6 Resources to Help You Stay Current with Social Media

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Even the most savvy marketers wake up some days feeling that there’s way too much information floating around the social mediasphere for them to keep up. Unless youhave a specific department or a designated manager whose job it is, you’ll want to find a way to stay on top of social media. So what do you look for and where should you focus your attention?

It’s important to find a core group of blogs. websites and tools that you consider as faithful go-to resources. What makes something worth returning to? For me a blog that has current up-to-date posts, high quality writing, research, statistics, interesting infographics, a good take away (e.g. a link, book, video, podcast) are some of the things I typically look for.

Here are six resources which are a big part of my social media daily exercise routine:

1. Mashable
While I may spend the bulk of my time within Mashable’s social media category, I will also see what’s happening across the other categories e.g. business, entertainment, tech, web video, Apple and mobile. I like seeing the number of tweets, and shares on Facebook. I’m a big believer in blog commenting and I take the time to read comments others have posted. I often find suggestions within a comment which I may not have come across otherwise.

2. Alltop
Alltop aggregates news and headlines from across the web. I have the social media page bookmarked on my computer. I scan the page daily for titles which catch my attention (titles and headlines do make a difference!) I also find it helpful that Alltop provides a list of the five most recent posts for each blog.

3. Delicious
I’m a big fan of social bookmarking and Delicious in particular―I’ve been using it for several years. I’m often surprised that it’s overlooked by so many people as a valuable resource. Not only do I save links with the title, description and tags so that I will find the post again, I like to see the other delicious users who have saved the same URL and the list of the links which they recommend.

4. Social Media Today
Social Media Today covers social media news, strategy, tools and techniques. They recently changed the format of their page and while I know it’s an improvement, I’m still getting used to the new look and feel. I like seeing the rotating top stories in the upper left corner of the page, the highlighted stories and latest comments. The quality of the writing and information is always good.

5. Social Media Examiner
Social Media Examiner is described as an online magazine designed to help businesses discover how to best use social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to attract opportunity and gain exposure. Some of my favorite categories are their case studies, how to, expert interviews, and videos. There are always lots of great tips for maximizing your social media efforts.

6. Netvibes
Now if you really want to get organized and a bit fancy, check-out Netvibes and take time to customize and personalize the page for yourself. I find I’m much more likely to use a dashboard than going through a list of RSS feeds. You can add new page tabs and customize the layout of the page. Setting up the page for how you want to follow and read things will take some time upfront but personalizing will make it more likely that you’ll return there everyday. Add the RSS feed for the site you want to follow and bingo, you’re in business!

What are some of your favorite go-to sites to stay current with social media?

photo credit: katerha’s photostream

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Debbie Hemley
Social Media Consultant/Blogger
Debbie is a blogger and non-fiction writer. Her posts can be found on the blog: All the News that's Fit to Blog, Tweet & Post http://debbiehemley.com

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