5 Free Social Media Marketing Tools – The Expert’s Choice

Every savvy digital marketer knows that accessing free online productivity tools will streamline social media marketing strategies and increase efficiency. Having the perfect tools in your toolbox can make all the difference and save you time, money, and major productivity disruptions. To help with simplifying productivity, we’ve compiled a list of five free social media marketing tools that we love.

We’ve also sourced some recommendations from social media experts. And if you need more comprehensive insights that a free tool may not offer, try the complete version of the Talkwalker platform for your social media analytics to get a full view of your brand presence online.

#1 Talkwalker Social Search

At Talkwalker, we offer a free social media search tool which provides quick insights on what’s occurring with your brand across social, blogs, and online news sites.

Here’s what Louise Pollock, President at Pollock Communications has to say about Talkwalker:

“Talkwalker is definitely the most valuable tool for monitoring social media. It provides detailed reports based on our searches in a visually-appealing way that we can share easily with clients.”

Here’s why you should try it: Get instant insights about your brand across online and social media.

Talkwalker’s Social Search offers the only free and premium social media analytics tool with filters for blogs, forums, broadcast and social media channels. Marketers can grab a quick analysis on how a brand’s keyword or hashtag is perceived across the social sphere. And as an official Twitter partner, users have access to premium data.

#2 Klear Chrome Extension

Klear Chrome extension identifies influencers right in your Twitter timeline. Klear has just released the beta version of this extension and we can’t wait to hear what you think about it.

Here’s what Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz has to say about Klear:

“Klear is one of the most impressive social media software efforts I’ve seen. From the intuitive interface to the powerful tools to the sheer density of useful information, the Klear team has built something every professional social marketer will find invaluable in their efforts.

Here’s why you should try it: Instantly qualify Twitter influencers.

What’s more: Every digital marketer knows that Influence is measured by a myriad of complex metrics; it’s not about the volume of audience, but about relevancy, interests, location, audience demographics, and other variables. Manually taking on the task to measure the social influence of every online influencer can be a major task, but with Klear’s Chrome extension, users can automate the influencer qualification process right in their Twitter timelines.

#3 Mention

Mention’s emphasis is on real-time monitoring. Once you set up an alert, you get mentions that date back no more than 24 hours. Historical data is only available in Custom plans.

Mention offers several settings (by date, language, and source of mentions) and a Boolean search mode to design a perfect search query.
Once you set up your alert, you’re able to react to social posts within Mention’s platform and connect a Buffer account to schedule reposts of favorable mentions, for example.
You can tag individual mentions to unite them in one group.
In the Insights center, Mention dissects your social listening data using multiple parameters including sentiment, reach, language.
The tool enables you to customize your reports, thus from the array of metrics you can choose those which you want to include in your automated report.
Moreover, Mention provides users with access to their API, so you can integrate the Insights with other marketing software you use.
Mention aims to be “on the watch” 24/7, so it will automatically send the latest mentions by email or Slack. They also have a mobile app so you can deal with new mentions on the go.
Platforms monitored: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, news and blogs, the web.
Pricing: Free trial available. In Solo plan for $29, you get 2 alerts and a monthly limit of 3,000 mentions.

#4 RiteTag Optimizer

Customize your toolkit on the fly with actionable insights, social messaging, and automation tools right where you post.

Here’s what Kristin Drysdale, Brand Manager at Wiser Sites has to say about RiteTag:

“RiteTag’s optimization tools have really helped me with my workflow because I can share amazing content right where I’m reading it. And with access to RiteTag’s analytics, I can feel good about knowing my posts are likely to be seen.”

Here’s why you should try it: Optimize social updates with the right hashtags and influencers right from where you post.

What’s more: RiteTag helps with optimizing a tweet or post simultaneously as you are drafting text. Additionally, a Chrome extension is offered that suggests relevant hashtags, emojis, and free gifs to include in your post.

#5 Bitly

Empower your social media links by shortening them with Bitly. The Bitly link connects your marketing efforts to how and where your customers experience your brand. Here’s what Bita Ehisanpour, Social Media Manager at Men’s Wearhouse has to say about Bitly: “Branding is extremely important to us. Having our own Branded Short Domain through Bitly Brand Tools helps us keep our brand at the forefront of all our social sharing efforts.”

Here’s why you should try it: Shorten, share, and measure with the power of a single short link.

What’s more: With only 140 characters to use within Twitter posts, Bitly helps to save space when writing messages to your target audiences. It’s a quick and simple way to understand how, when, and where your tweets and brand messages are reaching your intended audiences.

We hope this post encourages all social media marketers to give the above free tools a try. We’d love to have your feedback on which are the most useful for digital marketing. For deeper social media marketing insights, you can try the full Talkwalker Social Analytics Platform. Which are your favorite online tools for social media marketing productivity? Share your thoughts with us @KMBappir!