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Social media is an ever-changing landscape where you have to be open to learning and constantly adapting.

Because of this, social media marketing requires you to wear lots of hats and have many skills, and that’s especially true if you’re a small business!

You’ll often need resources—either to optimize tasks or understand new trends.

Here are some of the best social media resources for your small business that you can find online (organized into 8 subcategories).

Resources for Your Social Media Strategy

Whether you’re creating a new strategy, or updating your current one, here are resources to help you along the way:

1. Social Media Marketing Strategy How To’s and Templates:

• Content Marketing Institute’s How to Create a Strategic Social Media Plan Template
• Buffer’s How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan From Scratch
• Smartsheet’s Social Media Templates for Excel

2. Social Media Content Calendar How To’s and Templates:

• Convince and Convert’s How to Build a Content Calendar and Template
• Trello’s Online Content Calendar Template
• Hubspot’s Social Media Content Calendar Template for Excel

3. Social Media All-in-One Publishing, Scheduling and Analytics Tools (offering free trials and reasonable prices):

• Sendible (a stand out feature is how it tailors posts to each social network)
• SmarterQueue (a stand out feature is how it finds curated-content for you to share)

4. Social Media Content Ideas and Visual Tools

• Buzzsumo (a research tool for the most-shared content relevant to your industry)
• Canva (a visual tool to create professional-looking images for your posts)
• Portent (an idea generator tool based on subjects related to your industry)
• Quora (a Q&A community to see and participate in questions asked about your industry)
• Stockvault (a stock photo community for 100% free photos and art)
• Vimeo (a video maker tool with video templates, stock photos and music)

Resources to Improve Your Skills and Gain Knowledge

Depending on your preferred method of learning, there are various free educational and informational resources worth checking out:

5. Social Media Marketing Online Courses

If you’re looking for online courses and video lessons on social media marketing, here are 3 resources that are highly popular:

• Facebook Blueprint
• HubSpot Academy
• SEMrush Academy

6. Social Media Marketing Podcasts

Maybe you enjoy podcasts as much as we do. They’re an efficient way to keep up with new digital trends and gain insight. Here are 3 of our favorites (available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts).

• The Social Pros Podcast
• The Savvy Social Podcast
• Masters of Scale Podcast

7. Social Media Marketing eBooks

If you prefer to go at your own pace and get a more thorough understanding of a particular social media marketing topic, browse around these 3 eBook libraries:

• Content Marketing Institute eBooks
• HubSpot eBooks
• Swat.io eBooks

8. Social Media Marketing Email Newsletters

If you like receiving chunks of info right to your inbox, these 3 newsletters are customer-centric and offer great tips for social media:

• Copyblogger’s Newsletter
• Intercom’s Newsletter
• Social Media Examiner’s Newsletter

Small Business Resources Offline?

For social media marketing resources available in your area, such as in-person mentoring and conferences, contact the local branches of the following:

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• The U.S. Small Business Administration
• SCORE

Also, search for your industry’s trade group. You may find local help with them as well as other resources that are uniquely suited for your small business.