How Are YOU Connected? 5 Tools to help you keep up with the social media revolution

In the world of Social Media Marketing, which by the end of 2010 will simply be referred to as marketing, all professionals should have at least a few methods to connect to their database and future clientele in a responsible and ethical way. 

There are so many applications and sites.  The point isn't to use them all (or sign up and not use them). The point is to use a few WELL.

Here are some of the latest tools that have or I feel will really impact the way we use social media and market ourselves or simply stay connected with friends family and clients.

1. Facebook - with the addition of Fan Pages, we are now able to separate business from pleasure.  Set up a fan page for your business, post the fan badges that are available to you on your other profiles or on your website.  Connect the fan page updates to Twitter.

2. Twitter - 'Twitter is now the second-youngest of the top four social networking sites. Its median age is 31. MySpace's is 26, LinkedIn is 39, and, Facebook is 33" (according to www.readwriteweb.com (RWW)).  In general, we are seeing a better Twitter uptake over the past year. As per RWW, 37% of those 18-24 now use Twitter when only 19% did back in December 2008. The 25-34 year olds, a some of whom could still be considered Gen Y, 31% are now using the service compared to only 20% in December of last year. Combined, these two groups account for more than half of Twitter's network.  WOW!! 

When you consider the buying power of these two groups, you may want to consider becoming a "Twit"! Not to mention, the RT revolution is here.  RT (or retweeting) will make it so much easier to spread the word.  Caution!  What happens on Twitter stays on Twitter.  Make sure you are responsible with your comments.  Remember the Golden Rule.  Sadly there are agents out there that don't realize that clients are everywhere on the web, "My client is a pain in the butt" is NOT good PR, much less a professional way to work Twitter.  "Having a hard time finding a 3br/3ba house near Main Street. Can you help?" - much better way to interact and still vent a little. Not to mention you will most likely connect with someone else that wants to help!

3. Posterous - upload to Social Media Sites in an easy way. Converts video and makes photo uploads even easier to work with.  With video becoming so important, this is a great application to learn and take advantage of.  You simple email what you want to post and Posterous does it for you.  If you have an iPhone you can also download the Posterous app for free.

4. Google Chrome - Google Chrome has changed my life in the sense it saves me time.  It is much faster that IE and makes browsing easier by loading your designated pages at start up, you can also search faster within a site or page.  Plus, being a visual person, I get a kick out of the themes and experiments.

5. Jott.com - on the run all the time?  www.Jott.com allows for safety first when you are in the car getting your great ideas as your drive around.  You are able to convert voice to text and upload that information to your blogs or social media sites. Not only that, but you can convert your voicemails to text to discreetly keep up when in a meeting along with other great tools to make life easier and stay connected.

Neat stuff, isn't it?  Now there may be a few that are still skeptical, thinking social media is just a fad.  Watch this video and get ready to be blown away by how social media is changing our world.

Feel free to contact me with questions or for other ideas or find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/karentobler