Managing Your Accounts

Looking for an easy way to manage all of your social media accounts in one dashboard?  Read about both of these internal and public managing tools.

For Your Eyes Only

• TweetDeck- Your personal real-time browser, connecting you with your contacts from all social media outlets including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more. 
• HootSuite- Plan your social media strategy all in one place.  HootSuite makes it easy to manage multiple users of various accounts, and track statistics with easy to understand visualization links and graphs. 

For the Public

Make a homepage for you or your company in minutes with both of these splash page websites.  Both pages allow you to link all of your social networking sites. 

• About.Me
• Flavors.Me

Flavors.me from Rob Morris on Vimeo.

Discovering User Generated Content

Discovering news, information and customer reviews has never been simpler with the help of several social media advancements.  From push to pull communication, getting the inside scoop as fast as you want is possible, and can be vital to tracking and monitoring your public relations and marketing efforts.  Use any and all of these tools below to follow what others are saying about you, your brand and your client.  Read more about each of these tools on the Mashable and Wikipedia links below.  

• RSS Feeds: RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and according to Mashable's online article, "Do You Use an RSS Reader," they aren't as new as we think.  While they have been around since 1999, the social media hype has increased awareness of this clever tool. They are a quick and popular way to read numerous blogs, news stories and information in general all on one web page.  Utilize an RSS feed by keeping track of any and all publications you may be reaching out to, and see what consumers have to say about you or your client.

• Digg: This easy to use website helps users to share and find interesting or relevant content from anywhere online.  According to Wikipedia, users can submit links and stories and vote or comment on submissions.  You can look at it as a democratic way of rating online information, and it also allows you to see what consumers are discussing.  One of the neat things about Digg is that it stores the most popular or commented on stories on the front page every day.  This top ranking spot is a great goal for public relations and marketing professionals to shoot for.  

• StumbleUpon: Also a fairly old tool, StumbleUpon was created in 2001 and allows users to see a random website, anytime and anywhere with the click of the mouse.  According to Mashable's online article, "How To: Get the Most Out of StumbleUpon," the creative website "stumble's upon" a new website each time you click, and tailors what it "stumble's upon" according to your interests and preferences.  If you're looking to utilize this tool for your small firm, try using “StumbleUpon Tag Toplist.” According to Mashable, "This little puppy adds a button to each StumbleUpon profile which allows you to see some advanced statistics about each user’s tags. It will also display a list of the most used tags, and allow you to sort them alphabetically or by tag count."

• Reddit: Mashable explains this as a "social news website" which allows users to post links to content they found on the web to other users.  Once posted, much like digg, others can vote on links and put their input into the submission.  This gives interest to another possible goal for public relations or marketing strategies as the more positive votes are given to a link, the higher the link moves up on the discussion areas.  

Want to know more?

Check out some of my classmates blogs linked below.  While both have similar information about utilizing social media for your small business, notice the difference in themes and context the two authors share with readers.  While one prefers video additions to their post the other prefers getting the information out quickly and efficiently with no frills or strings attached. 

Which version of the blog topic do you prefer? Post a comment here or visit their blogs and give them some feedback!

NateBlizzy Social Media Blog

Dan C Social Media Blog

Display all of your social media profiles in one place online!

Want to create a custom profile and personal analytics dashboard? Check out aboutme.com and give employeers, readers and fans a place to check out all of your profiles from one location.

Below is an example of an AboutMe page.  Notice the links at the bottom of the bio to their online profiles including theirTwitter account.

Wikipedia and Social Media Statistics

Wikipedia may not seem like the most obvious piece of social media available for marketing use out there, however if you take a look at the facts behind this dynamic networking tool you will realize it may benefit your small business after all.

While Wikipedia is the number five most visited site on the web, over 50% of Wikipedia’s traffic is search-driven.  Creating and maintaining a Wikipedia page is an easy and efficient way for you to show your clients you are tuned in.  Using your Wikipedia page also has tactical benefits when starting strategic discussion around your topic of choice for your business.

Check out the number of ways you can use Wikipedia for your marketing efforts from the online article written by Minda Zetlin for Inc.com.

I find that one of the most interesting ways to get involved is to volunteer to write for many different subject pages on Wikipedia.  While, you will not always be writing about what you’re promoting, it shows you are proactive and unselfish to take time to write about other areas of interest that you are an expert in.  As Zetlin explained in her online article, “Use Wikipedia as a Marketing Tool,” spending a little time on adding other information besides what you are trying to promote, can only enhance your knowledge of how Wikipedia works.

Check out some more statistics about using social media for marketing purposes in this YouTube video below posted by the blog Six Pixels of Separation, a blog on digital marketing.  

  

Social Media Strategy: The Ignite Method

Measuring the success of social media can be a difficult task, and since the concept is relatively new to the business world most professionals are still discovering the benefits of using various social media outlets.  

Jim Tobin of Ignite Social Media, a social media agency, posted a recent article on his blog about the strategic planning behind the use of social media and how it can benefit your small company in big ways that are measurable.  

They call it the Ignite Method of Social Media Strategy Development!  Check out the 24-minute presentation he posted and his six steps to strategizing your social media efforts.

How to Create a Social Media Strategy from Jim Tobin on Vimeo.
 
The Ignite Method
1.  Discovery

2.  Community Analysis

3.  Goal Setting

4.  Engagement Plan

5.  Metrics and Measurement Strategy

6.  Training and Implementation 

Blogging as a Marketing Tool for Small Business

While the blogging world may seem to have a lingo of it's own, it's vital for small businesses to take the time to learn the value behind a well-kept blog.  Terms such as tagging, blogrolling, trackback or linkback, have become everyday language for those involved in the business of blogging. 

Tag: A tag in a blog is essentially a label that enables users to search and find blogs with that label.  By labeling your blogs you attract several different search topics and ultimately increase readership.  Small businesses should incorporate tags in their blog posts to optimize their search engine hits.  Tags can be in your blog or attached at the end of the post.  

Blog rolls: These are a list of other blog sites or networks that are linked from your site.  They can be useful for small companies to cross promote with others, support allies, philanthropies or even not-for-profit organizations.  Creating a blog roll on your site is a great public relations tool you can use to help build relationships and learn more about the competitors.  

Trackback: A trackback or linkback gives you the ability to comment on another's blog post within your own post and link directly to their page within your post.  Your comments about their post will also be added to the comments section of their post!  This is a great tool to help out a friend and also put YOUR link in front of your friend's readers.  

While this all may seem a little confusing, don't give up!  A well-maintained blog can enhance your brand image, add customer loyalty and increase your marketing reach through interaction with consumers!

Multiple Choice- C. Money: Topics in Marketing Assignment

While his blog may be short and sweet, it's true!  Getting your small business involved in social marketing is the key to succeeding, and at times can even help your company break through the clutter that is the ad world.

Multiple Choice- C. Money: Topics in Marketing Assignment: "These three tools; Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger can be used to market a small firm by: 1. Creating viral advertisement on social networkin..."

Three Social Marketing Tools for Small Firms

Facebook
In addition to being able to post events, updates and general information about your firm you can create discussion, buzz and measure the effectiveness of your marketing strategies with Facebook.  Develop pages for your groups and causes that allow consumers to interact with your organization.  Learn about the recent application known as Facebook Connect that allows consumers to connect all of their favorite Web sites to their personal Facebook page in this article written by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg.

Twitter
Now, take the feature of posting your status on Facebook and create a new social marketing tool that surrounds this concept.  This is the essence of Twitter.  Small firms can you use Twitter to make announcements and post articles and news of interest to their clients.  Check out how smaller businesses are benefiting from using this effective marketing tool in this article by The New York Times!

Blogging

This is a fabulous medium that allows you to customize your brand on a more personal level than your Web site allows.  It serves as another interactive medium for consumers and gives you more marketing reach online without having to pay for expensive advertisements.  Read more about creating a blog for marketing purposes in this article posted by All Business.

Related articles

• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/8439/How-to-Rock-Your-Facebook-Fan-Page-with-John-Haydon-InboundNow-3.aspx (hubspot.com)
• 3 must-see social marketing tools (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Listening to the Customer: The Forgotten Social Media Marketing Tool (marketingvox.com)