I am the first to admit that staying on top of near-constant changes in social media—from platforms and tools to plug-ins and apps—is nearly impossible. So while I was at the Grow Smart Business Conference at the beginning of the month, I jotted down the name of every social media tool and plug-in that was mentioned. I checked them out and realized that if you use the following three tools together, your online presence, brand awareness and lead generation efforts might just skyrocket through the roof.
Check ‘em out, and let me know what you think!
1. Find your customers online with Flowtown.
“Social Media Marketing Made Simple”—sign me up! Flowtown is a very popular social media tool for a reason—it lives up to its tagline. Flowtown helps you learn what your customers are doing and saying on which social platforms, and connects you to them on the social networks they use the most.
Cost: There are three plans; the basic plan is only $17/month. Not a lot, considering what it can do for your social media efforts!
2. Write content your customers care about and can find with Scribe SEO.
Scribe’s SEO plug-in helps you write content that is SEO-ready. First you do a keyword search to make sure your content (Web, blog, white paper, etc.) contains relevant search terms. Then Scribe analyzes your content and suggests changes to make it even more SEO-friendly. The best part: It helps you build links, aka SEO gold.
Cost: There are four plans; the Starter plan is $17/month. (Same as Flowtown!)
3. Monitor what your customers are saying about you online with Scout Labs.
Having a good customer relationship management (CRM) tool in you arsenal is essential to growing your business. Scout Labs just partnered with Lithium Technologies, which makes a social CRM networking platform, so you get shuttled over to Lithium when you start looking around Scout Labs. However, their social media monitoring tool allows you to listen to what your customers are saying about your company and its products and services in real-time so you can react quickly to close a sale or protect your brand. Pretty neat.
Cost: It’s a huge secret. You need to get in touch with them. Not neat at all. But it’s a really powerful tool that’s worth a look-see.
Image by Flickr user caffaknitted (Creative Commons)
Google+Web.com is now offering forums designed to support small businesses in cities throughout the US. Learn more about these forums here: http://Businessforum.web.com/
Tags: Branding, content analysis, Marketing, Search Marketing, seo, Social CRM, social media monitoring
Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, Social CRM, Social Media, Technology | No Comments »
