Social Media Marketing ToolboxThere can be
little doubt of the growing importance of social media to the marketing efforts
of many businesses, particularly small and medium businesses, who with a little
effort and diligence can use it to reach more prospects and grow their
business. Even Google considers social signals when ranking a company’s website
in search returns.
The good news is that more small and medium
business are adopting social media marketing to increase their reach and
attract relevant prospects they just could not reach in the past. As good as
those numbers are, that still leaves a sizable number of businesses that are
not using social media to support their marketing efforts.
Experience tells us there are usually two
hurdles that prevent greater use of social media marketing: time and cost.
Time is always a tough challenge. There are
plenty of things to do when it comes to running a small business, and the idea
of adding another responsibility is a pretty tough sell. What we do know,
though, is that as little as 6 hours a week can result in increased sales. Over
the course of the workweek, that’s just more than an hour a day. We’ve come up
with a 30-minute plan that can help you manage that time so you still have time
to manage your business.
When it comes to cost, one of the great
things about social media is that you can get most of the tools you want for
free. Yes, you can buy some great integrated social media management tools, and
they are great. But many of the best tools are free.
We’ve written about some of our favorites
before – HootSuite, Buffer, Social Bro – great tools that can get you going at
no-cost other than the time it takes to learn them. Always on the lookout for
more great free resources, here are some of our latest finds:
TweetReach gives you a simple analytics tool that helps you
capture this information. You can search on keywords, URLs, Tweet text or
Twitter handle to see the reach of your efforts.
2.Twitalyzer – Another tool for measuring Twitter effectiveness. There are
paid versions of this service that provide a lot of details, but you can use
three of the most popular reports they offer for free just by connecting your
Twitter account.
3.Facebook Insights – If you already have a Facebook page, you already
have access to this dashboard, which gives you some great data for tracking
growth and impact. Use the Insights to better understand your followers and
reach the right audience.
4.HowSociable – Measure your brand’s impact online with this tool that
provides you with a magnitude score. The score analyzes your level of activity
online so that you can determine whether you have enough of a presence. The
free version will analyze your presence across 6 social media networks. The
paid version will unlock additional networks should you desire it.
5.Google Analytics Social Reports – If you are using Google Analytics, you
have Social Reports, which helps measure how social traffic is directly
impacting your conversions. Using an overview of your social networks, this
tool allows you to visualize your social traffic so that you know where your
time is best spent in the social world.
6.Topsy – This is a real-time social search engine. Sort through the
latest social activity related to your industry, brand, or community and apply
that knowledge to future business decisions. We discovered this one while doing
a long-term social media monitoring project for a client. We provided Topsy the
link we wanted monitored and asked for a regular e-mail update. It was that
simple.
There are a lot more of these tools out
there. While they might not be as slick as some of the social media suites with
integrated dashboards that you can purchase, the price is right and most are
very easy to use. If cost is an issue, these are great alternatives.
In the end, regardless of your toolbox, the
important thing is to make the most of your limited social media time and
resources so you can reach relevant prospects.
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