What Tools To Invest In

In Chapter 10 of “Social Media for Strategic Communication”, Karen Freberg talks about what areas to invest in your budget. As we all know, money doesn’t grow on trees (but I wish it did), so it’s important to put your budget towards to right content.

To get the best result out of content, you must put forth some kind of investment. Karen Freberg expresses that with the developing world of social media, there are many unanswered questions about what to spend money on and how much. She suggests investing in these areas:

  1. Tools

  2. People

  3. Consulting fees

  4. Research

  5. Education

  6. Promotion and sponsored content

It’s important to invest money into the right tools to get the job done. These tools include content creation, content monitoring, social media measurement, staff time and others. These tools will set your business up for success. Some free tools like Canva and Adobe Spark are available, but sometimes they just aren’t enough to get the job done.

Another important tool to invest in are the people apart of your team. They must have skills, experience and bring a unique perspective to the table. Along with team members, sometimes as a company you must venture outside your team. For example, if a project needs specializations like videography, crisis communication or augmented reality, it’s OK to reach out to professionals.

The next tool is probably my least favorite part, because I love to just jump into a project. These tools are research and education. As much as I hate to admit it, they are crucial parts to completing a successful project. Whether your research includes focus groups, copy testing, interviews or surveys, it all costs money. To educate yourself through books, webinars or receiving certifications, it also costs money. Some education platforms like Microsoft, Brandwatch, Hootsuite or Meltwater offer free options.

The last tool mentioned in Chapter 10 is promotion and sponsored content. In my blog titled, “Types of Content Media,” I touched on what paid media was. It is a “pay-to-play” model which means the more the content is boosted, the larger audience it reaches. Setting up ads drive up traffic, interactions, and followers. If you put investments in the right places, it will pay off!