Use These Apps to Automate Your Small Business

Need help simplifying your business operations? The following apps might be just the ticket.

As a small business owner, you wear a lot of hats. You're the CEO, the CFO, the marketing manager, and the HR department all rolled into one. It's a lot to manage, and it's easy to feel like you're constantly playing catch-up. But what if there were a way to lighten your load? What if you could take some of the day-to-day tasks off your plate so that you could focus on the big-picture stuff? Well, there is a way -- and it's called automation. There are a ton of different apps out there that can help you automate your small business. From accounting and payroll to social media and marketing, there's an app that can help you with just about everything.

IFTTT

IFTTT (which stands for "If This Then That") is a free web-based service that integrates different apps, devices, and services. IFTTT can be extremely useful for automating tasks for your business. It has an easy-to-use interface that allows you to create simple conditional statements called "recipes." Recipes are triggered based on changes to other web services such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Recipes are made up of two parts: a trigger (if this happens) and an action (then do this).

For example, you could set up a recipe that automatically posts new blog articles to your social media accounts or sends you an email notification whenever someone mentions your company on Twitter. With a little creativity, you can use IFTTT to help you automate many of the tedious tasks that come with running a business. As an added bonus, IFTTT is very easy to use and it is completely free.

Zapier

Zapier is a tool similar to IFTTT that can help you save time by automating many of the tasks associated with running a business. Zapier, however, has more actions available through the app and can handle more complex automations. Zapier streamlines your operations through "zaps." These zaps are triggers that cause an action, or whatever you ask it to do automatically.

For example, Zapier can automatically create new customer records in your CRM software whenever someone signs up for your newsletter. It can also send out automated thank-you emails to customers after they make a purchase. In addition, Zapier can be used to automate social media posts, invoicing, and a variety of other tasks.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks is a popular accounting software that can save business owners a lot of time and headache. QuickBooks can help you keep track of your income and expenses, prepare and send invoices, track inventory, manage projects, and much more. In addition, QuickBooks integrates with many other business applications, making it easy to automate your workflow. By using QuickBooks, you can spend less time on administrative and accounting tasks and more time growing your business.

Hootsuite

Social media is a great way to connect with customers and promote your business -- but it can also be time-consuming if you're doing it manually. If you're looking for an app to help you automate your social media posts, Hootsuite is a great option. With Hootsuite, you can schedule social media posts in advance (for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more), track who's talking about your brand online, and measure your ROI. Hootsuite has both free and paid plans.

MailChimp

If you're looking for help automating your email marketing, MailChimp is a great option. MailChimp allows you to create beautiful email newsletters, automated email campaigns, and targeted email lists. Plus, it integrates with tons of other apps (like WordPress and Shopify) so you can easily add signup forms to your website or online store. MailChimp has both free and paid plans.

Automating your small business can seem like an intimidating prospect, but it doesn't have to be. These are just some apps that you can use, and by taking advantage of the many options available today, you can quickly and easily automate tasks that would otherwise take up a large amount of time. You'll be able to free up your time so you can focus on more important things.