Useful Resources
Below are resources that we use, have used or would be happy to use.We have used or would recommend all the resources on this page and some of the links may be affiliate links. We are not responsible for any changes to functionality or price that the individual tools have made since we listed them.
Twitter Resources
Tweriod
Tweriod is a free twitter tool that helps you make the most of Twitter by letting you know the best time to tweet.Tweepi
Tweepi Twitter Follow Management Utility is a set of Twitter tools to add, follow and unfollow tweeps in bulk;RiteTag
RiteTag is a useful tool for searching for hashtags to use on Twitter and Instagram. You can search for hashtags via text and images.Google Photos
Google Photos provides a photo sharing and storage service. Free unlimited storage for photos up to 16 megapixels and videos up to 1080p resolution.
Website Building Resources
WordPress.com
Create a free website or easily build a blog on WordPress.com. Hundreds of free, customizable, mobile-ready designs and themes. Free hosting and support.WordPress.org
WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination.
Akismet
Akismet is an advanced hosted anti-spam service aimed at thwarting the underbelly of the web. It efficiently processes and analyzes masses of data from millions of sites and communities in real time. To fight the latest and dirtiest tactics embraced by the world’s most proficient spammers, it learns and evolves every single second of every single day.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics lets you measure your advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications.
Email Marketing Resources
Mailchimp
MailChimp is the best way to design, send, and share email newsletters.
Audio Resources
Audacity
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.
Events Management Resources
Eventbrite
Eventbrite brings people together through live experiences. Discover events that match your passions, or create your own with online ticketing tools.
Video Resources
Videoscribe
Make your own whiteboard video animations with Sparkol VideoScribe – award-winning video scribing app for PC, Mac and iPad. Free trial available.
Powtoon
PowToon is an online business presentation software tool that allows you to create free, cool, and awesome animated video explainers as an alternative to using powerpoint
Screencast-O-Matic
Screencast Matic is an online screen recorder for one-click recording for free.
Prezi
Prezi includes everything you need to create, present, and analyze your best presentations ever
Tube Buddy
Tube Buddy is a useful productivity tool that can be added as a free plugin to your browser. It helps you optimise your videos on YouTube with some useful tools.
Writing Tools
Grammarly
Grammarly – add to your browser as an extension and it will check anything you write into a browser (spelling and grammar).
Google Docs
Google Docs is a useful tool if you are collaborating with another person on a writing project. You can access documents and spreadsheets online and see each other’s changes in real time.
Content Curation
Social Media Management Tools
Hootsuite
Enhance your social media management with Hootsuite, the leading social media dashboard. Manage multiple networks and profiles and measure your campaign results.ContentCal
ContentCal provides businesses with a single platform from which to plan, publish and collaborate all of their social media content. It does not track comments and replies but it is a fantastic tool for teams to manage the content creation process.
TweetDeck
TweetDeck is a free social media dashboard application for management of Twitter accounts. It enables you to view multiple timelines in one easy interface.
Mention
Mention is a social media and web monitoring tool. The media monitoring tool provides real-time alerts for a company’s keyword or brand.
Website Functionality
Pure Chat
Pure Chat allows you to easily add a web chat function to your website. There are free and paid options available.
Chatra
Chatra offers live chat and offline messaging for businesses.Online Collaboration Tools
Trello
Trello is an online task management tool. We use it to help our team manage the course update process and for planning new content.
UberConference
UberConference provides a rich visual interface for conference calls. Simple, visual, and free to use, it’s audio conferencing done right. Easily set up and join free conference calls, see who is in the conference, who is talking, and use powerful conferencing features.Ipadio
ipadio takes any phone call and streams it live on the web, makes phonecasts and phlogs simple and immediate
Skype
Stay in touch with your family and friends for free on Skype. Download Skype today to chat and call on desktop and mobile.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a free way to keep your files backed up and easy to reach from any phone, tablet, or computer. Start with 15GB of Google storage – free.
Dropbox
Save files on your computer, then access them on your phone from the road. Everything you keep in Dropbox is synced automatically to all your devices.
GoToMeeting
Work can happen any time, anywhere. GoToMeeting with HD video conferencing is a simple yet powerful way to collaborate in real time.
GSuite
Get email, cloud storage, collaboration tools and other business apps with Google Apps for Work. Try it free for 14 days.
Graphics Manipulation Resources
IrfanView
IrfanView … one of the most popular viewers worldwide. Free image manipulation and viewing tool.Inkscape
Inkscape is professional quality vector graphics software which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.GIMP
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It works on many operating systems, in many languages.
Canva
Canva makes design simple for everyone. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.
Promo Image Resizer
Promo Image Resizer allows you to upload an image and easily resize it to the correct size for the main social media channels.
Sources of free and paid for images
Pexels
Pexels helps everyone who is looking for an image to find great photos that can be used free for both personal and commercial purposes with no attribution required. You can also contribute your own photos.
RGBstock
Rgbstock.com with more then 100,000 totally free stock photos online. Free Stock photos, high quality free stock images community. Download free stock photos, free stock images. Create a free stock photo gallery
Photopin
PhotoPin is a free tool that helps bloggers and designers find beautiful photos with Creative Commons licensing. Download the photos and get attribution links already formatted for you!
Pikwizard
Pikwizard is a free image library. Just be careful to filter by Non Editorial to see copyright free images for commercial use. There is also a free and paid for design tool available.
Openphoto
Openphoto contains curated open source photos. Free photographs for download. Creative Commons licensed images.
Pixabay
Pixabay contains over 400,000 high-quality photos, illustrations, and vector graphics. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.
Fuzzimo
Fuzzimo – visual arts sandbox – graphic design, web design, free high quality textures, vectors, icons and other resources.
Unsplash
Unsplash is a great source for high-resolution free to use images.
Books
Social Media Made Simple
In ‘Social Media made Simple‘ you will find out how to make sure that you are using the right Social Media channels for your business based on your resources, your aims and your audience. Not quite sure what you are doing with Social Media? Started dabbling and not sure where to go next?Using Social Media for Personal Gain
“Social Media” – A growing, important, public method of communication and engagement between people you know and people you don’t know. A fantastic way of communicating with brands, receiving customer service, learning new information and taking an active part in entertainment and news programmes.Breaking the Barriers to Business Growth
‘Breaking the barriers to business growth‘ is a compilation of insights into how to achieve business success.
Each chapter has been written by an expert in their field. Mary Thomas from Concise Training wrote Chapter 7 on Social Media.