Social media influence tips

Social media is a moving beast and we need to keep moving with it! Here are five tools to help you have a more effective social media presence.

In what has become an annual tradition for this blog, the time has come to take a look back at the incredible additions that many authors have made to our understanding of social media from a wide variety of perspectives in 2012. My initial list featured 15 best social media books of 2010, followed by increasing the number listed to 25 for my best social media books of 2011 post.  While I could have easily increased this list to 30 or even 35, I wanted to instead concentrate on only those books that I feel truly add value – and therefore I have decided to actually reduce the number of recommended books to 20. The self-publishing revolution means that there is no lack of content out there to read on social media, but however subjective this list might be because it is written by a person (moi), I am hoping to steer you to books that hopefully you will consider a worthy investment of your time.

While I usually begin my list with the “classics” that were updated and revised over the last year, I believe that referencing my previous two year’s posts should give you an idea of what books to look for – but I’m pretty sure that this list will provide you more than enough social media inspiration for the next coming months!

Without further adieu, here are 20 books that have been published in 2012 that I believe are recommended reading in order to keep up with understanding social media for business from a wide variety of perspectives, and I guarantee you that you will continue to find the content fresh enough to inspire you well into 2013. These books range from some “beginner” social media marketing books written by experts to advanced reads on how social media is transforming the enterprise into a “social business.” The below list is in no particular order, but, as always, I have done my best to classify these social media books according to convenient categories, some of which I have included a brief explanation for.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN CONTEXT

Likeable Business: Why Today’s Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver by Dave Kerpen

The author of Likeable Social Media is back with an excellent book that covers 11 themes that can guide businesses into becoming a “Likeable” company. Where Dave’s first book was more Facebook marketing-centric in its approach, his new book has lessons for leadership that can apply lessons learned in social media to help an entire company becoming “Likeable.” While some of the themes covered like “Listening” and “Storytelling” might seem to be no-brainers, Dave explains the importance of these concepts that truly put social media, and how businesses need to respond to it, into extremely relevant context.

Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action by Rohit Bhargava

Don’t be taken away by the title of this book, which seems like a cross between “Likeable” and “Socialnomics.” The content is unique and insightful in both its case studies as well as its content in convincing us of the business (and professional) value of simply becoming a “liked” and trusted resource. It’s as close of a good read as you will find that discusses the true “humanizing” of a brand. While the book is obviously a business book not solely about social media, social can clearly play a big role as a strategic channel to make this happen. This book will inspire not only your business but also yourself to follow its 5 key principles and build better and deeper relationships with those around you.

The Impact Equation: Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise? by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

The team that brought us Trust Agents is back with an important message: Your business might be “doing” social media, but are you truly having a deep, human impact on your customers? The authors provide us a formula to truly make a business impact that, while not solely limited to social media in focus, provides enough examples and advice to educate you on how to better leverage social. Organized into the surprisingly simple sections of Goals, Ideas, Platforms, and Network, this book will force you to rethink every move your business makes to better engage with present and future customers.

SOCIAL BUSINESS

The Connected Company by Dave Gray

As this blog has become less the voice of one person (moi) and more a community of many experts, I also wanted to include books recommended by our contributors to this list. Without further adieu I bring you The Connected Company, recommended by Social Media and Public Relations contributor Judy Gombita in her Audacious Byte: McDonald’s Canada Makes “Food Quality” Its Social PR Hero post where she quotes from the book, “…Dave Gray…weaves together the core elements you need to take into account when designing the connected company: transparent interaction and communication platforms, organizational structures favoring autonomy and adaptation, a culture of experimentation and learning, and a new governance and reward system encouraging new behavior and holding it all together.” The advent of the truly social business means that everyone needs to have a seat at the table internally and collaborate in a way that was unthinkable before social media. With that in mind, I can think of no more appropriate book to put in the social business category than The Connected Company.

Social Business By Design: Transformative Social Media Strategies for the Connected Company by Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim

It’s no surprise that the title for this book includes “The Connected Company”: The advent of social media will require internal employees to work together as outlined in the above book.  In contrast to Dave Gray’s book which talks about the why, what, how, and how to lead, Social Business by Design applies the social business concept to specific internal disciplines as well as outlining the design and strategies of a social business. An excellent read that allows you to leverage the deep consulting experience and expertise of the authors and The Dachis Group to help guide your company.

The Collaborative Organization: A Strategic Guide to Solving Your Internal Business Challenges Using Emerging Social and Collaborative Tools by Jacob Morgan

The author of Twittfaced is back three years later with what just might become the handbook you end up using to lead your company into having more strategic collaborations amongst your employees as you continue your journey into becoming a social business. Filled with both insightful advice as well as examples from a plethora of organizations, Jacob hand holds you – whether you are just starting out or are trying to take internal collaboration to the next level – to best leverage the power of social and collaborative technologies and strategies to become a truly collaborative organization.

SOCIAL MEDIA DIFFERENTIATION

2012 saw the publication of a few unique books that bear mention for talk about the importance of standing out in the noisy world of social media, whether it be through being “unpopular” or achieving to be an “awesome” company.

The Power of Unpopular: A Guide to Building Your Brand for the Audience Who Will Love You (and why no one else matters) by Erika Napoletano

Social Business Trends contributor Joel Don mentioned this popular (pun intended) book in his post What’s in a domain? Establishing your social business brand. Social media allows brands to connect with people in a deep way, but it can only happen in a meaningful way by first being honest with yourself and your brand. Erika cautions us that it’s not about being popular: It’s about building a unique community and fostering brand advocacy that are aligned with your truly distinct brand personality. A branding book at heart, reading this will truly help you see the world of social media in a unique way – and your business will be the better for it.

Stand Out Social Marketing: How to Rise Above the Noise, Differentiate Your Brand, and Build an Outstanding Online Presence by Mike Lewis

Social media is truly getting noisy, but that doesn’t mean that your company will never be found. Mike Lewis guides the reader on how to create and implement a social meda marketing strategy that utilizes all of what social media offers but in a way that is uniquely meaningful to your brand. Insightful yet practical, following all of the “Stand Out” tips will yield dividends for your business.

INTEGRATED SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing by Lee Odden

The founder of one of the top online marketing blogs, TopRank, Lee Odden publishes his first book and covers a lot of ground covering the entire spectrum of social and online marketing. A gem of practical insight and advice to get you thinking of optimizing your online presence through a holistic combination of SEO, social and content marketing. A great online marketing perspective to integrating social media into your marketing mix.

The Fusion Marketing Bible: Fuse Traditional Media, Social Media, & Digital Media to Maximize Marketing by Lon Safko

The author of The Social Media Bible is back with a book that teaches us how to “fuse” social media, digital, and traditional marketing together. The intertwined relationships between each of these marketing types is discussed in detail, followed by a deep dive into important concepts that will help you see the connections – and improve upon your conversions in marketing.

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

Social Marketology: Improve Your Social Media Processes and Get Customers to Stay Forever by Ric Dragon

Ric’s excellent book provides the reader with a framework for which to create a social media strategy and then processes to allow your marketing team to do everything from humanizing your personality and voice to influencer marketing. Highly recommended read to any business who isn’t sure how well they are doing at social media or those that lack a concise strategy or plan.

INFLUENCE MARKETING

Return On Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing by Mark Schaefer

While the concept of influence marketing and the importance (or lack thereof) of influencer scores such as Klout still sparks debate in many circles, the integration of social scoring into the most popular social media dashboards means that this is a topic that will continue to engage social media marketers into 2013. Fellow instructor of social media marketing at Rutgers University Mark Schaefer provides a good introduction into influence marketing, Klout, and social scoring. Additional reading: 13 Experts Chime In on Klout’s New Algorithm to Determine Social Influence.

B2B SOCIAL

The B2B Social Media Book: Become a Marketing Superstar by Generating Leads with Blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and More by Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey Cohen

An all-star combination of B2B social media marketing professionals, Hubspot Director of Marketing Kipp Bodnar and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Content Marketing Manager Jeffrey Cohen, provide a comprehensive look at how to generate B2B leads using a plethora of social media platforms. I enjoyed the holistic perspective of this book which goes beyond even social to also include search, email marketing, and other forms of content marketing such as webinars. It even talks about how to make traditional trade shows more social. If you’re a B2B marketer, this is the best introduction to find to help make better use of social media to generate leads.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NONPROFITS

Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World by Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye Paine

The social media for nonprofits thought leader Beth Kanter is back two years after her groundbreaking book The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change with a natural follow-up: How to measure the social media activities of your “networked nonprofit.” Nonprofits notoriously lack budgets and resources for social media, so it all comes down to a data-driven approach which measures the effectiveness of your time spent in social media – and how your entire organization can utilize that same measured data. What I love about the book is the universality of its message: This book is as applicable to for-profit companies as it is for nonprofits.

GOOGLE PLUS

What the Plus!: Google+ for the Rest of Us by Guy Kawasaki

No one is a bigger Google Plus evangelizer outside of Google than Guy Kawasaki is. And no one explains not only the basics of the platform but also ideas as to how you can derive value out of the platform than Guy does. A passionate book that makes you take a deeper look at the platform and helps both beginners begin to use G+ as well as remind more experienced users as to the functionality they might have neglected. Additional read: Guy Kawasaki and 10 Experts Chime in on the Value of Google Plus – and How You Can Start to Leverage It.

LINKEDIN

LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day by Viveka von Rosen

Viveka knows the ins and outs of LinkedIn as well as anyone. The format for this book servers her well to be able to share her knowledge in a week-by-week fashion that will give you a very comprehensive look at the value that LinkedIn provides you. The final chapters provide some unique, targeted advice for certain industries and professions, such as real estate professionals, legal professionals, and entrepreneurs. A welcome addition to the growing library of LinkedIn books.

PINTEREST

Thi is the first year that any Pinterest book has been included on my best social media book lists, but Pinterest has become such a strong marketing force for small businesses and large brands alike that it makes sense that literature on the increasingly important social media website for e-commerce be required reading for social media marketers. There were a number of great books on Pinterest published just in the last several months, so it was not easy to choose just one book out of the many to recommend to you…

Pinterest Power: Market Your Business, Sell Your Product, and Build Your Brand on the World’s Hottest Social Network by Jason Miles and Karen Lacey

This book has everything you need to get started on Pinterest and more: From real-life examples of how Pinterest has impacted small businesses and personal anecdotes from the author’s own business to detailed tactics and strategies to become a pro at pinning. I like how the book goes as far as giving advice as to not only how you can best integrate Pinterest into your entire social media marketing but also how you can best integrate your efforts with Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, should you be on those platforms. If you’re looking for one Pinterest book out of the many that have been published, this is going to be your best bet. Additional reading: Unraveling the Mysteries of How Pinterest Generates Business!

INFOGRAPHICS

Infographics? Yes, infographics. Social media marketing is increasingly becoming visual, and infographics are becoming a vital tool to help companies tell their stories in a format that is extremely shareable.

Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling by Jason Lankow, Josh Ritchie, and Ross Crooks

Story telling is as important than ever in social media, and combining that concept with the power of the visual is the background for this compelling book. Three co-founders of a creative agency take us on a tour, especially geared towards marketers, as to how to get started making shareable, visual content a larger part of your social media efforts. This book delivers on its promise to provide you with the knowledge of both why infographics are so powerful today and how to go about creating your own.

GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

While some of the above books are for the more advanced social media practitioner or marketer, or for those who want to narrow in on learning about applying social media to a specific industry or platform, some of you may simply be looking for an easy to way to get started. These two books are the perfect way to get started putting all of the social media pieces together:

Social Media Commerce for Dummies by Marsha Collier

Marsha Collier published her first online marketing book before some of you graduated high school back in 1998. This gives her almost 15 years of historical perspective vis a vis the Internet to write a book that is the ultimate beginner social media marketing book if you are trying to tie social media with e-commerce. Practical, relevant, and easy to understand, Marsha lives up to the brand promise that is hinted in the title of this book – and goes well beyond in comprehensively explaining social media commerce from almost every potential angle.

Solving the Social Media Puzzle: 7 Simple Steps to Planning a Social Media Strategy for Your Business by Kathryn Rose and Apryl Parcher

Kathryn and Apryl provide an extremely practical overview of how to go about strategizing and implementing social media marketing for your business covering each of the major platforms and including advice from many experts. It is the perfect companion to Marsha’s book and will allow the reader to painlessly begin planning and “doing” even for those that might know nothing about social media marketing before reading it.

The reality is that creating that content is just part of the work of optimizing your on-line assets and by just publishing you have only started. Making it easy for people to share your content is now vital and essential.

Enterprise gamification designers/marketers face a very unique set of challenges.   We must advocate for the concept and win budget. We must launch and deploy the technology successfully, usually within extremely condensed timelines. This article is a good starting point if you're looking at introducing gamification to your brand.

We live in an era where there are apps for anything and everything. This is due to the fact that an increasing number of users utilize their mobiles to perform their daily tasks such as shopping, paying bills etc. They are always on the lookout for apps which can help them in their routine. Thus, if you are thinking of promoting your brand, developing mobile apps is the best option for you.However, there are certain points which you must consider before you develop an app. Some of them are listed below in the form of do’s and don’ts of developing a mobile app for your brand.

1. Don’t simply market, make it useful too

Don’t turn your mobile app into an out and out marketing campaign. If marketing your brand is your sole objective, then a mobile app is not the right medium. This is due to the fact that users don’t fuss over brand names when they download or use an app. What they look for instead, are the functionalities in the application. They want their apps to be interactive and useful. Thus, you must provide maximum utility in your mobile apps

2. Don’t mix app with websites

You may have a great website which is doing great business online. But it is not a wise decision to put all the features of your websites in the mobile apps; what works or worked for website, will not work for mobile apps.

All users want their apps to be simple and easy to use. Any given day, they will prefer an app that has a simple interface and easy navigation over a complex app with too many elements stuffed into it. Therefore, target some very specific features in your app and do away with unnecessary elements to give them an easy to use app.

3. Do focus on the end-user

Understand your end- users and try to know what appeals to them. This will make your app popular among them. For this purpose, you may conduct an in-depth research and know what kind of tasks the users want their apps to perform or what problems they encounter in similar kind of apps. After this, concentrate on developing user-centric apps which will reap maximum benefits in the long run.

4. Do take care of the mobile platform

Do remember the fact that a mobile setting is completely different than that of desktop or laptop. Mobile devices have slower processors, limited screen space, touch screen or tiny keypads etc. Thus, don’t make an app that uses up huge memory space. Avoid cluttering the interface with unnecessary elements and focus on a few but effective features.

5. Don’t foray into the game zone just like that

It is risky to develop a game app without knowing its pros and cons. A game is a game, nothing more. People play games for fun and forget about everything else. What is the guarantee that they will notice your brand? Not only that, but there also a tough competition from companies, who are exclusively into mobile game app development.

6. Do aim to be the best

There is no place for mediocrity if you want your app to outshine a million other apps present in the market. If you want your app to be the best, make sure that your app development process and planning is flawless. Be creative and develop unique apps that will do the talking for you irrespective of the category of apps you are aiming at.

Follow these essential do’s and don’ts to develop the perfect mobile apps for your brand and rake in maximum profits for your business.

With just a few days left before the ICO begins to enforce the EU e-Privacy Directive, we are starting to see a few sites unveiling their approaches to compliance. Two such sites are FT.com and Mirror Online, which are both using pop-ups to alert visitors to the sites' use of cookies.

As well as taking a look at the two news sites' responses to the EU directive, I've been asking Malcolm Coles, Product Director, digital at Trinity Mirror Group, about the Mirror's approach.

How the Mirror and FT are informing customers about cookies

The FT has a pop-up which displays for new visitors, which links to the site's cookie policy, as well as information on how to disable them.

Rather than asking customers to opt-in, it assumes consent for setting cookies if users close the window, unless they have already disabled them.

Mirror Online has a smaller pop-up which appears towards the bottom right of the page:

The pop up informs visitors about cookies, and tells users that, by continuing to use the website having seen the messge, this means they're OK with cookies.

This goes along with the ICO's own advice in its guidance document:

...you could set a cookie and infer consent from the fact that the user has seen a clear notice and actively indicated that they are comfortable with cookies by clicking through and using the site. This is an option that relies on the user being aware that the consequence of using the site is the setting of cookies.

Both sites link to further detailed information on the kinds of information which is stored and used, and what it is used for. Here's the FT's version:

Both tell users how they can disable cookies using their browser settings, rather than taking the BT approach and allowing users to opt-in and out of certain types of cookies using a slider tool.

I asked Malcolm Coles from Trinity Mirror about the thinking behind the Mirror's approach:

Why did the Mirror decide on this particular cookie solution?

The problem is that, even now, it's not clear what compliance with the law looks like - the main test is clearly going to be what enforcement action the ICO takes.

So we've looked for a solution that gives clear information and control to the consumer, but without ruining the experience of using our websites. Remember that Trinity Mirror has hundreds of different sites with different combinations of cookies.

I'm comfortable that we've achieved a balance that's legal - and that we're among the frontrunners in the industries we work in in terms of putting consumers in control.

Since the pop-up vanishes after a few seconds if the user does nothing, is it strictly compliant? Can you claim that users have given 'overt and informed consent' to the use of cookies?

There's a link on every page that explains how we use cookies and gives users the opportunity to control them (either directly or via links to relevant third-party sites). And we've put a LOT of work into tracking down links to information about browser controls and controls about individual cookies to add to that page.

To ensure users know what's going on, we also display a popup for 12 seconds when you first visit our sites. So we've gone further than some of the ICO's recent advice, I'd say, in terms of ensuring users know that we use cookies and know how to control them if they want.

Do you think the solution, including the further info on cookies used, conforms with the spirit of the directive?

Yes. It's about informed consent, and we make it clear how we use cookies and give users ways to control them. From what I know of what other news sites are doing, I think we'll be leading the way in terms of helping users control what's going on.

Do you expect many users to look into the cookie info provided?

No, not really. In the course of deciding what to do, I've uncovered a lot of information about what cookies are used on my own computer.

A lot of it has surprised me, but none of it has motivated me to turn off a single cookie. Other people will think differently so it's important they can act accordingly, and we give them a way to do that via our extensive list of links to controls on cookies.

But I think it's a poor law. There's no education about it (so it's irrelevant to consumers) and it imposes a significant burden on businesses without any sort of clarity abut practical implementation.

Since the ICO has said it will adopt a light approach to enforcement, do you see any reason to strictly comply (meaning interruptive pop-ups and the ability to reject cookies on site)?

I don’t think the law requires interruptive pop ups, it requires informed consent, and that's not the same as an interruption. But we want our sites to be legal.

To ensure we are, we list many ways users can directly control cookies, even if not directly on our site. I think you'll find we go a lot further than many sites, such as the government sites that have decided not to implement the law in time.

What is the business risk if users reject cookies on the Mirror site?

Users will get less relevant ads if they reject cookies and we can't track how people use our sites. Ultimately websites will get less relevant.

I imagine if lots of people reject cookies aimed at improving the quality of sites, you'll start getting popups saying "this website is crap unless you accept cookies. Click here to proceed". I think we're a long way off worrying about that though!

Peer through the cloud of spammers and cat jokes and you'll find a remarkable pulse behind the social web that is changing the world.

Do you blog?

Looking for exciting new tools to simplify the blogging experience? If so, keep reading.

We decided to get the scoop on today’s hottest blogging tools.

We asked 22 pros to share their favorite new finds. Here they are…

Mitt Ray @MittRay

A great blogging tool I discovered a few months ago is InboxQ. I like it because it helps me come up with better blog topics. This tool helps you find questions people are asking on Twitter.

InboxQ lets you create campaigns with different keywords. Usually the best thing to do is to create campaigns with keywords from topics you specialize in. So when someone asks a question with those keywords, you will be updated about it and you can answer the question.

You can work on these questions and come up with better blog topics in your area of specialty. For example, I have two campaigns: one on white papers with keywords likewhite paper, whitepaper, etc., and the other on social media with keywords like social media, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc.

When people type in questions with these keywords, I get an update. If I find them interesting and I think my audience will like them too, I write blog posts based on those questions.

Use InboxQ to find the questions people are asking on Twitter.

Mitt Ray, founder of Social Marketing Writing, author.

Rich Brooks @TheRichBrooks

The Content Idea Generator (v2) is a Google Doc that willautomatically find news and related stories for your blog from a variety of sources… everything from Google News to Reddit, from tweets to public Facebook updates and more.

While this tool works just as well for podcasts, email newsletters and YouTube videos, I’ve been using it for generating new ideas for blog content.

You can get started here.

Use the Content Idea Generator to get ideas for your blog posts.

Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media.

Michael Stelzner @Mike_Stelzner

For the blogger who is seeking a cool way to keep track of interesting articles for later blog posts, check out Diigo.

This cool tool allows you to highlight and store interesting content for quick retrieval down the road.  You can even embed notes to your saved content.  It supports mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad and Android.

Michael Stelzner, founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner.

Leo Widrich @LeoWid

The most powerful blogging tool I have discovered recently isDisqus 2012. It is the new version of Disqus and I am absolutely blown away.

It helps me to really create an awesome community around our blog. You can up-vote and down-vote comments, see recurring commenters and have much better threading than in the old version.

Plus, everything is in real time and it feels as if the post and comments are much better connected with each other. One last point I love is that you can show related articles at the bottom of the post and see top commenters at a glance.

Use the latest version of Disqus to grow your community.

Leo Widrich, co-founder of BufferApp.com.

Heidi Cohen @HeidiCohen

Photographs are eye-candy that helps attract attention and lures readers into your content to find out more. While incorporating your own photographs into your blog posts is optimal, you don’t always have an appropriate image available.

Flickr, the granddaddy of photo-sharing sites is highly effective for this purpose.

Unlike other options such as Google Images, Flickr’s advanced search enables bloggers to find images with creative commons that allow commercial use. It’s recommended that you check the rights before selecting an image, and some can be altered and some can’t.

Also, always respect other people’s intellectual property by including a photo credit with a link to their Flickr page or whatever they’ve requested.

Use Flickr to find the right photo to attract attention in blog posts.

Flickr’s Advanced Search closeup of creative commons. Here’s what you need to check off!

Heidi Cohen, actionable marketing expert, president of Riverside Marketing Strategies.

Jason Miller @JasonMillerCA

Focus Booster is a tool that many bloggers use to increase writing productivity.

I’m the first to admit that I have an incredibly short attention span. My creativity thrives in short spurts of activity with frequent breaks. With Focus Booster I can concentrate on writing and turning ideas into blogs.

The app is based on the Pomodoro technique, which recommends you break up your work time into 25-minute chunks separated by 5-minute breaks to improve mental agility.

The essential aim of the technique and this app is to reduce the impact of internal and external interruptions on focus and flow. The immediate benefit is to block out common distractions to productivity, such as constantly checking your email and social accounts.

Although the Pomodoro technique recommends 25-minute intervals, you may need to experiment to discover your optimal session length.

Use Focus Booster to improve your blogging productivity.

Jason Miller, social media manager at Marketo, regular contributor to the Modern B2B Marketing Blog.

Mike Delgado @MikeDelgado

I use Google+ circles to brainstorm and store blog post ideas.

I have a circle called “Blog Ideas” that I use to store articles, media or blurbs for future blog posts. Nobody is in that circle, so I’m not bothering anyone with my random thoughts.

It’s just a way for me to easily store ideas and quickly find them later since all the content is indexed.

Create a Google+ circle to store blog post ideas.

Mike Delgado, author of circled.us, social media community manager at Experian.

Paul Colligan @Colligan

On occasion, we post something on Twitter that I’d like replicated on my blog.  Sure, one can post wherever he or she wants, but this is the Internet and automation is almost always awesome.

IFTTT is a (free) web service that lets you connect “Channels” (their terminology) together so that if something specific happens, IFTTT can produce another desired result on another connected Channel. As a result, I can tweet and blog at the same time if I want to.

In the video below, I demonstrate how IFTTT is set up so that if I tweet something with the hashtag “#CT” (an abbreviation for the term “content timeline”), IFTTT  will automatically publish that tweet to my blog.  This requires no special software, so I can effectively “blog via Twitter” using any Twitter client (including Siri).

It should be noted that you have to give IFTTT access to any Channel you want it to interact with and the security implications should be examined accordingly.

Paul Colligan, expert in content creation and podcasting.

Jim Belosic @shortstackjim

Alltop collects headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs.

We write about Facebook and this is a frequently evolving platform. Although big changes—like the recent implementation of the Timeline design—are easy to catch, it’s news of small feature upgrades and updated restrictions that can fly under the radar.

Using Alltop means we don’t have to jump from one social media news site to the next. This aggregated news site provides insight and inspiration on the topics we like to address on our blog. And ultimately, it keeps us and our readers in-the-know and current with important Facebook trends and practices.

Use Alltop to stay up-to-date on the news that matters most to your business.

Jim Belosic, CEO and co-founder of ShortStack.

Brian Honigman @BrianHonigman

My favorite blogging tool has to be Digg Digg. It’s a wonderful combination of robust sharing with simple implementation almost any blog owner can figure out how to install.

The plugin allows you to add the social sharing buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and more, in any combination.

Now there’s no need to download a plugin for every social network’s sharing buttons, when you can download one plugin that has everything needed to make your blog content as shareable as possible.

My favorite feature of the tool is that it can be displayed however you want: horizontally, vertically, static or even move alongside the page with your readers. This gives your audience the option to share your content on their favorite social networks.

Did I mention it’s also free? It’s the best way to get your content seen by the masses with the least amount of overhead.

Use Digg Digg to share your content.

Brian Honigman, digital marketing manager at Marc Ecko Enterprises.

Chris Garrett @ChrisGarrett

Use Instagram pictures to draw readers into your blog posts.

I have been using Instagram a lot in combination with Flickr to provide images for my articles. Most people know that having an eye-catching picture helps draw people into your article, but it is difficult to have your pictures stand out and provide the appropriate impact.

Using Instagram on my phone allows me to quickly and easily take a nice-looking photograph, which I then upload to my Flickr library. This integration with Flickr and Facebook makes it easy to grab a photograph, with the added advantage that Instagram creates images with a square shape that works nicely in a blog post, and a small download size, perfect for use on the web.

A lot of people laugh at the more extreme use of the Instagram filters, but used lightly they can add even more pop to your pictures that really lift them from the norm.

Use Instagram pictures to add visual 'pop' to your blog posts.

Chris Garrett, founder of Authority Blogger, VP of educational content at Copyblogger Media.

Don Power @DonPower

As the editor of a multi-author blog, I have to provide a lot of feedback to my writers. The browser extension Markup.io allows me to make a complete, static copy of an article before I make any edits to it. I then send a URL to my writers where they can see that unedited copy, and compare it to the edited version I save in WordPress.

It’s a great way for writers to see before-and-after versions of their articles so that they know exactly what I’ve changed. You can also include additional markup like highlights, arrows and text boxes for even more detailed feedback to your writers.

Use Markup.io to track edits to your articles.

Don Power, managing editor of Sprout Social Insights, professional speaker, social media consultant.

Stephanie Sammons @StephSammons

MarsEdit is a tool that is available as an application in the Mac app store. I learned about this tool in Michael Hyatt’s book Platform, which by the way is a must-read for any blogger out there.

MarsEdit is a desktop blog editor that you actually purchase and install on your Mac (the app costs $39.99).  MarsEdit allows you towrite your blog posts without touching your browser. This prevents you from being tempted to jump into email, Twitter or browsing the web. There are no distractions! You can simply FOCUS on completing a post.

Have you ever lost your post edits online when working inside of your blog dashboard? It has happened to me too many times to count and it won’t happen again with MarsEdit. Additionally I don’t have to deal with a clunky interface.

MarsEdit works with WordPress, Tumblr and more!

Use MarsEdit to focus on writing your blog post.

Stephanie Sammons, founder and CEO of Wired Advisor.

Jeff Korhan @JeffKorhan

OmmWriter is a text editor that combines a simple, yet artful, interface of attractive backgrounds and captivating audio with intentionally limited features that together encourage one thing—writing well.

There is a magnetic quality about OmmWriter that makes it easy tosustain the writing process until you find the shape of your article.  After that, editing and inserting tags and media are a snap.

OmmWriter is a free application that is now available as an iPad app or in an upgraded version for a small fee.

OmmWriter is a powerful tool that I find invaluable for staying fully engaged within the writing process.

Jeff Korhan, professional speaker, consultant, columnist on new media and small business marketing.

Andrea Vahl @AndreaVahl

Optin Skin is a plugin that allows you to add an opt-in to your email list or a special offer to the bottom of every blog post.  You can really customize it to have your own personal look and feel and they have a lot of premade templates.  It only took me a few minutes to get this up and running.

When people get to the bottom of my article they get a little reminder to sign up for my free report and get blog updates via email.

Use Optin Skin to create an opt-in box like this at the end of your blog posts.

Many studies have shown that people ignore the sidebar, so when you are putting your opt-in right in line with your blog post, you can get people on your email listwho may have missed the sidebar opt-in.

The other thing I like about the Optin Skin plugin is that you get stats on which posts are encouraging people to sign up, how many signups a day you get from the plugin and you can get even fancier and split-test your messages.  Good stuff!

Optin Skin gives you stats to track the people opting in.

Andrea Vahl, community manager for Social Media Examiner, social media coach, speaker and strategist.

Debbie Hemley @dhemley

Photo Pin’s photos are free and come from creative commons. The tool makes it very simple to search creative commons photos, shows you a preview of the photo and then provides you with the option to download the image in multiple sizes.

One of the greatest features is that Photo Pin gives you the attribution link (in HTML) so that you can add it to the HTML editor of your blogging software.

For example, I recently used this photo of a woman at a computer.

Use Photo Pin to find pictures to use with a creative commons license like this one.

After downloading the image, I copied and pasted the following attribution code onto the HTML editor of my WordPress blog:

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/2715583000/”>Ed Yourdon</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photo pin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>;

Insert the HTML code into your blog post.

When the page is previewed, you can see what the formatting and links will look like:

photo credit: Ed Yourdon via photo pin cc

Photo Pin makes it easy to include photo credits.

Debbie Hemley, social media consultant, blogger.

Marcus Sheridan @TheSalesLion

I recently discovered the power of podcasting to use in conjunction with my blog.

The beauty of podcasting is that it allows bloggers to form deeper relationships with many of their regular readers, as the process of listening to a podcast is very different than that of reading a blog article.

For example, I recently had a listener tell me, “Hey Marcus, I wanted to thank you for keeping me company on my way to work the other day, it made the drive go by so much faster.”

Now obviously I was not physically “with” this person on his way to work, but rather with him in the sense that he was listening to my voice from a podcast episode.

Hearing statements like this since starting the podcast has helped me realize that it’s an incredibly intimate tool to use in conjunction with regular textual blogging, and many of your readers will naturally want to “listen” to you if they already enjoy “reading” you.

Marcus Sheridan, thought leader, social media speaker.

Tim Gray @tngray99

One of the most important aspects of successful blogging is engaging your audience and understanding their interests.

While creating original, relevant content is a great way to start, most business owners need help to figure out what their potential audience is talking about.

PopSurvey is a great tool that helps develop these insights while engendering a greater level of engagement for any blog.  PopSurvey enables you to easily create and embed surveys into your blog to help you better understand your audience and customers. The tool also provides custom reports to evaluate your audience’s responses.

A free version allows you to conduct two surveys per month and collect up to 100 responses. The premium, unlimited version is $24 per month.

PopSurvey enables you to easily create and embed surveys into your blog.

Tim Gray, social media strategist with Blue Mountain Media.

Ben Pickering @bpicks

Storify is a great way to curate articles and opinions on any given topic or capture reactions to an event in real time.

Storify can help illustrate a point with third-party content and comments or help bring to life an event by pulling in activity from the news stream or Twitterverse.

We used Storify on our blog at Strutta to share news and tweets during a conference.

Use Storify to curate real-time news like this example at a recent conference.

Ben Pickering, CEO of Strutta.

AJ Kumar @ajkumar

Trello is a free project management alternative to Basecamp.

It’s intuitive to use, and it’s great for breaking down overarching client accounts and projects into smaller, actionable tasks.

It’s also a good option for bloggers working with remote employees, as the delegation features the program offers are simply outstanding.

Use Trello to manage your blogging tasks.

AJ Kumar, co-founder of Single Grain.

Eugen Oprea @EugenOprea

When I think of my favorite blogging tool, one word comes to my mind: WordPress. I consider WordPress the best investment a business can make to help promote its products and services.

WordPress is the best content foundation for your online marketing efforts.

It integrates well with all of the other tools you’ll need to promote your business.

Use WordPress as your blogging platform.

Eugen Oprea, online entrepreneur, blogger.

Louise Julig @ThoughtsHappen

My favorite blogging tool is the full-screen editing mode in WordPress.

It clears the screen so I can concentrate on just the creative part of writing without thinking about the formatting, categories, tags, etc. It’s like a clean slate for my ideas.

Louise Julig, Social Media Examiner’s case study writer, freelance writer.

Sara Hawkins @saving4someday

WordPress app for iPad (and iPhone) allows me to use my time waiting in a productive way.

Even if it’s just getting down titles or adding to a post I have in draft, the WordPress app makes blogging on the go very easy.

It makes consistent blogging easier.

Use the WordPress app for iPad to use your time on the go.

Sara Hawkins, lawyer, blogger.

In my Marketing Predictions post from last year, I did not break any new ground when I predicted that 2012 would be all about social, content and mobile.

There’s a line in the chorus of Nicki Minaj’s song “Starships,” where she sings “hands up and touch the sky.”

I know this for two reasons:

#1 because it’s on the radio all the time, and

#2 because everytime Nicki Minaj sings that line my three-year-old dutifully throws her hands up. In fact if I don’t at least throw one obligatory hand up – she yells at me. ”Hands up, Dad! HANDS UP!”

It occurred to me that some people treat infographics like my three-year old treats “Starships.”

If there are beautifully presented pictures, the information informing them is rarely questioned, just as my daughter dutifully obliges any call for raised hands.

One recent infographic illustrated this point quite well. It was a generated by Boticca.com, describing the buying behaviors of customers referred from Pinterest and Facebook. They had a large sample size (100,000) and made some very bold assertions about an increased value of Pinterest versus Facebook for ecommerce.

The problem with this is that this is simply one case study. While 100,000 people surveyed is impressive, repeating the same action 100,000 times proves the validity of an action in a single circumstance, and not it’s applicability to any other situation.

Consider this infographic that I created.

It shows that there is a much higher amount of sharing being done on Twitter than on Facebook.

What I’ve shown are simply the results for one post, but if I did a survey of 50,000 posts, the numbers would be equally disparate.

What isn’t reflected in those numbers is that I am part of the Triberr community, which allows bloggers to cross-promote each others’ posts on Twitter.

I also spend more time on Twitter than on any other social network, so even though the data supporting the infographic is limited to the results of one post, if I replicated it 100,000 times, it would continue to return similar results.

If you take a recent post on Erin Feldman’s blog (Erin is a frequent contributor to Waxing UnLyrical), the percentage of shares from Facebook and Google Plus are equal to each other, with Twitter as a smaller proportion of the whole than share of my posts.

Does this negate what I say is true about my blog? No. What it says is: what’s true for my apples isn’t true for Erin’s oranges.

What do we understand about the Bottica results?

We understand that they have a presence on Facebook and a presence on Pinterest.

We understand that based upon the customers referred from either platform, they get better results from Pinterest.

But what conclusion should we draw about Pinterest’s value versus Facebook’s? Simply that Bottica has more success with one versus the other.

Anyone who makes the leap in logic to try and apply Bottica’s results to anything except Bottica’s sites is a little irresponsible. Anyone who believes those assertions is a little gullible.

How do you like those apples? (Just don’t try to apply them to your oranges.)