Tinker with the tools that help you put it all together.
Maintaining a regular presence on popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can help pest management professionals (PMPs) expand their knowledge and networks of colleagues and customers. But managing myriad social media accounts also can feel like a juggling act that consumes precious time. Fortunately, several social media management websites have come to the rescue. Following are just a few of the online tools gurus are using to optimize their social media exposure and related returns on investments.
HootSuite (hootsuite.com) is the most popular social media management tool for professionals looking to collaborate and execute campaigns across multiple social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, from a single Web-based dashboard. HootSuite allows users to manage social media, track conversations and measure analytics via the Web and Internet-enabled mobile devices. HootSuite’s dashboard is the most user-friendly of the social media management sites I tried and the one to which I’ve converted. HootSuite offers three tiers of service, one of which is free. Most businesses won’t require much more than what the free tier offers, but the Pro and Enterprise tiers provide enhanced analytics, advanced message scheduling, and integration with Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.
Buffer (bufferapp.com) is an easy but slightly less streamlined way to schedule social media content. Like a virtual shopping cart, you can fill Buffer with content and then stagger posting times throughout each day. This allows for a consistent social media schedule all week long, without having to constantly worry about posting To Dos. Buffer also provides analytics about the engagement and reach of your posts. Though it provides a lot of HootSuite’s best features, I have found HootSuite to be more intuitive.
SocialOomph (socialoomph.com) provides a host of free and paid productivity enhancements for social media. The website includes functions for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and your company blog. SocialOomph’s Twitter features are its greatest selling point. In addition to scheduling tweets, it allows you to track keywords and view your tweets’ retweets. Social Oomph also can auto-follow any of your new Twitter followers, which helps you stay in touch with your customers and prospects. It also saves time for those who like to reciprocate follows. Social Oomph’s specialty seems to be easily increasing productivity.
Tweetdeck (tweetdeck.com) is the first desktop solution I used to manage my personal social media activity. Though I’ve converted to HootSuite, Tweetdeck is especially good for monitoring and managing multiple Twitter feeds with powerful filters that help focus on what matters most to you. Tweetdeck also can schedule tweets and keep you up to date with new tweets via alerts.
Purchased by Twitter, Tweetdeck is available for Chrome browsers and Windows and Mac desktops. Tweetdeck’s Achilles’ heel is it no longer offers mobile apps.
These are just the online social media management solutions I consider the cream of the crop. A few minutes of Internet sleuthing will turn up dozens of similar tools, one of which might be better tailored to your business needs. Stop juggling and start managing your social media. Experiment with these online social media management tools until you find the solution that works best for you. pmp
You can reach Nepper at wnepper@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3775
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