Running a digital business today means that you can’t afford to be an island.
Why would you be, by the way? Today’s slew of marketing tools makes it easier than ever to collaborate with others.
For those operating in the world of ecommerce, the ability to collaborate more efficiently is a total game-changer. From working with freelancers, designers and marketers to the ability to get your most pressing questions answered at a moment’s notice, collaboration tools are front-and-center for keeping your company moving.
Even if you’re just getting your ecommerce business off the ground, it’s important that you familiarize yourself to the proverbial tools of the trade.
And if nothing else, the right marketing stack makes your life so much as easier as you build your ecommerce empire from the ground up.
We’ve highlighted a list of five tools that’ll supercharge your productivity and encourage you and whoever you’re working with to be on the same page. As a nice added bonus, many of these tools offer free plans or trials so you can get started with them sooner rather than later.
Trello
If you’ve dabbled in project management apps at all, you’ve no doubt heard of Trello. The beauty of the platform is not only its forever-free status, but also the fact that you can organize pretty much any aspect of your company to collaborate in no time flat. Looking at some Sample Trello boards for business can give you a better idea of what the platform has to offer.
Want a place to keep an eye on your current projects and priorities?
Need to track where your designer is in the process for creating a new logo?
Trello provides a bird’s-eye view of how everyone’s getting from Point A to Point B with an incredibly low learning curve to boot.
Asana
Coming up with a content calendar is a key aspect of any digital business.
At a glance, Asana and Trello might appear to be one-in-the-same. While they both are project management apps using an aesthetically similar card system, Asana shines with its emphasis on team management.
For example, it’s a prime platform for managing a team of writers as you oversee the process of content creation from assigning ideas to seeing the final project go live.
The ability to assign specific permissions while you remain in control is likewise ideal for onboarding new freelancers or content creators without giving them too much access to the back-end of your business.
Planable
Finding the best times to post on social media is especially important for ecommerce brands. Each post is an opportunity to score sales, and timing is a crucial aspect of engagement and ensuring that your content gets in front of as many people as possible.
Planable might just seem like yet another social scheduler, but its collaboration tools are exactly what set it apart from the pack.
For example, teams can go-back-and-forth to leave comments on a social post before it goes live.
Maybe someone noticed a typo. Perhaps someone saw an opportunity to tweak a caption for more hashtags.
Either way, having a second set of eyes to act as a system of checks-and-balances is a brilliant touch for creating the best posts possible.
Airtable
Airtable boasts social scheduling features but emphasizes content planning and asset management.
With Airtable, ecommerce brands can put together posts’ ideas separated by individual networks to be tweaked before they go live. After all, what’s considered best practices on Instagram and Facebook are apples and oranges in terms of optimization.
Airtable also serves as a central hub for a brand’s social assets for there’s a much-needed sense of consistency for your social campaigns.
Slack
Slack has become a staple of the startup world at large and ecommerce businesses are no strangers to the platform.
Offering an app-friendly alternative to the Google Hangouts or Skype, Slack is a place for teams to pow-wow and go back-and-forth via desktop or mobile at a moment’s notice. Much like Trello or Asana, Slack is a great place to communicate with freelancers or one-off hires on a temporary basis rather than rely on email.
The platform’s slew of plug-ins is also a nice touch for ecommerce brands looking for more than just communication, though. For example, brands can integrate Shopify with Slack to track new orders and customer notifications in real-time without missing a beat.
As is the case for any digital business, the tools you have on deck can be make-or-break in terms of your productivity. By putting together, a simple, effective stack using the tools above, you can encourage more collaboration among your team to dominate your respective corner of ecommerce.
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