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Having the right tools makes doing a job more efficient, less costly, and helps keep one’s sanity. Here are some great tools for content and social media marketing.
Don’t be fooled, though. There’s no “set it and forget it” program. A successful content or social media marketing strategy involves time and effort. A brand has to be present and interact on a daily basis.
Many tools have trial periods so they can be tested and demoed. While this is great in theory, most require more than a few hours of setup, so by the time you’ve gotten them into production, the free trial period is about over. What should you do? Continue on with the tool because you’ve spent the past two weeks getting it initialized? Should you look for an alternative (only to find the same routine occur)? Should you contact the vendor and plead your case for an extra two weeks of trial time?
It’s easy to then fall victim to sunk-cost fallacy – when one makes a hopeless investment of time or money that isn’t productive, but reasons that they can’t stop now, otherwise what they’ve invested so far will be lost. This is true, of course, but irrelevant to whether one should continue to invest time or funds in the project.
First, don’t be too hard on yourself. Many development companies have the timing of the free trials to a science and know exactly how long it takes to get into their systems and get them up and moving. It’s no coincidence that the trial expires not too long afterwards.
Second, if the tool looks promising and will help meet the organizational goals, then consider contacting the vendor and requesting an extension to the demo. It doesn’t hurt to ask. If you have the contact information for a sales agent, that’s the best place to start.
Third, if the setup is rough – maybe you’ve found little documentation or assistance from the vendor – then consider if it’s worth sinking more time and energy before moving forward. Don’t fall into the sunk-cost fallacy.
Finally, if the tool seems promising but the vendor has denied your request to extend your free pass, you may have to pony up to continue using it. Free trials are great, and we love new toys as much as the next person, but there are some tools in our arsenal that we can’t live without and knew it from the first few days of the trial. When that happens, don’t be fooled that the grass may be greener. Those are the ones you hold onto with both hands.
