Whether you want to find new customers or you need a way to manage your existing audience, it's important to have the right social media tools in place to keep your business running. As social media channels diversify and people turn more heavily toward this form of advertising, you'll find more products available that can help you manage your online presence efficiently. Check out these tools that can increase your online success, starting with the beginner's basics up through the expert's instruments.
Social Media 101: Finding New Customers
Facebook: If your business is just venturing into social media, one of the first places you should begin is Facebook. Perhaps the original social media giant, Facebook continues to be extremely relevant today and only continues to grow more. Many of your potential customers are already using Facebook every day. This social media platform gives you an exclusive opportunity to connect with them.
Twitter: Twitter is another one of the best social media tools to begin working with. It's easy to set up a Twitter account and to begin tweeting right away. Soon you'll begin noticing that your followers are multiplying and passing on the word to others. Twitter also gives you a chance to stay up to date with all the latest news and messages from anyone you're interested in following.
ClientTouch: Marketing with an email list is a great way to stay in touch regularly with your clients, prospects and business partners to help them keep your name in mind. Through Client Touch, you can easily manage your outgoing emails, integration with other social media sites and your analytic data. Client Touch allows you to keep track of your subscribers and the number of messages that get read, as well as to send out messages with customized HTML formats. It's an easy to use tool that caters to exactly what a businessperson is looking for to automate the follow-up, top of mind process.
Maintaining Your Online Success and Looking Toward the Future
Google Apps: As you begin to build up a successful online presence and you start looking toward the future, you should begin looking for tools that will help you manage things more efficiently. With a tool like Google Apps, you can easily enjoy the benefits of Google's well-known revolutionary software. One of the greatest benefits of Google Apps is the ability to host user email addresses at your website from within the program. You also get to use programs like Google Docs, allowing you to share and edit documents; Google Calendar, helping you manage your schedule and share it with friends; and Google Sites which can help you create websites and manage group information.
Basecamp: Basecamp is a popular project management tool for businesses that need help getting organized and communicating. One of the greatest benefits to Basecamp is that workers can track projects and communicate together from within the program, using instant messaging, file sharing and to-do lists. These will help to keep everyone in your company on the same page at the same time, creating a more efficient workflow for everyone involved.
Take Your Business to the Next Level
Monitter or TweetDeck: These programs are great tools that help you to manage your Twitter stream, as they organize the constant flow of information you receive. Both, Monitter and Tweet Deck are similar in their setup and their user interface systems look pretty similar. However, each also has its own unique benefits. Many people who use Monitter prefer the ability to have more than ten columns open at one time, while TweetDeck users prefer its reliable service over that of Monitter. Whichever you choose, you'll be able to see who's tweeting at you and who you've tweeted at. You'll also be able to monitor trending topics and search for specific terms easily, all from within the same screen. Once your business is using Twitter regularly, use one of these programs to manage all your interactions and keep things organized.
YouTube: YouTube is another popular form of social media that many companies ultimately fail to use effectively. While YouTube can have great potential as a successful advertising tool for your company, it's best to introduce it to the plan once you've mastered some other basics of social media. When you're starting out with YouTube, you can begin to become familiar with what it offers by linking your customers to videos that they may be interested in, or by providing informational clips. After you've spent some time there, you can begin to shoot your own videos and start posting. Before you make yourself an authoritative source, be sure you've spent the time learning the ropes. When you take advantage of these social media tools, you'll have a great set of resources to help grow your business and pursue new heights.
And now that you know about these tools I'd like to give you my free 21 page report: Social Media Marketing
Enrique Barba is the principal of Sway New Media where he provides premium SEO services, Social Media Management and Marketing resources.
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