Social media networks have become an integral part of businesses’ digital marketing strategies, as users are increasingly interacting with brands through these sites. And while social is a valuable tool to have in your content marketing belt, did you know there are also plug-ins, add-ons and extensions you can use in tandem with your existing social accounts to prevent mistakes, get more insight, reach farther and make your posts more engaging?

Talk about tool-ception.

We asked our Promotions and Engagement team to recommend their favorite social media plug-ins, add-ons and extensions that have helped them successfully manage their clients’ social accounts. Find out why they can’t live without these nine tools:

pinterest1. Pinterest Chrome extension

When browsing the web to find interesting and relevant photos and links to include on her clients’ Pinterest boards, Associate Manager of Social Media Erin Hancock relies on this in-browser tool to easily and quickly save what she needs.

“Sometimes not every photo will prompt you to pin it on the website, but by clicking the Pinterest Save Button, it will auto load all of the photos and ask you which one you need to pin,” she said. “The save button also pulls the descriptions and usually they are the perfect length of a pin, so it always makes my job easier!”

2. FollowerWonk

Taking a cursory glance at your Twitter followers isn’t going to give you much information, and diving into the data yourself can be tedious and time-consuming. That’s why Moz’s Followerwonk is such a valuable tool – it gives you deeper insight into your Twitter follower analytics, and it’s one app that has been very helpful for Senior Social Media Engagement Associate Cassidy Wilson.  

“It’s a great tool for just getting to know a client’s audience a little better,” she said. “It has several bits of data that are uniquely beneficial for different reasons, such as sample size analysis, snapshots of when followers are most active, and lists of followers with the most clout and social authority.”

keyhole3. Keyhole

There’s obviously a lot of content out there on social media. This makes it more difficult for you to determine what’s most important when it comes to what other industry leaders and your followers are saying.

In comes Keyhole, a real-time hashtag and keyword tracking tool that gives you analytics on what’s trending on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Cassidy says she uses this for monitoring social conversations that help inform her clients’ strategies.

“Keyhole allows me to survey the chatter that’s taking place around specific keywords and hashtags, and I can use this data for my clients’ social accounts going forward,” Cassidy explained.

4. LinkedIn Analytics Chrome extension

LinkedIn provides a lot of great analytics, and a useful tool for a clearer look at all that data is the LinkedIn Analytics Chrome extension. Being able to set a specific time frame, access the requested LinkedIn data and then download it as a spreadsheet is something that Social Media Strategist Walton Clark finds extremely helpful, especially since obtaining the data directly through LinkedIn might not give you the information you are looking for right away.

If you are a data person, the ability to use Excel is sometimes a deal breaker in picking what you can use, so this tool is great for dealing with LinkedIn and being able to get into certain otherwise-hidden metrics,” Walt said.

grammarly5. Grammarly Chrome extension

Having typos or grammar errors in social media posts can make your business seem lazy or uninterested in its social strategy, potentially turning off prospects. This is why Social Media Engagement Associate Courtney Charroux takes advantage of the Grammarly Chrome extension to catch any mistakes, as well as craft engaging posts with the tool’s synonyms suggestions feature.

“I love using Grammarly because I am a bad speller,” Courtney said. “It also helps so you don’t have to go back and fix everything when typing it all out. You can finish your thought process and then go back and fix it with help from the tool.”

6. Onalytica

With influencer marketing providing 11 times more ROI than other forms of marketing, it’s no surprise that marketers are reaching out to influencers more frequently than ever for assistance promoting products and services. And Onalytica makes it vastly easier for you to collaborate with influencers, just like Social Media Engagement Associate Ryan Pecinka does for his clients’ strategies.

“Onalytica analyzes the nouns from a client’s Twitter account from the past year, and then provides a list of 50 influencers,” he said. “I can then follow, interact or communicate with these individuals to potentially create a relationship between them and our clients.”

canva7. Canva

When it comes to including visuals in social posts, not everyone is a graphic designer. But with Canva, you don’t have to be. This tool gives you the ability to create custom graphics from its own templates or your uploaded photos. Social Media Engagement Associate Gianna Papagni relies on Canva to develop unique visual elements for her clients’ social content.

“Many times I use Canva to create a quick CTA or holiday-themed art, and then use the features of the tool to personalize them to the colors or personality of our clients,” Gianna explained.

8. QuillEngage 

When combing through Google Analytics data, graphics and charts, you may feel overwhelmed. But this data is crucial for gaining insight into how your social strategy is performing, so accessing comprehensive graphs and numbers is extremely helpful. QuillEngage provides you with a more simplified overview of this information, and allows you to customize the data you want delivered to you.

“I’ve been interested in QuillEngage, which breaks down pertinent data from Google Analytics and delivers it right to your inbox,” Cassidy said. “It’s a great way to get quick snapshot of this information regularly.”

whatfont9. WhatFont Chrome extension 

There is an endless amount of fonts out there for you to use for your brand messaging. At the same time, keeping typeface consistent is key if you want to unify your content. WhatFont takes the guesswork out of finding and using the right font. Gianna says this tool is especially helpful for creating visuals for social media.

“WhatFont allows us to go on a client’s website and see what font they are using on certain things,” she said. “This is especially helpful for maintaining consistency when we are creating a graphic or visual that will go on the site.”

With these plug-ins, add-ons and extensions, you can make your social media strategy a part of the ultimate content marketing toolbox.

Tressa Sloane is the Sr. Manager of Editorial Development in Boston. Born a Southern belle, she now resides in the chilly (but wicked awesome) Northeast, and when she's not learning everything she can about content marketing, she's obsessing over Elvis, Auburn football and France.