Social media is integral to marketing success. Some prospects may not even take a company seriously, if it is lacking a presence on the big four social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Just having social media accounts for your business is not enough though. Successful social media marketing calls for commitment, strategy, in-depth industry insight, genuine engagement and smart social content curation. Creating original, highly shareable content, actively participating in industry discourse and building a significant social following could win you a reputation as a thought leader and increased exposure and brand recognition for your company.
In the current marketing ecosystem, it is vital to allocate the necessary time and resources to creating and maintaining a stellar social media presence. Strategic social media marketing must be consistent and organized. There are a plethora of resources and tools, which can streamline social content curation-social sharing-and the promotion of your original content across multiple social networks. Learn how HootSuite, Klout, Topsy and Tweepi can save time and increase the effectiveness of your content and social media marketing.
4 Stellar Resources for Social Media Stardom
1. HootSuite
HootSuite is a leading social media management dashboard. The mobile app allows you to stay engaged on the go, which is ideal, as social media never sleeps. HootSuite keeps you informed in real time about which industry topics are trending and what your professional network is conversing about on various social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Easily monitoring social network activity will enable you and your company to thwart or at least minimize any social media disasters.
2. Klout
Klout is the most influential metric for online influence. If you want to know whether or not someone is truly influential, check out their Klout and network influence scores. A network influence score analyzes the influence of an individual's engaged audience-how much influence the audience wields and to what degree it actually listens to and engages with the particular influencer and his or her shared, original content. Use Klout to monitor your online mentions and interactions across multiple social networks, including when someone tweets or retweets your content. The more social engagement and discussion you generate, the more your Klout score will rise. Klout scores range from 1 to 100. Lady Gaga has a Klout score of 93. LinkedIn has a Klout score of 90, and HubSpot's Klout score is 84.
3. Topsy
Topsy is a top analytic tool that identifies industry influencers and hot topics of industry discourse. To attain status as an industry thought leader, you should be highly knowledgeable about real-time industry discourse. You need to contribute to relevant industry discussion and debate-through your original content creation and direct engagement on social media. Topsy allows you to identify thought leaders by keyword, company name, person or category and discover which content topics are trending for your industry. You can analyze the degree of influence content creators have on certain keywords, what they have written and shared on social media and what others have published about these influencers. Your original, highly shareable content should reflect your real-time industry knowledge and insight. Do not waste time creating content that no one will care to read or share on social media. Topsy can bring enhanced strategy and better focus to your content and social media marketing.
4. Tweepi
Use Tweepi to optimize your Twitter activity, increase your social media influence and magnify the reach of your content. The Tweepi platform can help you attract a highly relevant following-one ready and willing to promote your content. Tweepi functions by providing you with the Twitter handles of relevant industry influencers and their lists of followers-individuals who are already following Twitter users who tweet about your industry and related topics. You can select who to follow just by ticking the box next to their names. In engaging with a high volume of relevant Twitter users, the number of followers you acquire and the activity of your Twitter presence could increase dramatically. Tweepi can rapidly amplify your Twitter influence and the reach of your content.
If you can create unique, information-rich, highly shareable content, others will promote it for you. However, you should expedite the process by participating in industry discourse and actively engaging with your social following. Strategic content promotion can enhance SEO and increase website traffic and lead generation. Without high-quality content creation, you cannot generate social capital, and your website and company as a whole may well suffer the consequences. Share-worthy content and strategic social promotion could help get you recognized as an industry influencer, greatly magnify your reach, and generate and convert significantly more leads. Social business stardom is within your reach.