Tag: Facebook

Useful Tools to Save you Time

As a social media professional, I am always seeking ways to make more efficient use of my time.  I belong to a couple of forums and groups that often discuss free tools or low-cost options.  I would like to share a compiled list here with you:

  • Hootsuite – still one of my faves – but they have changed things up. Now for free you get 2 social account. I am now paying $75 a month for what I used to have in the legacy edition for $5.99 per month.  This was a big shift and what they promised me isn’t working out. I still have enough slots for all my customer accounts but… (updated 7-2021)
  • Trello – this is a Kaizen board tool to help you track projects!!! Love this tool. (updated 7-2021)
  • Miro – this is a flow chart tool. It is just cool. Play with it. I used it for an on-line baby shower and everyone got to play at one time. (updated 7-2021)
  • Slack or Teams – communication tool to help you stay in touch without having to send emails. (updated 7-2021)
  • Zoom – virtual meeting tool (updated 7-2021)
  • Thryv – CRM tool – I wish they had the ability to use one log-in for multiple accounts. Right now, I have to have a separate email for each account I manage for customers. (updated 7-2021)
  • If This Then That – will help you do just that with about 11 social platforms – ex. if [Twitter mention] then [thank them] – will work with Facebook pages.
  • Buffer – share your posts at a later time on any Twitter account or Facebook personal pages
  • Dreamstime – free photos for use in your materials – they also have photos for purchase.
  • DIIGO – similar to Dropbox for websites you want to save for later – lets you bookmark in a cloud favorites by keyword.  You can even highlight things, place sticky notes on pages and share it with connections.
  • FanTools – the free side lets you set up one Twitter and one Facebook page, upgrades available for planning, coupons and deals.
  • YouSendIt – sending large files through email is no longer a problem, use YouSendIt.  You upload, the receiver downloads.  You must stay under a size limit for it to remain free.
  • Morgue File – more free photos. Has a connection with Dreamstime.
  • CutePDF – makes pdf files for any of your printable documents for programs that don’t already convert them.
  • Join.me – screen sharing
  • Skype – video calling and screen sharing, have a group video conversation for a monthly fee.
  • MailChimp – e-newsletter system free up to 2000 emails
  • FreshBooks – on-line accounting, up to 3 clients for free, up to 25 clients $19.95 mos.
  • BeFunky – photo effects editor
  • Zoho – CRM on-line tool.
  • Gimp – photo editing software – you download it.  You don’t need Photoshop with this one.
  • Inkscape – modify vector art similar to Illustrator.
  • ClipArt – open clip art library
  • AVG – anti virus
  • Adobe Browser Lab for website testing
  • WeTransfer – for sending files
  • PrimoPDF is also free PDF converter
  • Hamster – another Free video converter
  • MyPictr – Avatar creator – for profile pictures on social networks – not sure if its up to date but you can manually change the px size
  • DaFont – Free Fonts
  • OpenOffice – The Free and Open Productivity Suite
  • LastPass – Online Password storage.
  • Malwarebytes – Don’t run windows without it – not free
  • Nitro PDF Reader – recently added thanks to SME club thread
  • Toggl – Time tracking, great when you are billing by project
  • Avast! – Anti-virus, some free, but all the bells and whistles cost
  • Audacity – Sound recording and editing
  • TeamViewer – Screen sharing and more.
  • SNAG-IT – screen capture. pro version for a small upgrade is no longer available.  Will have to switch to Snag-it or Camtasia.
  • FileZilla – FTP management
  • CCleaner – keep your hard drive clean and optimized
  • Synergy – use one mouse and keyboard to connect multiple computers (from Zoho)
  • Any Video Converter – convert any video, aptly named
  • Dropbox – store and share files online
  • Google Docs, Calendar, mail, keyword tools, alerts, analytics, insights for search – access docs that you share, share with others, check your calendar, multiple email accounts from you desktop, phone, or laptop, find what keywords you need to use, set up alerts for anything you want to track from the web and blogs, add analytics to your website and track traffic to your site, .
  • Evernote -remember everything, anywhere
  • Readitlater – don’t have time to read that article now, save it to readitlater.
  • SimpleNote – similar to Evernote, jot yourself a note anytime, anywhere
  • KeePass – another password compiler
  • Free Conference Call – teleconferencing line available 24/7. Each call accommodates 96 callers on an unlimited number of 6 hour free conference calls.
  • SuveyMonkey – free survey tool
  • Evite – free party planning tool
  • Producteev – task management app, helping to organize office days. It’s cross-platform, desktop and mobile.
  • AnyMeeting – web conference meetings
  • Bit.ly – link shortener and tracking
  • Box.net – add files to this on-line application and link it to your LinkedIn profile
  • Scribd – post your pdf files and documents to share on your social networks if you don’t want to post them on your website.
  • Visual.ly – create your own infographic
  • Get Listed – enter your business name and zip code.  The tool finds the location sites on which you are or aren’t listed.
  • Timeline Image Tool – helps you build custom tab images without needing design software.

What have I missed?  What do you like best?  What wouldn’t you use?

 

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Time for Timeline?

Facebook has implemented the new Timeline for brand pages.  Whether you are ready or not, it will take over your profile on March 30, 2012.  I published mine yesterday morning asSee page live.

It is recommended by many knowledgable social media gurus to wait for a few days.  In the meantime, I thought I would share a post with some of the resources I have found.

In the event that you don’t want to take on this task by yourself, I am here to assist you!

Change

How do you adapt to change?  Do you handle it in stride? Do you accept it with good cheer and look at it as a potential for growth or as a nuisance?

Being in the marketing field has given me a chance to experience change at a rapid pace.  As we all know Facebook can change on a dime and not give notice about the changes. Twitter is undergoing some major renovations.  LinkedIn keeps adding new features.  Google + came onto the scene.  They are, sometimes, good and sometimes not so good. But, the community speaks.

Social media is ever evolving, growing, changing, ebbing and flowing.  I have noticed that the more things change the more they stay the same. Old becomes new – just like the hip- hugger pants of the 70’s are now called low-rise.   If you concentrate your efforts on the basics and add a few new methods, you will be fine.  The big change is – if you are not using digital media as a part of your overall marketing package, you will fall behind.

Overall, if you are incorporating a blog, a Facebook page, and a company page on LinkedIn, you should find a broader reach with your marketing efforts.  Using social media in your package allows you to reach the marketplace where the marketplace looks – on-line.  Gone are the days of people purchasing items based solely on what they see in advertisements.  Today, people purchase on the recommendations of peers with whom they can obtain opinions in a matter of seconds.  Review sites are now common i.e., Yelp, Insiderpages, Viewpoints or citysquares.

Peer review sites are the best way to find out the scoop.  You must remember that people will find a way to post a negative review much more quickly than they will post a glowing positive offering.  Here is a perfect example of that – over 11million views of a video about an airline breaking a singer’s guitar – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo. To overcome this you must “change” with the tide and use social media to address customer service concerns and provide positive testimonials to buffer any negative comments.

What changes are you experiencing with your marketing goals?

Social Media and the Job Search

Since social media is the big thing, are you using it for your job search? If not, why not?

LinkedIn has in excess of 120 million users, 750 million Facebook users and 175 million Twitter users. Even if only 80% of those users are active, it is still a BIG number.

Mashable recently published this article – http://mashable.com/2011/10/09/recruiters-prefer-facebook/ about recruiters preferring Facebook to find employees even though LinkedIn is the “professional” network.

Use LinkedIn to follow companies, find jobs, and build your level of expertise. Facebook boasts their answer to LinkedIn called Branchout. You can ask your Facebook friends to join you in your professional network and receive recommendations. Twitter has post after post of jobs that you can find even if you don’t tweet yourself. Just go to search.twitter.com. Or find out the latest posts from both LinkedIn and Twitter by using LinkedIn’s Signal.

Remember, you can’t just create a profile and let it hang there on the web, you must work at it, as you must with any job search process. If you need to learn more about using social media, let me know. A couple of options that might help are one-on-one or small group LinkedIn workshops.

What are you doing with social media and your job search?

Learning New Things

As I am embarking on this journey, I am learning many new things. One of which is how to use WordPress. After having used Blogspot for a couple of years, the operations are a bit different.

Additionally, coming from total HTML website design to trying to incorporate a website into WordPress, you look at things much differently.

Have you learned any more about Google+? What are your feelings on that application?

How about the changes recently with Facebook? Are they attempting to change too many things at one time? Are they welcome changes by the 750m users?

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