Tag Archives: trunk.ly

10 Great Community Manager Tools Worth Checking Out

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Social Media simple and easy? Community Managers realize that is not the case. Social media takes a great time commitment and effort in order to manage efficiently and productively to assist a brand and accomplish marketing and business goals. So wouldn’t some cool tools be helpful in order to help a community manager manage his or her time better? I think so! Check out the tools I recommend for community managers and others implementing social media for their brands…

1) UberVu: known as the “social media platform that helps your team collaborate on listening, reporting and engaging in social media.” The team has been working hard on the upcoming release, which has two major goals: (1) making it easier for customers to get results from a few key use cases, like finding the right key people to engage with in social media and to do social media marketing; (2) make the service more small business friendly by making it both easier to use and focusing on solving some key problems that small businesses  are trying to address. As Dragos fromUberVu informed me, community managers will definitely want this because UberVuhas “simplified the service to an extent that most people can understand and get value from in minutes.” Aka – keep it simple stupid. Great motto, great product for community managers.

 

2) PostPost: For the upcoming release, there will be “faster results, more engaging results, faster new user onboarding, and reliable scaling.” Current users, which include Twitter users who value the people they follow and what they share, already love the tool and rave about it. Why should a community manager give it a shot?  In the words of Brad from PostPost, “We make engaging information more discoverable in the noisiest age of all-time.” Cutting through the clutter is huge, and a tool that can help is indispensable. In addition, as more and more information is shared on Twitter, Twitter becomes more valuable, but also more noisy. Which is to say that the value that’s there is harder to find. PostPost is uniquely designed to solve that problem. The search engine brings back Tweets, links and photos from the people you follow—the relevant content totally missing from real-time search.

3) Trunk.ly: Another cool service which has upgraded its already awesome offerings. In short, Trunk.ly is useful because it “automagically” collects the links you share online and then makes them searchable so you can find and retrieve them for later viewing or sharing. Tweet many links? Wish you had a easy way to “bookmark” them, save them, reference and utilize them later, but can’t find them anymore? Trunk.ly is perfect for just that. Simple, easy, and organized.

4) Viralheat: This nifty service “heats” up the social media monitoring and analysis process by doing half the work for you. It tracks mentions on the social platforms you use as well as mentions across the web including blog posts and articles. For example, if you’re working on a campaign, Viralheat will track when the campaign is being mentioned anywhere and everywhere, whether you’re at your computer or not. The tool that does the detailed analysis and lets you breathe a little easier.

5) Instagram: This tool may not organize your social media madness, but it is a creative way to utilize pictures in your campaigns as well as just helping with creating brand awareness and engagement with your target market. People don’t want to just see Tweets, posts, etc. They want to see fun visuals and things that allow them to see further into your brand — like the “human” side. So use instagram, snap a picture, make it cheesy and fun, and share on Twitter and/or Facebook for your brand lovers to see and comment on.

 

6) Twentyfeet: A tool that aggregates your stats in one place, which again decreases the time you spend on worrying about your social media – especially when it’s the weekend. Twentyfeet will let you know when there’s a stat you need to handle and manage right away. For example, it will give you an overview of your social platforms and let you know how your “key performance indicators develop over time,” and then “nudge you” when your metrics shift in a significant manner.

 

7) Formulists: Can’t remember who’s in what list on Twitter, who’s new, who’s removed? This nifty tool will help you to keep up with your newest followers, most recent tweeps you’ve chatted with, and more (which you can all adjust). Thus, you can worry less on keeping track of your tweeps and focus on keeping up with conversations that matter.

 8) Posterous: Tired of posting to each individual platform? Wish you could do it simply and efficiently all from one place with less worry and stress?Posterous allows you to post to multiple social media platforms via one simple medium. What? Your email! Photos, video, blog posts, even podcasts can all be distributed throughout your network just by sending an email. Convenience – yes, please!

9) Storify: No time to create content today? Curation is helpful in those instances. Storify helps community managers aggregate and curate content from around the social sphere and web. This tool is specifically helpful for when you are doing a specific campaign or event, in order to aggregate all the info simply and easily and then utilize for your marketing purposes.

 

 

10) Seesmic: Aside from the lovable mascot, Seesmic is an exceptional tool for being efficient and on top of all your social networks in one place, and at one time. Another great thing about Seesmic is that you can keep track of mentions, direct messages, and all your searches and more via one tool for your many platforms. It can also be used in any browser and on any smart phone. The “on the go” usage is key especially for real-time efficiency  – all great community managers know this. Don’t believe me? Check out their testimonials!

 

Next step? Check out the tools for yourself, tinker around, and comment below on what you think.

Note: this post was originally written for oneforty, which was acquired by Hubspot. 


5 Ways to Save Time on Twitter

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How much time do you spend on Twitter? I know I sometimes spend more time than I intend to, looking for the latest news, latest updates from friends, and the coolest stuff going on in my city and cool stats and info to link to and blog about. Fortunately, for me…and you – there are plenty of ways to save time on Twitter and not waste time we could be spending on other things like work!

The following are my suggestions on how to save time…

 (1) Trunk.ly – A tool that helps cut through the clutter of finding andkeeping up with social media news that you view awesome and important.  It collects any links that you share on Twitter (and other social networks) in order for you to go back and be able to search them when you have time. It bookmarks them in a way that is easily searchable for you. Why waste time trying to find that link, Trunk.ly has it all stored away for you, ready and waiting.

(2) Tweetdeck -  Too many followers, too little time? I have friends who have over 50,00 followers and I wonder how they do it. Yikes! Platforms likeTweetdeck are super helpful! You can organize your followers in lists in order to differentiate from people you know in real life, those who are folks from certain industries, news sites, local folks, and more. This is especially helpful for community managers who are trying to keep track of their competition, customers, and potential customers. A time saver and possible lead gen tool if used to our advantage!

(3) SocialOomph – Want to Tweet but you won’t be around to do it? On vacation? Away for the weekend? Schedule them to go out while you’re away with SocialOomph. This is great for blog posts you want to get out, but don’t have time to be at your computer to Tweet them.

(4) Tweetbeep – No time to sit and look at Twitter or your platform of choice for Tweeting? Tweetbeep is a great app that allows you to get hourly (or whatever time allotment you choose) summary of searches, mentions, terms, hashtags, etc. For example, are you working on a product campaign, promotional event or just monitoring your brand? Tweetbeep will let you know what’s being said when it’s said, or in a convenient time for you. Great way to keep up and respond accordingly, especially if it’s someone asking a question, and/or commenting on your brand or product. In addition, you can keep up with what’s being said on the competition or just an event you wish you could have attended but missed. Useful and simple to set up.

 (5)  Listorious – Starting out and not sure who to follow? Find an index of lists with Listorious and follow the lists that are interesting and relevant to your personal brand and/or business brand. That way you can see what people in your industry are talking about. Great way to get started and/or increase followers by showing interest and  following them.

Bonus Tip:

Curation! Are you starting out with your content and strategy for it? Or are you struggling with time this week on creating it? Curating content is a great way to share content without taking the time to create it yourself. For example, have a list created of people you follow for relevant news in your industry. Then you can ReTweet a Tweet they shared with a comment. Additionally you can find a blog post they did and comment on it in your Tweet. Great way to show it is not all about you and still share relevant content to you and your industry.

As you can see Twitter is a useful and awesome tool, but it can take time to use effectively. Fortunately for us, the tools above are a great way to cut down on some of that time and still Tweet in a matter that is beneficial and awesome.

Note: this post was originally written for oneforty, which was acquired by Hubspot. 


How to: Keep up with Social Media News

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Ever log onto your computer in the morning and sift through your Tweet lists of favorite folks, your Facebook news feed, your RSS feeds, and wonder where the time just went? I know I do! We also need to keep in mind that as social media marketers the landscape changes every day. If you take a two week break from Twitter… you would’ve missed that Quora had blown up so much and wouldn’t have realized that it can now be used as a marketing tool, and that maybe your competitor is? That’s the value prop of staying on top of the most trending and important news, so you don’t miss the stuff that you *really* need to know while not getting bogged down or distracted by LolCats and…. this kid. Luckily, for me – and you – there are some applications made for just that. Making it easier for us who are ravenous for information and actually able to absorb it all without the hassle and time wasting. Efficiency is one sweet concept and here are some helpful ways to start rolling with more time on your hands…

Trunk.ly: A “personal” search engine for all of your links…how cool is that? Basically, Trunk.ly takes all your links that you share online, in any capacity (Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, delicious, Tumblr, wordpress, instapaper, and RSS feeds), and makes them easily searchable for you at a later time. This would be super helpful for those who curate content and want to refer back to links in order to curate more easily and in a timely manner. Trunk.ly is the answer and you can sign up online for free.

 Instapaper: You have 5,000 emails in your inbox, your friend just posted pictures from last night and you need to make sure you de-tag yourself, your sister just shared an awesome YouTube video, and you are catching up on Twitter about the Tweetup you missed…when do you have time to read all those awesome blog posts? Instapaper helps you breathe a little easier. Basically a simple way to save articles to read when you have time – whether at your computer, on your iPad, or your smartphone. News at your fingertips, when and how you want it. Isn’t that how simple and awesome life should be? I think so! Sign up with Instapaper online for free.

Cadmus: Ever miss a whole day from being on Twitter and feel out of the loop?  Cadmus will help you “catch up.” This nifty app will group similar posts into conversations and puts the most important at the top of the list for your convenience. In addition it will find the trending topics from within your friends and the “@mentions” from your stream and groups them in convos for your convenience. This also helps with content curation. See what Tweets you should ReTweet from your community – build stronger relationships when you shine the light on others with RT’s and “hat tips.” Cadmus is great concept and free to sign up online.

 Flipboard: Too lazy to check all the sites you have a profile for? Wish you could sit on your couch with your iPad and have it all fed to you on a platter? Or want your Social News (from the platforms you care about) on the go, and at your fingertips with the ease of flipping a page? Flipboard is the “flip” master. Known as the social magazine – it allows you to “flip” through news, photos and updates your friends are sharing on Facebook and Twitter. Basically this sweet magazine gives you an easy-to-read and access layout so you don’t have to sift through information and updates nor do you have to go from one site to the other. It’s all in one place. Now that’s “flippin” awesome — and so is the free download.

Packrati.us: I know I share a lot of links and sometimes I wish I could easily find and go back to them. Packrati.us will bookmark all your Tweets that contain links for you. That sounds pretty helpful, doesn’t it? It will bookmark links you share, links others share with you as well as the Tweets you “Favorite.” To put it simply,Packrati.us is a Twitter + Delicious app. However, now it also supports Historious,Instapaper, Pinboard.in, and Diigo accounts. Sign in through Twitter and be a “pack-rat” with you links. Easy as 1, 2, 3.

 my6sense: Going at full speed ahead, coffee in hand, from one meeting to the next, from dinner party to Tweetup to conference to family get-together to bed to gym to doing it all over again? The hustle and bustle can be fun and rewarding, but it always leaves us little time on our hands. My6sense realizes that and makes it so you have your Twitter, Facebook, news, blogs and RSS on your iPhone,Android and/or other mobile device. This nifty app automatically filters your Twitterstream so that the tweets containing your most relevant content (links) are presented first due to its relevance ranking system which is made to be fully compatible with the most popular platforms like Facebook and Twitter (among others). Free app for your “on the go” pleasure.

Reeder: Love your Google Reader but wish you could access it while you’re bored on the train or waiting for a doctor’s appointment to begin? This app is basically your Google Reader but an on-the-go version for your iPhone and/or iPad. On top of this easy on the go quality, the app also allows you to send to Instapaper (see above for details). save to Delicious, post to Twitter, and email to friends. Sounds pretty convenient and useful to me. This app is available in the App store for $2.99 for any of your apple devices.

Take a few minutes out of your crazy schedule to breathe, decide on an app (or two or three) that you like, throw them on your iPad or iPhone or whatever you prefer, take it with you when you head to your next busy appointment, and see how much more convenient and easy your life has become at the touch of a download/sign-up. Let me know what you think of these “time-saving” options for having your social news where you want it, and when you want it.