It’s hard to believe the sheer number of social media tools we use everyday to help grow the Content Marketing Institute and SocialTract, as well as my own personal brand. Since there are so many, I decided to update this post from almost three years ago. It’s amazing the number of social media and content marketing tools that I continue to use, as well as the many that died over the years from lack of use.
Which ones am I missing that you cannot live without? [disclaimer: many of the tools below are CMI partner tools]
The Basics
- LinkedIn - Start the practice of connecting with every business card you receive from contacts.
- Facebook - Less business, more entertainment the better.
- Twitter - The best way to broadcast great business content…period.
- Google+ – The fastest growing social media network of all-time. Due to Google’s link with search, Google+ is now critical.
Conversations and Listening
- LinkedIn Answers - Listen and answer. Best if you have business customers.
- LinkedIn Groups - Find groups that make sense for your business.
- Yahoo! Answers - Listen and answer questions. Position yourself as the expert. Better if you have consumer customers.
- Google Alerts - Get updates on who’s talking about you, your industry, your customers.
- Google Groups - Find the group relevant to your job and get active.
- Google Trends – Love this tool! See where keyword trends are heading. It will help you tell better stories.
Twitter Management
- Tweetdeck - The ultimate Twitter management system.
- Hootsuite - Manage multiple twitter accounts from one dashboard.
- Dlvr.it – Possibly the best reporting structure for distributing Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Twitter Search - Find anything on Twitter real-time.
- Yammer - It’s Twitter for inside the company walls.
Content Sharing
- Slideshare - Upload your PowerPoint presentations for all to see.
- YouTube - The #1 video sharing site and #2
- Vimeo - The alternative to YouTube.
- StumbleUpon - Randomly generates content for users by interest area. It still amazes me how much traffic we get from StumbleUpon.
- Scribd - Share original writings with others.
- Pinterest – In less than two months becomes a Top 100 website. Amazingly addictive.
- About.me – Great way to share the information that is all about YOU.
- BufferApp – Integrates with Facebook and Twitter to easily share content.
CMS/Content Promotion/Creation Tools
- WordPress - My recommendation for a blog CMS platform.
- Tumblr - Post anything quickly and easily.
- Zemanta - Great for adding additional content and links.
- Outbrain – The PPC tool for content distribution. Used by some of the best brands on the planet.
- PR Newswire – Our preferred tool for distributing news and research releases.
- Jing- To create screenshots for clients when something needs to be explained.
Event Tools
- Lanyrd – Heavy social media, but excellent conference promotion tool.
- Plancast – Another event listing tool.
- GoToMeeting – Desktop sharing and event tool for businesses of any size.
- ON24 – Industrial-strength online event tool.
Measurement
- Google Analytics - I recommend using Google Analytics even if you have a paid analytics service (courtesy Cim Buser).
- Alexa - Some high-level information on website traffic for any site.
- Compete.com - Excellent comparison tool for web analytics-type information.
- Quantcast - Provides good overview of analytics and site demographics.
- Radian6 – A paid social media measurement tool. Now a Salesforce.com company.
Operations
- Google Apps - Runs all email and calendar functions through one place. We use it and love it. Basic option is free.
- Google Docs - Share Word documents, spreadsheets and presentations via secure invitations. Great for editing a document with multiple people involved.
- Teamwork Project Manager - Easy-to-use project management tool.
- BaseCamp - An alternative to Teamwork Project Manager. Also very easy to use.
- DropBox – Easy way to share files with co-workers and associates.
- Salesforce – Track sales opportunities, leads and contacts.
- Evernote – Easy to way to transport documents from iPad to anywhere else you are going.
- Skype – Hard to do international calls without it. Plus, sometimes it’s helpful to see the person.
- Chrome Remote Desktop – Incredibly handy tool if you need access to someone else’s computer and you lack IT support.
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