Are you short on time when it comes to managing your small business’s online presence? I have five, time saving, inexpensive, social media management resources I can suggest. Here they are:
1. Ping.fm
The first social media tool that made my list of resources is Ping.fm. It is free and lets you manage your shop’s mobile marketing, Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and other social media accounts all from one location. I find it truly handy for scheduling and synchronizing messages across multiple platforms. I’d suggest that you set aside at least an hour a month to sit down and program your messages to correlate with your small business’s marketing, promotion and advertising calendar. Once the messages are programmed in, the service does the rest. Imagine being able to let your customers know about all your upcoming specials with some advanced planning and a few key strokes? It doesn’t get much easier than that my friends.
2. SocialOomph
Second on my tool list is SocialOomph. You can opt for either the free or premium services depending on your skate shop’s needs. I suggest that you try the free service first until you feel comfortable with branching out. What I like about Gist is that it allows you to schedule message delivery, track keywords and clicks as well as see who is following you and make contact with them. It is a great way to target a group of customers for special promotions as well as write better blog posts using popular keywords.
3. Gist
If you are just starting out and need to list build, my third tool suggestion may be your least expensive method for doing so. The service is called Gist and it lets you create and synchronize a contact list that bridges across many platforms including mobile phones, e-mail accounts and social media. It is also helpful when you are conducting market research because it monitors and provides you with pertinent details on all of your contacts. Before you plunk down your hard earned cash, you can try the service for free to see if it will work for your shop.
4. Tweetbeep
Fourth on my list is Tweetbeep. I have found that it to be a handy social media management tool to have if you want to track what your customers are saying about you and your competition as well as monitor industry trends. I also like the fact that it sends you an alert every hour. The timeliness of the service reduces the potential of missing an opportunity to handle a public relations problem before it turns into a nightmare. Basic service is free but you do have the option of upgrading to premium features. The upgrade will cost you $20 a month but the benefit of doing so is that it increases the frequency of the alerts to every 15 minutes.
5. Hootsuite
Coming in at number five on my list is Hootsuite. You can opt for free or premium services. The premium services will typically cost you $6 a month. It is similar to the other resources with one exception that I adore. It gives you the capability of creating easy to read, customized, analytical reports to assist you in determining whether or not your social media marketing efforts are giving you an adequate return on your investment. For me, those reports are invaluable for strategic planning. You can use them to quickly determine what strategies are working, make adjustments when needed and capitalize on emerging trends.
My children are skateboarders and I have a history of following the sport. In addition, I have a marketing degree and have worked in the field for many years.
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