The Best Google Chrome Extensions for Digital Marketers- (Part 2) Improving Your Social Media Workflow

Bitly?: A URL shortener with powerful tracking

Platform?: Chrome, Firefox, Safari

Why We Like It?: If you aren’t familiar with Bitly, it’s a simple tool that allows you to shorten URLs into something a bit more manageable. So instead of a URL like?“https://www.yourdomain.com/site/another/twentyurl.php?454354353453453452432fsgdfgjoeejyjeggjrjgerjgejg/”?you could just create “bit.ly/mysite.” Not only is that a much easier link to share and memorize, but it’s just less intimidating overall.

The Bitly browser extension lets you do this all from your browser — you don’t even have to go to their website. Once you generate your bitlink, you can check Bitly’s analytics to see how many people clicked it.

Buffer?: Allows you to share and schedule content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more

Platform?: Chrome, Firefox

Why We Like It?: One of the keys to running a successful social media account is diversifying the information you’re sharing. If all you do is link promotional material to your followers, your channel won’t grow. After all, how many channels do you follow that just self-promote all day? Unless you’re incredibly invested in the brand, it’s unlikely you have many.

In order to diversify your feed, it’s important to share relevant content frequently. A browser extension like Buffer makes that easy, letting you quickly schedule content that aligns well with your target audience. If you already use Buffer as a social media management tool, this extension is a no-brainer!

Hashtest?: Helps you discover hashtags as you type

Platform?: Chrome

Why We Like It?: When you’re typing a message on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn, Hashtest will try to do its best to find relevant hashtags for you to use. Hashtest is excellent at finding less popular (but still active) hashtags that you can stand out on — rather than just dumping you into the most popular, overcrowded hashtags.

BuzzSumo?1: Quickly pulls share counts for the page you’re looking at

Platform?: Chrome

Why We Like It?: We love BuzzSumo at TCF — it’s a digital marketing tool we can’t live without. Likewise, the BuzzSumo Chrome extension is a vital part of our kit.

With the browser add-on, there’s no need to go to BuzzSumo’s site to analyze a page. In your browser you’ll be able to see how many times a page has been shared, what pages on that domain are the most successful, and who has shared that particular page.

Google Analytics URL Builder?: An extension-based version of Google’s URL shortener.

Platform?: Chrome

Why We Like It?: If you’re just trying to generate a single tracking code — or if fine-tuning your analytics isn’t part of your daily routine — then this add-on probably won’t streamline your workflow that much.

Yet, if you’re optimizing campaigns with a lot of links coming in from various sources, then the Google Analytics URL Builder is invaluable. It takes an already powerful tool and adds functionality, making it easier to tag URLs with campaign variables. It can read your current web address automatically, force lowercase, auto-generate a URL and remember the last UTM you set — so you don’t have to keep track of it yourself.