We have had over 30 PowerViews interviews in the past year and I thought it would be fun to ask our PowerViews alumni a question about social media. The question was:
What are the top three social media tools (ranked in order) and why?
Fourteen responders listed twenty total social media tools:
I was surprised that only nine listed LinkedIn (though Jonathan Farrington listed it on the top, middle and bottom of his list of three—I only counted it once). Mirroring Jonathan’s enthusiasm, Craig Rosenberg calls it “the greatest place on earth for salespeople right now.” Carlos Hidalgo from Annuitas recommends that “organizations should be training their teams on how to use it effectively”. MarketingProfs Ann Handley states that, “It is a little boring—you won’t find baby or puppy pictures there. But that’s the point—increasingly, it’s the place where business gets done.”
I was more surprised that only six of the alum mentioned Twitter. Ann Handley feels that “it is the single most important central, open communications platform that exists—not just for business, but also for all of us humans.” S. Anthony Iannarino (The Sales Blog) said, “It allows you to engage in one-to-one and one-to-many conversations. Still my favorite!”
Four listed blogs. Carlos Hidalgo feels that “blogs are a great way to increase inbound traffic, engage buyers early on in the buying process, educate your target audience and share relevant information.” Not surprisingly, S. Anthony Iannarino (who listed blogs first on his list) stated that, “The best social media tool you will ever have isn’t a tool. It is your personal blog. You own the platform. You own the content. You get to build your base.”
Other tools listed: HootSuite and Buffer with two mentions and the following with one mention each: content management, AWeber (an email marketing tool), Feedly (thanks Dan Waldschmidt—great replacement for Google Reader), Google, InsideView, LeadRocket, mobile optimized website, SlideShare, social advertising, social listening, Sprout Social, Triberr, WordPress.
Some additional comments of note:
“The social media tools are less important than the quality and relevance of your content (and your content experts).” (Dave Munn, ITSMA)
“My social media tools are Triberr, Buffer and HootSuite.” (Michael Brenner, SAP—interesting that neither LinkedIn or Twitter made his list)
“Social Listening, Content Management, Social Advertising—advertising in social? Isn’t that an oxymoron? I think not…” (Rich Vancil, IDC)
“There is nothing so engaging on social as having a brand—in the form of an actual person—interact with you as a customer.” (Ginger Conlon, DMNews)
“It’s becoming harder and harder to manage a robust social media campaign, so tools like HootSuite…are critical.” (Jamie Turner, 60 Second Marketer)
“[Blogs] are our most intimate form of engagement and conversation (short of a direct conversation).” (Dave Brock, Partners in Excellence)
My list: LinkedIn, Blogs, Google. I use LinkedIn all day every day and agree with Tony Zambito, it’s a great “place to establish connections with like-minded professionals.” Carlos is absolutely right. Blogs are a way to do all of the things he says. I use Google all day. I never thought of it as a social media tool until Bob Perkins, AA-ISP listed it, but he is right.
Thanks alum!
