On the 9th Day of Social Media, Your SIG Leaders Gave To You: 9 Strategic Social Media Tools!
I’m glad you’re here!
How exciting that we get to talk about tools, right? Well, these aren’t just any tools, but the tools available to us to help make our Social Media activity a bit more strategic, sometimes more efficient, and certainly more interesting because they keep changing, right?
You and I know we could be here all day because there are hundreds of tools we could discuss. Because I know you might get bored with me listing tools after, oh, let’s say 6 hours, I will do my best to keep within the theme of the 9th Day, okay? Perhaps I'll write a blog post about some of the others on my list.
Ready?!
You might know that I like to add a dose of crowdsourcing to my blog posts because the posts will be much richer, and because, let’s face it, I don’t know everything. I know, shock of all shocks, right!? Those of you who paid big bucks for my bobblehead doll might see if you can get a refund because I’m not perfect.
As I began writing this post, I realized that some of these tools border on being tips. Either way, I hope you find one or two of them interesting. Let us know your favorites as it would be nice to have a thorough rundown of the tools that make our lives and/or jobs better. Oh, yes, and don't forget that my friend and SIG Co-Leader, Laura Toledo, got us started on tools when she gave us 7 Twitter Tools two days ago!
From My Friends Around The World In Social Media
A few friends (surprise, I do have some friends!) I've met because of Social Media courses we've taken together are now in private Facebook groups where we discuss...what else, Social Media...answered my inquiry about tools, so let’s start there..
1. Hootsuite: "for scheduling, including the Bulk Upload feature." It is a social media management tool that keeps you organized, both in posting and viewing, and allows you to organize Twitter contacts, searches and topics by columns, and offers great reporting and analytics. It allows you to post to all of your social media accounts and groups. (Terri Zwierzynski, Chief Freedom Officer of Solo-E.com)
2. Click to Tweet: "is a plugin for Wordpress to make blog posts more engaging." It allows you to write the Tweet that you want others to share, creates a custom link for you to study analytics, and automatically adds the Tweet you crafted to the Twitter feed of anyone who clicks on it within your blog post. (Eden Rudin of The Social Garden)
3. A news aggregator: "is a must for use in social media and networking for growing relationships, building word of mouth reputation, and professional growth (learning). I use Mr. Reader on my iPad and have been doing so for 4 or 5 years. It's outstanding. Thank you Tom Mighell for turning me onto Mr Reader." (Kevin O’Keefe, CEO & Publisher of LexBlog, Inc.)
4. Basecamp: "for coordinating (social media) projects with my team." Basecamp is a project management app that makes it easy for people in different roles with different responsibilities to communicate and work together. It’s a place to securely share files, have discussions, collaborate on documents, assign tasks, and check due dates. (Jeanne Kugler Wilson, Owner Director at Markbeech Marketing)
5. Commun.it: "to thank people for engaging/supporting me, and to find new people to follow. It offers free Twitter analytics, allows you to manage multiple profiles, find who to follow or unfolllow, and suggests what content to Tweet." (Terri Zwierzynski)
6. Evernote and Teamwork: "for various clients and projects. Both are apps that make managing content and teams easier." (Jeanne Kugler Wilson)
A Few Of My Favorites
7. Slideshare: now owned by LinkedIn, offers users the ability to upload and share, publicly or privately, presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios. It is a great way to repurpose your existing content, and to then share it on Slideshare, LinkedIn and your website or blog.
8. Mention.com: allows you to monitor your brand online. It allows you to listen to what's being said on the web and social web. You can then react, collaborate, and analyze your online presence, as well as to find inspiration for new content to create.
9. Canva: is probably my favorite new tool for 2014. You should always add something visual to your blog posts because visuals draw people in, and help to set the scene and the emotion you desire. Canva makes that easier than I can even describe. For the Photoshop-challenged among us (I told you..I don’t know everything!), Canva will make you look more professional when designing graphics for any digital space. Most of my blogposts the past 6 months have Canva images I have designed.
As I said at the beginning, there are many more we can discuss, but I'll leave those for a different post on a different day. The Social Media SIG is interested in your favorite tools, so please let us know by commenting wherever you were notified about this post. You can find us allover Social Media, and we can find you, so please share away!
I have one more post to go, so I will spare you the teary, heartfelt holiday message for now.
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If you're new to our SIG, welcome! Whether new or not, you might want to check out last year's 12 Days of Social Media or our 12 Days from 2012!
We look forward to sharing the next 3 Days of Social Media with you so check back tomorrow to see what your SIG leaders bring you on the 10th Day!
One last point: The 12 days of Social Media are just part of what you get when you're a SIG member. For full benefits, join the Social Media SIG, join the LinkedIn LMA Social Media SIG private group, join the LMA Facebook Social Media Private Group and, if you're not already a member of LMA, join here. You won't be sorry! As a member of the Social Media SIG, these posts will be sent to you automatically via the Groups ediscussion Forum.
Happy Holidays from your Social Media SIG Leaders!
Lindsay Griffiths, International Lawyers Network
Laura Toledo, Nilan Johnson Lewis
Gail Lamarche, Henderson Franklin
Lance Godard, Fisher & Phillips
Nancy Myrland, Myrland Marketing & Social Media
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If you missed any of our previous 2014 Days of Social Media, here they are!
See you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!