The Social Media Toolkit

Tools! I have found that my network is composed of people who are either in the “know” or haven’t a clue what I am talking about when I mention “social media tools”. For those who look at me not to sure where I am going with that comment and brace for the worse (really!), I start naming a few. Sometimes a light goes on and other times there is this “deafening silence” LOL! So it is so fitting to have a iradio show and blog that is dedicated to “Tools”! This is for you my friends!

This post will highlight those tools that you should consider whether you are on one or more social networks. These tools will certainly add to both your social media experience and help manage your connections. I will showcase those that were discussed by my guests on my internet radio show, The Social Toolkit  and list others that have been recommended by my network.

Showcase List

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is really a good tool to help you stay on top of all your key social sites. Once you have connected your accounts (Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter), Hootsuite provides a dashboard of all your information streams where you can track content and respond – all from one central site. You also have the ability to scheduled your publishing and retrieve analytics. It is a very valuable tool to use for managing your social media accounts at a glance.

2. Twylah

Twylah is a really good tool to reposition your tweets. In my post the Conversational Tweet and in the AtoZ of Twitter, I shared that many may still have a Twitter phobia. Ok, not quite those words but that is what it is LOL!  Twylah brings simplicity to what may seem like random thoughts and sentences to a storyboard of your tweets.  Twylah rearranges your tweets to showcase the key topics that you tweet  and share. Some refer to the Twylah version as a Power tweet  and that it is. I like it because of the storyboard qualities giving a sense of the quality of the tweets that an individual shares. The Twylah version is  also searchable and as a result, helps with bringing traffic to your site. 

3. Klout

Klout was highlighted during my episode of The Social Media Toolkit not for its Influence scoring but for its content. You can search a topic in its search field and then select for best content (as shown below). The results provide best content that you can then share with your network. This is an excellent tool to search for quality content.

Screenshot of Klout: Search topic here is "social media" and tab selected is "best content".

Scoop.it

Scoop.it was also mentioned for its content. Scoop.it is a curation platform and community. There are many good curators  in this community that search and publish quality content. If you would like to know more about Scoop.it, I recently published a comprehensive post on the value of Scoop.it. I urge that you to read this post for additional information.

Buffer App

BufferApp helps to better schedule your tweets and thereby optimizing your tweets with your audience. It is similar to Hootsuite.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck helps you manage your Twitter and Facebook accounts. It arranges your streams into a dashboard format for easy viewing and sharing.

Lists

I am not sure if this really falls under the umbrella of “tools” but it is certainly an invaluable feature on both Facebook and Twitter. In fact having lists on both Twitter and Facebook makes these accounts so much easier to manage and consequently a lot easier to engage  with your key contacts. If you have not grouped your followers or friends into categories, I urge that you do that now and trust me, it really changes the experience as you will find that you are more efficient in how you spend your time on these networks  and you will also be more effective as a practitioner.

Other Tools To Consider

1. Crowdbooster ~As well as a scheduling tool for your Twitter and Facebook accounts, it also helps you analyze your contacts and tweets. 
2. Commun.it ~ A relationship management tool using Twitter. 
3. Hashable ~ Helps you manage your contacts
4. Nimble ~ Helps you manage your contacts
5. Bitly ~Helps you manage links
6. Google Reader ~ Helps manage all your subscriptions
7. ConnectedHQ ~ Another contact management tool
8. GoogleAnalytics ~ Helps measure your sites(s) performance
9. Connect.me ~ Connections are measured by the level of trust from their network via vouchers. This tool provides an alternative viewpoint on influence and trust.
10. Evernote ~ This is like your electronic notebook that you can use any and everywhere to capture information that can be easily retrievable at a later date.
11. Feedly ~ A tool to read news and share content of your favorite sites.
12. XeeMe ~ A business card on steriods! This tool consolidates all your social sites on one dashboard that you can share with your audience and network.

Tools For Linkedin and Business Networking

1. WordPress ~ to share your wordpress blog
2. Box.net ~ to share your documents
3. GetIntro ~ reviews all your contacts and your contact/contacts and makes recommendations for introductions
4. Xobni ~ Makes your inbox and address book smarter by making it easy to search and discover all your contacts 
5. Slideshare ~ a tool to share your noteworthy slides and presentations

 Google Plus

My recent post on Google Plus provides a list and reference for a number of Google plus tools.

Here is the link to that post.

Now that should keep you busy!

Let me know how you do.

Cheers

Shirley

Related Social Media Pearls iradio show: The Social Media Toolkit

Big thank you to my iradio guests Michael Todd, Kelly Kim and Cristina Falcão

Related articles

• 5 secrets to staying sane when you manage social media (prdaily.com)
• HootSuite Partners With HubSpot to Offer Social Media Lead Nurturing #ClosedLoopSocial (hubspot.com)
• Expand your platform with Twylah and Scoop.It (nhwn.wordpress.com)
• How to: Use Hootsuite as a marketing tool. (mashable)
• Twylah: Your Brand Best Twitter Ally (Business2Community)
• What is BufferApp (BloggerBusinessPlan)
• 6 Tremendous Twitter tools to enhance your tweets (mikejeffs.co.uk)
• How Twylah and Buffer Get Your Tweets Exponential Exposure (jeffbullas.com)
• Commun_it IS #Twitter Management Awesome Sauce, Why You NEED IT (AniseSmithMarketing)