Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 381

Managing Social Media
Thousands of applications allow you to monitor and publish to the social web. Prices vary
based on the size of your organization and the features you need, but plenty of low-cost
options for managing your social media presence without the big price tag are available.
The best social media applications are
Cloud-based: Look for a social media marketing application that lets you manage
your social media from any device, including your mobile phone.
Multiuser: Most social media marketing campaigns require participation from more
than one person in the business. Look for applications that allow you to easily add team
members to your account.
Reporting: Social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook have their own
reporting and analytics, but the right social media application adds more insight into
what’s working and what’s not.
We recommend the following social media tools.
Hootsuite Pro
hootsuite.com
The best cloud-based, low-cost application for managing Twitter is Hootsuite. This tool
also manages Facebook and LinkedIn, but you’ll find it most useful for organizing your
Twitter activity. You can use the free version, but Hootsuite Pro adds solid reporting and
the capability to easily append UTM (urchin tracking module) parameters to links. (You
can find out more about UTMs in Chapter 12.)
Edgar
meetedgar.com
Using the Edgar application, you can publish status updates to Facebook and Twitter
automatically. Edgar breathes new life into your best content by consistently sharing it on
autopilot.
Mention
mention.com
Find conversations about your brands, people, competitors, and more with this reasonably
priced social-listening and reputation-management application.