation tends to be an easier challenge for more players to achieve. Creativity is the novel step of being the first to identify that something might be possible in the first place. But innovation is the action of putting things into practical reality, despite challenges and resistance, rather than just contemplating. While creativity is crucial to generate ideas that are both unique and original, they’re not always inherently useful. Innovative solutions can’t exist, however, without a component of creativity.

3. Necessary for Growth

   One of the main hindrances to a business’s growth is cognitive fixedness, or the idea that there’s only one way to interpret or approach a situation or challenge. Building a creative workplace environment would be the first step to mitigate this issue. Business leaders must understand their workplace environment and company culture in order to foster a creative work environment. 

4. Boosts Productivity

   Another benefit of creativity and innovation in business is that it helps in boosting productivity. Through coming up with creative ideas, individuals get to work on new exciting projects, which can be an incentive towards doing their best and achieving great things. Business creativity encourages people to give healthy feedback and foster collaboration, it also helps workers feel more appreciated since they get to test their limits and come up with something new.

How to develop a creative mindset?

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

   Taking risks within the workplace encourages innovation, learning opportunities and advantages. Innovation and development of a company cannot happen if you will not accept the risk that your undertaking might fail. The level of risk may be lessened, however, if you make all possible calculations and evaluate which option is best before proceeding to the next step.

2. Foster Collaboration

   With the onset of rapid growth in the corporate world, challenges have also increased. Tackling it is not an easy task, and in order to do that, you will need collaboration in the workplace. Collaboration allows quick adaptability and enhances performance. A diverse workforce will have individuals with varying thought processes and to promote collaboration, you need to respect everyone’s perspective. Another great way to enhance collaboration is to partner with a media production company who can give you a fresh perspective based on their experience, and help develop content that will allow for business growth!

3. Maintain an Open Mind

   Maintaining an open mind set goes hand in hand with taking risks. Having an open mindset means being objective when you approach new things, listening to other points of view, and being willing to admit what you don't know. Expand yourself to be more willing to accept new ideas and step outside of your comfort zone.

4. Encourage Failure

   Mistakes can be some of the most helpful catalysts for growth and learning, both in life and in the workplace. However, many people fear failure, which can hold them back from taking risks or trying new things. Employees are most productive and creative when they aren't afraid of failing or making mistakes at work.

5. Keep an Active Lifestyle

   Maintaining a healthy lifestyle helps make people happier, less anxious, more resilient and better equipped to problem-solve in the face of hardship. Imagining and creating give us a sense of purpose and allows for individuals to be more mentally and physically stimulated. This will all eventually result in a more productive and efficient workplace. 

Conclusion

Creativity and innovation are extremely important skills whether you’re a job seeker, employer, or aspiring entrepreneur. It is proven that maintaining a creative mindset can be of help in all aspects of life, not just the workplace. Creativity encourages mental and physical stimulation and allows for individuals to be more free with their decisions.

Written by: Rena Wu

Are you able to recall the last time that you were creative? Comment below, we want to hear your responses!

If you’re wanting to learn more about business, media, and music production, we are developing a course called Producer Launch that will take you from beginner, all the way to knowing how to become a successful producer for a living!

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11 Tips to Go From Artist to Entrepreneur

Artist | \ˈär-tist\ | noun

1. a person who creates art (such as painting, sculpture, music, or writing) using conscious skill and creative imagination

Entrepreneur | \ahn-truh-pruh-nur\ | noun

1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

If you're reading this article, the chances are that you're familiar with the first definition above. Through countless studio hours, sleepless nights, and work-in-progresses, you've lived it. What you're looking to learn more about is the second definition. Luckily, as an artist, you're no stranger to taking initiative and risks, which are cornerstones of entrepreneurship, as described above. Below, you'll find 11 tips that will detail how to take the reins on your creative talents to build a long-term, prosperous career as an artist.

1) DEFINE YOURSELF 

When starting out in the creative arena, it's essential to understand fully who you are as a creator and how you'll relay your identity to your audience. What drives you to create? What experiences got you to where you are today? Ask yourself the tough questions to help you determine the kind of art you'll produce and how it will link back to your identity as an artist. 

It's also crucial to clearly define yourself as an entrepreneur when getting started in the art industry. Making and distributing business cards with your name alongside the title of "artist" is a sure-fire way to get your name and creations in the public eye. 

2) CREATE AND CURATE YOUR COLLECTION

After some introspection, it's time to do what you do best: create meaningful art pieces that resonate with the public. Consider selling small collections of your art to show consistency in your work and help you determine what's selling in the ever-changing art market. This way, you can build on past collections that garnered positive attention to reach more people, helping you grow. 

3) MAKE A WEBSITE

Although it can be immensely beneficial to make an Instagram account for your art, social media isn't enough. Building a website, an extension of you as an artist, is crucial in every creative industry. If done effectively, your site will give your audience insight into what you make and who you are. A hub with artist statements, a regularly updated blog, and most importantly, your portfolio will help you make a name for yourself in the art business.

Interested in building a site complete with a blog just like this one? Contact us; Jony Studios can help you bring your artistic endeavors to new heights with our website building services. 

 

4) ESTABLISH YOUR TARGET MARKET

Ensuring your art reaches its intended audience is imperative when building your career as an artist. Figure out who's buying your art, how much they typically spend, and how often they buy. Also, note how many people champion your art without buying it. Don't underestimate the power of individuals invested in your art, even if they aren't spending their money. This way, you can use your effort to display your art where the public will appreciate it. The best way to find your target audience is to let your audience find you. Display your art wherever and whenever you can so it can reach large groups of people at one time. Every time your art is on display, there's a possibility that your next client will be amongst one of the viewers.

5) PRICE ACCORDINGLY

As an entrepreneur, you must understand your art's intrinsic value and quantify it into a price. This can be difficult as art is defined by much more than its price tag. However, many artists have gone through this very struggle and developed formulaic methods to price their work. The main elements to consider are:

• Cost of materials

• Cost of overhead (studio rent, utilities, maintenance, etc.)

• Cost of labor

• Markup (recommended amounts range from 10-20%)

6) SEEK OUT YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITIES

Sitting around and waiting for exhibits to come to town will do you no good as an artist wanting to break through in the industry. Reach out to local galleries to have your art displayed, submit articles to various art blogs and journals, or host an open studio day. You could even get in touch with interior designers and have your art featured in hotels, office buildings, and restaurants. Time spent hoping an opportunity will present itself is time you could spend creating your own.

7) NURTURE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS

If you show your customers that you value them, they’ll make an effort to see the value in your art. Give exclusive offers to people signed up to your mailing list or release special edition art collections to new customers. Even just interacting with your audience in the comments section of a blog post shows them you care and that you’re worth investing in, not only with their money but unwavering support. 

8) BUILD MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

Surrounding yourself with the right people can make all the difference when starting as an entrepreneur for your art. Building connections with local journalists and art collectors can ensure that the public will know about your art whenever you wish to display it. Even by helping others out, you may be exposed to new opportunities to have your work featured or be interviewed by the press. The bottom line is to expand your network, not only to make the most sales but to have a support system of people in your niche to help you when you’re down and to amplify your success when you’re up. 

9) STAY ON TOP OF YOUR FINANCES

Although finance and art may seem like opposite ends of the career spectrum, keeping your records organized will save you countless future headaches. Staying on top of your expenses and revenues can help you budget effectively when buying materials or renting out studio space. Many websites even offer webinars specifically for artists trying to navigate the world of finance. If you can spend less time stressing about money, you can spend more time crafting art pieces. 

10) MAKE A BUSINESS PLAN

You must set realistic goals if you want a long-term, prosperous career as an artist. After doing so, develop systems you can implement daily to help complete your objectives. Asking yourself questions like “What percentage of my art should I sell to be profitable?” will help you determine how many hours you’ll spend in the studio every day. For example, if you want 50% of your art to be purchased, you’ll need to make double the amount you hope to sell. Make your business plan, follow it, then tweak it accordingly to ensure your goals are still relevant and attainable.

 11) STAY CONSISTENT

Begone with the stereotypes of the carefree artist. If you decide you want to make a business out of your art, you need to remain dedicated even when the chips are down. When your exposure is low, create an opportunity to generate buzz around your work. If you didn’t meet your expected sales for the first quarter, calculate the additional revenue you need to earn across the next three to diffuse the loss. Some customers may not even buy an art piece until years after they see it since it may take that long for them to realize they connected with it. It’s always better to take a step back and re-evaluate your approach than quit. 

CONCLUSION

Deciding to get serious about your art can seem like a daunting decision, but by no means does it have to be. Building connections, creating impactful pieces, and making opportunities for yourself are all ways you can steadily elevate your art business. With these 11 tips in your arsenal, we hope you realize creative success can be yours. 

Still looking for more help to kickstart your creative career? Maybe you’ve already found your footing but want some assistance fine-tuning your approach. Wherever you are in your art-trepeneurial journey, Jony Studios can help. Our services range from brand consulting to website development to SEO. We’d love to help you be the best art entrepreneur you can be!

Written by Midhat Mujaddid

Are you going to try any of these techniques with your art business? Do you know an artist who could use some of these tips? Let us know in the comments below!

If you’re wanting to learn more about business, media, and music production, we are developing a course called Producer Launch that will take you from beginner, all the way to knowing how to become a successful producer for a living!

Sign up here to be notified when it launches for an exclusive 50% off!