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The Top 13 Social Media Tools for Marketers

Written by: Jamie Turner

Article Overview: There are hundreds of different Social Media tools available, so it’s easy to get confused by them. But social media tools are a little easier to understand if you break them down into three categories - tools that help you network, tools that help you promote and tools that help you share content. Here’s a quick rundown of the top 13 Social Media tools for marketers. I’ve also included some brief tips on how to use each of them.

The Top 13 Social Media Tools for Marketers

There are hundreds of different Social Media tools available, so it’s easy to get confused by them. But social media tools are a little easier to understand if you break them down into three categories — tools that help you network, tools that help you promote and tools that help you share content.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I consider to be the top 13 Social Media tools for marketers. I’ve also included some brief tips on how to use each of them:

Promotion Tools — These are tools that help you promote content about your product or service:

• Flickr: A great place to upload photos of your most recent company parties, conventions or product launches. It’s not the most important social media tool for marketers, but it’s still worth checking out.
• YouTube: Marketers from around the globe use this social media tool to connect with customers and prospects. If you have a webcam connected to your computer, you can post a sales call on YouTube. It’s a great way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
• HowCast: HowCast feeds “How To” videos to a growing community of users. Perfect if your product requires a video tutorial.
• TubeMogul: Do you have videos you want to share with the world? Then go to Tubemogul, where you can upload your video once and let them send it out to YouTube, MySpace, Vidder and a variety of other video sharing service.

• Podasting: Make your podcasts fun, interesting and relevant. Your listener is interested in information that will help them, so don’t think of podcasts as commercials, think of them as news stories with helpful information about your products or services.

Sharing tools — These are tools that help you share content that would be helpful to your prospects or customers:

• Google: You already know about Google, but did you know about Google Alerts? Just plug in a keyword and Google will send you an email a day that lists when that keyword was discussed in a blog. Perfect if you’re interested in staying on-top of things. Also great if you’re a big brand and you want to respond to negative comments about your product or service.
• Blogs: Don’t launch a blog unless you can write something relevant at least 4 times a week. But if you can, it’s a great way to get content out to your prospects. It’s also a great way to get search engines to see your website.
• Article Marketer: Do you have articles that you’d like published around the web? Then check out Article Marketer. It’s a great way to circulate articles you’ve written to a wide variety of readers.
• Digg, Del.icio.us and other bookmarking tools: As you know, these tools allow you to tag articles and other content that you think might be useful for others. I’ve found that it’s best not to abuse these tools or to try to milk them. But they’re a great way to draw attention to helpful articles about your product or service.

Networking tools — These are tools that help you connect with customers and prospects:

• Facebook: Facebook is like a pub. It’s a great place to meet people on a more casual basis and have relaxed, off-the-record conversations with the people you meet there.
• LinkedIn: Think of LinkedIn as a trade show. It’s a little more professional than Facebook and you’ll want to meet and connect with people there in a more businesslike manner.
• MySpace: MySpace is like Woodstock. There’s a lot of energy, a lot of passion and, unfortunately, a lot of noise. But it’s great if you’re targeting the youth market.
• Twitter: Think of Twitter as a cocktail party. There are a lot of different conversations going on and you can move from one conversation to another conversation.

Social media, when used properly, is a great way for marketers to connect with customers and customer prospects. But it’s hard to understand social media unless you use social media. These 13 tools are the perfect starting place for anyone interested in taking a dive into the world of social media.

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Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
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Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance - [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl] I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it. There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input. As for Jennifer, You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook. The only way to know is to try it.


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