Monthly Archives: October 2012

100+ must have #social tools and platforms for your social business arsenal

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Whether you’re a professor of communications, a social media consultant or a blogger, this list of resources is for you.  The sheer amount of social tools are overwhelming. I test several new ones out each day. I’ve done the work and put in the time to make it easier for you.

Instead of keeping 20+ browser windows open simultaneously each day, bookmark or archive this list and reference it, daily. Think of it like a new or additional startpage housed in a tab next to your browser of choice.

As I come across exceptional, new tools I’ll add them to the list. This isn’t merely an exhaustive list of tools, they are tried and true tools and platforms I use in my job. Collaboratively these tools represent every aspect of a PR pros work flow. Sure, it would be nice if they all combined into one megasaurus platform that made our jobs a bit easier, but that isn’t an option right now. You’re welcome to embed this list on your site. Simply click the “embed” button at the top of the list. If a list isn’t your thing, I also created Pinterest board for my pin happy friends,  available here (there are a few differences in the lists as some sites were prevented from being aggregated on list.ly or Pinterest).

Social tools and platforms for your social business arsenal

Social tools and platforms for your social business arsenal

This list was curated for you by the folks at social collaboration platform Tracky (www.tracky.com). The sheer amount of social tools are overwhelming. We've done the work and put in the time to make it easier for you. Instead of keeping 20+ browser windows open each day, bookmark this ultimate social tool list and reference it, daily.

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    1. Tracky - @tracky Open Social Collaboration Platform

      Tracky - @tracky Open Social Collaboration Platform

      Do. And be you. Personal to-dos. Professional projects. Social circles. Manage them all with Tracky. We're proud members of #VegasTech & The @InNEVation Center! www.tracky.com

    2. Create Simple Surveys to Share with Friends

      Create Simple Surveys to Share with Friends

      What is a Wedgie? A wedgie is a simple survey to share with friends anywhere you can copy and paste. One question, two answers, and as many votes as you can tally up.

    3. Pinterest / Home

      Pinterest / Home

      Pinterest is an online pinboard.

    4. Sarah's Faves
    5. Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp

      Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp

      Free email marketing service from MailChimp. Design, send, and track HTML email campaigns with our simple tools. Get a fully functional free account.

    6. Seek or Shout
    7. Buffer - A Smarter Way to Share on Social Media

      Buffer - A Smarter Way to Share on Social Media

      Buffer makes it super easy to share any page you're reading. Keep your Buffer topped up and we automagically share them for you through the day.

    8. Listly - Lists made easy + social + fun! - Listly

      Listly - Lists made easy + social + fun! - Listly

      Lists = Ranking. List Posts = Traffic. We help bloggers & brands curate, crowdsource, and engage readers via live embedded list content inside blog posts.

    9. Wikipedia

      Wikipedia

      Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

    10. Giveaway Scoop - Your daily source for the best giveaways, contests and sweepstakes!Giveaway Scoop

      Giveaway Scoop - Your daily source for the best giveaways, contests and sweepstakes!Giveaway Scoop

      Giveaway Scoop curates the best giveaways from around the web - its the Pinterest of giveaways. Plus, you can add your giveaway and have them market to the best sites FOR you.

    View more lists from Sarah Evans

    FAVE TIP: The easiest way possible to add ‘tweet this’ for specific pieces of text

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    It’s time to launch the #soeasymymomcoulddoit (“So Easy My Mom Could Do It”) series. Up first is a super easy way to add a ‘tweet this’ for specific pieces of text.

    Looking for ways to up engagement in your blog posts? Include socially sharable soundbites and include a “tweet this” designation after each opportunity. It works. Trust me.

    1. Go to (and bookmark) Click to Tweet.
    2. Type your text (don’t forget to add appropriate hashtags and Twitter handles).
    3. Click “Generate Link!”
    4. Copy your URL
    5. Paste the URL anywhere. I recommend adding a (tweet this) and hyperlink the text.

    You can make it so that text, like the totally awesome stuff above, looks like this. (tweet this)

    Told you it was easy.

    FAVE RECAP: 8 things you need to know about tech and social from this week

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    Time for your FAVE recap and mine… It’s what’s hot in tech and social.

    Listen, I know you’re busy. When I first started this blog I considered making the tagline, “Putting in the man hours so you don’t have to.” I enjoy doing this research and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to always be in-the-know on all things social. If you read nothing else this week, this run down will keep your social and tech IQ above the rest. Rest easy, busy one, I’ve got your back.

    Go ahead and copy and paste your favorite links and send them to your boss, co-workers, peers. They’ll remember (in case they forgot) what a rockstar you are. (Or you can always forward a copy of this post.)

    1. Twitter search workaround

    While this isn’t new, it is a helpful reminder. Does it still frustrate you that Twitter doesn’t support RSS feeds for search results? I don’t want to be forced to go to Twitter for my saved searches. The good news is, there’s still a way.

    Since Twitter no longer supports RSS for search results, here’s how to set your own RSS feed for whatever you want to monitor:

    http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=search%20term

    Replace “search%20terms” with whatever your particular search terms are.

    Done.

    2. Google Chromebook

    Google launched their lightweight (2.5 pounds) #Chromebook, retailing for $249. It comes with 100 GB of free Google Drive storage, boots up in 10 seconds and 6 hours of battery life. Think you’ll buy one?

    3. Viral GIF of the week

    You can’t beat an overly-enthusiastic fan. Courtesy of the subreddit /r/funny, here is “Socially Awkward Audience Member” from the Wendy Williams show. I want to know this girl. She seems fun.

    4. Very important social stat

    Have you heard? New Facebook fans coming from mobile jumped 2.8x between May (5%) and August (19%). That’s actually quite significant. (tweet this)

    5. New social network

    Okay, I get it, you’ve got enough social networks to manage. Too bad, there’s a new kid on the block. Pheed launched this week with a lot of celeb street cred. The differentiator? Pheed allows you set up a paywall for your information. Downside? They autoposted to my Twitter account when I signed up.

    6. Amazing social media campaign research database

    Thank me later (my birthday is in November). Here are 6 years worth of social media campaigns in a database organized by platform. Bookmark it, baby! (tweet this)

    7. No to Fridays!

    Did you know you should never  start a social media marketing campaign on a Friday? Thanks for the heads up VentureBeat.

    8. Disavow link

    Google launched a Disavow Links Tool this week and announced it at #PubCon.

    Get your fave on this weekend!

    Top 10 social stats from Felix Baumgartner’s jump #stratos #livejump

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    Felix Baumgartner became a household (read: internet) name yesterday. Here are a few top stats from the folks at social media monitoring service Brandwatch and others around the web.

     

    Felix and this mission now hold the world records for the highest jump from a platform (128,100 feet), longest distance freefall (119,846 feet) and maximum vertical velocity (833.9 mph) (Mach 1.24).

    Cray!

    Now, the stats.

    1. Yesterday, the peak of online mentions #stratos and Felix Baumgartner was 194,000 at 2pm ET 

    2. The Sound Barrier was mentioned 29,829 times

    3. This unforgettable picture was noted 17,269 times

     

    4. Which country talked about the jump the most? The United States led the pack, followed by the United Kingdom and Netherlands.

    Here’s the list of top 10 countries who mentioned the jump:

    United States 270150
    United Kingdom 78973
    Netherlands 18398
    Ecuador 15775
    Canada 15072
    Spain 8499
    Greenland 8358
    Germany 8036
    Greece 7660
    India 7085

    From BrandWatch

     

     

    5. Taking it one step further, here’s a look at the top 20 cities chatting up the jump.

    Stanford and Palo Alto topped the list and the United States dominated the entire list.

    Stanford (us) 6399
    Palo Alto (us) 1755
    Los Angeles (us) 1227
    Chicago (us) 1090
    New York City (us) 909
    Madrid (us) 812
    San Francisco (us) 758
    Seattle (us) 626
    Houston (us) 554
    Edinburgh (us) 531
    Dublin (us) 490
    Earth City (us) 484
    Boston (us) 470
    Vancouver (us) 448
    Liverpool (us) 407
    Atlanta (us) 390
    Amsterdam (us) 343
    Las Vegas (us) 299
    Vienna (us) 291
    Glasgow (us) 278

     

    6. Red Bull Stratos on YouTube live had 8 Million Concurrent Views 

    7. “After Baumgartner landed, sponsor Red Bull posted a picture of the daredevil on his knees to Facebook. In less than 40 minutes, the picture was shared more than 29,000 times and generated nearly 216,000 likes and more than 10,000 comments.” (Source)

    8. Two threads about the jump made the front page of Reddit. (Source)

    9. “…the previous record for concurrent views of a YouTube livestream stood at 500,000 during the summer Olympics.  Felix’s jump even blew the Ustream livestream of the Curiosity Mars landing out of the stratosphere.  Ustream’s livestream of the Mars landing had a total of 3.2 million viewers, but only 500,000 concurrently—that’s 16 times more concurrent views for yesterday’s jump!” (Source)

    WordCloud from BrandWatch

    10. “During the jump and the moments after Baumgartner safely landed, half the worldwide trending topics on Twitter had something to do with the jump — pushing past tweets about Justin Bieber and seven NFL football games being played at the same time.” (Source)

    And, in case you missed it:

    Get paid to talk on the phone about stuff you know with #Clarity

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    “Who ya’ gonna call?” If you like giving advice, then you’ll love Clarity. Get paid to talk on the phone about the stuff you know.

    Founded by angel investor, Flowtown co-founder and 500Startups mentor Dan Martell, browser-based startup Clarity is like the Psychic Friends Network (minus psychics and Dionne Warwick) for industry experts — especially entrepreneurs. All joking aside, it’s a great model. Clarity.fm takes care of scheduling phone calls and managing payments between experts and people who will pay for knowledge.

    It launched in May of 2012 and already boasts users like Mark Cuban, Eric Ries and Dave McClure. Not too shabby.

    Let’s say you want some advice on how to get press. Search the topic to see a list of recommended experts. Costs range from “free” up to $4.17 per minute. What do you get for free you don’t for $4.17? You’ll have to find out yourself. Users have the ability to leave recommendations for experts, which should help make deciding who to call a bit easier.

    If you can’t find the advice expert you’re looking for from the list of pre-existing topics, fill out the “post need” request. The folks at Clarity will do their best to send potential candidates your way.

    When you find someone you think is the right fit, simply click their name and enter your credit card information. Clarity takes care of scheduling the call.

    Want to become a Clarity expert? It’s pretty easy to fill out your profile (if you can fill out a Linkedin profile, you can do this). Fill out your contact information, including a phone number (not visible to the public) and connect your social accounts like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc… (also helps you to become a verified member and increase your credibility).

    Write a short bio (think Twitter size), include an hourly rate and your areas of expertise — so people know why they should call you.

    Don’t need the extra money? You can choose to donate any money you might make to charity, like Dan does, in your profile.

    What are their plans for the future? Dan says, “Our goal is to connect over 10 million entrepreneurs by Dec 2022 (there are currently 400M in the world).  To do so, we’ll need to add features to improve call connecting, scheduling, discovery and recommendations.  We believe it’s best to get advice from those who’ve been successful at the thing you’re trying for the first time – that’s why we built Clarity.” Rock on!

    Here are two tactical tips for using Clarity:

    1. Get a Google Voice number and use that as your contact information so you don’t include any personal information; and

    2. Add a “Call me to talk about _____” teaser and link to your profile in an email signature, blog and/or website.

    What do you think? Will you sign up for Clarity?

    I did.