3 tools today for better marketing tomorrow

From Jade McAuley, Rebel Marketing
If only marketing was like maths. One Facebook post + 2 press ads = 3 new client phone calls. You put in the effort and you know the exact response to expect. This is why I cringe at terms like “social media guru” and “marketing expert” – I just don’t think you can ever conquer something like marketing. Some of us have more training and experience in what works and what doesn’t, but it really all comes down to trial and error.
Which means that having a goal is essential (how will you know when you’re successful unless you know what you’re aiming for?). It also means that you need to monitor and evaluate your marketing efforts to track your progress on the way to your goal.
Run these three tools to get a snapshot on how your digital marketing efforts are tracking, plus – they’re free!

Likealyzer
Meltwater’s Facebook ranking tool gives you a really simple breakdown of how you’re performing, as well as tips and advice for how to improve anything you’re not doing too well on. It also provides an overall rank, with benchmarks against others in your category – including the industry average.
Bonus: you can type any Facebook page address into that box. So if you’re curious on how your competitors are doing, you can take a sneaky peek.

Woorank
The dreaded three-letter website cornerstone – SEO – can be made a lot easier with Woorank. For those who don’t know, SEO is Search Engine Optimisation (a bunch of tactics to improve where you rank on search engines, ie Google). With new sites and content being added online ALL the time, SEO is an ever-changing beast that will never really be tamed. Woorank can help you on this journey by providing great advice that’s easy to follow.
This tool also has a really simple breakdown of your performance, and links to the tools and services that will turn those crosses into ticks.
Bonus: after your first go round, Woorank will want you to sign up for a trial. Or, you can this clever little workaround – woorank.com/en/www/yourdomain.com.

Google Analytics
Ok so, Google Analytics is not a tool that you can just run through quickly like the others – there is a bucketload of information stored in this baby! It houses all the ins and outs of your website, including how visitors are finding your site (right down to the search terms they’re punching into Google), which pages are gaining the most attention, a timeline of how many people are stopping by your site (to correlate with your marketing efforts) and SO much more.
For a step by step account of how to set up Google Analytics for your site, click here.
Bonus: Google Analytics can get pretty intense – but there’s always Analytics Academy! Google have a free bunch of video tutorials to illustrate how it all works, and how to get the best out of the system.

Unlike traditional marketing methods (think billboards, TV ads, letterbox drops, promo pens etc), one of the benefits of digital marketing channels is that you have access to personalised data. Use it!