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15 Best Marketing YouTube Channels (That Are Worth Subscribing To)

Sandeep Mallya — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 04:38:21 +0000

YouTube is a great place where both new and experienced marketers can learn new ideas and tactics to get traction for their business.

Marketing beginners can learn everything they need to know about different facets of digital marketing, SEO, content marketing, analytics, and more.

Similarly, marketing veterans can get up to speed with the latest trends in the rapidly changing marketing landscape and learn better and smarter ways to create and sustain growth for their business.

YouTube has no shortage of exceptional marketing content. With so many marketing YouTube channels to consider, figuring out which ones to follow is tough.

This post is an attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff. The list below features 15 of the best marketing YouTube channels you should follow, along with a few honorable mentions at the end.

In addition to the description of the specific YouTube channel, you’ll also find the most popular video on the channel (based on total view count) and my three favorite videos from the channel to help you get started.

Side note: This list will specifically touch upon the marketing content uploaded by these creators. If you’d like to subscribe to YouTube channels that specifically cater to entrepreneurs, please refer to this list of best YouTube channels for entrepreneurs.

Top 15 Marketing YouTube Channels

1. Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn is one of the most respected and well-known digital marketers in the world. His blog Smart Passive Income is widely popular amongst marketers and is an inspiration to anyone who’d like to make passive income online. His weekly podcast of the same name is one of the most popular marketing podcasts with over 60 million downloads.

Since launching his blog-based business in 2008, Pat Flynn has generated over $6 million in earnings through various income streams: affiliate marketing, digital products, online courses, books, advertising, and more.

Pat Flynn’s YouTube channel is an extension of his blog and podcast where he shares a wide array of techniques and strategies to generate passive income online and grow your online business. He also shares his thoughts on trending marketing topics and occasionally shares productivity hacks.

If you’d like to learn the nitty-gritty of running a successful blog, this marketing YouTube channel is a must-follow.

Subscribers: 430,000+
Most Popular Video: How to Start a Podcast (Complete Tutorial)

Subscribe to Pat Flynn’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Pat Flynn Videos

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs’ YouTube channel features a treasure trove of helpful content for SEOs and online marketers alike.

Not surprising considering Ahrefs is one of the best SEO tools on the market. My personal favorite is Semrush, but Ahrefs is a close second.

Most SEO tools have their own YouTube channel. What differentiates Ahrefs’ YouTube channel from others is the consistent stream of helpful tutorials on SEO topics like keyword research, link building, technical SEO, and everything that’s trending in the world of SEO today.

It’s because of this commitment to consistency that Ahrefs’ YouTube channel has more views and followers than its competitors.

In addition to SEO tutorials, you’ll also find a handful of case studies from research and marketing experiments conducted by Ahrefs. For example, in their 3-part link building case study, you’ll learn how Ahrefs created an SEO statistics blog post and the exact link building technique they used to build backlinks to that post.

If you’d like to learn how to grow your organic traffic, Ahrefs’ marketing YouTube channel should definitely be on your radar.

Subscribers: 490,000+
Most Popular Video: SEO for Beginners: A Basic Tutorial for Higher Google Rankings

Subscribe to the Ahrefs YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Ahrefs Videos

3. Brian Dean

Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, is one of the most respected figures in SEO. If you’re an SEO beginner, Brian Dean’s in-depth guides on SEO topics can help you get acquainted with various SEO concepts that will help you achieve higher rankings for your site.

On his channel, Dean shares actionable SEO, link building, and content marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business.

He also shares real-life examples and SEO case studies to show you the exact techniques he’s using to increase his website’s organic traffic. For example, in this link building case study, he explains how the “Guestographics” strategy helped one of his readers boost his site’s search traffic by over 900%.

Subscribers: 550,000+
Most Popular Video: How to Get More Views on YouTube

Subscribe to Brian Dean’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Brian Dean Videos

4. Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan is a serial entrepreneur who’s launched several successful SaaS companies. He’s widely known for being Chief Sumo at AppSumo, a popular online marketplace for entrepreneurs. AppSumo’s channel itself is featured later on this list, but let’s cover Noah Kagan’s channel first.

Noah’s channel focuses on marketing experiments, growth hacking techniques, productivity hacks, and occasional interviews with other entrepreneurs who are using innovative marketing techniques to fuel their business growth.

He also has a series where he deconstructs the business secrets behind successful millionaires and billionaires. Don’t miss his video on how 3 entrepreneurs are making $1,000,000+ with 0 employees.

Subscribers: 1 million+
Most Popular Video: Meet the Billionaire that Works a Normal Job

Subscribe to Noah Kagan’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Noah Kagan Videos

5. Vanessa Lau

If Instagram is your preferred channel for marketing and reaching out to your audience, Vannessa Lau’s YouTube channel has you covered.

Vanessa Lau educates her subscribers about how entrepreneurs and content creators can leverage Instagram to connect with their audience and build a loyal following. Indeed, in one of her most-watched videos, Lau shares five Instagram hacks to gain followers on the platform organically.

In addition, Lau also shares YouTube marketing tips and strategies to stand out on other popular platforms like TikTok and Snapchat.

Subscribers: 700,000+
Most Popular Video: How to Gain Instagram Followers Organically

Subscribe to Vanessa Lau’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Vanessa Lau Videos

6. Gary Vaynerchuk

If there’s a marketer who has truly achieved cult status, it’s Gary Vaynerchuk. He’s a serial entrepreneur and 5-time New York Times best-selling author. More recently, he launched his own NFT collection called VeeFriends.

GaryVee maintains an active presence on all major social channels and YouTube is no exception, where he posts videos almost on a daily basis. At the time of writing this post, there are 2,000+ videos on the channel. These videos include Q&A sessions, his documentary series DailyVee, interviews, keynote speeches, and occasional rants.

If you’re a marketer and you haven’t followed Gary Vaynerchuk on YouTube yet, you’re seriously missing out.

Subscribers: 4.3 million+
Most Popular Video: One Life, No Regrets

Subscribe to Gary Vaynerchuk’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Gary Vaynerchuk Videos

7. WPCrafter

Wondering whether a specific WordPress plugin is right for your website? Then this marketing YouTube channel is for you.

Adam Preiser’s channel WPCrafter is dedicated to deconstructing WordPress. You’ll find tutorials of popular WordPress plugins, themes, page builders, and other tools which can help you optimize your WordPress site.

Adam’s commitment to in-depth tutorials has helped him rack up over 200,000 subscribers. For a niched-down channel like WPCrafter, that’s quite an achievement and proves how you can build a loyal following by catering to a specific audience. His Elementor tutorial, for example, is perfect for anyone who’s just getting started with a complex page builder like Elementor.

Amidst the tutorials, you’ll also find occasional reviews of the latest AppSumo lifetime deals and a discussion on the changes coming to the ever-evolving WordPress ecosystem.

Subscribers: 245,000+
Most Popular Video: Elementor – WordPress Page Builder Tutorial

Subscribe to WPCrafter’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite WPCrafter Videos

8. Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner’s YouTube channel has attracted more than 285,000 subscribers and 5 million views to date. If you are a marketer who’s seeking ideas on improving your social media marketing skills, this channel has you covered.

From marketing tutorials to interviews with leading industry experts, Michael Stelzner and team post 3-4 videos every week that feature discussions and advice on helping marketers navigate the constantly changing social media jungle.

Social Media Examiner also delves deep into advanced social media marketing strategies. In their video on advanced Facebook ad targeting, for example, advertising expert Rick Mulready shows you an advanced targeting method for expanding your cold audiences on Facebook.

Subscribers: 300,000+
Most Popular Video: LinkedIn Content Strategy: Post Ideas for Growth

Subscribe to Social Media Examiner’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Social Media Examiner Videos

9. vidIQ

If you have a new YouTube channel and don’t know where to start, vidIQ’s YouTube channel has videos you can binge to get your channel up and running.

vidIQ is a YouTube marketing tool that helps you uncover hidden metrics on every YouTube video, identify potential keywords, boost your video SEO, and more.

vidIQ’s channel focuses on helping you get more views and subscribers for your channel. You’ll find tutorials on how to use vidIQ as well as tips, tricks, and guides on how to grow your YouTube channel. If you’ve just started your YouTube channel, I’d highly recommend you watch their video on how to get your first 100 YouTube subscribers.

They also have a weekly series called “YouTube Channel Audits,” where they review different YouTube channels and offer tips and recommendations to help creators take their channel to the next level.

Subscribers: 1.75 million+
Most Popular Video: How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers on YouTube

Subscribe to the vidIQ YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite vidIQ Videos

10. Semrush

If you’ve followed my blog long enough, then you’d know that I prefer Semrush over every other SEO tool on the market.

Semrush’s YouTube channel has enough content to teach you the basics of SEO and digital marketing, covering topics like “How to Get Backlinks to Your Site,” “How to Rank on YouTube“, and “Track SEO Metrics and Rank Faster on Google.”

In addition, the channel contains tutorials on how to use Semrush for keyword research, competitive analysis, content marketing, and more to help you rank higher in SERPs.

You can also follow Semrush Live, which is the Semrush channel for live events like webinars and online conferences.

Subscribers: 175,000+
Most Popular Video: Most Common SEO Mistakes You Don’t Wanna Make

Subscribe to Semrush’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Semrush Videos

11. Income School

Run by internet entrepreneurs Jim Harmer and Ricky Kesler, the Income School YouTube channel has been around since 2014 teaching their subscribers digital marketing, blogging, SEO, and YouTube marketing.

Subscribing to the channel will leave you with videos like “Write 4X More Blog Posts this Month,” “74 Successful Niche Site Ideas,” and “Becoming a Content Warrior.”

I like the honest, no-nonsense approach to the videos on this channel. I also like the fact that Harmer and Kesler are not afraid of sharing their views on some of the more controversial SEO tactics advocated by online marketing experts and influencers.

One of my favorite videos on the channel is their excellent rebuttal of a questionable claim made by Neil Patel on one of his videos. Harmer and Kesler wasted no time in sharing solid reasons as to why Neil Patel’s content strategy is not ideal for new bloggers and website owners.

Subscribers: 235,000+
Most Popular Video: The Complete Guide to SEO

Subscribe to the Income School YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Income School Videos

12. AppSumo

There was a time when the AppSumo YouTube channel only contained snapshots of the latest SaaS tools on offer at the #1 deal site for entrepreneurs. But the channel has lately evolved into an educational hub for entrepreneurs and marketers.

The information on all the new deals has now moved over to AppSumo’s second channel, AppSumo / Products. You can subscribe to this channel to be on the alert when a new tool drops at the AppSumo store.

The main AppSumo Youtube channel now exclusively features productivity hacks and marketing tips. In one of their recent videos, they discussed the best ways to level up your negotiation skills.

Subscribers: 78,000+
Most Popular Video: 10 Tips for Using Slack Like A Pro

Subscribe to AppSumo’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite AppSumo Videos

13. HubSpot Marketing

HubSpot is a marketing, sales, and customer service platform that helps companies grow better. They also offer a plethora of free tools and resources to help entrepreneurs scale up their business and bolster their revenue.

Marketers, entrepreneurs, and agency owners can find a ton of value by subscribing to HubSpot’s YouTube channel. If you’re looking to level up your social media marketing skills, there’s no channel better than HubSpot. They cover everything from tips to create great Instagram ads to growth tactics for emerging platforms like Clubhouse and ChatGPT.

In addition, you’ll also get the inside scoop on the strategies and tactics HubSpot used to drive the company’s explosive growth. For example, in their video “How HubSpot Grew to 7 Million Monthly Blog Views,” Jamal Meneide from HubSpot explains how the HubSpot blog generates such an enormous amount of organic traffic and how you can replicate the same strategy for your own blog.

Subscribers: 395,000+
Most Popular Video: Why No One Knows Who Created the Bitcoin

Subscribe to HubSpot’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite HubSpot Videos

14. Neil Patel

Neil Patel is one of the most polarizing figures in digital marketing. People either love him or love to hate him. But even his harshest critic won’t be able to deny the success he’s achieved in all his business endeavors.

Neil Patel has the uncanny ability to scale up any project he becomes involved in. From his marketing podcast to his hugely popular blog to his SEO tool Ubersuggest, Neil has been able to build a loyal audience.

The same is the case with his YouTube channel, which has racked up over 1 million subscribers in a short span of time.

Neil Patel covers all the broad areas of digital marketing on his channel, from content marketing to email marketing to SEO.

Subscribers: 1.20 million+
Most Popular Video: SEO for Beginners: 3 Powerful SEO Tips to Rank #1 on Google

Subscribe to Neil Patel’s YouTube Channel

My 3 Favorite Neil Patel Videos

15. Sandeep Mallya — 99signals (that’s my channel )

And coming in at #15 is my own YouTube channel (sorry for the shameless plug.)

If you’re an AppSumo customer (aka Sumoling), then you’ll find reviews and tutorials of the latest AppSumo deals that you ought to consider for your business. My reviews are in-depth and help you make an informed decision whether you should buy or skip a specific software deal.

In addition, I also post online marketing tutorials and how-to guides on the channel to help streamline your marketing efforts and grow your business.

Subscribers: 2,400+
Most Popular Video: How to Track Facebook Ads in Google Analytics [Using URL Parameters]

Subscribe to My YouTube Channel

Here are the 3 videos I’d recommend from my channel:

Honorable Mentions

With so much quality marketing content on YouTube, it was quite a task to narrow this list down to just 15 marketing YouTube channels. Which is why I’ve included this section at the end of a few more channels that are worth subscribing to.

Google Search Central – The official Google Search Central YouTube channel is a great place to find information on how to get the most out of your GSC account and improve your rankings in Google search results. The channel has over 600,000 subscribers. Click here to subscribe to Google Search Central.
MeasureSchool – If you have any questions about Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, this channel most likely has the answers. Run by Julian Juenemann, MeasureSchool takes a data-driven approach to digital marketing. It’s the perfect channel to follow for measuring your digital marketing efforts. Click here to subscribe to MeasureSchool.
Tips With Trena – Want to learn the secrets behind growing your YouTube channel organically? Then Trena Little’s channel is right up your alley. You’ll learn how to start your YouTube channel from scratch and get results fast. Click here to subscribe to Tips with Trena.
Ranking Academy – As the name suggests, this channel focuses on teaching you how to get higher rankings and better online visibility through search engines. It’s one of the fastest growing marketing channels on YouTube with over 250,000 subscribers. Click here to subscribe to Ranking Academy.
Fast Company – Fast Company is one of the world’s leading business publications. Their YouTube channel features a ton of branding and advertising advice. For example, in one of their recent videos, they explained how the new Mountain Dew commercial featuring LeBron James was a personal branding triumph for LeBron. Click here to subscribe to Fast Company.
Moz – I was tempted to include Moz in the top 15 marketing YouTube channels, but since Rand Fishkin’s departure, the content is just not the same anymore. That’s not to say they don’t publish informative blog posts and videos every now and then. The company also has one of the best business newsletters for marketers. Rand Fishkin still makes a cameo here and there on the channel, and they are capable of churning out videos that are helpful for advanced SEO users. Click here to subscribe to Moz.

Final Thoughts

That wraps up my list of best marketing YouTube channels that are worth subscribing to. Did I miss out on your favorite channel for marketing tips? Let me know in the comments section below. Don’t forget to share the reasons as to why that specific channel is your favorite for marketing advice.

If you found this article useful, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

15 Best Marketing YouTube Channels (That Are Worth Subscribing To) Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 3 June 2021 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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How to Track Facebook Ads in Google Analytics [Video + Article]

Sandeep Mallya — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:53:58 +0000

Do you use Facebook ads to drive traffic to your website? Then you’d probably know you can’t always rely on Facebook Insights to provide you with accurate data.

This is where you need Google Analytics, which provides a more accurate picture of traffic stats from Facebook ads. However, there are a few steps involved before Google Analytics can arm you with this data.

In this article, I’ll reveal how you can start tracking Facebook ads more effectively in Google Analytics.

Note: If you prefer to watch the video guide, you can watch the video below. Scroll down if you prefer to read the article.

Why Use Google Analytics to Track Facebook Ads

Let’s get this out of the way first.

You may be thinking why it’s necessary for us to track Facebook ads in Google Analytics when we have Facebook Insights.

While it’s true Facebook Insights contains a pool of useful data, there’s a certain amount of discrepancy between the traffic data you get in Facebook Insights and the data in Google Analytics. Since Google Analytics tracks your overall website traffic (organic, direct, social, and referral), you’d want the information presented here to be as accurate as rest of the traffic data.

This discrepancy in traffic data can be avoided by using URL parameters.

URL parameters are used to track information about a click.

URL parameters comprise of a key and a value separated by an equals sign (=) and joined by an ampersand (&). The first parameter always comes after a question mark in a URL as shown in the example below:

Image Source: Search Engine Journal

In addition to presenting you with accurate information on clicks, URL parameters also help you differentiate between the traffic you get from Facebook organic (your Facebook posts) and Facebook ads.

By using URL parameters, you’ll know exactly which ad campaign, which ad set is driving traffic to your website, and you can also track conversions on your website that way.

Tracking Facebook Ads in Google Analytics: Step-by-step Guide

Now that we have established the need for using Google Analytics to track Facebook ads and the importance of URL parameters, it’s time to initiate the whole setup. Just follow these 5 simple steps to track your Facebook ads in Google Analytics:

Use URL Campaign Builder to Generate URL Parameters
Define Your Campaign Source, Medium, and Name
Define Campaign Term and Campaign Content
Generate a New Campaign URL for Your Ad
Track Performance in Google Analytics

Step 1 – Use URL Campaign Builder to Generate URL Parameters

The first step is to generate URL parameters for your Facebook ad campaign. To generate URL parameters, you can use a free tool by Google called Campaign URL Builder.

Fill out the required fields in the Campaign URL Builder form. Once this form is complete, there will be a campaign URL generated with all the URL parameters. You can use this newly-generated URL in your Facebook ads and start tracking traffic in Google Analytics.

To begin with, just go to the page/post that you wish to promote on Facebook.

Copy the URL and paste it in the website URL box.

Step 2 – Define Your Campaign Source, Medium, and Name

The next field is Campaign Source. You can either mention “Facebook ad” as the campaign source or you can just mention “Facebook.”

In order to differentiate between the traffic from Facebook organic posts and traffic from Facebook ads, I recommend you mention “Facebook ad” here.

Next, mention “CPC” as your campaign medium if you’re tracking link clicks or “CPM” if you’re tracking impressions.

If you’re not sure, just login to Facebook and navigate to Ads Manager —> Ad Set —> Budget & Schedule —> Optimization & Delivery and check out the option you’ve selected in Optimization for Ad Delivery.

Next, enter the Campaign Name. It should be the same as the name of your Facebook ad campaign in Facebook Ads Manager as shown above.

After these four fields have been filled, this is what your Campaign Builder form should look like:

Step 3 – Define Campaign Term and Campaign Content

You’ll notice that the first four fields in the form are mandatory and the rest are not. Nevertheless, I recommend that you fill in the rest of the information as well because you’ll most likely be running multiple campaigns on Facebook and you’d want to track each campaign individually in your Google Analytics report.

The more specific you get with your URL parameters, the better it will be, and you’ll know exactly which campaign is driving traffic to your site and which campaign needs to be improved.

The Campaign Term should be the same as the name of your Ad Set. Copy the name in your Ad Set and paste it in the Campaign Term box.

Similarly, your Campaign Content should be the same as the name of your Ad on Facebook. Just copy the same name and paste it into the box.

When all the fields are filled, your Campaign URL Builder form should like this:

In the example above, I’ve used generic terms to define Campaign Term and Campaign Content. You can be more specific with the terms you’re using to define your parameters, especially in the case of Campaign Content.

In case you’re using different ad formats (image, video, carousel, etc.) under an Ad Set to promote the same post, you can use the Campaign Content field to differentiate these ads. Just remember that you need to generate a different campaign URL for each ad to track them accurately in Google Analytics.

Step 4 – Generate a New Campaign URL for Your Ad

Now that your form is filled, your campaign URL would have been auto-generated. Just scroll down to see your generated campaign URL.

In order to start tracking Facebook ads in Google Analytics, you’ll need to copy the portion of the URL starting after the question mark.

On Facebook, navigate to Ads Manager —> Ad Set —> Ad —> URL Parameters. Paste your campaign URL parameters in this box as shown below:

Another option is to copy the whole URL and paste it into the Website URL field.

Make sure you preview your new URL to check if the URL parameters are visible on the new URL opened in a new tab.

Yet another option is to convert the generated URL into a short link. You can connect your Bit.ly account with Campaign URL Builder and get additional insights for your ad campaign via Bit.ly.

Once you’ve previewed the new campaign URL, hit the “Publish” button.

You’re all set to track the performance of your Facebook ads in Google Analytics.

Step 5 – Track performance in Google Analytics

To start tracking Facebook ads in Google Analytics, login to your Google Analytics account. From the left side menu, navigate to Acquisition —> All Traffic —> Source/Medium.

From Primary Dimension, navigate to the Other dropdown menu, and select the parameter you want to track from the Acquisition dimensions.

From this report, you can gauge your Facebook ad campaign performance. If you followed all the steps outlined here, you’ll find traffic data for your Facebook ad campaigns under “Campaign” — the campaign name will be the same as the one you entered in the Campaign Name field in Campaign URL Builder.

Similarly, you can see how your ad sets have performance when you select “Keyword” (Campaign Term) and track your individual ad performance under “Ad Content” (Campaign Content).

Summary

Getting an accurate picture of your ad performance on Facebook will not just help you see how your Facebook ads are performing, but will also help you make tweaks and adjustments to increase the reach and effectiveness of your ads.

Start tracking your Facebook ads in Google Analytics by following the steps outlined in this article and optimize your campaigns on Facebook.

Hope you found this article useful. You can watch this accompanying tutorial video to help set up URL parameters for your Facebook ad campaigns.

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

How to Track Facebook Ads in Google Analytics Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on December 25, 2019 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Messenger Ads

Larry Kim — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 15:53:23 +0000

I’ve tried thousands of marketing tactics, hacks, experiments, and tricks in my career as a marketer.

By far, the most effective marketing tactic I’ve discovered is Facebook Messenger ads.

In this post, I’ll explain four things in detail:

What Facebook Messenger ads are
How Facebook Messenger ads work
Why Facebook Messenger ads are awesome
How to make your own Facebook Messenger ads

What are Facebook Messenger Ads?

Facebook Messenger Ads are a paid method of promoting your Facebook posts that invite people to open a Facebook Messenger conversation.

Ordinary Facebook ads invite people to click and visit your website or landing page. They’re typically expensive, and you won’t gain detailed information about your visitors.

Messenger ads, by contrast, launch a cascade of engagement.

It might look like this:

Facebook Messenger ads rely on chatbots to handle engaging with your customers, following up with them, and taking them further down the funnel.

I’ll cover all of that in detail in the sections below.

How do Facebook Messenger Ads Work?

Let me give you an example of a Facebook Messenger ad in action.

If you’re not familiar with Facebook Messenger ads, this will help you understand them better when you start making your own.

It’s really simple. This is what a Messenger ad looks like:

Someone who sees this ad might click “Send Message.”

When they click “Send Message,” it opens a Messenger chat.

That’s it. The contact has entered your funnel and the ad is successful.

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that. But that’s the entry point for a Facebook Messenger ad.

From that point, you’ll you can turn on the marketing magic with a MobileMonkey chatbot. MobileMonkey handles the automated qualification and lead engagement aspect.

Why Are Facebook Messenger Ads So Awesome?

I want to tell you why Facebook Messenger ads are awesome.

If you know anything about me, you know that I freaking love unicorns.

I’m obsessed with them.

In my world, unicorns are marketing techniques that are thousands of times more successful than ordinary marketing tactics.

Only 1-3% of marketing techniques will ever be unicorns. But that 1-3% of unicorn tactics brings in 80% or more of your marketing success.

Why do I tell you this?

Because Facebook Messenger ads are unicorns.

Decide for yourself as you consider these benefits of Facebook Messenger ads.

Facebook Messenger ads capture all of a prospect’s information.

In my opinion, this is one of the best things about Messenger ads: loads of intel.

I get all kinds of information on who messages my page.

Since I’m a data guy, this is really fascinating stuff. Obviously, I like having the bird’s eye perspective, like these insights.

But I can also get detailed information on the individuals who message my Facebook page.

This is about to get ridiculous, but you have to believe me.

Look at this chatbot I set up. Not only did this individual engage with the bot, but he also gave me his full name and phone number.

That’s incredibly valuable information. It would be really expensive to purchase information like that, but I got it for free.

If I’m really curious, I can even check out other info — what time it is where they are, where they work, where they’re from, where they live, and even their Facebook profile.

You know as well as I do that a lot of people put their entire life information on Facebook.

Once an individual messages your page, you have the following information on them: first name, last name, profile photo, gender, location, time zone, country, and messaging permission (the ability to send push notifications back to that user).

Facebook Messenger ads have almost unbelievable engagement rates.

The engagement rates for Messenger marketing are shocking.

If you’re used to email marketing, you might expect an open rate of maybe 7% on a really good day, right?

With Messenger marketing, you can achieve 80% open rates in the first sixty minutes.

I’ve achieved rates of lead acquisition that I’ve never seen in my other businesses.

And look at these growth rates that happened as a result.

In just a few months as a startup, we grew like crazy because of Messenger ads.

Facebook Messenger ads give you permission to contact the prospect later on without paying.

When someone starts messaging you, they are giving you permission to contact them.

Obviously, rules apply. However, the reality is, they are now a lead. You don’t have to “retarget” them in the traditional sense. They’re on your list, and you can message them.

To really turn up the heat, you can use chat blasting, another unicorn technique.

How to Create a Facebook Messenger Ad in MobileMonkey

You can create a Facebook Messenger ad within Facebook Ads Manager, or you can do it through MobileMonkey.

In the MobileMonkey chatbot builder, click Lead Magnets then Messenger Ads.

Click “New Messenger Ad” in the next screen. Then, you can begin to create the content to send to your users.

Since Messenger ads are essentially lead magnets, you want to offer something irresistible to your users. This is the entry point to someone becoming a lead, and you want to make sure that your offer is enticing.

The Messenger Ad wizard creates code that you can then copy into Facebook Ads Manager to create the ad.

Congratulations, you’ve created your first Facebook Messenger ad!

Once your ad starts running and people start messaging you, you’ll benefit from the enormous power of Facebook Messenger Ads.

Getting Unicorn Results from your Facebook Messenger Ad with a Facebook Messenger Chatbot

Facebook Messenger ads are just the starting point. When someone responds to your ad, boom, you have a contact — a real, live, valuable lead.

What do you do with this lead?

There are plenty of options, all of which will effectively retarget your new contact.

In MobileMonkey, you can send your new leads a message (for free) within the first 24 hours and a second message later using a bot.

To use the chat blaster feature in the MobileMonkey chatbot builder, click “Marketing Automation,” then “Chat Blaster” and “New Chat Blast.”

Drip campaigns are another powerful method of engaging your users and offering them even more value.

To create a drip campaign in MobileMonkey, select Marketing Automation → Drip Campaign.

Drip campaigns in Messenger are similar to email drip campaigns, except that the drip sequence is usually faster and has the potential for higher engagement.

Creating a Facebook Messenger chatbot sequence in MobileMonkey allows you to segment your audience as well.

You can create a bot that asks your audience qualifying questions.

If, for example, you are trying to attract marketers to your business, you can ask.

Based on their answer to this question, you can ask follow-up questions.

How many clients do you manage?

Or:

What is your Primary marketing objective?

If you were simply driving an audience to a landing page, as is the case with a traditional Facebook ad, your conversion rates would by default be significantly lower.

A landing page makes assumptions about the audience based on the ad demographic targeting. It presents an offer that will hopefully resonate with the target audience.

Chat marketing is fundamentally different. Instead of making assumptions, you tease out details about the target audience. These diagnostic questions segment the audience, allowing you to create a messaging funnel that will convert at significantly higher rates.

As I mentioned, a Messenger ad is just the first step in an entire interactive journey.

Facebook Messenger Ads Plus Chatbots Equals Unicorn

Most marketers simply aren’t aware of the high-octane power of messenger ads, let alone how to take it to the next level with chatbots.

We’re in a new era of advertising. Interactive experiences have displaced megaphone-style tactics. Facebook Messenger marketing using Messenger ads is a powerful way to expand your contact list, improve lead quality, and continue retargeting for maximum success.

MobileMonkey is the tool that unlocks everything that Facebook Messenger offers — creating, scaling, and optimizing your Facebook messenger marketing

Be sure to create your own free MobileMonkey account or watch the tutorial below to get started.

Liked this article? Please share it on Twitter using the link below:

Facebook Messenger Ads are One of the Most Effective Marketing Tools Available. Here’s How to Use Them Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on Feb 14, 2019. It has been regularly updated since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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25+ Places You Should Be Sharing Your Content

Sandeep Mallya — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 06:05:45 +0000

So you’ve just published a comprehensive new blog post that you’re sure your readers will enjoy. You’ve published it at the right time, designed an eye-catching graphic, optimized the title and other on-page SEO elements, and you can’t wait for your readers to like, share, and comment on your post.

But hold on, the job is only half done. As Darren Rowse from ProBlogger writes, “What you do in the minutes and hours after your post goes live can exponentially increase the effectiveness of the post.”

You need to create awareness about your new post and increase its exposure. As a result, in this article, I’d like to share 25+ places where you need to share your content.

Let’s get started!

25+ Places to Share Your Content

1. Facebook

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. Despite dwindling organic reach for posts on Facebook, it’s still worth sharing your content on your personal Facebook page and your business page. Why? Because the social media giant has over 2 billion monthly active users, and the odds of your target audience being there is extremely high.

Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm determines what content from users and brands to push to the top of the news feed. If your content resonates with your audience and gets them to share, then Facebook will increase your content’s visibility. It’s as simple as that!

As Gary Vaynerchuk writes in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, “On Facebook, the definition of great content is not the content that makes the most sales, but the content that people most want to share with others.”

Bonus: Need tips on how to better engage with your fans on Facebook? Check out these tips from Social Media Examiner to boost your Facebook engagement.

2. Twitter

Twitter has 238 million monetizable daily active users and it’s yet another obvious place where your content needs to be shared. In fact, Twitter is one of the few platforms where you can benefit greatly by sharing the same content multiple times.

Lots of influencers and brands post the same content multiple times to reach followers in different time zones and to drive consistent traffic back to their site. As a rule of thumb, you should slightly reframe the messaging of your post each time you share it, so you’re not repeating the same message.

You can use any of the popular social media scheduling tools to queue some of the evergreen posts from your blog on Twitter multiple times.

With the increased use of QR codes in the post-Covid-19 era, you can drive more traffic to your website by sharing a personalized QR code with your logo on various social media platforms and using QR codes to distribute your content.

3. LinkedIn

While LinkedIn is a great place to share links to your latest posts, an untapped opportunity within the platform is the ability to publish articles.

If you have a strong professional network on LinkedIn, then it would make perfect sense to republish or syndicate some of your blog posts and help your content get that extra mileage.

According to Search Engine Journal, Google doesn’t flag your republished posts on LinkedIn as duplicate content. A good SEO practice, however, is to change the post title and make other minor tweaks before you republish your posts on LinkedIn.

4. Medium

Developed by Even Williams, who previously co-founded Twitter and Blogger, Medium is an online publishing platform where you can share your writing and also browse a variety of content from other writers and publications.

It’s another place where you can syndicate your blog posts and increase exposure for your content. Long-form posts tend to be more popular than regular posts on Medium. So if you publish long-form blog posts on a consistent basis, then you could republish some of these posts on Medium and reach a larger audience.

5. Reddit

Reddit is one of the most popular communities on the Internet, with over 330 million active users. It goes without saying that there is an enormous potential to drive traffic to your site from the platform. That said, you need to be an active part of the communities (called subreddits) that you’re joining on Reddit before you can start sharing your content.

In order to share links, you’ll need to accumulate karma. Most subreddits only allow you to post links once you’ve crossed a specific threshold in relation to your karma score. There’s no shortcut to gaining karma on Reddit. You’ll need to be an active part of the subreddit and post insightful comments that generate upvotes.

Even when you’ve accumulated enough karma, you need to be careful while sharing links to your own content. I like to follow the 80:20 rule here, and you should do the same — post links to third party content 80% of the time, and the remaining 20% can be links to your blog posts. But make sure that any link you’re sharing contributes to the discussion you’re currently a part of.

Pro Tip: Here’s a list of the best marketing subreddits you should join.

6. Facebook Groups

Facebook groups are communities of individuals who share a common interest. There are two types of Facebook groups that you need to be aware of — public groups and closed groups.

Public groups are by far the most common on Facebook. Unfortunately, these groups also attract individuals who simply want to spam the newsfeed with their content since anyone can join these groups.

Closed groups are Facebook groups where group admins have to manually accept new requests from users who’d like to join the group. Closed groups are ideal for marketers and bloggers who’d like to share their content.

In both these groups, you need to careful while sharing your posts. Make sure the posts are shared in an organic manner and contribute to the discussion that you’re involved in. Shameless plugs will not be tolerated, especially in closed groups.

Bonus: The Complete Guide to Using Facebook Groups for Business

7. Flipboard

Flipboard is a popular news aggregator app, available on iOS and Android. It’s also a great place to share your content, curate content, and build authority on a subject.

Flipboard allows you to create different content categories, called magazines, and you can start populating these categories with relevant content.

Just make sure you’re sharing others’ content in addition to your own content. This will build your authority on the platform — helping you gain more followers and traffic for your own posts in return.

8. Steemit

Steemit is a blockchain-based blogging and social media website, which rewards its users with the cryptocurrency STEEM for publishing and curating content.

You can sign up on Steemit and start repurposing or syndicating some of your existing content to expand its reach.

9. BizSugar

BizSugar is a place where small business owners and entrepreneurs can share their collective experience and knowledge.

If you publish insightful articles on entrepreneurship, marketing, and technology on a regular basis, then you should definitely share your content on BizSugar as you’ll be rewarded with traffic and engagement.

Click here to create your free account on BizSugar

10. Growth Hackers

Growth Hackers is a community-based blog where you can find and distribute high-quality articles on growth hacking, marketing channels, user acquisition, engagement, product launch, and more. Since all content on Growth Hackers is created and/or posted by the users themselves, you too can create a free account and start creating and sharing posts.

The community follows strict guidelines for vetting content and the content curation team reviews all posts before publishing them on the main page.

Once your article is approved and published, users can start upvoting or downvoting it. If your post generates enough upvotes, it will be included in Growth Hackers’ Top Weekly Posts Newsletter which is sent out every Monday, helping your blog post get even more coverage.

Pro Tip: Don’t just share your content, but also curate content from elsewhere. This will help establish your subject matter expertise in the community.

11. SlideShare

SlideShare, the world’s largest professional content sharing community, has 80 million active users and is one of the top 100 most-visited websites in the world. Founded in 2006, it was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012.

You can use PowerPoint, Keynote, Canva, or my personal favorite, Slidebean, to create a beautiful presentation that perfectly captures all the key actionable items in your blog post.

Since SlideShare also gets a decent amount of search traffic, your presentation has the potential to grab more eyeballs and possibly drive referral traffic to your site.

12. Infographic Submission Sites

High-quality infographics don’t just get social shares, but they’re also rewarded with backlinks. You can convert some of the popular posts on your blog into infographics, using free online graphics tools such as Venngage, Canva, and Piktochart.

Once you’ve designed a visually appealing infographic that your readers would want to share, you can submit it to a few infographic submission sites and gain authoritative backlinks in return. Here are 40 infographic submission sites where you can submit your infographics for free or for a nominal fee.

Infographic directories such as Visual.ly, Graphs.net, and Infographics Archive have impressive domain authority (DA) scores, and by submitting your infographics to these sites, you’ll be increasing the chances of ranking high in search results.

13. Mix.com

Previously called StumbledUpon, Mix.com is a place to discover, save, and share all your favorite things on the Internet. Mix learns what you’re passionate about and queues up articles based on your interests.

Once you’ve created an account at Mix, you can download the free Chrome extension to curate content right from your web browser. As with other content curation apps, make sure you contribute to the platform by submitting a mix of content from your own blog and other blogs in your niche.

Click here to join Mix.com

14. Zest

Zest is an AI-powered tool that personally matches you with community-curated marketing content. It’s a free tool that you can join by connecting your Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn account. Once you’ve created an account on Zest, you can download their Chrome extension to curate content from your browser.

Any piece of content you share with the community will be reviewed by Zest’s content team before it’s published on their site. Zest prefers long-form content which covers a marketing concept in-depth, so make sure you submit posts that meet this criteria.

15. LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are hubs for LinkedIn users in the same industry or with similar interests to share content, find answers, post and view jobs, make business contacts, and establish themselves as industry experts.

Make sure you maintain proper etiquette while sharing links to your blog posts and be an active member of the community before sharing your own content.

16. Instagram

Instagram is the second most popular social network in the world in terms of active users, behind Facebook. With one billion monthly active users and 500 million people who use Instagram Stories every day, you’ll be missing out if you’re not sharing your content on Instagram.

But there’s a small problem — unlike most other social networks, Instagram doesn’t allow you to post clickable links in the caption of your post. There are two things you can do to overcome this challenge:

Post a graphic of your latest blog post and include the full URL in the caption or include the link to your post in the Instagram bio with this message in the caption: “Click link in our bio to read our latest post.”
Use an Instagram marketing tool like Shorby that allows you to side-step Instagram’s ‘one link in bio’ limitation by creating a custom link profile with all the important links to your blog posts, videos, messengers, and social networks. To learn more about Shorby and its key features, check out my Shorby review and video walkthrough.

17. Email

Email may sound a bit old school, but it’s still an effective channel to promote your new content. According to Constant Contact, 72 percent of consumers prefer email as their source of business communication.

You can share your new content via email alerts or in the form of a weekly newsletter, comprising of all the latest content you published that week.

If you’re taking your first steps in email marketing, explore these recommended email marketing tools to refine your approach and effectively connect with your subscribers from the outset.

18. YouTube

YouTube is not just a video-sharing platform, it’s also a search engine. With 3 billion searches per month, YouTube’s search volume is larger than that of Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo combined.

Regardless of your niche, if you’re not having a channel on YouTube, you’re missing out on a key portion of your demographic.

You can start a channel today and repurpose some of the best-performing articles on your blog and turn them into engaging videos.

19. Snapchat

With over 350 million daily active users, Snapchat is a great place to share what Gary Vaynerchuk calls “micro-content” — snippets of content created from each new piece of content that drives awareness back to the original long-form content.

Gary Vee is the master of micro-content on Snapchat and Instagram, and if you’re looking for ideas on content creation on Snapchat, just follow him on Snapchat.

To learn more about the best practices for sharing content on Snapchat, check out this resource by Hootsuite.

20. Pinterest

Since its launch in March 2010, Pinterest has slowly garnered a highly engaged audience. As of March 2019, Pinterest has 291 million monthly active users and the users can browse through more than 175 billion pins on the platform.

The secret to driving traffic from Pinterest is creating descriptive images. Visuals with clear, concise messaging are more impactful on the platform than run-of-the-mill graphics. As such, you really need to get creative with the images to grab your audience’s attention and the text overlay on the images should contain just enough information to prompt users to visit your website or blog.

Infographics are also highly popular on Pinterest. You can convert your latest blog post into an infographic and share it on Pinterest to drive a ton of traffic back to your website.

For more tips on how to create and share content on Pinterest, check out this article by Social Media Examiner.

21. Tumblr

Tumblr may not be as big or as appealing as it once was, but it still rakes in close to 370 million visits a month. So it’s worth sharing your blog posts here.

That said, just posting links to your latest articles on Tumblr will not fetch you much engagement. You need to repurpose your blog posts into infographics or videos and then share them on the platform. This way your content will resonate more with Tumblr users and you’ll be rewarded with engagement and traffic.

22. Google Business Profile (GBP) Posts

If you have a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) account for your business, you can promote your latest article via GBP Posts.

Just login to your GBP account and navigate to Posts > Add Update and write your post. Include an image and link to your latest article.

Now when a user searches for your business on Google, they will not just see information about your business, but they’ll also be able to view your latest post, driving additional traffic to your site.

23. Instapaper

Instapaper is a bookmarking service that allows you to save articles, videos, and podcast episodes for later consumption across all your devices, including iPhone, Android, and iPad.

Instapaper has over 2 million users and it’d be a good idea to share all your latest blog posts here.

24. Podcast

If you already have a podcast, you can repurpose your latest posts into new podcast episodes.

But if you don’t have one, you should know it’s now easier than ever to start your own podcast. You can use a free app like Spotify for Podcasters (available on iOS, Android, and desktop web) to start your podcast within a few minutes.

Spotify lets you record, host, and distribute your podcast on all the major podcast-playing platforms (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, etc.) at no extra cost.

25. Pocket

Pocket is a Mozilla-owned app that lets you curate articles, videos, and stories from any publication, page, or app.

Sharing your content on Pocket will help you reach an audience of over 20 million registered users.

26. Vimeo

Vimeo attracts more than 100 million unique visitors per month. If you publish videos on YouTube, you could replicate the same on Vimeo and reach out to a whole new audience.

27. Quora

You can republish some of your blog posts on Quora by creating your very own Quora blog.

In addition to this, you can also start answering relevant questions on Quora and include a link to your latest blog post that contains more information on the topic.

For more Quora marketing tips, check out How to Use Quora Marketing to Supercharge Your Content Strategy.

Final Thoughts on Content Sharing Sites

When you’ve published a great post, don’t just wait for SEO to do the magic and bring visitors to your site. Share your post on these 25+ places above and increase its reach and visibility.

Did I miss out on any of your favorite sites to share content? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

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Editor’s Note: This article was first published on November 11, 2019 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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10 Best YouTube Channels for Entrepreneurs

Sandeep Mallya — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 06:03:43 +0000

Ever since its launch in 2005, YouTube has been a great source for entertainment and education on just about every topic. Entrepreneurship is no exception. Regardless of where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, you’re sure to find something of value in the YouTube channels featured in this article.

This article features the 10 best YouTube channels for entrepreneurs, plus a few honorable mentions right at the end.

Below the description of each channel, you’ll find links to 3 of my favorite videos from that channel. I’ve included these links because all these channels contain tons of videos, so if you’ve just heard of them, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of information and lose track of time. Yes, you can always binge-watch all the videos from a particular channel, but if you’re like me, not all videos will resonate with you on the same level.

So without further ado, here are the 10 YouTube channels every entrepreneur should subscribe to.

Side note: This list specifically focuses on channels that cover entrepreneurship. If you’re looking for the best marketing channels on YouTube, check out my list of 15 best marketing YouTube channels and my curated list of best SEO YouTube channels.

Top 10 YouTube Channels for Entrepreneurs

1. Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss is an early-stage technology investor/advisor and the author of four #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek.

I’ve been a fan of Tim Ferriss ever since I first read The 4-Hour Workweek a few years ago. Since then, I’ve been tuning in to his podcast and his YouTube videos on a regular basis and I always look forward to his insightful emails.

Tim Ferriss’ YouTube channel is a great resource for entrepreneurs who are looking for productivity hacks, business advice, and interviews. Amidst these insightful videos, you’ll also find random fun stuff. Like two of his most popular videos on the channel are “How to Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs Without Peeling” and “How to do Basic Pen Tricks.”

With over a million subscribers to his channel and 1000+ videos, Ferriss’ channel contains a treasure trove of videos for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals alike.

Click here to subscribe to Tim Ferriss’ channel on YouTube

My 3 Favorite Tim Ferriss Videos

2. Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan is the founder of AppSumo, the hugely popular marketplace for entrepreneurs, and Sumo, a suite of list building tools for your website.

Noah’s YouTube channel features tutorials, motivational talks, and interviews. There’s also the added element of fun and humor in all his videos, so you’re going to learn and be entertained at the same time.

Although Noah created his channel seven years ago, he only became active on the platform in the last few months. He has over a million subscribers to his channel and continues to upload 1-3 videos each month.

Click here to subscribe to Noah Kagan’s YouTube channel

My 3 Favorite Noah Kagan Videos

3. Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn is a popular blogger, podcaster, and affiliate marketer, best known for his blog Smart Passive Income and his weekly podcast of the same name. Since 2008, Pat Flynn has built several new passive income businesses and has been publicly sharing everything he has learned along the way. Needless to say, he’s an inspiration to all aspiring bloggers and affiliate marketers.

With over 400,000 subscribers, Pat Flynn’s YouTube channel is one of the fastest-growing business channels on the platform.

His focus for the channel has always been on sharing various techniques to generate passive income online. As such, his channel features tons of strategies and advice that have helped him generate over $5 million in earnings through a diverse set of income streams – from affiliate marketing to books to public speaking.

Click here to subscribe to Pat Flynn’s YouTube channel

My 3 Favorite Pat Flynn Videos

4. Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, philanthropist, and business strategist. If you haven’t heard of Tony Robbins, I’d urge you to watch his insanely popular TED talk to get acquainted.

Tony Robbins’ YouTube channel contains the right mix of motivational talks, business advice, and life hacks. You’ll not find a lot of long-form content on his channel like you probably would on the other channels featured here, but the short-form videos are just as good.

Tony’s channel has over 1.9 million subscribers and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Click here to subscribe to Tony Robbins’ channel on YouTube

My 3 Favorite Tony Robbins Videos

5. HubSpot

HubSpot is an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.

HubSpot’s YouTube channel has come a long way since it was launched more than a decade ago. For the first few years, the channel mostly featured customer success stories and keynote presentation videos which were mostly targeted towards their target audience i.e., inbound marketing agencies.

In recent years, however, the channel has evolved into more of an educational hub for entrepreneurs and marketers alike. While they still upload plenty of videos featuring customer testimonials and keynote speeches, you’ll also find a variety of content on social media marketing, productivity, and emerging technology.

With over 400,000 subscribers, HubSpot’s YouTube channel is a must-watch channel for entrepreneurs, bloggers, and agency owners.

Click here to subscribe to HubSpot on YouTube

My 3 Favorite HubSpot Videos

6. TEDx Talks

Founded in 1984, TED has featured numerous talks on many scientific, cultural, and academic topics. Since June 2006, TED has been offering their talks for free viewing online on their website and distributing them through two different YouTube channels, TED and TEDx Talks.

The difference between these two events is that TED takes a more global approach while TEDx focuses on locally-driven ideas and elevates them to a global stage. Lara Stein, founder of TEDx, describes the TED philosophy as “simplified, authentic storytelling” and after you watch a few TEDx videos, you’ll know they strictly adhere to that philosophy.

As you’d expect, TEDx talks cover a wide gamut of topics, including entrepreneurship and productivity. It’s not just a great resource for inspiration and learning, but you’ll also realize the significance of storytelling watching the TEDx speakers.

TEDx Talks has over 40 million subscribers and a whopping 210,000+ videos.

Click here to subscribe to TEDx Talks on YouTube

My 3 Favorite TEDx Talks

7. Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk (aka GaryVee) is one of the leading marketing experts in the world and a New York Times best-selling author of books such as Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook and his most recent book Crushing It! He has a massive fan following on Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, and runs the hugely successful podcast, The GaryVee Audio Experience.

If you aren’t already following him on social, his YouTube channel can be a great place to get started.

GaryVee uploads new videos every day. As of this date, there are 2,000+ videos on the channel. These videos include snippets from his Q&A show #AskGaryVee, his daily video documentary series DailyVee, interviews, and keynote speeches.

From personal branding to productivity to social media marketing, GaryVee’s channel covers a wide range of topics that’ll help you grow your business and your personal brand.

At 4.3 million subscribers and counting, Gary Vaynerchuk is perhaps the most popular entrepreneur on YouTube.

Click here to subscribe to Gary Vaynerchuk’s YouTube channel

My 3 Favorite Gary Vaynerchuk Videos

8. Fast Company

Fast Company is the world’s leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design.

Fast Company’s YouTube channel features tons of business advice from entrepreneurs and creators as well as brand evolution videos of large brands like Apple, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola.

You’ll also find interviews with celebrities who are leveraging social media to grow their personal brand.

The channel has over 125,000 subscribers and they upload 3-5 videos each week.

Click here to subscribe to Fast Company’s channel on YouTube

My 3 Favorite Fast Company Videos

9. Moz

Moz builds SEO and content marketing tools, and as such, most of their videos revolve around these two topics. But I consider both SEO and content marketing to be essential aspects of entrepreneurship and play a vital role in growing your business, which is why I’ve featured Moz’s YouTube channel in this list.

Furthermore, the founder of Moz, Rand Fishkin, publishes a video on the channel every Friday, called Whiteboard Friday, where he explains and demystifies marketing concepts and reveals actionable SEO and marketing tips.

With over 90,000 subscribers, Moz is one of the most popular SEO channels on the platform.

Click here to subscribe to Moz on YouTube

My 3 Favorite Moz Videos

10. Video Creators

If you’re looking for ways to grow your YouTube channel, you should definitely subscribe to Tim Schmoyer’s Video Creators. Tim Schmoyer covers all things YouTube on his channel, sharing tips and ideas to optimize your YouTube videos for audience development, engagement, and sharing.

With 570,000+ subscribers and over 1000 videos, Video Creators is one of the best channels for YouTube marketing and growth.

Click here to subscribe to Video Creators on YouTube

My 3 Favorite Video Creators Videos

Honorable Mentions

There’s no dearth of content on YouTube when it comes to entrepreneurship and marketing, so I wouldn’t be doing justice to the platform if I just featured 10 best YouTube channels for entrepreneurs. As a result, I’ve mentioned here a few more channels which you should definitely check out.

Inc.

The YouTube channel of Inc. Magazine features videos covering virtually every business and management task including marketing, sales, finding capital, managing people, and much more. There are over 1,000 videos on the channel and Inc. updates it quite regularly with 3-5 uploads every week. To get started, watch this Mark Cuban interview where he talks about his early struggles and biggest successes.

Brian Dean

Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, is one of the most recognized authorities when it comes to SEO and link building. As you’d expect, his YouTube videos cover different aspects of SEO – from link building to keyword research to YouTube SEO. Brian Dean has over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and focuses on quality uploads rather than quantity. Click here to subscribe to Brian Dean’s YouTube channel.

Amy Landino

Amy Landino is an award-winning YouTuber, best-selling author, and professional keynote speaker. Her YouTube channel features tons of productivity and time management tips, and digital marketing advice. Click here to subscribe to Amy Landino’s YouTube channel.

Buffer

Buffer is a powerful social media management tool trusted by millions of brands, businesses, agencies, and individuals worldwide. If you’re looking for quick social media marketing tips, you’ll find Buffer’s YouTube videos extremely useful. Click here to subscribe to Buffer’s channel on YouTube.

vidIQ

vidIQ is one of the best YouTube SEO tools on the market. It’s the ultimate platform to get more views and subscribers for your YouTube channel. vidIQ’s YouTube channel features in-depth tutorials on how to use vidIQ as well as tips, tricks, and guides on how to grow your YouTube channel. The channel has over a million subscribers. Click here to subscribe.

Tips with Trena

Trena Little’s YouTube channel features the best tips, tricks, and YouTube strategic advice to help creative entrepreneurs and business owners leverage YouTube to grow their business. Trena uploads new videos every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe to Tips with Trena.

Neil Patel

Neil Patel is a serial entrepreneur and one of the top influencers on the web. His YouTube channel is one of the fastest-growing channels on the platform, with over a million subscribers. That’s because he updates the channel frequently with 3 videos every week. So there’s plenty of educational content you can look forward to when you subscribe. His delivery may seem forced and awkward at times, but there’s a lot of value in his content, especially if you’re new to marketing. Click here to subscribe to Neil Patel’s YouTube channel.

Semrush

Semrush is the de facto SEO and competition analysis tool for marketers and bloggers around the world. Semrush‘s YouTube channel has over 150,000 subscribers and features SEO tips, strategies, webinars, tutorials, and more to help businesses and bloggers get better at SEO and content marketing. Click here to subscribe to Semrush on YouTube.

Final Thoughts

So these are the YouTube channels every entrepreneur should subscribe to. Whether you’re an early-stage entrepreneur or the CEO of an established business, there’s a lot of knowledge you can gain by tuning in to any of these YouTube channels.

I’m sure there are other channels on the platform which I may have missed. Please let me know in the comments section if I’ve missed any of your favorite channels.

Side note: While you’re at it, please subscribe to the 99signals channel on YouTube as well. I upload 1-2 marketing tutorials and product reviews a month, but I’m planning to be a lot more active in the coming weeks. (I promise!)

Need more recommendations? Check out these other entrepreneur-focused articles from my blog:

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

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Editor’s Note: This article was first published on August 28, 2018 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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[Video + Article] Publer Review: Is it Better than Hootsuite, Buffer, and SocialBee?

Sandeep Mallya — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 05:34:32 +0000

Manually posting and scheduling content across all major social media platforms can be an exhausting process. Which is why you need to use a social media scheduling tool to streamline this complicated and time-consuming task.

In this article, I’ll be reviewing one such social media scheduling tool — Publer. You’ll learn about its key features, ease of use, analytics, pricing plans, and customer support. By the end of this review, you’ll know whether or not Publer is the right social media scheduling tool for your needs.

Let’s get started.

Editor’s Note: To get the most out of this review, I’d highly recommend you sign up for Publer’s free plan. This will allow you to implement some of the action items discussed in this review and will help you evaluate some of Publer’s key features.

Sign up for Publer’s free plan

Publer Review and Demo [Video]

Before we begin, you can check out my video review and walkthrough of Publer. This video gives you a top-level view of Publer’s key features and scheduling options. If you’d like a deeper analysis of all the features and pricing plans, scroll down to read the full review.

What is Publer?

Publer is a social media scheduling tool that lets you post, schedule, and analyze your posts on all major social channels.

With Publer, you can post and schedule your content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google My Business. You can even recycle and auto-schedule your posts to save time.

Most social media scheduling tools offer a free plan. But what sets Publer apart from the other scheduling tools on the market is that its free plan gives you access to advanced features like Auto-Schedule, link shortening, post preview, and more.

Publer’s free plan also offers higher limits. For instance, Publer’s free plan allows you to connect up to 5 social accounts, whereas tools like Buffer and Hootsuite let you connect a maximum of 3 social accounts with their free plan. But more on this in the pricing section…

How to Use Publer

The first thing you need to do after logging into your Publer account is to connect your social accounts. It’s a simple process that won’t take much of your time.

To add your social accounts to Publer, navigate to:

Accounts > Add Account

From here, select the social account that you’d like to add to Publer. You can connect your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google My Business accounts.

With Facebook, you have the option to connect your page, location, and group to Publer. Similarly, with LinkedIn, you can add both your profile and page to Publer. Based on your plan, you can connect multiple pages under each social network.

Instagram and Pinterest can be integrated to Publer only via Zapier. You’ll soon be able to connect your YouTube and VK accounts. At the time of writing this review, these features are not live yet.

Once you’ve added your social accounts to Publer, your Accounts page will look something like this:

You can now start posting and scheduling your content via Publer. To do this, visit the “Create” tab, select the specific account, and start composing your post.

Once you’re done composing, you can draft, schedule, or post your content to the selected social account.

Publer also provides you an option to preview your posts before you decide to post or schedule them on social media, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Next, let’s explore some of Publer’s key features.

Publer Review: Key Features

Social Media Scheduling Options

Once you’ve created your post on Publer, it’s time to post or schedule it using Publer’s scheduling options.

If you’d like your post to go out instantly, just select the specific social account(s) and hit the “Post” button. Your post will be published without any delay.

On the other hand, if you’d like to schedule your post, there are 4 ways you can do it — Manually, Auto-Schedule, Recycle, and Recurring.

Let’s examine each scheduling option in detail.

You can schedule your post manually by picking a date and time for your post to go live. It’s as simple as that.

The next method is to auto-schedule your post. To select this option, you’ll need to configure a posting schedule for the specific account.

To do this, visit the “Accounts” tab and select the account for which you’d like to set up a posting schedule.

Next, click on “Posting Schedule” and hit “Create timeslot.”

Select the days and update the time slots for each day.

Alternatively, if you’d like Publer to automatically fill the time slots for you, you can click on the “Autofill” button.

When you’re done, your posting schedule should look something like this:

Once your posting schedule is set up, return to the post that you’d like to schedule and hit “AutoSchedule.”

Your post will be automatically scheduled on the selected social account in the next available time slot.

The next scheduling option is to recycle your posts. Publer gives you the option to recycle your posts every week/month/year.

A super useful scheduling option if you have a lot of evergreen content on your blog.

The next scheduling option is the recurring option. This is similar to recycling your posts, but you can set a start date and an end date and choose to repeat your post until the end date.

So these are the 4 ways you can schedule your posts on Publer.

I personally use the AutoSchedule option to schedule my posts because it saves time and effort. You just have to set up your posting schedule once for each of your social accounts and simply hit the “Schedule” button every time you need to schedule something.

Post Preview

Publer allows you to preview each post before you post or schedule it on social media.

Once you’ve composed your post, click on the “Preview” button.

Publer will then show a preview of how your post will look on the selected social account when it’s live.

You can see how your post will look on the selected social network’s feed on both desktop and mobile.

If for some reason, you’re not entirely satisfied with the way your post looks or spot an error while previewing it, you can make the necessary changes and craft it just the way you want.

Hashtag Suggestion Generator

As the name suggests, this feature generates hashtag suggestions based on the content of your post. To use it, just click “#hashtags” while composing your post and you’ll see a list of relevant hashtags that you can include in your post.

For instance, my tweet on “Facebook Marketing Tools” generated these hashtag suggestions:

Alongside each hashtag, you’ll get real-time insights into its engagement rate.

Are hashtags just as popular as they once were? Certainly not. Are they still important? Most definitely!

Case in point: In one study, Instagram posts with 9 to 12 hashtags received more engagement than posts with any other number of hashtags.

Going by the current trends, hashtags seem to be more prevalent on Instagram than on Twitter, where their significance is declining. So use them sparingly while posting on Twitter.

Publer’s Hashtag Suggestion Generator is a real time-saver as you don’t need to manually research the hashtags that you’d want to include in your posts.

Signatures and Watermarks

You have the option to add signatures and watermarks to each piece of content that you post/schedule via Publer (except posts on Twitter).

If you want to enable these options, navigate to the “Accounts” tab and click on the specific account where you’d like to add a watermark or signature.

To add a watermark, click on “Watermarks” in your profile settings and upload your logo. You can add up to 10 watermarks.

Similarly, to add a signature, click on “Signatures” and create your signature.

Publer AI Assist

Publer’s AI Assist, powered by GPT-4, is a powerful feature that can help you create engaging content, generate stunning images, and respond to comments like a pro. By utilizing advanced algorithms and functionalities, you can tap into the potential of AI to boost your social media presence.

Here are some of the things AI Assist can do:

Brainstorm Ideas and Create – Publer’s AI Assistant not only recommends compelling content based on your input and current trends but also helps in discovering the ideal post by providing AI-generated A/B text versions.
Tailor Content to Social – Publer’s AI automatically tailors your social media posts for each platform, prioritizing your target audience’s preferences.
Rephrase Text – You can rephrase your text with AI for the purpose of repurposing content, or simply to improve its readability and clarity. This can save you a lot of time and effort, and it can also help you create more polished and professional content.
AI-Generated Images – AI Assist takes the hassle out of creating visual content for social media by generating beautiful, high-resolution images that are perfectly tailored to your brand and style.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. To learn more about what you can with Publer’s AI Assist, visit this page.

Publer Review: Ease of Use

Publer is insanely easy to use. From the setup process to post scheduling to post analytics, there’s nothing overwhelming about Publer.

If you’re migrating from Buffer, your learning curve will be short and you’ll find lots of similarities between the UI of Buffer and Publer. Similarly, if you’re migrating from Hootsuite or SocialBee, both of which are slightly more complicated to use, you’ll be amazed at how quickly and effortlessly you can get the ball rolling on Publer.

That said, Publer’s UI is far from perfect. It’s a bit rough around the edges and is too similar to Buffer. So I won’t be handing out any design awards to Publer just yet. But the UI is uncluttered, easy to navigate, and in the end, gets the job done.

Bottom line: Publer combines the simplicity of Buffer and the finesse of SocialBee to offer a scheduling tool that’s just as robust as it’s easy to use.

Publer Review: Analytics

It’s not enough to maintain an active presence on social media. You also need to measure your performance from time to time to see which posts are resonating with your audience and which posts are being ignored.

By default, Publer’s analytics report shows a summary of your performance across different social media channels over the past 7 days. You’ll see an increase/decrease in followers, page likes, post reach, engagement, and so on.

You can change the default view to reflect your performance for last week, this month, or last month.

While you’re in the analytics report, scroll all the way down till you find the “Post Insights” section. Here you’ll be able to see the reach and engagement your individual posts received.

You can even decide to reschedule your posts by clicking the share icon next to the post.

If you’d like to track performance for a specific social account, simply select the social account from the left side of your screen and your analytics report will be automatically updated to reflect the analytics of that specific account.

Publer Review: Pricing Plans

Publer offers 3 pricing plans – one free plan and two paid plans. The price of the paid plans varies based on the number of accounts and team members you opt for.

For instance, if you’d like to connect 10 social accounts to Publer and add 5 additional team members, the monthly price of the Professional plan would increase to $46/month and Business plan would cost you $78/month.

This is the current pricing structure that Publer follows (assuming that you’d like to add 10 social accounts to Professional or Business plan):

Free – $0/mo (3 social accounts, 1 user, 10 scheduled posts/mo)
Professional – $36/mo (10 social accounts, 1 user, unlimited scheduled posts)
Business – $63/mo (everything in Professional + AI Assist, Recycle Evergreen Content, Hashtag Suggestions)

Here’s a table that outlines features included in each plan:

Publer Plans (Compared)	Free	Professional	Business
Price	$0/mo	$36/mo	$63/mo
Social accounts	3	10	10
Scheduled posts	10	Unlimited	Unlimited
Bulk scheduling	X	✓	✓
Watermarks & Signatures	X	✓	✓
Auto-share & auto-delete	X	✓	✓
Automatic RSS posting	X	✓	✓
Hashtag suggestions	X	X	✓
AI Assist	X	X	✓
Free Trial	NA

Publer’s free plan is perfect for anyone who’s trying a social media scheduling tool for the first time or switching from another scheduling platform. With the free plan, you can connect up to 3 social media accounts and schedule up to 10 posts per account. You’ll even get access to useful features like Auto-Schedule, post preview, link in bio, link shortening, and more.

So before you opt for a paid plan, I’d encourage you to sign up for the free plan and test some of the essential features out.

Sign up for Publer’s free plan

Publer’s Professional plan unlocks additional features like watermarks, signatures, bulk scheduling, etc. and allows you to schedule unlimited posts. If you’d like to use Publer’s hashtag suggestion generator, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business plan.

Visit Publer’s pricing page to learn more

Publer Review: Customer Support

The true strength of a business lies in how they resolve customer complaints, challenges, and pain points. I found Publer’s customer support team to be quite responsive and their help documentation covers almost all aspects of the tool.

Publer provides customer support via chat, email, Facebook Messenger, and Twitter.

To get in touch with the support team, click on the chat icon on the lower right corner of your screen. This will open up a chat window and you can send in your questions here.

You can also contact them via FB Messenger by visiting their page on Facebook or get in touch with them on Twitter.

But before you try any of these options, check out their help documentation. It’s quite comprehensive and there are high chances you’ll get all your questions answered there.

To access Publer’s help docs, just tap on the search icon in the chatbox. This will open up Publer’s help center where you can skim through the questions or type something specific to your problem in the search bar to see if you can find a solution.

Publer Review: Publer vs Buffer vs Hootsuite vs SocialBee

Here’s the thing: There are a ton of social media scheduling tools on the market. So it’s not easy to zero in on one tool when you’re so spoilt for choice.

But quite frankly, the 3 tools that are dominating this space right now are Buffer, Hootsuite, and SocialBee. Check out any list of top social media scheduling tools, and chances are you’ll find all 3 tools featured prominently in the article.

In this section, we’ll briefly compare Publer with three of its fiercest competitors.

Functionality-wise, all of them offer basic scheduling features, but each one of them offers unique features that set them apart from the rest. For instance, Hootsuite offers social inbox, which allows you to interact with your audience across different channels by displaying private and public messages in one place.

Likewise, Buffer offers Instagram tagging, which allows you to add your location and user tags while scheduling Instagram posts on Buffer, instead of manually adding tags after the post is published.

Publer also offers features and advanced scheduling options that are unique to its platform. For instance, you can connect your Google My Business (GMB) profile to Publer and start scheduling posts to your account. Both Publer and SocialBee allow you to recycle your posts.

The table below provides a quick glimpse of how Publer compares with Buffer, Hootsuite, and SocialBee:

Basic Plan (Comparison)	Publer	Buffer	Hootsuite	SocialBee
Price (Starts at)	$12/mo	$18/mo	$99/mo	$19/mo
Social accounts	3	8	10	5
Scheduled posts	Unlimited	100/account	Unlimited	1000/category
Auto-Schedule	✓	✓	✓	X
Post Recycling	✓	X	X	✓
Watermarks & Signatures	✓	X	X	X
Bulk Scheduling	✓	X	✓	X
Social Monitoring	X	X	✓	X
GMB Integration	✓	X	X	X
Free Trial

In terms of pricing, Publer is the most affordable of the four. Publer’s paid plans start from $12/month, where you can connect 3 social accounts and schedule unlimited posts. Moreover, you also get access to advanced features like bulk scheduling, auto-schedule, post recycling, and more. When it comes to value, Publer easily beats all three of its rivals.

And as mentioned earlier, Publer’s free plan offers more features and higher limits than the free plans offered by its counterparts.

So if you were to use and compare the free plans offered by all these tools (except SocialBee, which offers no free plan), you’d get a lot more value from Publer.

Sign up for Publer’s free plan

Publer Review: Final Verdict

Publer is an easy-to-use social media scheduling tool that provides you with multiple scheduling options, advanced features, and in-depth analytics. If you’re seeking an affordable social media scheduler that has all the essential features, you should definitely try Publer.

If you signed up for Publer’s free account at the start of this review, you’d have tried some of the aforementioned features in real-time and scheduled a few posts to see how it works. If you’re still unsure whether to invest in this tool, I’d suggest you keep using the free version until the time you’re convinced this is the right scheduling tool for your needs.

Sign up for Publer’s free plan

If you found this Publer review useful, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

Publer Review: Is it Better than Hootsuite, Buffer, and SocialBee? Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 11 Aug 2020 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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15 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Social Media Marketing

Ria Gran — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 16:15:28 +0000

Managing a brand’s social media can be a tedious job with the amount of planning and creativity expected to do it well. The workload can get unnecessarily busy without tools and automations in place — taking out time to step back, look at the bigger picture, and improve on what’s not working.

Luckily, the Chrome Web Store has sourced a huge collection of extensions (or little helpers as we like to call it) that can significantly cut down the time you usually spend on tasks. Social media managers, for one, can surely benefit from productivity boosts with a little help from technology.

Working smart is the new way to win. Start by checking out these 15 Chrome extensions that can help you operate on social media faster and better.

Side note: Want to optimize your search rankings with Chrome extensions for SEO? Check out 25 Best Google Chrome Extensions for SEO.

Top 15 Chrome Extensions for Social Media Marketing

1. Any.do

Social media managers wear many hats — they’re a planner, a customer support officer, a community manager, and sometimes even more in small teams. What better way to stay on top of things than to create a list and tackle tasks one by one? The Any.do extension gives you a to-do list that you can easily pull up right from your browser window. With its default categories Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming, and Someday, it’s easy to remember everything that you have to do.

What We Like About It

The clean and straightforward interface makes it so easy to use. It also allows you to drag and drop tasks between categories, making it simple to reorganize when priorities change.

Add Any.do extension to Chrome

2. LastPass

LastPass is the smartest way to all the information you need to navigate across multiple social profiles. Aside from passwords, you can save login credentials, contacts, and even credit card details.

What We Like About It

Once installed, it detects input fields you have saved information for, allowing you to fill them in with one click.

Add LastPass extension to Chrome

3. Grammarly

Social media managers know the risk of publishing a post only to find it’s grammatically faulty. It happens to all of us, but Grammarly minimizes that room for errors with a spelling and grammar checker you can add right on to your browser.

What We Like About It

Not only does this tool help us craft grammatically correct posts — the new update includes suggestions for concise writing, plus detection of your writing tone to make sure you stick to your brand’s voice.

Add Grammarly extension to Chrome

4. SimilarWeb

We usually use SimilarWeb to find various sites in a niche for blog outreach, but the service’s Chrome extension proves to be extra helpful as it gives you quick insights on a site’s performance and marketing efforts.

With the extension installed, you can take a look at your competitors’ profiles and figure out where they’re directing most of their efforts and who they’re talking to.

What We Like About It

The extension loads valuable insights on a site in seconds. It provides data on a site’s engagement rates, audience location, and traffic sources.

Add SimilarWeb extension to Chrome

5. Reverso

If your social community is comprised of people from different parts of the world, it’s important to engage with them using the language they speak. Reverso works like Google Translate, but it does the job with context, making translations more accurate.

What We Like About It

Reverso also works on your English input by checking that it’s free from grammar and punctuation errors. Additionally, the extension currently supports more than 10 languages, from Japanese, German, Mandarin, and more.

Add Reverso extension to Chrome

6. RiteTag

Hashtags increase a post’s discoverability, hence it’s crucial to select them carefully and not occupy the post with a bunch of random tags. RiteTag pulls up hashtag suggestions for you based on real-time hashtag engagement, so you only include tags that are relevant and effective.

What We Like About It

RiteTag provides hashtag suggestions for both text and images. When crafting a post, you only have to highlight your text or right-click on an image you’re attaching to the post and click ‘Generate Hashtags’ to get a list of hashtags you can incorporate to your post.

The extension works on popular social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Add RiteTag extension to Chrome

7. Drag

Social media managers tend to have an overwhelming inbox on a daily basis, with emails containing output from graphic designers, new content requests from the marketing team, and customer inquiries to respond to. Drag transforms a busy inbox into a collaborative board that allows you to visually map your workflow right from Gmail.

What We Like About It

With Drag, you can start an empty board, drag emails into it, and form a Trello-like board with task statuses and progress. Team members can access shared boards and even start a real-time chat to get things done faster.

Add Drag extension to Chrome

8. Soapbox

For small teams, video production for marketing usually stays in the back-burner due to lack of resources. Soapbox takes that problem away with a Chrome extension where you can easily record and edit videos without having to download any software.

What We Like About It

It’s great for support and explainer videos. You can record your face and the screen at the same time, and Soapbox will let you select how you want to split the video screen after recording. It also simplifies adding transitions and customizing your videos’ thumbnails with its no frills editor.

Add Soapbox extension to Chrome

9. Guru

When you work with a team, it’s important to be on the same page with content guidelines such as structure, tone, and frequency. Most teams keep a document detailing these things, but it’s easy for these documents to get buried among piles of other files.

Guru allows you to instantly access any shared knowledge you need for a task. No more opening a new tab — simply pull up the sidebar and enter tags and keywords to find the document you need.

What We Like About It

Guru works faster than looking up a document on the Drive. You can add team members to your ‘Tribe’ and assign them as point persons for specific documents. You can then ask anyone a question on a document you’re trying to locate or verify. The interface is very intuitive and truly makes knowledge sharing a breeze.

Add Guru extension to Chrome

10. Planyway

Planyway is a Trello extension that integrates a Gantt chart and calendar to your boards. It is hands down the best platform to create a social media calendar in as it makes planning and managing your content easy as pie.

What We Like About It

It takes on Trello’s easy drag and drop function for both its calendar and Gantt chart function. It also allows you to sync your Google Calendar to a board so you can consider upcoming events when planning your posting schedule.

Add Planyway extension to Chrome

11. URL Shortener

Long URLs on your social posts can make them look hasty and unprofessional. A trusty shortener on your browser can not only help you work faster, but also add your brand to your links.

The URL Shortener extension allows you to add your own domain name, set expiration dates, and customize access to your links.

What We Like About It

A small but notable feature — it shortens links in a snap and automatically copies the shortened URL to clipboard. Saves you the back and forth you end up doing when you miss clicking the copy link button.

Add URL Shortener to Chrome

12. Piktab

Attaching quality visuals to your social media posts is a proven way to increase engagement. Social media managers then need to constantly be on the lookout for inspiration, and Piktab makes that easy.

With Piktab installed, new tabs open up a gallery of design ideas you can apply to any social media graphic. Just type in your keywords and get access to resources free for commercial use.

What We Like About It

Piktab gives you inspiration for graphics, videos, and even newsletter designs. It also pulls up high-definition stock photos and icons you can use to layout graphics for announcements or greetings.

Add Piktab extension to Chrome

13. Pablo

Now that you have a reliable resource for graphics and design inspiration, it’s time to make layouting quick. The Pablo extension for Chrome opens up a simple layout editor with templates for quotes, announcements, or promotions.

What We Like About It

Aside from 600k high-quality images that you can use as backgrounds for your social media graphics, Pablo is ready with a collection of quotes you can use for your weekly postings!

Get Pablo extension to Chrome

14. vidIQ

vidIQ allows you to understand what’s working for high-ranking YouTube videos so you can apply it to your own. You can use the extension to assess any of your current videos and get insights on how to improve SEO friendliness and popularity, so as to not let any video content go to waste.

What We Like About It

Being able to see video tags for any video can help you understand how to go head to head with your competitors on YouTube. The extension is also completely free, which is amazing with the amount of information it provides!

Add vidIQ extension to Chrome

15. Flaunt

Reporting for social media performance can be time-consuming especially when you work with more than one client. Like a trusty assistant, Flaunt makes reporting easier by generating intelligible reports out of screenshots of your campaign results.

What We Like About It

It cuts all the time it takes to compile data and generate tables. You only need to take screenshots and add short descriptions to performance points you want to see on your report. Flaunt takes cues from your ratings on the Awesomeness Meter for each screenshot to identify great points and aspects that can be improved on future campaigns.

Summary

We hope this list introduced you to smart solutions that can make managing social media less overwhelming. Check out the Chrome Web Store for more extensions made for productivity and discover tools suited to help you perform better with less effort.

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

15 Best Google Chrome Extensions for Social Media Marketing Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 18 January 2020 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance, freshness, and comprehensiveness.

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12 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Level Up Your Strategy

Sandeep Mallya — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 04:30:10 +0000

With over 3.9 billion social media users worldwide, it’s safe to say every marketing strategy requires a social component to succeed.

Since the social media landscape changes so rapidly, it’s important that marketers stay updated with all the latest trends, features, and algorithm updates. One way to stay updated is by tuning in regularly to social media marketing podcasts.

The 12 social media marketing podcasts featured in this article are packed with insights, tips, and strategies to level up your social media marketing game. Make sure you subscribe to them on your favorite podcast app.

12 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts for Online Marketers

1. Social Pros Podcast

Hosted by: Jay Baer and Adam Brown

Launched in 2012, Social Pros is one of the oldest and most popular social media marketing podcasts on the web. Hosted by Jay Baer of Convince & Convert and Adam Brown of Salesforce, the podcast features inside stories and behind-the-scenes secrets about how companies like Ford, Dell, IBM, ESPN, and several more staff, operate and measure their social media programs.

Each episode includes insights from a leading social media strategist plus current trends and ideas in the social media industry, discussed and ratified or debunked by Baer and Brown. Tune in for insights from two of the leading experts in the field.

Learn more: Website / Apple Podcasts

Recommended Episodes

2. Savvy Social Podcast

Hosted by: Andréa Jones

Savvy Social is a weekly social media marketing podcast hosted by social media strategist Andréa Jones of OnlineDrea.com.

The podcast covers all aspects of social media and features chats with other industry professionals who share insights on what social media strategies have worked for them.

Learn more: Website / Apple Podcasts / Spotify

Recommended Episodes

3. The Science of Social Media

Hosted by: The Buffer Team

The Science of Social Media is a weekly podcast by Buffer, one of the most widely-used social media scheduling tools on the market.

Buffer’s podcast mainly focuses on social media marketing, with each episode containing actionable advice and strategies on how to grow your social media presence.

Learn more: Website / Apple Podcasts

Recommended Episodes

4. Online Marketing Made Easy

Hosted by: Amy Porterfield

Leading online marketing strategist Amy Porterfield’s podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy, is designed to help you take immediate action on the most important strategies for starting, scaling, and automating your online business.

The podcast features mini marketing masterclasses on a wide range of marketing topics, step-by-step guides, and interviews with successful entrepreneurs.

Need help with Facebook ads? Want to improve your LinkedIn presence? Thinking about creating an online course? Tune in for answers to all your marketing challenges.

Learn more: Website / Apple Podcasts / Spotify

Recommended Episodes

5. Social Media Marketing Podcast

Hosted by: Michael Stelzner

Hosted by Social Media Examiner’s founder Michael Stelzner, the Social Media Marketing podcast has been consistently ranking in the top 10 marketing podcasts for the last seven years.

In the podcast, Stelzner shares success stories and expert interviews from leading social media marketing pros. You’ll discover how successful companies use social media, learn new strategies and tactics, and gain actionable tips to improve your social media marketing.

Listen on: Website / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts

Recommended Episodes

6. The Life of a Social Media Manager

Hosted by: Maria Ganta and Theo Stanciu

The Life of a Social Media Manager is a weekly social media marketing podcast by Socialinsider, a social media analytics and reporting company.

Every week, hosts Theo and Maria from Socialinsider talk with industry experts to discover what it takes to build a successful career as a social media manager.

Marketers from some of the biggest brands worldwide, such as HBO Max, Pinterest, Canva, and Puma, discuss what they love about the job, what they find challenging, strategy tips, and more.

With an average of 30 minutes, the podcast is perfect to start your day with.

Listen on: Spotify / Website

Recommended Episodes

7. The GaryVee Audio Experience

Hosted by: Gary Vaynerchuk

If there’s one person who’s mastered the art of social media marketing, it’s Gary Vaynerchuk. He has a huge following on almost every social network — from established networks like Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to emerging platforms like TikTok.

On each of these platforms, Vaynerchuk consistently uploads native content that resonates with his audience. His podcast is no different.

The GaryVee Audio Experience covers a mix of Vaynerchuk’s #AskGaryVee show episodes, keynote speeches, snippets from the DAILYVEE video series, and original podcast content.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Spotify

Recommended Episodes

8. Social Media Marketing Talk Show

Hosted by: The Social Media Examiner Team

Social Media Marketing Talk Show is another podcast by Social Media Examiner. While Michael Stelzner’s personal podcast focuses on actionable social media strategies, Social Media Marketing Talk Show focuses on trending social media news stories.

Each week, the Social Media Examiner team brings you expert commentary on breaking social media marketing news from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Listen in to gain quick social media insights.

Learn more: Website / Apple Podcasts

Recommended Episodes

9. The Art of Online Business

Hosted by: Rick Mulready

Previously called The Art of Paid Traffic, Rick Mulready’s podcast is a primer on all aspects of paid advertising. In the podcast, Mulready shares Facebook and Instagram ad strategies you can use to create a foundation for more freedom, leads, and sales in your business.

Tune in to the podcast for practical tips, actionable strategies, and detailed case studies to help you build a successful online business.

Learn more: Website / Stitcher

Recommended Episodes

10. Masters of Scale

Hosted by: Reid Hoffman

Hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, Masters of Scale is a weekly podcast featuring the best startup advice from Silicon Valley and beyond. Each week, Hoffman invites iconic founders and CEOs who share the stories and strategies that helped them grow their companies from startups into global brands.

Past guests on the show have included successful online entrepreneurs such as Ben Chestnut from Mailchimp, Instagram’s Kevin Systrom, Stewart Butterfield from Slack, and many more.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Spotify

Recommended Episodes

11. Hashtag Authentic

Hosted by: Sara Tasker

Sara Tasker is an Instagram expert with over 200k followers on the platform and a thriving six-figure online business. Hashtag Authentic is her weekly podcast where she guides you through the lessons and strategies she learned to build a successful business.

Tune in for an insider’s view of all things Instagram, blogging, social media and beyond.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts

Recommended Episodes

12. Marketing Mantra

Hosted by: Sandeep Mallya

Marketing Mantra is an online marketing podcast I launched in 2018 with aim to share actionable marketing strategies and tactics that have worked for me at my blog and my digital marketing agency.

The podcast also features interviews with entrepreneurs and marketing experts who share their success stories and proven marketing strategies. Past guests on the podcast have included Matthew Woodward, Daniel Daines-Hutt from AmpMyContent, Alexandra Tachalova from Digital Olympus, Vlad Calus from Planable, and many more.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts / Spotify

Recommended Episodes

Final Thoughts

That wraps up my list of must-listen social media marketing podcasts. Did I miss one of your favorite social media podcasts? Please let me know in the comments section below.

Need more podcast recommendations? Check out these articles as well:

If you liked this article, please share it on Twitter using the link below:

10 Best Social Media Podcasts to Level Up Your Social Media Strategy Click to Tweet

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on 14 January 2020 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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12 Best Social Media Scheduling Tools for 2024

Sandeep Mallya — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 18:49:05 +0000

Social media is evolving at a rapid pace, and it can be daunting for marketers and entrepreneurs alike to keep pace.

This is where social media scheduling tools can help you publish content consistently and save precious time that you can then devote to more essential tasks.

By using the right scheduling tools, you can have an active presence on all your social channels and perfectly time your posts on each channel by scheduling content in advance.

In this article, we’ll reveal 12 of the best social media scheduling tools you can use to manage your social media channels and optimize your social presence.

Top 12 Social Media Scheduling Tools

1. Publer

Publer is a social media scheduler that helps you post, schedule, and analyze your content on all major social channels.

One of my favorite things about this tool is its minimalistic user interface. You can connect your social accounts and start scheduling content within minutes.

Some of Publer’s unique features include Google My Business (GMB) integration, auto-scheduling, and bulk media uploader.

Editor’s Note: If you’d like to learn more about Publer’s key features such as auto-scheduling posts, recurring and recycling posts, watch my in-depth Publer review and tutorial below:

Publer Pricing Plans

Publer is easily one of the best free social media scheduling tools on the market. Publer’s free plan allows you to connect up to 3 social accounts and schedule up to 10 posts.

If you’d like to add more social accounts and additional team members, you’ll need to upgrade to Publer’s Professional plan.

Here’s the pricing structure Publer follows:

Free – $0 (3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts, 1 user)
Professional – $12/mo (3 social accounts (cutomizable), unlimited posts)
Business – $21/mo (3 social accounts (cutomizable), unlimited posts, premium features)

The pricing for Professional and Business plans changes as you add more social accounts and team members. To learn more about Publer’s pricing plans, visit their pricing page.

Publer (Free Plan)

Learn more: Publer Review: Is it Better than Hootsuite, Buffer, and SocialBee?

2. Circleboom Publish

Circleboom is the most comprehensive social media management platform that allows you to create, design, edit, publish and schedule your social media posts in an effective way. In my opinion, the best part of using Circleboom is that you pay for only what you need.

Circleboom supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Google Business Profile. You can connect multiple accounts into its simple, intuitive dashboard and manage them simultaneously.

You can create and design your content with built-in tools like Canva, Unsplash, and GIPHY. These tools offer excellent ready-to-go templates, handy photos, gifs, graphics, animations, filters, various fonts, and other materials to embellish your posts. You don’t have to remember the post size requirements of each platform because Circleboom provides the best for you.

You can save your time and energy on Circleboom. Just connect RSS feeds to your accounts and automate your social media posts. So, imagine that you can tweet even while you are sleeping! Also, the “Discover Articles” feature helps you find the latest articles related to your interests and share them with your friends.

Circleboom Pricing Plans

Circleboom’s most popular plan, the Premium plan, allows you to connect 10 social media accounts and schedule unlimited posts.

Here are Circleboom’s monthly pricing plans:

Pro – $29.99/mo (5 social accounts, 300 scheduled posts, 50 RSS connections, unlimited content curation)
Premium – $44.99/mo (10 social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts, 50 RSS connections, unlimited content curation)
Business – $89.99/mo (30 social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts, 100 RSS connections, unlimited content curation)
Enterprise – $249.99/mo (100 social accounts, unlimited scheduled posts, 100 RSS connections, unlimited content curation)

For all plans, if you choose annual billing, you will get 2 months free.

Circleboom Free Trial

(No credit card required)

START YOUR TRIAL

3. Buffer

Buffer was my favorite social media scheduler for the longest time (until I started using Publer and SocialBee – see #1 and #4). I’ve been using their services for almost a decade.

I love the simplicity of the interface and the ease with which you can post, schedule, and analyze content on all your social media accounts. It’s the ideal social media scheduler for solopreneurs, bloggers, and small business owners.

The customer support team is also very friendly and responds promptly to customer queries via chat or Twitter. On a side note, if you like listening to marketing podcasts, then be sure to tune into their weekly podcast The Science of Social Media.

Buffer Pricing Plans

Buffer’s free plan allows you to schedule up to 10 posts per day to 3 social accounts. If you upgrade to the Essentials plan, you can add unlimited social accounts and schedule unlimited posts. With the Essentials plan, you can also connect your Pinterest profile and start scheduling content on the platform using Buffer.

Here are Buffer’s monthly pricing plans:

Free – $0/mo (1 user, 3 social accounts, 10 scheduled posts per social account)
Essentials – $6/mo for 1 channel (unlimited scheduling)
Team – $12/mo for 1 channel (unlimited scheduling)
Agency – $120/mo for 10 channels (custom access and permissions, unlimited scheduling)

You can opt for annual billing and get two months free with all paid plans.

Click here to sign up for the free plan or try the Essentials plan for free for 14 days.

4. SocialBee

Thanks to AppSumo, I was able to secure lifetime access to SocialBee’s Accelerate plan a few months ago. And I’ve been in love with this social media tool ever since.

SocialBee is an all-in-one social media scheduling app that lets you schedule posts, curate content, and grow your audience. SocialBee works as a social media scheduler, but it also helps you automate the whole process by assigning each post to a specific content category, making it easier for you to schedule content based on categories, rather than individual posts.

SocialBee’s best feature, from my own experience, is something called “Evergreen posting.” All content creators know the importance of evergreen content i.e., content that stays relevant forever. Evergreen content can be anything – a blog post, a video, a podcast episode, or even a quote.

With SocialBee, you need not waste time sharing such posts again and again. Once a content category is set to be “Evergreen”, the tool keeps recycling that content until you want to.

SocialBee Free Trial

Try SocialBee for free for 14 days

(No credit card required)

START YOUR TRIAL

Editor’s Note: To learn more about SocialBee’s key features, please check out my in-depth video review and walkthrough below:

SocialBee Pricing Plans

SocialBee has no free plan, but you can try the tool for free for 14 days. Below are the 3 main pricing plans of SocialBee:

Bootstrap – $29/mo (1 workspace, 5 social profiles, analytics up to 3 months of data)
Accelerate – $49/mo (1 workspace, 10 social profiles, analytics up to 2 years of data)
Pro – $99/mo (5 workspaces, 25 social profiles, analytics up to 2 years of data)

Click here to sign up for a 14-day free trial of SocialBee

5. Pallyy

Pallyy is a social media scheduler tailor-made for social media agencies and managers. It’s relatively new compared to the other tools on this list, but it has all the essential features that you’d expect from a robust social media scheduling tool.

With Pallyy, you can post and schedule content across all major social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram. In addition, Pallyy lets you post and schedule content on your Google My Business (GMB) page.

Pallyy Pricing Plans

With Pally’s free plan, you can schedule 15 posts per month on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and GMB.

Pallyy’s premium pricing costs $18/mo. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial to test out the tool’s features.

Start a 14-day free trial of Pallyy

6. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is quite possibly the most popular social media scheduling software in the world, used by over 18 million users worldwide. Even if you haven’t used Hootsuite before, you’re probably familiar with Hootsuite’s mascot, Owly.

Hootsuite’s mascot Owly went through rebranding in 2014

Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media platform that allows you to curate and schedule content, measure your social ROI, run social media ads, and more.

With Hootsuite, you can manage all of your social networks in one convenient dashboard and get a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening in your social universe.

Hootsuite even has a free plan which allows you to manage up to 3 social profiles. Click here to create your free Hootsuite account.

Hootsuite Pricing Plans

Hootsuite no longer offers a free plan. You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of the first two plans:

Professional – $99/mo (10 social accounts, unlimited scheduling, 1 user)
Team – $249/mo (20 social accounts, unlimited scheduling, 3 users)
Enterprise – Custom (Starts at 5 users and 50 social accounts)

Try Hootsuite free for 30 days

7. Sprout Social

Sprout is a collaborative social media management platform that brings together advanced social media publishing tools and intuitive workflows so you can efficiently plan, schedule, and post content across different social networks from a single platform.

Sprout’s easy-to-use interface and powerful features can help you visualize and manage all your posts across multiple profiles and networks from one beautiful calendar.

In addition to scheduling your content on various social platforms, you can use Sprout as a collaboration tool among your marketing teams. Furthermore, you get access to Sprout’s social media analytics and trend reports, which can help you optimize your social media following.

Sprout Social Pricing Plans

Sprout Social’s pricing starts at $249/month, making it slightly more expensive than the other tools featured in this list. As a result, Sprout is positioned as a business solution for large agencies and businesses.

Standard – $249/mo (5 social profiles, social media calendar)
Professional – $399/mo (10 social profiles, scheduling for optimal send times)
Advanced – $499/mo (10 social profiles, chatbots with automation tools)

Currently, all plans include a free 30‑day trial. Click here for more details.

8. Social Media Poster (by Semrush)

Social Media Poster is a new addition to Semrush, one of the leading SEO and competition analysis software in the world. With Social Media Poster, you can schedule posts and analyze your social media performance on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Social Media Poster Pricing

Social Media Poster is a part of the Semrush software suite, and as such, you’ll need an active subscription to Semrush to access it. The pricing for Semrush starts from $129.95/month. Click here for more details.

If you haven’t used Semrush before, I highly recommend you sign up for a 14-day trial of Semrush Pro by clicking the link below. The trial will give you full access to all the tools within Semrush, including Social Media Poster.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER

Semrush

Experience the full power of Semrush Pro with a 14-day free trial.

To learn more about Semrush and its key features, check out my in-depth Semrush review

9. Planable

If you own a digital marketing agency, then Planable is the best social media scheduling platform you can opt for.

Aside from using Planable as a social media scheduler for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you can keep everyone in the loop with one shared space for your team and clients to collaborate. You can treat it as your agency’s centralized hub for ideas, content, and feedback.

Planable has a visually appealing user interface, making it easier for you to plan your social media calendar. It also keeps your content in one, perfectly organized place to help you work more efficiently.

Planable Pricing Plans

Free – $0/user/mo (50 total posts)
Basic – $13/user/mo (Unlimited posts, 4 social media pages, 2 approval workflows)
Pro – $26/user/mo (Unlimited posts, 10 social media pages, 3 approval workflows)
Enterprise – Custom (Unlimited posts, unlimited social media pages, multi-level approval workflows)

Try Planable for free

10. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is yet another social media scheduling tool that helps you manage all your social media marketing efforts in one place. CoSchedule allows you to create a predefined social sharing plan to reuse again and again, so you can focus on creating content rather than waste time sharing content on social channels manually.

One of CoSchedule’s best features is Best Time Scheduling, which lets you intelligently share your messages at the highest traffic times for each network with minimal effort.

CoSchedule Pricing Plans

Free Calendar – $0 (1 user, 2 social profiles, up to 15 scheduled posts)
Social Calendar – $29/user/month (Up to 3 users, 5 social profiles, unlimited posts)
Content Calendar – Contact CoSchedule for pricing (Up to 5 users, 10 social profiles)
Marketing Suite – Contact CoSchedule for pricing (Custom user limits, custom social profile limits)

Try CoSchedule for free

11. Agorapulse

Similar to Hootsuite, Agorapulse is also an all-in-one social media platform with scheduling and reporting features. Agorapulse’s solution is tailored mostly towards marketing teams and agencies.

Agorapulse is a popular social media solution among agencies, including Ogilvy and TBWA. This is because with Agorapulse, you can invite your clients to approve draft posts and tweets with its unique client review and publishing workflow system. Furthermore, you can download engaging social media reports with key metrics and analysis on engagement and growth to present to your clients.

That said, Agorapulse also has plans designed specifically for small and large businesses alike.

Agorapulse Pricing

Standard – $59/user/mo (10 social profiles)
Professional – $99/user/mo (15 social profiles)
Advanced – $149/user/mo (20 social profiles)
Enterprise – Custom

You can save up to 20% by opting for annual billing.

Currently, Agora Pulse is offering a free trial on all the above plans except the Enterprise plan. Click here to learn more.

12. PromoRepublic

PromoRepublic is a social commerce platform primarily aimed at small businesses to help them grow their presence on social media. It’s not just a social media scheduling tool, but a social media content creation and automation tool.

PromoRepublic features a post ideas library with 100,000+ hand-crafted visuals, integrated photo stocks, and easy-to-use graphics editor.

Furthermore, PromoRepublic is integrated with every major social media platform you’d need to start posting.

PromoRepublic Pricing

PromoRepublic essentially offers three pricing plans:

Small business – $59/mo (1 user, 10 social media accounts)
Agency – $99/mo (10 users, 30 social media accounts)
Multi-location – Custom

You can save up to 25% by opting for annual billing on the above plans.

Click here to try PromoRepublic for free for 14 days

Side note: If you’d like to learn more about PromoRepublic’s key features, I’d urge you to watch this video below where I talk about all the key features of the tool in detail and also provide a quick walkthrough of the product.

Conclusion

So these are the 12 social media scheduling tools we’d recommend to manage and streamline your social media content.

Whether you’re a solopreneur, agency owner, or the head of a large marketing team in a Fortune 500 company, social media scheduling tools can save you time, build your social community, and help you optimize your content distribution.

Do you think we missed out on any of your favorite social media scheduling tools? Which tool do you use to schedule your content on social media? Let us know in the comments section.

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on Aug 17, 2018 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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The post 12 Best Social Media Scheduling Tools for 2024 appeared first on 99signals.

9 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business

Sandeep Mallya — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:31:35 +0000

Chatbots, including ChatGPT, Watson, and BERT, have surged in popularity lately, thanks mainly to groundbreaking advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and natural language processing (NLP).

To show just how mainstream chatbots have become, consider that there are now a whopping 300,000 chatbots on Facebook.

Chatbots are being increasingly used by businesses of all sizes to interact with their prospective and existing customers, not just in the area of customer support, but also in sales and marketing.

According to Outgrow, 53% of customers are more likely to shop with businesses that they can message.

Chatbot marketing may seem complicated at first, but due to the emergence of chatbot platform tools, creating and distributing a chatbot on your website and messaging apps is now easier than ever.

In this article, I’ve compiled a list of 9 best chatbot builders that you can use to build your very own chatbot and supercharge your marketing.

But first, let’s cover the basics of chatbot marketing.

(Already know the basics? Click here to jump straight to the list of best chatbot builders.)

What is a Chatbot?

A chatbot is an AI-powered software that can simulate a conversation with users via a chat interface on a website or a messaging app like Facebook Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, or Telegram.

With the help of chatbot technology, businesses can streamline their sales process and provide better customer support.

From the consumer standpoint, chatbots can make it easier for users to find the exact solutions they are looking for, without wasting any time spent on searching or navigating a website.

The chatbot technology is enabled through a set of if-then rule statements programmed via a chatbot builder.

In most cases, you don’t require coding knowledge to create even the most advanced chatbots, thanks to some of the most innovative chatbot-building platforms which we will reveal below.

How Do Chatbots Work?

Chatbots are enabled through a technology called natural language processing (NLP), a subfield of computer science and AI that is concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages.

Essentially, chatbots process the text presented to them by users, interpret what they’ve said, and determine a series of appropriate responses based on this information.

Chatbot Examples: 3 of the Most Creative Chatbots on the Web

George Bernard Shaw once said, “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery — it’s the sincerest form of learning.” So before you start building your own chatbot, let’s take inspiration from the 3 most creative chatbots on the web.

Chatbot Example #1: LEGO

LEGO’s chatbot, Ralph, is a classic example of customer support done well. Ralph acts as a virtual shopping assistant on Facebook Messenger and helps users find the perfect LEGO gifts for special occasions. This reduces the indecision consumers typically face while shopping for gifts.

Image Credit: Edelman Digital

Ralph the chatbot asks users questions like their age, budget, and the type of LEGO sets they are interested in. A few seconds later, Ralph presents a slew of kits ready for purchase.

Ralph was responsible for driving 25% of all in-season online sales, providing a 6x return on ad spend within certain markets.

Try the chatbot here

Chatbot Example #2: Hipmunk

Hipmunk is a platform that helps travelers find the best travel deals. In other words, people can use the platform to book flights, hotels, and rental cars.

To help travelers book flights and hotels more easily, Hipmunk created a chatbot, Hello Hipmunk, which is available on Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Slack.

Image Credit: Hackernoon

The chatbot uses the traveler’s location to determine where they are traveling from and sends them great deals from that location. The chatbot also shares maps, helping users ensure that the bot has determined the right location.

Try the chatbot here

Chatbot Example #3: TechCrunch

TechCrunch is one of the leading technology blogs on the web. Their chatbot is a content marketing chatbot that shares personalized content from their blog.

Image Credit: TechCrunch

The chatbot allows users to pick the number of times they’d like to receive new content, along with the type of content they’d like to receive (gadgets, startups, apps, etc.)

The TechCrunch chatbot is available on both Telegram and Facebook Messenger.

Try the chatbot here

Now that you the basics about chatbots and have seen some of the most creative chatbot examples, here’s a list of the 9 best chatbot platform tools.

9 Best Chatbot Builders

1. Customers.ai (Formerly MobileMonkey)

Customers.ai (formerly Mobile Monkey) is a popular Facebook Messenger platform that lets you build chatbots on Facebook Messenger, grow your contact list, segment your audience, and even build messenger funnels (an alternative to landing pages) that opt people into audiences when they click on the ad.

The chatbots created via Customers.ai can be programmed to make appointments, answer FAQs, track purchases, and use A.I. to match content to intent via keywords and interactions. The company was founded by leading internet marketer, Larry Kim.

Customers.ai Pricing Plans

Below are the pricing plans Customers.ai currently offers:

Free – $0 (50 leads)
Starter – $199/mo (250 leads/month)
Pro – $499/mo (700 leads/month)
Enterprise – Custom solutions

The Customers.ai free plan provides everything you need to design and deploy successful messenger marketing campaigns that will drive real results for your business.

It includes features such as a chatbot builder, messenger ads, chat blaster, Q&A triggers, and more. For advanced features like drip campaigns, bot analytics, and integrations, you’ll need to upgrade to any of the paid plans.

Try Customers.ai for free

Side note: Want to create a conversion-optimized Facebook chatbot? Check out Larry Kim’s ultimate guide to Facebook Messenger ads.

2. Botsify

Botsify is an easy-to-use chatbot building platform that lets you create powerful AI chatbots on your website and popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Instagram. It’s designed with user-friendliness in mind, making it accessible for individuals and businesses alike, regardless of their technical expertise.

One of the key benefits using Botsify is its capacity to develop sophisticated, interactive chatbots that can streamline communication, enhance customer support, and even drive sales.

Given its features and ease of use, it’s no surprise that many recognized brands, including Apple and Unilever, have turned to Botsify for their chatbot needs.

You can find examples of bots created via Bostify at their bot store.

Botsify Pricing Plans

Botsify offers three pricing plans:

Do it yourself – $49/mo (2 chatbots, 5000 users/mo)
Done for you – $149/mo (5 chatbots, unlimited users)
Custom – Custom chatbot development

You can save 17% by switching to annual billing.

Register for Botsify’s free plan

3. Landbot

Landbot is a user-friendly, no-code platform for creating chatbots. Its primary emphasis is on creating conversational experiences that convert website visitors into leads, subscribers, or customers.

One of Landbot’s strongest selling points is its user-friendly interface. Many other platforms require a steeper learning curve, but Landbot has positioned itself as accessible to both tech-savvy users and beginners.

Originally built for websites, Landbot has expanded its reach and allows deployment on various platforms, including WhatsApp.

Landbot Pricing Plans

Landbot offers different pricing plans for website and WhatsApp.

Let’s cover the four website pricing plans first:

Sandbox – Free Forever (100 chats/mo, limited integrations)
Starter – €30/mo (500 chats/mo, basic integrations)
Pro – €80/mo (2500 chats/mo, essential integrations)
Business – €300/mo (Custom)

You can switch to annual billing to get 20% off on any of the above plans.

Here are the two pricing plans Landbot offers for building WhatsApp chatbots:

Pro – €150/mo (Ideal for small businesses and growth-stage startups just getting started with WhatsApp chatbots)
Business – €300/mo (Ideal for large businesses & startups looking for a custom plan & priority support)

Try Landbot’s Sandbox plan for free

4. Glassix

Glassix revolutionizes the conversational AI market with its user-friendly, no-code/low-code chatbot platform powered by the GPT-4 engine from OpenAI.

It stands out by enabling users to effortlessly deploy the same chatbot script across multiple channels with a single click, meaning the same chatbot can run through WhatsApp, SMS, Messenger, your website, or app.

Moreover, Glassix offers a unique capability where human agents can seamlessly integrate a chatbot into ongoing conversations at any point, not just when a chatbot encounters complex interactions. This flexibility enhances the customer experience, allowing for a more dynamic and responsive interaction between customers and the business.

With its advanced AI technology and multi-channel deployment feature, Glassix empowers businesses to create highly intelligent and efficient chatbots, ensuring consistent and engaging customer interactions across all digital platforms using its chatbot visual builder interface.

Glassix Pricing Plans

Glassix offers three different pricing models. Let’s cover the first two, ‘Starter’ and ‘Growth,’ which allow users to start a 30-day free trial.

Starter plan: Starts at $49 per agent per month and includes up to 5 agents (Annual subscription grants 15% off the monthly original price).
Growth plan: Starts at $65 per agent per month and includes 2- 9 agents (Annual subscription grants 10% off the monthly original price).

Curious to know more about Glassix pricing plans? Click here to learn more.

Start your 30-day free trial of Glassix

5. Chatfuel

Chatfuel sets itself apart in the chatbot builder market with its tailored approach to optimizing interactions on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

By offering specialized chatbot platform tools, Chatfuel ensures that businesses, particularly those in the eCommerce sector, can seamlessly integrate chatbots into their sales and customer service processes on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Currently, prominent sports leagues such as the NFL and NBA employ Chatfuel for their teams’ engagement strategies. Moreover, top publishers like TechCrunch and Forbes leverage Chatfuel to streamline their audience interactions and content distribution.

Chatfuel Pricing Plans

Similar to Landbot, Chatfuel also adopts two different pricing models for WhatsApp and Facebook + Instagram.

Below are the two plans for WhatsApp chatbots:

Business – Starts at $49 (you can sign up for a free trial of this plan here)
Enterprise – Starts at $300

And here are the five plans for chatbots on Facebook + Instagram. The price adjusts according to the number of subscribers:

Trial – Free (50 conversations/mo)
Entrepreneur – Starts at $14.99 (500 conversations/mo)
Startup – Starts at $24.99 (1000 conversations/mo)
Small Business – Starts at $59.99 (3000 conversations/mo
Growing Business – Starts at $119.99/mo (10000 conversations/mo)

You can sign up for a free trial of any of the above plans. Visit Chatfuel’s pricing page to learn more.

In addition to the above plans, you can find a ton of chatbot-related educational resources on their documentation and blog.

Click here to sign up for Chatfuel’s free plan

If you’re in the eCommerce space and would like to learn more about how to build your own eCommerce chatbots, Chatfuel recently teamed up with Sumo to publish a mammoth guide on eCommerce Chatbots. Click here to check it out!

6. Flow XO

Flow XO is a chatbot platform that allows you to build and distribute smart chatbots on your website and messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more.

The platform offers a wide range of prebuilt chatbot templates that you can effortlessly customize using the drag-and-drop interface.

Beyond simple chat interactions, Flow XO provides tools to set up automated workflows. This means you can integrate various applications and set up sequences of tasks to run automatically based on specific triggers or conditions.

While it’s designed to be beginner-friendly, Flow XO also offers advanced features for those who wish to fine-tune their chatbots’ behavior. This includes setting conditions, filters, and logic paths to guide interactions based on user inputs.

Flow XO Pricing Plans

Free Plan – $0/month (5 bots and 500 interactions)
Standard Plan – $19/month (15 bots and 5000 interactions)

(+$10/month to add 5 bots and $25/month to add 25,000 interactions)

Click here to create your Flow XO account

7. Outgrow

Outgrow is a content marketing platform designed for marketers and businesses to create interactive content that can engage audiences and capture leads. This content ranges from calculators and quizzes to recommendation engines and chatbots.

Outgrow’s chatbots can be tailored to guide users through personalized experiences based on their inputs, leading to more relevant and meaningful engagements.

What makes Outgrow’s chatbots particularly powerful is their ability to be seamlessly integrated with the platform’s other tools. For instance, a user taking a quiz might be directed to a chatbot for further engagement or vice versa.

If you’re in need of ideas for chatbots, you can use Outgrow’s Idea Generation Quiz to kickstart your creative process and discover innovative chatbot concepts.

Outgrow Pricing Plans

Outgrow currently offers 4 pricing plans. To create a chatbot with Outgrow, you’ll need to select the Essentials or Business plan.

Freelancer – $22/mo (Allows 5 content types, chatbots not included; 250 leads/mo, 1 user)
Freelancer Pro – $45/mo (7 content types, chatbots not included; 1000 leads/mo, 1 user)
Essential – $115/mo (8 content types, including chatbots; 7500 leads/mo, 3 users)
Business – $720/mo (All content types, including chatbots; 50000 leads/mo, 10 users)

You can save up to 44% on any of the above plans by opting for annual billing.

Try Outgrow Chatbots for free

8. Tidio

Tidio is a powerful chatbot builder tailored for businesses aiming to automate and elevate their customer interactions. Designed for ease of use yet offering advanced customization, Tidio provides businesses, both big and small, the capability to craft chatbots that resonate with their brand and audience.

With Tidio’s chatbots, businesses can ensure they’re available round-the-clock. This means capturing leads, resolving queries, and offering assistance even when the team is offline.

Tidio Pricing Plans

While Tidio works as an excellent chatbot builder, it also offers complementary communication tools. The platform seamlessly blends live chat and email marketing functionalities, enabling your business to have a holistic approach to customer engagement.

Here’s the current pricing model Tidio follows:

Free – $0/mo (includes 100 chatbot triggers, 50 livechat conversations, 3 users)
Starter – $29/mo (includes 500 chatbot triggers, 100 livechat conversations, 3 users)
Tidio+ – $394/mo (custom features)

The following plans can be bundled together:

Communicator – $25/mo per seat (100 chatbot triggers, unlimited conversations)
Chatbots – $29/mo (2k – 40k chatbot triggers)

Try Tidio for free now

9. Wit.ai

Wit.ai is a free chatbot software that lets you easily create text or voice based bots on your preferred messaging platform. Wit.ai learns human language from every interaction, and leverages the community: what’s learned is shared across developers.

To see how a Wit.ai chatbot works, check out their demo app here.

Wit.ai Pricing Plans

Wit.ai is a free chatbot platform. You can create a Wit.ai account by logging in via Facebook. Once you’ve done that, you can create your first chatbot using Wit.ai’s chatbot building platform. To see how it works, click here.

Try Wit.ai for free

Conclusion

So these are the 9 bot-building platforms you can leverage to build your own chatbots to interact with your prospects and customers. There will be more chatbot platform tools emerging very soon and it’s only a matter of time before the big players jump on the chatbot bandwagon. But for now, these are the top 9 chatbot building tools you can rely on to build chatbots for your business.

Bonus Resources

Here are the best chatbot platform tools in all the key industries and categories:

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on June 5, 2018 and has been updated regularly since then for relevance and comprehensiveness.

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