What is the best way to manage my small business' social media?
I spend a lot of time sending out tweets and checking the various social media for interactions and new connections. I fell like I'm spreading myself a bit thin - social networking is taking more and more time, leaving me less and less to run my blog and business.
Are there any tools I can use to help manage and promote my business socially without spending ages doing it?
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I am a software developer, serial entrepreneur and bestselling author of programming, development, eCommerce and marketing books.
I love solving complex problems and bringing cool solutions to market. I have a cum laude science degree (double major in applied mathematics and mathematics), and 15 years of Web development, programming and online business experience.
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Social media requires plenty of human interaction
Unfortunately, social media marketing is a time consuming aspect of online business. There's no point in automating it because people aren't interested in interacting with machines.
While social interaction for the purposes of growing a small business needs to be handled by humans, there are definitely a few tools that can help speed things up and make life a bit easier.
If you are using Twitter then it's worth trying out Buffer. Buffer allows you to queue tweets ahead of time so that you don't have to browse to twitter each time you need to send a Tweet. It's great for getting tweets out, but you still have to monitor your interactions to keep building a following.
HootSuite is another great service that provides a single interface from which to manage your social media portfolio. HootSuite integrates with LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter, and more, to save you time.
Google alerts is a great DIY solution for online reputation management. Set up alerts to be sent whenever someone mentions you or your business. This allows you to respond quickly and effectively and impress potential customers by appearing to be "on the ball".
Finally, Disqus is an excellent tool for driving onsite engagement through comments. Disqus provides a JavaScript commenting app that also acts as a social network to magnify the impact of comments and interactions on your site.
Nice write up. I use Social
Nice write up. I use Social Media very frequently for my small business. Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. These sites are my favorite social media site and I'm getting good results. The key to get on the top of social media is to keep your content or story simple and sober - best social media for small business