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Social Media Tools and Techniques – Which one is best for YOU?

Inside Small Business | February 10th, 2009

Patrick Mason, TechMarkets

There are a million social media tools out there and more coming by the day. Here are some tips for what tools to use, and how to use them to take advantage of this important business trend.

First off, you need to identify whom it is out there you care about and what it is you want to say to them. In short, what’s your objective? Next, you need to listen to them. You need to understand what people are saying and how they are saying it before you add your voice. You wouldn’t join a conversation at a party by speaking first, you would instinctively listen to first get the ebb and flow of things, and then slowly enter into it with your own contribution.

Social media is the same. Listen first, and then speak recognizing that the conversation has many participants. The gold here is a conversation; open and honest, with trust on both sides.

Below is a tool set to help you listen, speak and finally converse in order that you can achieve your objective.

Listen
To listen, you can start with a tool called newsreaders. Newsreaders are magic newspapers that let you handpick each section of your paper, and then fetch you fresh articles everyday. I use Bloglines because it is free, has no software to install and I can use it from any browser. For a more in depth discussion on listening, go here.

Publish
Publishing can happen a number of ways. The best way to start is still probably a blog. Although that may seem old fashioned, it is still the defacto best way to get the word out. WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform (their words).” It’s free, easy to set up and easy to use. Learn more about WordPress, then follow the three easy steps below to start blogging in minutes.

Converse
Now we are on to the fun stuff. If you listened well, and entered in to the conversation with some manners and grace, and above all authenticity and honesty, you now have the right to speak.

Conversing can be tied to how you publish or broadcast your message. For example, if you publish via a blog you can converse via the comments people leave back and forth about certain posts. For a more real time conversation, you can check out Twitter in which you participate in a sort of mass on-line conversation with an unlimited number of people. Many of the largest corporations out there are on Twitter, and have staff assigned to monitor and “tweet” on their behalf. This stuff is very real, and very effective in the right hands.

Good luck, and remember to have an objective, listen, talk and then converse in that order. Once you get rolling, you can explore the tools, options and abilities and find the ones that suit you best.

Good luck! For more information, advice and free social media tools, feel free to visit our blog, or drop us a line.

* Patrick Mason is the owner of TechMarkets, and a successful entrepreneur specializing in technology and marketing, specifically targeted at new Social Media techniques and technologies. As Managing Partner and co-founder, Patrick is SocialMedia404’s CCO (Chief Chatting Officer) and is responsible for business and product development.