Automation is going to be the way forward for online businesses of the 21st century. Those that automate are going to be the most successful. There is an automation tool for all possible tasks, from email marketing to paid advertising models. The trick is to find the automation tools that fit into your lifestyle and business model. Here are 3 of the better automation tools out there.

#1 – MailChimp

MailChimp is an email management service that can assist in streamlining email campaigns. MailChimp is a favorite email automation tool for startups and digital nomads. It is known for its ease of use and is the biggest email automation tool out there. Email marketing is still a very lucrative business model. This is because while people may change their social media platforms, they tend to stick with the same email address. So building up an email list is a great way to keep in touch with potential customers over the long term. Even aside from pure email marketing, it is always a good idea to maintain an email list to keep customers regularly engaged. For example, those who are creating a blog will also need to maintain an email list and MailChimp can assist with this activity.

#2 – HootSuite

HootSuite is the perfect platform to automate social media strategies. It can be used to monitor how your business is doing across different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. You can see how your brand is performing through the simplified HootSuite dashboard. It is also possible to schedule and update posts as well as to create social analytic reports. The ability to schedule posts is a powerful feature that many freelancers and business owners are starting to take advantage of. It can significantly free up time. HootSuite is free for a basic personal subscription, though there are upgraded premium options.

#3 – Hubspot

Hubspot is an inbound marketing and sales automation tool that is extremely popular within the online business community. Marketing and sales is a difficult part of any business enterprise, and Hubspot can help to ease the burden. It comes with a free customer relationship management (CRM) system and is free to use.  It allows for email marketing and automation, lead generation, analytics, meeting scheduling, customer feedback, and ticketing. Hubspot has a massive online community who are very active and this is a very well-regarded automation tool that can streamline marketing campaigns.