Top 5 Free Tools Every Small Business Owner Should Know About
When a company is young, or doesn’t know where to start, it’s important to simply get you or your team into the habit of making and posting content. It doesn’t have to be a massive amount of content to start with. You also don’t need to spend a lot of money on a scheduler or “all-in-one” platform to be successful at setting these habits.
Let’s take a look at some free tools that help get businesses going in the right direction.
#1 Later
When I’m working with clients on a tight budget, this totally free social media scheduler is always a great option. Later supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tik Tok , and LinkedIn support as of 2022. It allows users to schedule up to 8 posts PER platform for every 30 day period. That means you can potentially post up to 48 posts for your audience every month. The free version of this platform provides some very basic analytics for users, including basic post performance data (followers, likes, and comments) for Instagram posts. Later also allows users to preview their Instagram grid to ensure that your profile looks and feels cohesive, helping you plan these posts and your marketing strategically.
Lastly, I always suggest Later to companies just starting out because they offer quick tutorials and trending reports for their users to check out, making learning about the digital marketing easier and more accessible for small businesses. I would recommend using Later from your desktop, not your phone. While the tool does have an app for your phone, I’ve always found it much easier to use for planning and scheduling using drag and drop for posts from my computer.
#2 Facebook's Creator Studio
Facebook provides this free tool for all of its business account users. While the analytics are pretty lacking, this tool can pair with the free version of Later to give you the ability to post videos and multiple images to Instagram and Facebook posts. It also allows you to tag and add your location to the post, which is useful for giveaways or collaborations.
#3 Canva
If you’re just getting started and designing your business’s digital media yourself, Canva is a great option that offers a wide range of templates for all marketing purposes. Whether you are creating posts for social media platforms or flyers and business cards, Canva is easy for anyone unfamiliar with design software to use. This tool provides articles that help users navigate the tool, and gives tips on how to best design for the platform you are making content for.
It also provides templates for specific times of the year, such as holidays or anniversaries. This tool can also help you with basic branding style, should you want to tackle branding yourself. The free version offers downloads in JPEG, PDF, and some .MOV files, but you can upgrade to get transparent backgrounds and more editing capabilities.
#4 Mailchimp
Email campaigns are essential part of any robust digital marketing plan for small businesses. Mailchimp is a great free option that gives users tons of “freemium” perks when they start building their email lists. Mailchimp offers easy to use templates, so little to no coding needed, 2,000 free contact sign-ups at the beginning of 2022, and good data tracking to get you started on building effective newsletters. The other aspect that I like about this tool is that you can download the list, should you decide to upgrade to a new platform later.
#5 Google My Business
Google isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. When I start working with anyone, one of the first questions I always ask is “Do you have a Google My Business Profile.” If you’re a local business, or have a physical location, this is not only free for you to access, it’s critical for you to have to help customers to find you online.Google My Business is a completely free service offered by Google to help companies get their information out to the public.
This is the tool that helps your business show up when customer search “insert your business type here… near me.” It also gives customers basic information, such as your phone number, address, website information, reviews, connection to Google Maps, and much more depending on how you utilize it. This tool can also give you some basic analytics, including what people are searching to find you. Make sure you have plenty of time before you need to use Google My Business, as often times the process can take up to a month, sometimes longer to get everything approved by Google.
If you’re struggling with your digital presence or worried that digital marketing is going to cost a lot, the free tools listed above can help. You can get your business information out to the public while also creating and scheduling great content strategically. My best advice is to schedule out your digital marketing content. This helps you stop spending time trying to remember to upload your posts and start giving your customers consistent and strategic messaging that help them connect and trust your business.
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If you’re reading this and know you want help with your digital systems but have no idea where to start, I’ve got your back. Feel free to schedule an intro call with me, and I can help point you in the right direction!