(pic of me in Turkey)
John Jantsch recently wrote about his social media system which subsequently followed by similar post by Chris Brogan and Amber Naslund. Actually writing out your social media system is a great way to examine where you are spending your time and where you should allocate your time to achieve desired results. My social media system is very dynamic and isn’t always the same from day to day. Nevertheless here is the core of my social media system:
Tools I use
Google Docs – Use depends on project
Depending on the projects I’m working on this can either be a daily tool or a monthly tool. I haven’t used it in the past few weeks but I am now collaborating on a very exciting project with Danny Brown over at Press Release PR and Google docs is a tool we are using to share info
Twitter – Used daily (constant monitoring, never off)
Twitter is a tool that I always have open and am constantly monitoring. When I’m at home I have twhirl open constantly and when I’m traveling I used twittelator to keep up with the conversation. Twitter is probably the tool I use most often due to its very dynamic nature and constant flow of information.
Facebook – Used daily 15 mins
Facebook has become my default events calendar for social media/marketing/tech events/meet ups. I don’t really use facebook much to socialize but as an events tool, it’s great!
Linkedin – Used daily 15 mins
I use linkedin as a connection utility to build relationships with new individuals and companies. Linkedin is a great way to generate new leads/clients while also establishing trust and authority (ask and answer questions). I can used linkedin to see what companies I am directly connected with, for example I’m connected with several managers at fortune 100 companies that I can reach out to for social media/seo consulting opps. I also receive daily requests from people who want to connect with me.
Iphone – Used Daily (always when I’m not around a laptop)
I wouldn’t really describe the Iphone as a “phone” it’s more of a gadget and has been a life saver for me. I use the various Iphone apps to connect with people when I’m not around my laptop. The Iphone has apps such as:
- twitterlator
- NYTimes
- MProfs
- and many more
Blog – Used daily 1-2 hours
I keep up with my blog daily (a little less now that my laptop crashed and I’m waiting for a new one) and always try to cover relevant topics and things of interest; as they pertain to social media/marketing/technology. I also try to contribute to as many guest posts as I can. Blogs are a great way to establish trust and authority for a particular subject and can prove to be a valuable lead gen tool.
Email – Used daily 1-2 hours
Pretty self-explanatory, I get a lot of a email and I send a lot of email
Skype – Use depends on project (usually weekly)
I mainly use skype for conferences or calls with clients or partners I’m collaborating with. Skype is great for long calls (which I have many of) or file transferring.
Google Chat – Used weekly
Google chat is very similar to skype, it’s usually open when I’m on gmail and it allows for casual conversation. It’s not necessarily a tool I can’t live without, but it’s there.
Google Analytics – Check weekly
GA is just a free tracking tool that I use to monitor my blog traffic. I try not to check it that often so that I can concentrate on projects and goals I need to accomplish.
Google Calendar – Used Daily 15 mins
Again, self explanatory. I use google calendar to keep track of all of my events. Thanks to a free service by NuevaSync I can sync my google calendar with my iphone calendar.
Google Reader and Feedburner – Used daily 1 hr
I use google reader to stay up to date on various blogs I read and I use Feedburner as an RSS/email subscription tool that other people can use to subscribe to me.
Delicious – Daily 15 mins
I use delicious to keep track of and bookmark important information that I can later use for research or reference. Since my comp is dead I haven’t been on it as often as I would like, but that will change in a few weeks when my new Dell gets here!
I probably use social media tools more than most people, after all, this is the field of work that I’m involved in (that and SEO). My social media needs are probably different than your social media needs so our systems are also probably quite different. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how valuable some of the social media tools out there can be. There are probably a few other tools out there that I haven’t mentioned but the ones above are the “core” of my system.
What is your social media system? What tools are you using and how are you using them?
Great information, but what exactly do you do with Google Docs? I know it is a free service provided by Google, but how can it assist in Social Marketing?
Keep up the great data.
Thanks,
Daniel
BrainBlogClinic
well i use google docs for collaboration work. i can share a live doc that can be edited by multiple people at the same time. it's a great tool for collaboration.
jacob
I guess, but not sure, would Google Docs be a good tool for collaborating with people when outsourcing website/blog programming work? Is there anything that you recommend or is Google Docs the best solution? I appreciate your response.
All the best,
Daniel
check out zoho, they have a lot of free services (just google zoho)
Fantastic! I'll check it out. Thank you, Jacob.
All the best,
Daniel
Thanks for this – It was very useful to see what tools you are using and why.
Jason Armishaw
I posted two videos (episodes one and two) of a presentation I gave on my company’s journey into the world of Blogging, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In “Leveraging Social Media to Build Lasting Customer Relationships”, I discuss how we created an effective website that links both our corporate site (http://www.dockmaster.com) and our marine-blog site (http://www.marinemanagementtoday.com) using WordPress and various other tools. In addition, I described the misconceptions I had about marketing, and how bloggers like Seth Godin, Tim Ferris and Joel Spolsky helped to shape my view of marketing on the web and building a brand.
In the videos I covered the following topics:
– The “Network Effect” and how the web gives anyone new kind of leverage
– Marketing misconceptions
– Permission-based marketing (Seth’s philosophy)
– Why I blog
– The tools I use
– How to be #1 on Google without spending a fortune
– How I use FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter to enhance my blog
– Website analytics
– Tips and Tricks
– Lessons learned
Key takeaways:
– Attitude and Approach before Tactics and Execution
– Ideas that spread Win (This is Seth’s philosophy and I am spreading the word!)
– Measure your real ROI and tie those metrics to engagement programs
– Don’t blog for money, blog to build community
– Commitment before Success, not the other way around. This is not an instant success formula
Note: I was asked during the presentation how much time I spend blogging. My answer was “too long” and I went on to explain that I am a perfectionist and feel that a blog is a permanent legacy of a person. I also tried without success to use a ghost writer on one of my blogs and spent more time editing that one than if I would have written it myself. After reflecting upon this I’ve determined that I spend about 4-hours every other week on my blog and about 5 to 15 minutes per day on Twitter and FaceBook combined.
I posted two videos (episodes one and two) of a presentation I gave on my company’s journey into the world of Blogging, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In “Leveraging Social Media to Build Lasting Customer Relationships”, I discuss how we created an effective website that links both our corporate site (http://www.dockmaster.com) and our marine-blog site (http://www.marinemanagementtoday.com) using WordPress and various other tools. In addition, I described the misconceptions I had about marketing, and how bloggers like Seth Godin, Tim Ferris and Joel Spolsky helped to shape my view of marketing on the web and building a brand.
In the videos I covered the following topics:
– The “Network Effect” and how the web gives anyone new kind of leverage
– Marketing misconceptions
– Permission-based marketing (Seth’s philosophy)
– Why I blog
– The tools I use
– How to be #1 on Google without spending a fortune
– How I use FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter to enhance my blog
– Website analytics
– Tips and Tricks
– Lessons learned
Key takeaways:
– Attitude and Approach before Tactics and Execution
– Ideas that spread Win (This is Seth’s philosophy and I am spreading the word!)
– Measure your real ROI and tie those metrics to engagement programs
– Don’t blog for money, blog to build community
– Commitment before Success, not the other way around. This is not an instant success formula
Note: I was asked during the presentation how much time I spend blogging. My answer was “too long” and I went on to explain that I am a perfectionist and feel that a blog is a permanent legacy of a person. I also tried without success to use a ghost writer on one of my blogs and spent more time editing that one than if I would have written it myself. After reflecting upon this I’ve determined that I spend about 4-hours every other week on my blog and about 5 to 15 minutes per day on Twitter and FaceBook combined.