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The Buffer team is heading out on our first retreat since 2019! I asked the retreat veterans for advice on making the most of the trip as a newbie.

Social media marketing is one of the most intense jobs out there, with the world constantly changing around you. Using tools to organize yourself can be a great way to keep mentally focused on your work and be agile enough to jump into new, uncharted territory that many can’t.

Using productivity apps can positively impact your daily routines by creating a solid and well-organized schedule to follow, reducing stress, and creating more time for yourself. 

The types of applications you can use range from task management apps, project management apps, asynchronous apps for meetings, note-taking, and sending messages to note apps for all ideas and plans. And trust me, all of these can help. 

As a freelance content marketer for 3-4 years, I managed myself with tools, and without them, well, I’m not sure how I could have coped and scaled my workload. 

Productivity tools can be a game-changer if you are a social media marketing professional. From my years of experience reviewing productivity tools and software, these are the best for your role and job. 

How to keep organized as a marketer

Staying organized as a marketer is easy once you have figured out how to utilize productivity tools and have created a solid routine for using them. You can use three core applications as a social media marketer to ensure you stay organized

You can implement the GTD (Getting Things Done) method with these three core applications. Don’t worry about that scary name; look at the apps we recommend best. 

• Task applications – This is where you can store and manage all your tasks for your clients and yourself. Using a task management app helps you organize specifics into folders, with tags, color coordination, and even collaboration if you need to. 
• Note-taking applications – Everyone needs a great note-taking space, especially those who need to write things down pretty much all day. Using a notes app as a social media marketer means you have a solid place to brainstorm and organize thoughts. 
• Calendar applications – This goes without saying; of course, you need a solid calendar application to organize your time, set schedules, plan your day, and ensure you stay on track with projects and tasks to be delivered on time. 

You can then expand your organization with different methodologies. Let’s take a look at the GTD method for social media marketing. 

The GTD Method

A great method to follow is the GTD method by David Allen. This method helps you redefine how you work and create an actionable system. 

1. Capture: First, you need to capture anything and everything you want to write down or that grabs your attention. For marketing, this could be new trend ideas, content ideas, etc. 
2. Clarify: Next, you need to clarify what you have written down. Is this actionable? Or is this something you can't carry on with?
3. Organize: Then you need to organize your notes into spaces or folders. This helps keep ideas connected and helps you focus on one task at a time.
4. Reflect: After that, you need to reflect often. By reflecting on your notes and tasks you can see where you are, what is no longer working, and what is the highest priority. 
5. Engage: Finally, you have to engage with this system you have created and carry out the tasks.

The importance of being organized

It is extremely important to stay organized as a social media marketer to ensure your business and plans go smoothly with the least amount of stress. Without being organized, you can quickly fall off your stride, forget things, and potentially not do as well as you wanted. 

You can use the GTD method to stay on top of rising trends by adding them to notes, you can then remove any stress of worrying about the upcoming trends, tasks, or projects for your clients because you will have a clear idea of what to do, even during the on the go nature of being a social media marketer. 

How keeping myself organized helped my content creation journey

I was a freelance marketer before starting Keep Productive and Tool Finder, and I had to make sure I kept myself well organized to manage my clients, tasks, and projects without getting overwhelmed or stressed. So yes, being organized was paramount for me.

By staying organized, I was able to make sure relationships with clients were smooth and well-managed. I could also ensure my work was on track and my schedule was up to date. I could better manage my time to work on creating content and sending it out to clients. 

Why productivity tools matter

Productivity tools are essential, especially for those who work from home, work remotely, or for themselves. As a freelancer, you will need tools and applications to help you organize and manage your life and career. 

There are three main factors as to why productivity tools matter. 

• Save time – You can even use tools that automate processes, schedule your time better, and help you make solid decisions and plans for the day.
• Save brain space – We only have so much brain space, that it's hard to remember everything we need to get done. Use productivity tools to help. 
• Manage your day better – Using productivity tools helps you manage your time better, giving you more structure and allowing for a healthier work-life balance. 

When you begin saving time, saving brain space, and managing your time you’ll find your social media marketing tasks, projects, and career a lot easier. 

At a Glance: 10 best productivity apps for social media marketers

Here’s a quick look at all ten productivity apps we have on this list. We have tons of to-do list apps you can choose from or lots of different note-taking apps for visual or more traditional notes. 

1. Todoist – A to-do list app great for all use cases.
2. Session – A Pomodoro timer and focus application for tracking time.
3. Scrintal – Great for visual note-taking.
4. Endel – Clever focus music app.
5. Miro – Great for planning and visualizing ideas with others. 
6. Loom – An asynchronous way of communicating with video messages. 
7. Zoho Notebook – For saving snippets, creating reminders, and light notes.
8. Craft – Create beautiful documents rather than notes.
9. Missive – An email app with customisation and chat-like abilities. 
10. Notion – A popular space for all-round management and content ideas.
11. Buffer – A social media management app to create and schedule content.

Now we have our list of the best productivity apps for social media marketers, let’s dive in a little deeper to see how each app works and why they might be a good fit for your social media marketing business. 

Todoist

Why is Todoist a good tool for marketers?

Todoist is a really valuable tool for social media marketers thanks to its many task organization abilities. It’s also great for collaborating with teams, or clients on projects all in one space. Just add in users and begin working together on tasks and lists. 

With Todoist you can create a space for complete project planning with tags, subtasks, and priorities, assign tasks to others, and even set reminders and notifications to help you stay on track. You can then integrate Todoist with the existing productivity tools you use to create a full workflow. 

Todoist also works great on mobile, perfect for on-the-go use for quickly adding tasks and checking what needs to be done. Overall, Todoist is a good to-do list and task management app for marketers to begin with. 

Should I consider getting Todoist?

You could consider using Todoist if you want a simple tool for organizing tasks and projects for your clients. It’s a great way to make different lists, track your progress, and highlight priorities.

From my personal experience, I love using Todoist and used it heavily when I was working in digital marketing, it was a great way to create lists, keep track of trasks and just capture ideas or even people’s details when networking too, for follow-ups.

Session

Why is Session a good tool for marketers?

Session is a great app for social media marketers to use, especially if you need a better way to manage your time, focus, and create a better schedule based on the time you have available. 

Session is a simple and easy tool to use, however, time management apps like this are super beneficial for those who need to keep up to speed with how much time they and their team are spending on tasks or projects. 

You can also use the Pomodoro timer to help with focus sessions throughout your work day. Using a timer like this helps you feel motivated and productive, therefore helping you complete tasks at a quicker pace. 

Should I consider getting Session?

Session is a great choice for anyone who struggles with their focus and time management. Using a timer application helps you concentrate during the time you are working, it also helps you keep track of the time you have spent working.

Focusing when you’re working is one of the most effective systems, whilst I didn’t use Session when I was in content marketing (sadly it wasn’t around) I did find that setting these sessions and using the Pomodoro Technique helped to crush a solid few hours on scheduling socials.

Scrintal 

Why is Scrintal a good tool for marketers?

Scrintal is a great tool for social media marketers because it simplifies the content creation and planning process. It offers a user-friendly interface with features like a content calendar, templates, and scheduling tools. 

Social media marketers can use this app to brainstorm ideas, collaborate on content creation, and schedule posts across multiple platforms, streamlining their workflow and ensuring a consistent online presence. 

Overall, Scrintal is a really neat space for all ideas, and content creation planning. You can add in things such as links, graphs, and images, and connect all ideas into one open canvas so it all makes sense.

Should I consider getting Scrintal?

You could consider using Scrintal if you want a visual note-taking space, and that is how your mind works best. Scrintal is aimed at those who want to brainstorm ideas, collaborate, and create a decision-making space for content creation. 

Note-taking is a such a valuable skill. One of the benefits of it is seeing your progression over time and learning from your mistakes, reflecting is important and so is capturing things for later to come back to, your brain will thank you later. 

Endel

Why is Endel a good tool for marketers?

Endel is a very niche tool for social media marketers but it's great for anyone who struggles with focusing throughout the day and getting things done. You can use Endel to enhance productivity and create a better work environment, especially if you work from home. 

It uses AI-generated soundscapes of ambient music that help soothe your mind allowing for better focus throughout the day. Endel then keeps the flow of music without breaking sounds, so you won't be distracted or have to change the track at any point. 

Overall, if you want an app to help reduce distractions and keep your mind focused, using music is a great trick. Endel can also help spark creativity, and keep a positive mindset whilst working, something important in a fast-paced environment such as marketing. 

Should I consider getting Endel?

Endel is a really neat tool for creating soundscapes and focus music. This is particularly good for those who lose focus, procrastinate often, and need background noise that isn't distracting. 

Focused work with Endel is my go-to practice when I’m looking to get into a deep work state, one of my favourite apps outside of conventional productivity tools. When I was in digital marketing, I actually used an alternate service called Brain.FM – but now Endel is around. I go with them to guide my focused sessions.

Miro

Why is Miro a good tool for marketers?

Miro is a really popular tool for those who want an open space for brainstorming and collaborating in real time. Social media marketers can benefit from apps like Miro as they help visualize ideas and bring plans together.

It has an intuitive design with an endless whiteboard for users to collaborate on. The interface is simple enough to get the hang of, and you can use many tools inside the whiteboards to connect notes, shapes, images, and ideas. 

This makes Miro a great place for content creation, sparking creativity, and developing new social media strategies, calendars, and campaigns. Overall, Miro makes it easy to execute plans from a visual and creative point of view.

Should I consider getting Miro?

If you often collaborate with others and work best within a visual workspace, Miro is a great tool to go with. It helps spark creativity and work on a project until you can visualize the process. It’s also great for organizing ideas and visualizing different parts of tasks. 

Visualising in content marketing and social media planning is so helpful and Miro is just one of those apps that allows you to get paper-like visualization for your work. 

Loom

Why is Loom a good tool for marketers?

Loom is a very valuable tool for social media marketers as it creates an asynchronous and simplified communication method. With Loom,   you focus on creating video messages rather than organizing meetings and worrying about times, when people join, and so on. 

With Loom, you can record your screen and send a recorded presentation to your client or team if you have one. They can then keep the video to return to if needed. Loom is super for creating informative messages and communicating quickly with others. 

Overall, Loom is a great tool for sharing information, explaining complex ideas, and removing the need for endless meetings to explain ideas or discuss topics. Users can then send video messages back to you to respond.

Should I consider getting Loom?

Loom is for those who want to use or move towards asynchronous communication. It can also replace the need for meetings or handwritten notes. You can record videos of your screen to explain a process or an entire meeting, which can be broken down into sections. 

Nothing beats face-to-face communication, but Loom and Zoom are a close second. This is a great way to do things a-sync and help support colleagues who may be out of your timezone and even ones who want less meetings – they’ll thank you later. 

Zoho Notebook

Why is Zoho a good tool for marketers?

Zoho has many different applications within its suite of apps that can all be beneficial to social media marketers, but the one that is underrated is Zoho Notebook, a notebook app that many people use to collect ideas and bring them into your library of thoughts. 

Zoho Notebook is free and works great on mobile devices, making it perfect for capturing audio, images & quick notes on the go. Think post-it notes but on your phone. Musings or ideas are important in social media work – this is a gem of an app for capturing that. 

Should I consider getting Zoho?

You can consider the entire Zoho suite of tools if you enjoy their look and feel. You can also just use single Zoho products such as Zoho Notebook to record snippets of information, set reminders, and practice light note-taking. 

Clipping audio works really well in Zoho Notebook, and I used this in the past to create quick snippets of ideas around social campaigns walking to work in Birmingham, which worked great. 

Craft

Why is Craft a good tool for marketers?

Craft is an excellent tool for social media marketers as it simplifies the processes you may need for content creation and social media marketing. Craft is mostly used to create beautiful documents to share with others or to keep as notes. 

For social media, you can even use Craft to develop content plans, send out invoices, type up visual ideas for potential campaigns, or create a document to keep up with changing trends. 

Overall, you can use Craft as a note-taking space or expand its use to create stunning documents to send to others, create plans, and visualize creative ideas in one well-organized space. 

Should I consider getting Craft?

Craft is such a neat application for those wanting to level up their note-taking or if they want a place to create stunning documents to send to clients. In Craft, you can add images and links, edit your text, and much more to create documents of content, ideas, letters, invoices, and more. Great for all-round notes, documents, and even journaling – Craft works like a gem. 

Missive

Why is Missive a good tool for marketers?

Missive is a really valuable tool for social media marketing because it streamlines your team's communication and email management, or your own if you are freelancing. Missive changes how you email into a more simple chat-based tool. 

With Missive, you can quickly send messages to clients, attach files and documents, chat with your team about projects, and visualize ideas together. You can then base all communication inside Missive. 

Overall, Missive is a great shared inbox tool to help you handle emails, send files, track communications, and keep up to date with client needs. You can boost productivity with Missive inside this easy-to-use platform. 

Should I consider getting Missive?

Missive is great for those who send many emails, communicate with others often, and need a better way to share ideas, tasks, files, and chat about work. It’s also a good tool to create relationships with clients and keep up to date with demands. 

This is very much for more serious content marketers who communicate a lot with brands and clients and want to have a seamless experience when it comes to managing the inbox.

Notion

Why is Notion a good tool for marketers?

Notion will always be a tool I recommend because it is versatile and can fulfill most use cases. In terms of social media marketing, Notion can build a space for note-taking, content creation, campaign management, and linking information databases. 

You can also use many different Notion templates to get started, and many social media marketers sell theirs to help others get started. Notion is mostly a place for creating a centralized platform for all tasks, content calendars, and knowledge. 

Overall, social media marketers can use Notion as their single productivity app to collaborate, manage projects, track how projects or campaigns are doing, and even invite clients into the space to see how it's going. 

Should I consider getting Notion?

Notion is a popular tool for content creators, social media managers, and marketers to use for planning their content, working with clients, and creating a round project plan in one space. Notion has almost everything you need for daily planning, organization, and notes.

Buffer

Why is Buffer a good tool for marketers?

Buffer is a standout choice for social media marketers looking to boost their productivity and streamline their workflows. Its simplicity in scheduling posts across various platforms – like X/Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram – makes it a valuable asset for maintaining a consistent online presence.

Buffer's Create space is a game-changer, as it allows you organize your content to get and stay on top of your content and ideas. It's designed for ease of use and collaboration with features like tags and ideas for maximum productivity. 

With Buffer, managing your social media becomes a more organized and less time-consuming task.

Should I consider getting Buffer?

If you're aiming to simplify your social media management process, Buffer's tools are perfect. It's a great fit for anyone looking to maximize their social media impact without dedicating hours each day to manual posting and analytics tracking. Buffer offers everything a social media marketer could need to keep their campaigns running smoothly and effectively.

Pick the apps that’ll provide maximum productivity 

Productivity tools aren’t vital for a good social media marketer, but they take you that step further. My recommendation is to step back and look at your overall productivity, and once you know how you work, pick a handful of these apps and implement them. 

You will notice the benefits after one month, and with a new organization system, you will be meeting more expectations with management, and maybe as a freelancer billing more customers; at least, that’s how it happened for me. Good luck!