So I will start off with some facts about myself:
1. I love saving time
2. I love lifehacks
This is why I LOVE Chrome extensions! They are so handy and can really save you so much time when you’re surfing the web and doing the things that you need to do on a daily basis (in my case managing multiple social media accounts.) I personally believe these extensions are so under-rated! Everyone needs to know about these and how they can help them (especially when managing social media accounts).
There are a few extensions that stand out from the crowd. These act like life jackets, preventing me from drowning in the sea of content which is just getting deeper and deeper and deeper…
*Cough* ANYWAY
Before I fire off my top 5 favourites here’s how you can find the plugin store from your Chrome browser.
1. Click on the 3 lines in the top right hand side of your Chrome browser which look like this > 
2. Click on ‘settings’
3. Click on ‘extensions’
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click ‘get more extensions.’ Here you will find the Chrome extensions shop and you will be able to search and browse at your leisure!
Now without further ado, here are my top 5 Chrome extensions for social media management
1. Hootlet
Every time without fail my favourite extension has to be the Hootlet. This is literally The Best Chrome plugin ever. Literally. Ever. The Hootlet is Hootsuite’s (very cute baby owl) plugin. It lets you send and schedule content from your web browser into Hootsuite with 2 clicks of a mouse button. It even writes the post for you by taking the meta description from the page (which obviously you can edit if you wish).
Just click on the owl when you see an article you want to share > 
This will bring up the box below allowing you to choose the relevant social media platform and time and date you want to post it.
As a social media manager this plugin saves you masses of time. It allows you to easily schedule content within seconds while surfing the web instead of having to copy the URL, open up Hootsuite / your social media platform, past the URL, write the post and then schedule.
My top 3 reasons for liking Hootlet
1 – A big time saver
2 – Allows you to fill your social media content pipeline while doing other stuff
3 – It works exactly like Hootsuite and offers you all the features Hootsuite does when scheduling (there’s no compromise).
2. Pin It
At no.2 it’s the ‘Pin It’ extension. Now this acts a little bit like the Hootlet in the way that it allows you to send content straight into Pinterest without having to go in to the platform. The only difference is you can’t schedule it. Add the Pin It button to your browser then when you are surfing the web and see a picture you want to pin hit the Pin It button and it will bring up the Pinterest box below with your chosen picture. Add your description, choose your board then hit Pin It! Boom! Sorted.
My top 3 reasons for liking ‘Pin It’
1- Huge time saver
2- Allows you to be active on Pinterest while you are doing other things
3 – Automatically gives credit to the source of the picture by including the URL of the page that the picture came from
3. Klout
Klout is up next! The Klout extensions allows you to see other Twitter account Klout scores while you are in Twitter. Amazing! This instantly lets you see how much influence another account has. By getting the Klout extension little numbers should automatically appear above the accounts Twitter names in your timeline. Clicking on the Klout extension will bring up your Klout dashboard where you can check what has been effecting your Klout. It’s gamification at it’s best but I love it!
Oh and it looks like this > 
My top 3 reasons for liking ‘Klout’
1 – It helps you strategically engage with other Twitter accounts
2- It helps you find influencers quickly and easily
3 – You can quickly access your own Klout account and keep track of your own Klout score
4. Pocket
At no.4 it’s Pocket. Now pocket doesn’t directly assist with your social media activity however indirectly I find it very useful on keeping up to date with my blog reading. Pocket lets you save the webpage that you are on by clicking on the extension. The webpage will then be saved in your ‘pocket’ (the Pocket app on your phone). Now you can open the app on your phone and read the article without having to need an internet connection. A great way of saving articles to read for later while you are surfing the web.
It looks like this > 
Top 3 reasons why I love Pocket
1 – It helps me use my time efficiently
2 – Makes sure that I read everything that I want to read. I never forget to read articles!
3 – It’s super convenient
5. Hangouts
Last but not least at no.5 it’s the Hangout extension. Now this may / may not be as useful for you as it is for me depending on whether you use Google apps or not. If you use Google for your email at work you will find this extension super useful. It allows you to talk via Hangouts (chat or video) to people really quickly and easily. This means as well as Hangout chat showing in your email account (on the left hand side of your emails) it also is on your desktop, so it pops up like Skype when someone talks to you. You don’t even need to be on your email tab. By getting the extension it means that whenever someone starts chatting to you via Hangouts their chat will pop up on your desktop so there is no chance of missing it. You can also video call people from this extension with a couple of clicks of a button.
It looks like this > 
Top 3 reasons why I love Hangouts
1- It makes communication easy
2- It’s quicker than having to go to Google+ or email to start talking to someone
3- You will never miss a Hangout call / chat again
So those are my 5 top Chrome extensions. Do you have favourite Chrome extensions? Let me know in the comments below.
That’s all for now! I hope you found this useful. 🙂
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