Review of VerticalResponse Social Media Platform

Create Amazing Social Media Campaigns Fast and Professionally

Does creating social media campaigns give you a headache? Or maybe they simply just aren't getting done because of the time it takes? You should check out the Social Media Platform by Vertical Response - the email marketing company.

Social Tool Profile: Costs $18.00 per month (less if used with their other services) and allows for up to 300 posts per month. Social networks are managed under one account and posts are easily created for one or all of your connected networks.

Creating a Post Using The Social Application

Creating a new post with the Social application is very simple and broken down into four primary steps:

1. Destinations: Choose from one, some, or all of the connected social networks. This format allows management of similar or completely unique social communities within the one application.
2. Time: Choose to publish the post now or anytime into the future. This option is excellent for time management, as you can still maintain a presence across your communities even when you will be away from your computer or mobile device.
3. Post: Choose from one of seven post types (see options below). With this many options you'll never be at a loss for something to say or share. Using the link or quote post suggestions make it very easy, as the content is already there - simply choose from the recommended content and post.
4. Promotions: This option is not required. If you choose to, you can include the VR social bar with your link to encourage sharing and tracking of your specific post.

After following these four steps simply click "Post" and your post will either publish immediately or will be scheduled to post depending on the schedule you chose.

The online application provides seven presets for posts, including:

1. Links: The link option pulls from a set of recommended sites and blogs based on your choice of industry when setting up the account. This is fully customizable allowing you to choose and change your industry and adding custom RSS feeds and deleting some of the recommended feeds within the application. The idea behind the links option is to share relevant content from across the web with your readers. It does function like an RSS reader, but sharing is much easier. Simply select the links that you want to share across the networks and post - it's very straightforward.
2. Questions: Asking questions is a great way to interact and learn from your community. The application tracks responses that allows you to follow up and read every single one.
3. Status Updates: Sharing a status update was really the original intent of social networks and is a great way to interact with your community on a more personal level. After photos, status updates are often the most interactive posts.
4. Quotes: The quote library is huge and is divided by category. Simply choose the category of the quotation that you want to share with your readers and either share immediately or schedule into the future.
5. Photos: Share photos either from your computer or your Facebook profile. Photos often generate the highest level of interaction of all posts, so it's a good idea to regularly share photos with your community.
6. My Circle: My Circle appears to operate like a miniature social network within VerticalResponse where you can invite and be invited to join. Posts can be shared with a limited group within your circle of followers on VerticalResponse. This appears to have very limited benefit, as your posts, updates, photos and links would normally be shared with your whole community - not just a small group within the application.
7. Coupon: To use the coupon post option you'll need to have created a coupon within the application and then this can be shared across your community. This is a great way to monetize the interaction and community that you're building – without being in open "sales" mode. Sharing deals and discounts with your active and interested audience will be well received.

What I Like About VerticalResponse Social Application

Creating campaigns can be a real pain. It takes a lot of time and creativity to create an effective social media campaign.

There are tools such as Tweet Old Post and Tweet Adder which can automatically send automated tweets but their use is fairly limited. They only use Twitter platform and have a certain "canned" appearance to the tweets. Tweet Old Post does work well on the WordPress platform and will draw attention to older blog posts. Tweet Adder, on the other hand, has a "spammy" feel and might just get your account banned by Twitter, as it appears to be against their terms of service.

The beauty of the Social application is the variety of posts and the variety of platforms that it integrates with.

Social media platform integrates with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You are able to connect multiple Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and LinkedIn accounts within the one profile – allowing the Social tool to manage both client and personal projects at the same time.
What I Don't Like About VerticalResponses Social Media Platform

While the campaign creation aspect is very powerful and certainly worth the $18 a month, I have two reservations:

• It looks to me like you still need a tool like HootSuite to manage incoming interactions. While this isn't the end of the world, it would be nice to reduce the number of tools needed (and a number of monthly billing charges). HootSuite is excellent at managing incoming inquiries and mentions, but awkward at campaign creation.
• Pricing is built for users of their email marketing service. If you aren't already using their email application, the pricing benefits might be enough to get you to switch - and this can be a hassle. Of course, their email application is well rated and won our recent Readers Choice Awards for Best Email Marketing Service.

http://www.verticalresponse.com/

By Bryan Haines
http://onlinebusiness.about.com/