7 Social Media Tools and Sites You Must Be using

You’re probably using Facebook lots already, Yes?

Some of you have got this Twitter thing down to a fine art.

But everything else is a bit haphazard?

Problem is whilst using the BIG social media sites is well worth your effort, it is very easy to get lost in the ‘noise’ especially if you have more than a couple of hundred friends on Facebook and more than a few thousand Twitter followers. There are plenty of other sites that probably could do with your attention and you’ll probably get to more people because of the lower noise levels.

1. Facebook is the current king of social media currently the 3rd most visited site on the internet. Keep at this building your friend network as well as developing a Fan Page, and you’ll certainly be able to take advantage of this media.

However I am increasingly worried by a lot of the posts on Facebook from certain individuals being purely promotional. ONLY having links frankly makes you look like a jerk and only out to entice us to your marketing messages.

I have started blocking these people from my feeds. Facebook is a relationship tool, its a cool place to hang out, from time to time you might want to throw in a link, but not every post.

2. Twitter… Hmm second only to Facebook right now, but sure to topple the giant in double quick time. I am frankly amazed by Twitter, and still trying to fathom any thing of sense comes from it.

I’ve stopped using the automatic follower tools, because you are not getting followers naturally. Instead I am seeking out people who are like minded and have something interesting to say! Serial linkers get ditched double quick now.

So now we’ve got the BIG TWO out the way, what other sites do you need to be using?

3. TubeMogul If you create videos, yes you do need a YouTube account, but there are lots of other video sites on the internet that can further your reach. I currently use Blip.tv as my main host of videos, I can put both private and public videos on there, which serves some of my products.

However you do need to be using TubeMogul.com to release you’re video content to about a dozen other sites. Tube Mogul is free to use, you’ll need to set up accounts initially on all the other video sites but you only need to do it once.

4. iTunes Podcasting has been around or years now, but it is a media that I often forget about. Even I have succumbed to the iPhone, something I swore I would never do. However, the plus side is I can listen to podcasts walking down the street and driving in the car. Set up an account to upload your interviews and podcasts on to itunes and it becomes searchable in their catalogue.

5. LinkedIn Professional networking sites like LinkedIn are really important too. Setting up an account with them will mean that you have a professional looking online resume that can be found by potential JV partners, people from the media, as well as potential new clients.

6. Ping.fm Managing it all can be a nightmare… which is why tools such as TubeMogul invaluable, there is also the killer site that will deal with your status updates in just one button. Ping.fm is a site I’ve been using for about 6 months or so, and it saves me a bucket load of time and means I can reach all my sites in one go. You can even download the browser plugin so you can instantly update your status without even leaving the site you are on.

7. OnlyWire Finally the biggest revelation in the world of social media and the power it has on your search engine optimisation is a site called OnlyWire.com. This service will enable you to ‘bookmark’ your blog posts as well as those articles and BLOG posts you find and like around the internet. Setting up an account is free so long as you have a special link on your site, spend the 40 minutes or so getting all your accounts set up on all the different social bookmarking sites will be well worth it. Also add the browser button to your browser to make bookmarking quick and easy.

So yes, you might think you’ve got this social media stuff covered with Facebook and Twitter, but you can exponentially increase its effectiveness with just a little extra set up and work.

Get on it now.