Showing posts with label social media management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media management. Show all posts

Friday, 30 October 2015

4 Seriously Superior Social Media Tools to Manage Your Accounts

06:00   , , , , , ,  

Need Social Media Tools? Start Here!

My good friend and colleague, Ian Anderson Grey, wrote an awesome article in cooperation with G2Crowd.
G2Crowd ‘analyzed hundreds of detailed reviews from users of the top Social Media Management software’ and then created this awesome infographic about it. Ian then explained in plain English what it all means and why the top 4 ‘best’ are indeed the best social media management tools.
Here’s the impressive infographic!
The Top 4 Rated Social Media Management Tools of 2015

 Infographic brought to you by Seriously Social and G2 Crowd

What Tools Should You Use?

I am in no way, shape or form going to rehash all of the wonderful things Ian explained and touched on in his article. Just go read it here. Each person who manages social media will have a different objective and thus a different need for tools. Depending on your situation, and after reading Ian’s article, I would suggest you try out any or all of these
  • Hootsuite
  • AgoraPulse
  • SproutSocial
  • Sendible
*Full disclosure; I’ve used Hootsuite and I’ve had access to a trial version for both SproutSocial and AgoraPulse. Sendible I’ve never tried.
Why am I sharing with with you then?
I want to give you a few pointers in what to look for when deciding on what tools to use.
About two years ago I wrote about the best social media tool ever

Have you ever paid for a webinar, a conference, a tool or a subscription and you didn’t use it? What good did it do you? No good.
The best social media tool is one you like, understand and use!
Remember this! Don’t let anyone talk you into buying/paying for a tool you don’t understand or don’t need.
the best social media tool is the one you are actually going use

How To Find New Social Media Tools To Use!
(besides trying out the 4 tools pointed out earlier)

  • Ask your peers (“What tool do you use for content curation?”)
  • Sign up for free trials. Even get trials for similar tools and compare for yourself; yet then pick one to use for at least one month.
  • Create a list of social media tools as you heat them being mentioned (use your ‘notes’ app, create a ‘Social Media Tools’ Pinterest board or create a list in List.ly)
  • Follow ‘potential tools’ on Twitter (Put them on a list and check periodically for updates and new features!)
  • Don’t hesitate to upgrade to a paid version if you love a tool. If they are already awesome for free, they are going to rock it even more for the paid version!
  • Check your email! I get offers to try new tools all the time.

What Tools Do I use then?

So I haven’t really told you yet what tools I use, right?

Here is the truth… It changes often.
Ok, I understand you want to know… therefore, here is my most current list of favorite social media management tools.

Management/Scheduling

  • Buffer (paid)
  • Tailwind (paid)
  • Hootsuite
But how about other tools I use to manage my social media accounts? Surely there are other tools I use you ask? There are, so here is the rest of the tools of my trade!

Images/Video

  • Canva for Work (paid)
  • Clipping Magic (paid)
  • PicMonkey (paid)
  • Over
  • iMovie
  • SlideShare

Content Curation

  • Feedly
  • Facebook Trending Topics
  • Twitter Trending Topics
  • Daily (from Buffer)

Account Management

  • DropBox (paid)
  • Crowdfire
  • SocialQuant
  • SocialBro

Additional Tools

Before I go, I want to tell you a quick story to illustrate the importance of starting small, with basic tools. Before you immerse yourself in a bunch of tools it is important to know and understand what type of learner you are and what task you need done. Each tool will look different to everyone depending on if they are a visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner as some people love a full dashboard, big buttons and lots of bells and whistles where others get lost when they see those!
In a social media training session about two years ago I had a hard time explaining Hootsuite to my class. This was a group training and my computer was hooked up to a TV so everyone could follow along. This one person was very verbal (read: getting agitated) and explained they just didn’t understand what Hootsuite did, the potential it had and how using it daily could benefit them, and most people in class that day looked confused. After another frustrating 5 minutes, I opened a new tab on my computer and went to Twitter.com to illustrate a point.
Then magic happened!
Turns out, this person has never, ever logged into Twitter and the rest of the class had never really explored Twitter.com either.
They skipped point A & B and they’d gone to C only to get lost! Once we figured that out, we were back in business and I switched to teaching basic Twitter 101.
Tools are only going to be useful and helpful if you understand the basics of social media.
Tools won’t ever be able to replace planning a strategy, tactics and setting up campaigns and tools certainly can’t think for you.
Tools won’t replace common sense, kindness and common courtesy either.
In essence, tools are tools and should never fully replace human interaction on social media.
It isn’t called social media for nothing!
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Monday, 23 March 2015

Should You Hire A Social Media Manager?

07:17   , , , ,  
If you've tried to tack social media management on to your job, then you already know how difficult it can be. It’s hard to make it a priority over customer phone calls, sales, accounting and staffing (the list goes on).
If your online presence is a crucial part to your overall marketing strategy, then finding help is key to keeping your social media engagement consistent.
When it comes to hiring someone to take on your social media presence, deciding the best way to handle it can be a challenge.

Do you hire someone or outsource it?

Ask yourself these questions first:
  • Is social media a very important part of the marketing strategy?
  • Do you consider yourself very savvy with social media marketing, but simply do not have the time to maintain it?
  • Do you have time and energy to train and maintain another employee?
  • Can you provide the equipment they need to get the job done?
If you answered “yes” to the all of the questions above, it’s likely that hiring someone to be a part of your organization is the best fit.

Hiring A Social Media Manager In-House

There are a lot of benefits to having an in-house employee managing social media that can’t be matched by outsourcing. First of all, an actual employee of your company is going to be more involved with the daily operations and have a better opportunity to find interesting content. Engagement online is much higher when you share photos of the inner workings of your business. Only an employee can really show off that company culture.
Your in-house social media manager is also going to be more agile and in-tune with your ever-changing marketing program. He or she can write and post in real-time from a company event. He can be more aggressive on a daily basis, posting more often if you’re trying to promote something heavily. As you have last-minute ideas, an in-house employee is more able to make those happen quickly than outsourced help.
What To Watch Out For
The biggest thing to be wary of is your own bandwidth and knowledge of social media. Low-wage managers or interns need a lot of guidance, training and hands-on management. If you can afford a good wage, then you can find someone with more experience to help you. If your position is part-time however, be prepared for turnover. If you’re thinking about asking an existing employee to help, you still need to budget extra hours to ensure your social media is handled properly.

Outsourcing To A Social Media Marketing Agency Or Freelancer

This tends to be the best fit for business owners. Agency and freelancers have a lot of experience managing social media for clients, and they’re going to pass that knowledge on to you when you work with them.
In addition, working with agencies takes the headache out of hiring help, managing turnover, training, paying payroll taxes, etc. Agencies tend to have pretty easy-to-follow onboarding program for their clients and systems in-place that make outsourcing much more affordable than hiring a part-time employee.
What To Watch Out For
There are two big things to look out for when researching which agency or freelancer you want to use. First, you want to make sure they have a track record of happy customers and can demonstrate up-to-date knowledge on the every changing world of social media marketing. You don’t want to hire someone that can’t prove to you that he or she is going to be in business in a year. And, there are a lot of fly-by-night social media companies out there. Do your research before you hire them.
The second thing to watch out for is larger agencies or businesses focused on selling you a generic package without any customization. There are a lot of options when it comes to social media automation and you can feel too far removed from your online marketing if you hire a large company that doesn’t offer a personal level of service.
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