Are You Using Automation Tools to Help in Social Media?

We’re all trying to do more with less. When it comes to social media, it’s no different. We should be focused on content and use automated tools to help spread the word on social platforms. Every industry is different but following are some automation tools you should consider and an infographic on the best times to post.

Here’s a list of tools that will help you schedule and post your content at the best time: 

  • SocialOomph – Provides scheduled social posting services for individuals and teams. Has been around since 2008.
  • HootSuite – Allows you to manage up to 50 social media profiles, schedule your content and report your analytics.
  • Sendible – Allows you to efficiently craft tailored posts for each social media platform and collaborate with your clients and teams.
  • AgoraPulse – An easy-to use-social media management software that allows you to drive engagement and build authentic relationships on one platform.
  • Buffer – Helps you manage multiple social media accounts at once and easily schedule content.
  • ManageFlitter – Tools that help to optimize your Twitter account and identify your Twitter accounts’ prime time.
  • Facebook Insights – Provides information about your Facebook audience and how they are interacting with your page.
  • Later – Founded as the first-to-market Instagram scheduler in 2014, Later (formerly Latergramme) has grown from a simple Instagram tool to the number one visual marketing platform for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

The following infographic by Zenesys will give you a ballpark of the best and worst times to post on various social media platforms.

 

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Awareness of Twitter Has Exploded: Great Way to Reach the Professional Tradesmen

Contractors are busy people, and the 140-character message is just enough to peak their curiosity and have them click through to your message.

Twitter is one of the social media tools that can be used as a tool for your company’s social media marketing strategy to generate online traffic and a pipeline for new business leads. Over the past year, the leading traffic generator to my blog has been Twitter.

Twitter Usage In America: 2010 is a new report derived from the Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series. This report is derived from three years of tracking data on Twitter usage in the United States. It is filled with rich information that can help guide the use of Twitter for your agency and its clients.

Twitter is more of a broadcast channel than many realize. The majority of users never post anything…but they are definitely reading and clicking.

Here are some highlights from this comprehensive study and its untapped potential for marketing, advertising and your agency’s new business:

  • Awareness of Twitter has exploded over the past twelve months. The percentage of Americans who are familiar with Twitter has surged from 5% in 2008 to 87% in 2010. Twitter is a natural “companion medium” to other media channels – in particular, as an accompaniment to live TV.
  • Despite equal awareness, Twitter trails Facebook significantly in usage: 7% of Americans (17 million persons) actively use Twitter, while 41% maintain a profile page on Facebook.
  • Nearly two-thirds of active Twitter users access social networking sites using a mobile phone.
  • Twitter users split between habitual “Tweeters” and those who access occasionally. The majority of Twitter users are “lurkers,” passively following and reading the updates of others without contributing updates of their own but they are listening, reading and clicking.
  • Twitter users are far more likely to follow Brands/Companies than social networkers in general. Twitter users frequently exchange information about products and services.
  • 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks.
  • Most (70%) regular Twitter users do post status updates to some social networking service (likely Facebook). Twitter appears to be functioning as more of a broadcast medium compared to Facebook and many other social networking sites and services.
  • Marketing and business use cases for Twitter far exceed similar usage for social networking websites in general.

The full 49-page study, full of interesting graphs and data, is available for download: Twitter Usage in America: 2010 – Complete Report

If you like this post, you might find these interesting:

B-to-B Marketers: Tips on How to Optimize Twitter

What Kind of Twitterer Are You?

Twitter: How Useful is This Tool for B-to-B Marketers?

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3 Ways Tradespeople Can Use Social Media To Boost Credibility and Business-Part 1

I’m always trying to give manufacturers ideas on how to reach the professional tradesman by using social media. I’ve asked a friend of mine and fellow B-to-B  blogger Nicky Jameson to offer her comments and insights on how the tradespeople can utilize social to build their business. I think you will enjoy her comments in this 2-part series. Enjoy.

Many tradespeople feel they don’t really need to have anything to do with social media. Perhaps because their business comes mostly through referrals, or they don’t see immediate value in social media, or they feel it may take up too much time and they need to be out getting new business. And many tradespeople feel intimidated by social media.

Getting business is important and should never take a back seat to your marketing activities. Social media tools are exactly that – tools. However social media is an opportunity you don’t want to miss because it can actually help you target local business more effectively. More importantly, it can help establish you as a trusted person to do business with. Trust, engagement and relationships are the building blocks of business – and social media.

If you’re a tradesperson, you rely on word of mouth to spread the word about your business and services. Did you know social media can help you take this to a new level?

Here are 3 ways Tradespeople can use social media to benefit their customers and business:

1. Use social media to establish trust with consumers

Did you know that one of the top concerns consumers have with regard to allowing tradespeople into their homes is trust? Put yourselves in your customer’s shoes for a moment. As a customer, you’re alone in an emergency. You need a plumber or an electrician… or another tradesperson to fix something you can’t do yourself. You’ve never met the tradesperson, yet there you are about to let a complete stranger into your home for an unspecified time. Most people are uncomfortable about allowing strangers into their homes at any time and they usually have no way of knowing who’s trustworthy and who isn’t.

femaletradesAccording to Hattie Hasan of UK plumbing company Stopcocks, trust has never been more important and consumers are becoming increasingly cautious when hiring tradespeople. They also want to ensure they spend their money wisely… on jobs well done.

When you join a social network that operates on a trust basis with other tradespeople, it helps you establish trust with consumers. When they search for you online and see you are in a trust-based social network, it helps build confidence in potential customers.

Part two will cover :

Using social media to build a positive word of mouth

Using Social media to establish yourself as an authority

See Part 2 here.

Nicky Jameson is an online copywriter who specializes in improving B2B websites. She’s also a blogger on using social media for business. Nicky blogs at http://nickyjameson.com and her website is http://copywritingstudio.com

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