Man is a social being. Also the reason why always want to share “Hey this happened to me!!” at every available opportunity. Now, put these two together, what do we get?
Depending on their experience, you could either gain or lose a potential client. We don’t want to lose clients, do we? Even with an unhappy customer, it would be nice if he shared an objective perspective and not an emotional perspective. But then, people are people, and that’s how they share experiences.
The trick here is to engage your customers and potentials in a healthy way. The idea is to have your customers become brand ambassadors and generate more business for you. But, how do we go about doing this?
Social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Blog comments, Linkedin, Quora (..oh.. the list is endless…) provide ample space/opportunity for a healthy discussion. But, is it possible to login to each one of them…and be online at all times… at all of these sites? I guess not. Logistics apart, such an act will leave you no time to actually conduct your business… not a productive way..eh!
Enter Social Media Tools.
Social Media tools are utilities that allow you to manage multiple social media activities via a unified dashboard.
Here we have our 10 best Social Media Tools, under 5 categories. You can see that some features look similar. But they are not the same. Each tool has its strength, and hence its placed under the chosen category. Some are free, some are paid tools… but offer free-trial-version for you to explore and evaluate.
1. DASHBOARD UTILITIES
Every management tool comes with a dashboard, but that is besides the point here. These tools exclusively help you track your social media activities from a single unified dashboard. By linking to your multiple social media accounts, they allow you to set up schedules on…
When you want to post (date –time)
- Where you want to post (Facebook/twitter/Linkedin etc)
- What you want to post (text/link/pictures etc)
2. ANALYTICAL UTILITIES
It is just not enough to get “info / data” by listening to social media chatter. Such an exercise bears fruit only when you are able to convert this information into something actionable…. Actionable enough for your brand / company to (re)act accordingly. These tools allow you to make sense out of raw data and give you an insight into why a certain strategy works (or tanks).
3. SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKING TOOLS
Social Media is all about sharing. The more useful AND relevant your information is, more likely it will be shared by others in your network…and in their network…and in their network.
See my point… it gets re-shared. In other words, it goes viral.
Wouldn’t it be nice to keep track of all these sharing? May be you want to thank a person or two? May be you would want to by the fella a drink? And, this my friend is getting social, and engaging your loyal followers. Keep them in good spirits, you just won yourself a brand ambassador for life.
4. PUBLISHING TOOLS
Content is King. PERIOD.
But, you need to get the right content reach the right kind of users. An article about upcoming art exhibition is absolutely useless to plumbing company but immensely priceless to artists and art-enthusiasts.
These tools help create custom lists to who you can publish your content (as an email newsletter). The information reaches only to those whom it might matter the most.
5. LINK TRACKING TOOLS
Social Media is all about links-links-and more links to meaningful/useful content.
Best way to engage your networks is by being short and to the point. But there is only so much you can say with so little words, and would need a more descriptive way to convey your point. This is made easy by linking your social media message to a link (a.k.a Content source).
These tools help you track the performace of your links. This is vital in understanding the demographic for your network and come with a more targeted list.
DASHBOARD UTITLITES
ANALYTICAL UTILITIES
SOCIAL MEDIA TRACKING TOOLS
PUBLISHING TOOLS
LINK TRACKING TOOLS
LogicSpeak:
Everyone is interested to know what the other person has to offer, but downright dislikes a sales-pitch. So use your social media interactions wisely.
With Social media – LESS is MORE.
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