My Top 10 Favorite Social Media Apps

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O.K., I lied. I think there are about 16 here (smile). About a month ago I did a post entitled “10 Tools That Make My Life Worth Living”.  A lot more cool toys have surfaced since that time so here is my updated list (in alphabetic order):

GizaPage: Think of GizaPage has your own personal webpage that directs others to all of your social media sites including Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, or any other place that you might have a profile or some sort of presence. So, instead of providing all these addresses you just say www.craigmjamieson.gizapage.com. That’s it. Simple and easy. Someone I spoke to told me that I could also do that on FriendFeed, and you can, but for this purpose, I like the GizaPage format better. I also discovered another interesting function of GizaPage while I was just trying some things out. When you log onto my Twitter tab, it takes you to an app called TweeTree. I have never heard of it but it looks a lot like a standard Twitter page. But, get this, it is also calling up the actual link content that you include in your tweets. For example, a couple of my recent tweets were for new blog postings. These are generated automatically by TwitterFeed along with a link to the post. TweetTree not only shows the tweet, it also shows the post itself including the Jing videos. Sweeet!!!

HootSuite: HootSuite is a lot like TweetLater in that you can schedule tweets to go out on a delayed schedule. It’s is also like TweetDeck in that you can use it to monitor your Twitter activity. And, it has some other cool tools. I am hoplessly in love with it’s FireFox toolbar button called the “Hootlet”. When reading a page you’d like to share, click on the Hootlet button and a tweet is created, the url is shortened, and you can send the tweet now or schedule it for later. And do all of this while never leaving the page you are reading. They should really call this thing HootSweeeet (smile).

MyReMa CRM – Social Media Integration – First Look

Finally, I get to scoop Mashable on something! (smile). I had the opportunity to sit down this morning with Jeff Parrish, CEO & Founder, of MyReMa or……… My Relationship Manager. As Jeff explained it, MyReMa was born from the frustration that, while conventional CRM packages seem to focus on activities (email, opportunities, etc.) the current shift is more toward the person or contact themselves. Hence, while my MyReMa can be considered to be a CRM, it is more designed as an SNM. Say that real fast and don’t get too excited (smile). Wrong. Social Network Management. This is Social Media meets CRM.

What first struck me in looking at the product was how incredibly clean the interface was. Very simple and it would appear to be very logical in terms of navigation. MyReMa is designed to be simple. A lot of packages tout that but few seem to deliver. I have worked with a lot of CRM’s in my day and most have so many functions that you tend to only use those that are important to you and the others just seem to get in the way. MyReMa is designed to be modular. Pay for what you need. As an example, there may be an “opportunity” module that might include features like a “sales funnel” or “lead tracking”.  The basic package that I looked at included: Contacts, Calendars, Tasks, Email, and News Feeds. Let’s look at a few of those areas a little closer:

Contacts:

Here’s something I have not seen ….. MyReMa will not only allow you to import contacts from the standard mail services like Gmail and Yahoo……… how about LinkedIn and FaceBook as well? That, my friends, is something new at least to me. And, since we are talking about the integration of CRM and SM, it only makes sense. I suspect we will see Twitter added to that list. Google Wave was also mentioned. Outlook contacts can be imported thru exporting those to either LinkedIn or a web mail account and importing from there. EZ enough. You can also select what frequency you want my MyReMa to go out to these networks and update (import) new contacts automatically. For example…. daily or weekly. Each contact also features a “health meter” which is an indication of how complete that contact record is and how well you are working that relationship. Some fancy algorithm I am sure (smile).

Turning Email Into A Tool Not A Chore

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I’ve been reading a lot of articles lately talking about the impending doom of email, at least as we know it. Love it or hate it, I believe that some form of this communication medium will be with us for many years to come. Certainly, products like the soon to be released Google Wave may change the way we look at, and use, electronic messaging. For now, for me, email is indispensable.

A little background may help. I work out of my home and have two positions. Standing and sitting (smile). I am an independent sales contractor for Lytle Signs and, while they have an office here in the Boise area, the company headquarters are 125 miles away in Twin Falls, ID. 90% of all design, estimating, manufacturing, and accounting takes place in Twin Falls. Also, at least 50% of my client base is not located in the Boise area. Consequently, almost all of my correspondence is done via email. As is a large percentage of my general communication.

My other job is operating this website and the B2B networking group that it supports, NetWorks! Once again, email is a critical part of this formula. Finally, I do not own a smart phone. All my emailing functions are conducted on my desktop PC. I had a Blackberry about 5 years ago and the happiest day of my life was when I turned it in (smile). Will I have one in the future? Probably, but I’m going to hold out on that as long as possible.

So, if we are going to be using email, let’s make it work for us instead of the other way around. Here are 2 tools and 7 tips to help you accomplish that goal and, at the same time, how you can turn common email messages into powerful selling tools:

10 Ways To Build Connections On LinkedIn (6-10)

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We will now continue on with methods 6 through 10 of ways to build connections with LinkedIn. Before we get started, let’s review numbers 1 through 5: make yourself visible through email signature lines and links to your LinkedIn public profile from other sites; import your email address lists; send out invitations to connect based on your imported address lists; follow LinkedIn’s suggestions of folks that you might want to connect with; take advantage of LinkedIn’s sophisticated search tools to find both people and companies.

As we said in our previous post, LinkedIn is driven by email addresses. Make that email addresses and/or existing relationships. Relationships can be defined as somebody you know, somebody you went to school with, somebody you worked with, or even somebody you know who knows somebody that you want to know. With both an email address and a relationship, the Linkedin world is your oyster (smile). And, away we go beginning with method #6 (please note that these will be numbered 1-5. if anybody can tell me how to start with #6, I would appreciate it):

1. Invite somebody to connect who you either know or do not know. Here is where it gets a little tricky. If you flat do not know this person and you have no connection to this person at all in terms of being related by one of the three degrees, you will likely have to use something called InMail and that will only work if this person accepts InMail. Most importantly, InMail is only available with a paid version of LinkedIn. Very few people I know, including myself, have opted to go the paid route. However, if you have a degree connection, you will be allowed to further identify yourself as a friend or colleague and will be allowed to send a request to connect. At the top right hand corner of each person’s profile, you will be presented with available options which will include one or more of the following: Send InMail, Get introduced through a connection, Add “Fred” to your network.
2. Invite from groups that you both belong to. You have a common interest and this provides you with a relationship that is not even necessarily degree related. Another one of the options you will be presented with in identifying your relationship with this individual is  a shared group and you will be able to identify that group by name.

Phase II – Business-Social Media Game Plan

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I’ve just come to the conclusion that, if Phase I was to “collect & digest” information on Social Media, I’m way lacking in the “digest” part of this equation. I just looked at my bookmarks and there about 120 in there regarding various aspects of Social Media (many that I have shared on this site) that I myself have not yet had a chance to completely read and comprehend. These have been collected over the last 60 days. This technology has rapidly exceeded my digestive capacity or, as Jimmy the Sales Weasel would say…”Whoa! Brain overload!” (smile).

I find myself hearkening back to the early 80′s when I was selling what was one of the first personal computers designed specifically for business applications. Many of my potential clients were hesitant to invest in this new office automation solution as, even then, they feared that it would soon become obsolete due to rapid changes in technology. My standard reply? “Please call me when you determine that technology has ground to a halt and you are now ready to reap some of it’s benefits.” The point being, I can continue to collect and review dozens of pieces of information that come across my screen daily or, I can hunker down and put a select few of these to work now and begin to see some positive results. At least, that’s the plan (smile). In the sales game we say…“Don’t confuse activity with productivity.” To date, I’ve been plenty active but not enough productive.