What I want in a social media management tool.

Have you ever wanted something that doesn’t exist? Or, maybe what you want does exist, but you just don’t know about it, and you don’t have enough time to figure it out? Well, that’s how I feel about social network management tools – they all have something to offer, but <huge sigh> they are never precisely what I need.

So, I’m going to outline my needs and my hope is that someone will:

1. contact me and say they have this very thing, or…
2. contact me and say they are in the process of building this very thing, or…
3. build it for me because its such a great idea, or…
4. happily shell out some funds and ask me to build it for them.

However it happens, I think I’m on to something, so go ahead and run with it if you like.

My caveat is that I haven’t done an exhaustive search of these systems, but I have sat through a few demos and while I liked what I saw, it was never “enough.” And, there aren’t even enough hours in the day to get up to speed on everything that’s available. That’s why I need someone to come to me. Am I being too demanding? I don’t think so… Oh, but did I also mention, I don’t want to pay a huge amount for this system? Not that I expect it to be free, but I also am not thinking about shelling out six figures for this system, no matter how great it is…ok, well convince me, but I’m thinking…#not.

So, here’s what I want: I want a social media system that allows me to take care of the front, middle and back end of my complex social media program in one application. Just what do I mean by complex? Well, any corporation that has multiple brands, complicated regulatory environment (think pharma, financial services), numerous end users and business units and numerous social platforms.

Front End (Content Gathering/Creation/Organizing/Approvals/Scheduling):

• I need a content management tool and calendaring system that allows me to plan out all of my content in a visual calendar format, organizing and tagging it by category, business unit or whatever grouping.
• I need to be able to share this calendar with my organization and receive feedback on it.
• I need to have multiple calendars for different programs and brands.
• In terms of publishing, I don’t want to be restricted by site or platform, so make it compatible with more than the big five – no I’m not talking about the animals you hope to see on safari! I’m talking about Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, and LinkedIn…and blogs, actually make that more than five.
• I need to be able to send out requests for content and receive requests for content from my system to all the end users in my internal (and external/agency) networks. There might be A LOT of them, so I need a robust tool for this.
• An HTML email would be nice, with a link to our site where the end users can have their own area to enter their content ideas.
• If all the end users could access the system with their own credentials, they could plan out ideas and leave messages for me. I won’t go into the details of the UI here, but I have a few ideas…call me.
• I need a way to take all these content ideas and sort and prioritize them for publishing.
• I also need the ability to take this high level calendar and send it out for approval or comments, or just as an FYI – as in here’s what’s coming up. Did I mention, it would be nice if it were automated?
• Then, I need to take all the content ideas and create the specific tweets, Facebook posts, YouTube entries, etc. that pertain to this content, with associated time frames and frequencies (including any variations in specific language to make it interesting, and across multiple accounts/user names/handles). Perhaps I could drag and drop them onto my calendar(s) (hint, hint).
• And, I need to be able to assign all of the work of creating the tweets and posts to, potentially, a variety of different people, internally or externally to the organization.
• Also, once the content is created, I want to send it for approval to my internal peeps (call ‘em what you like but you might need some content to be approved by a review board, legal, compliance, risk, or PR team (if you’re not already in that department) and sign off on the content with some sort of documentation/electronic “paper” trail so that in case the proverbial sh*t hits the fan, we’ve got our butts covered.  I might need more than one approval, and who approves it might be different each time, so I need some customization here. I have used systems like these before, but they are not tailored for use in social media.
• I want these tweets and posts to be slotted into the appropriate calendars and broadcast to my networks on schedule; but ultimately, I want control – I would like some email notification about what will be broadcast each week or each day, so that if I need to change anything I can take action.

Middle (Community Management/Monitoring/Response Triaging and Assignment)

• Once the posts are made, then I need the ability to be notified by email in a digest format at my preferred interval a day with any network updates…by this I mean a summary email that shows some stats about what’s been happening, and the specific responses that are being picked up on our networks – i.e., direct @ replies, Facebook wall posts, etc. Anything that would require action from us, I would like to know about.  That doesn’t mean everything being said, everywhere. That would be a problem, but on the main spaces, yes.  I need this because I’m busy and not sitting at my desk all day waiting for comments to roll in.
• For each person who interacts with my brand,  I’d like to get the stats on them in real time  – who are they? how influential are they? Maybe this tool will assign a priority on them based on how many followers/fans/readers they have on their Twitter/Facebook or blog?
• And, if it’s not too much to ask, can I have all of this integrated with my CRM system? So I would be able to get a sense of who’s a customer/who isn’t and what kind of relationship I have with them. (ok, I’ll admit that this might push the cost up some…)
• And, to be honest, I want to know what people are saying about my competitors too. I know, I’m demanding, but if something happens with a competitor, I really can’t wait for an aggregate listening report can I? By that time, the opportunity might be over.
• I want the ability to include the monitoring of specific sites in this email, beyond those where I’m actively posting like my own community, Twitter or Facebook. And, I do mean specific because I wouldn’t want a “river” of news with every possible mention of my brand in THIS report. The CAPS on THIS hopefully implies that I would like this on some other report. Are you with me?
• When I go to this application, I need to be able immediately scan all the posts and determine which ones require response…ok this does exist with some tools…and I’m happy for that. So, let’s continue…
• I need to be able to assign the response to individual people. Yes, yes, I know that exists…but I need to be able to assign different levels of reply – some people may reply directly to the consumers on behalf of the company, but some may not. For those who will not be replying, I need to be able to forward the post/tweet and append my own comments/request. Maybe I’m looking for the answer to this question, or a specific link, whatever. I need to get a response and then I need to take that response and craft the channel-appropriate message. I may even need approvals on that message, so it needs to go through the system. In other words, I need a messaging system within my app, that’s tied to the specific posts/tweets being made and to my approval system.
• And, of course, I need to track all of this activity, including who’s doing the replying…just in case .
• I’m sure there are other things in this category…but let’s move on.

Backend (Measurement/Performance/Reporting)

The back end is about reporting. There are definitely tools that do this…although maybe they don’t do it all in one.

• I’d like to have a comprehensive dashboard of all my activity across all my sites, including the click throughs of all my content/links and an analysis of how my tweets are doing (retweets, click throughs, what percentage of posts we responded to, etc.)
• I’d like to see new followers, lost followers and other follower information, especially a longitudinal view of my progress so I can easily demonstrate the growth of networks.
• I’d like to see a more granular level of detail on my dashboard organized by business unit or other grouping – who’s using social media the most and who’s the most successful in their efforts might be interesting information and help with campaign analysis. I also want to know what is working and not working.
• I’d like to see a set of platform-specific or contextual information for each platform that I’m using.
• I’d like a set of “pretty” automated reports to be generated and sent to the distribution of my choosing with the appropriate level of detail for each user group. I want to set specific time frames for my reports.
• And, I want to be able to add in my own commentary to the graphs, or to the report in general before blasting it out to my users (the list of which, ideally, would be easily manageable in this system).
• And, I’d like the opportunity to choose – html or email with attachment.
• Ok, this next one is pretty good idea – so pay attention  I’d like to be able to select some data to go into an overall scorecard that sums up our progress. It’s a composite score that is customized potentially to my organization’s needs and looked at from different angles. In utopia, I’d have access to everyone else’s scores and be able to look at how I’m doing compared to other companies in general, or in my industry. This would be a great way to justify to senior management that you need more funding or resources, or to prove that you are doing well, relative to the competition.
• I’d like to be able to plug in some financials and estimate the value of all this activity, in general and at the program/campaign/group level (let’s work that out later). In other words, what’s my ROI?
• Even though I’m mostly focusing on our interactions with consumers, I’d still like a comprehensive listening report of all the tweets/posts about my company and, if I choose, about my competitors, with stats on what percentage were replied to etc.
• Lastly, I would like each user in my system to have their own customized dashboard – maybe I have a blog style commentary that provides a glimpse into what’s going on the networks in real time, RSS, and email at their preferred frequency. Maybe a desktop widget with a follower count and graph of our activity. Something that keeps it top of mind and gets them to contribute to the process. Make sense?

I’m sure I’m leaving out a whole bunch of requirements, so feel free to contribute and help build out the requirements for the ultimate social media management tool.

If you know me, you may have noticed that I haven’t tweeted much in the past few months. What started out as just a small break, ended up as an extended Twitter vacation.

 The whole thing became crystal clear one day when I made the following observation:

Only 1 hour of Twitter per day is 365 hours PER YEAR. Just imagine what you could do in 365 hours…you could:

• Learn Chinese
• Write a novel
• Get into the best shape of your life… and SO much more.

Well, I was probably spending a bit more than 7 hours a week on Twitter, perhaps quite a bit more, and that was a depressing thought. So, I decided I needed to make a change.

At first, friends who use Twitter basically thought I was crazy…as in “why the heck would you want to do THAT?”  Friends who don’t use Twitter were simply smug, as in “See, I knew that Twitter thing was stupid and you’d stop doing it eventually.”

Actually, getting off Twitter was an excellent way to reclaim my brainspace. After nearly two years of tweeting, my brain was so full of Twitter-related minutia, that I just needed to clear it all out.  While it sounds like a lot of tweets to the nonuser, at only 3000 tweets over two years, I certainly don’t qualify as a heavy Twitter addict (you probably need about 5k per year to get into that category).  However, at a certain point, Twitter was encroaching onto too many aspects of my life and drowning out other valuable thoughts. 

Further, tweets aren’t the only measure of how much one uses Twitter or how much brainspace it takes up. I use Twitter as a great information source, so a lot of my Twitter time is spent reading all the articles that others are tweeting. Also, just managing Twitter can be demanding.  Keeping up with followers, reading profiles, reading tweets, sending and responding to DM’s, checking @replies, trying out the latest tools…it all takes time. 

So, I did what I needed to do and made a clean break. As I said, it wasn’t necessarily intended to be a long term thing. However, after a few days off Twitter, I decided maybe I needed a few more. Then a few more. That became a few weeks more…and well, the rest is history. 

So you’re probably wondering “what was it like?”

At first, it was strange to be off Twitter in a formal capacity…my brain was still forming thoughts in 140 characters. I’d think of a tweet and then realize it had nowhere to go.  If I had a few minutes of extra time, I had to control my impulse to check Twitter. I experienced some negative emotions (anxiety, isolation, sadness) which essentially boiled down to one key thought “what am I missing?”  I felt out of the loop.

However, at a certain point, maybe after the first 5 to 10 days, these feelings were replaced by positive emotions: happiness, freedom, peace of mind.  No longer was I thinking about Twitter when doing other activities. That was a nice change. Also, I reclaimed a decent amount of time in my week which I put to good use. By the end of the first month, I had a perfectly clean house, all my bills were paid, I was back at the gym and I had learned how to sew. I also was able to sit and read quietly, watch a movie or television show from start to finish, go to lunch without checking my phone and have a conversation without thinking about tweeting. It was a relief.

5 Benefits of being off Twitter…

1. You’re free of the “noise”…when you’re really off Twitter, your brain has time to relax, resulting in enhanced creativity and the ability to focus.  And, with all of that extra “noise” gone, you’d be amazed at how well you can sleep. No more middle of the night thoughts about that tweet you want to remember for tomorrow.
2. You’re more productive – when you’re off Twitter you can make space in your day for other things – things you probably used to do more of — like seeing your friends, talking on the phone, going to the gym, participating in your favorite hobby or activity.
3. You’re less anxious – you’re not constantly wondering if you missed anything, you’re not thinking about your next tweet, you’re not wondering why someone stopped following you…or thinking about your follower count.
4. You’re more polite and you can actually LISTEN. If you’re using Twitter while you’re out with a friend, you’re not being a good friend. Get off twitter, put your phone away and have a real conversation, you’ll be glad you did.
5. You’ll be more interesting. Seriously, people who aren’t on Twitter could care less about it. They don’t want to hear about how you gained 500 new followers by using Mr. Tweet.

5 Reasons to Get Back on Twitter…

Of course, being off Twitter for awhile also has a few drawbacks. And so, at a certain point, I started to miss some of the benefits:

1. You’re well informed – if Twitter is good for anything, it’s sharing information. From the latest news to special interest articles, Twitter is a great resource for just about anything.
2. You’ve got a presence – looking for a job or next consulting gig? When you’re online and active, you’re on people’s radar. Not on Twitter = out of sight, out of mind.
3. You’re part of a community – if you’re on Twitter, especially for business, chances are you know a lot of tweeps in real life, which makes it easy to walk into any conference or networking event.
4. You can continue to grow your network…while you were away, everyone else was meeting new people, adding followers and creating new relationships…stay away for too long and you might just become irrelevant and your network will shrink.
5. It’s fun…Well, it IS.

So, what’s the moral of the story? Balance.

5 Ways to find your Twitter Equilibrium…

1. Don’t let Twitter get you side tracked. Stick with your plans for the day and save Twitter for later.
2. Set a defined amount of time aside for Twitter. Set an alarm if you have to. But when the time’s up, walk away.
3. Take an “offline” class of any kind that takes you away from the computer and allows you to create something tangible – pottery, jewelry making, etc. creating and working with your hands is therapeutic and probably helps repair some of the damage that all this social media is doing to our brains (NOTE: this is just my opinion…I’m NOT a doctor nor have I done any research on this topic). 
4. Close your browser or Twitter client. Don’t have Twitter open all day. Seriously, can you really work effectively when you are distracted by Twitter?
5. Keep Twitter to yourself…when you’re out and about, focus on who you are talking to. Put away the iPhone and Blackberry and get back to the basics. No one wants to have a conversation with a person who is tweeting while they are talking.

A few months later, while I check Twitter now and again and even tweet occasionally, I’m not quite “back” yet.  I’ll plan to see you back on Twitter in a more serious capacity after the first of the year. In the meantime, what would YOU recommend to help you find your Twitter equilibrium?

If you are having the same experience as me, you may have noticed that some of your favorite local shops have gone out of business. Others may be on their way out soon. It’s sad to watch a small business shut down, especially if it’s a place you enjoy, such as your favorite Thai restaurant, the used book dealer, or the coffee place that has great muffins.

I love shopping locally and supporting the small business owners in my town. It’s to everyone’s advantage to have local businesses survive the downturn in the economy. Why? Because they keep your town from turning into a generic strip mall or getting ‘Wal-Martized.’ They support the tax base.  They add character to your neighborhood. They may provide unique merchandise or services.  They help drive foot traffic, which makes a town nice to live in. After all, who wants to walk down a deserted block when going for coffee? It’s much more fun when others are also walking around – providing needed life and energy to your neighborhood.  Plus, it’s convenient — you don’t have to go far – saving energy/gas and your own precious time.

Photo by Jessica Diamond. Click to get more info

If you are a small business owner who might be at risk, here are 10 things you can do right now that are essentially free and don’t require a deep knowledge of technology:

Super easy: little or no education required

1. Listen and Learn

Are you listening? Do you have Google alerts set up for your business? Do you read the reviews of your business on Yelp, CitySquares.com, Sidewalk.com or the dozens of other sites that gather customer reviews? Has some disgruntled customer blogged about you recently? What are people saying about your business? About you? If it’s not good, then you’ll need to figure out a way to get your fans to speak up, help you out and correct any misperceptions in the marketplace. If no one is saying anything about you, then this is a clear indicator that you need to get more exposure!

2. Get Publicity

Got something to talk about? Call the local papers and see if they will do a story about you.  Also, subscribe to Help a Reporter Out (HARO) http://www.helpareporter.com/ and scan the daily emails for interviews that pertain to your business or to your personal interests or lifestyle. You might just end up getting profiled in an article, which could lead to a lot of other publicity opportunities.  Do #3 and put out a press release.

3. Have a Party

Parties may not be 100% free, but what better way to get in touch with your customers than to throw a party? If you have a gift shop, invite your customers over one night for wine and cheese. If you have a restaurant, hold a happy hour and offer free apps and drinks. Make a presentation and tell them about your buying philosophy and the history of your business. Hold a question and answer session. Circulate and get to know them. Give everyone who stops by 10% or 20% their purchase. Tell them about your new blog, Twitter account and Facebook page!

4. Research Your What Your Customers Want

What better way to help your business than to get your customers to tell you what they want or need.  Whether you post a survey online or print one out on a sheet of paper, it will serve you well.  At the very least, ask your customers a few questions when they stop by or call you.  With the exception of unwanted telephone surveys, people generally love sharing their opinions and will feel good about being asked.

What to ask? What do you like best about my store? What do you like least? What other products or services would you like to see me offer? If I did this [insert your idea], would you shop here more often? Do you tell your friends about my store, why or why not? Etc.

5. Join a Meetup or other Networking Group

Anyone can benefit from in-person networking. There are probably dozens of networking groups in your area – either through professional associations, local groups, LinkedIn groups, or Meetup.com. Scour these groups, make a few calls or send out a few emails and determine which ones might be worthwhile for you.

Not too difficult, but get educated first

6. Start a Blog

Anyone can start a blog. If you haven’t blogged before then make sure you understand blogging before you start.  Spend some time beforehand reading others’ blogs, articles about blogging and familiarize yourself  with the tools that are available. Before you commit to any blogging platform, get familiar with the terms of service and the capabilities of each. Some platforms offer more flexibility than others.

What to write about: Write about being local, what it means to you to be part of the community. Talk about how you started the business, post pictures from the past, talk about your plans for the future, showcase your merchandise, etc.  Talk about the activities that your business is involved with – organizations you belong to etc. Link to other businesses and local groups in your posts to help drive additional traffic. Over time you will develop a following and more people will get to know you.

7. Get on Twitter

At a most basic level, Twitter is a conversation. As a technology it’s considered microblogging. In other words, like a blog post but shorter. In fact, each “tweet” is only 140 characters — which forces you to be succinct. The ”tweets” that you post can be seen by the public.  The more people who ‘follow’ your tweets, the more potential you have to spread your message. 

There are many ways to use Twitter. You can become part of a larger conversation with people “like you” who have the same interests, you can use it purely as a broadcast tool to talk about your business or promote your web site, you can use it for listening and gaining knowledge, or use it to establish yourself as an authority on a particular subject matter, or some combination.

For local businesses, once you have an account, start by conducting geographic based searches and following the people in your area – many of them will follow you back.  Find everyone you know personally and follow them as well. Provide the URL to your blog or your main web site in your Twitter account.

What to talk about: Being too promotional on Twitter is annoying to your followers. So start by adding value and gaining trust.  For example broadcast out helpful tips and other facts related to your industry or business.  If you have a restaurant, post recipes to your blog and then announce or post a link to these recipes on Twitter.  Talk with people – not at them. Show interest in their activities, and they’ll be interested in yours.   Be helpful — post links to interesting articles. Engage people in philosophical discussion.  If you have a very focused audience, then you can even blast out your specials and promotions.  For example, if you have a dry cleaning business – how easy would it be to post the following:  Get three sweaters cleaned for the price of two, or now that spring is here – don’t forget to bring in your winter coat for a cleaning. Mention this post and get 20% off. 

8. Create a Facebook Account

Join Facebook and get your network going. First, join at the personal level. Get a feel for what Facebook is all about and start making friends. Once you are comfortable, create a group or fan page for your business and blast out an email to your friends to have them join your page. Offer discounts and tell them about your newest merchandise. Get people talking about your store or business. Answer questions and make authentic connections.

Tip: As with blogging or almost anything you might do, get online and learn about it before jumping in blindly.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles and blog posts about how to use Twitter and Facebook wisely. 

What else?

9. Broadcast Your High Tech Efforts the Low Tech Way!

Once you’ve done the tactics above, tell everyone who comes into your store about your new blog and Facebook and Twitter accounts.  If you’re reluctant to print up new business cards right away, then just hand out a sheet of paper – even a half sheet, with the URLs for your new Internet accounts. Ask everyone who stops in if they blog, have a Twitter account, or Facebook account. Get their screen names and email addresses and add them to your friends/followers lists.

10. Barter Your Products and Services to Get Marketing Support

If this all seems a bit overwhelming, you might need some help.  You may already know some people who can show you some of these solutions – like Facebook, Twitter or how to set up a Google alert.  Enlist the help of your employees. After all, it’s in their best interests to keep the business as vibrant as possible. They may be able to help you generate content for your online activities or they might help broadcast your message.  At the very least, they might be able to show you how to get on Facebook

If you don’t have anyone to turn to but you can’t afford to pay someone out of pocket to help you with your marketing, perhaps you can barter your services for marketing support. Trade drying cleaning, free food, housewares or books, plumbing services, painting, or car repair for marketing. Why not? There is no shortage of social media and marketing consultants. There are probably a few in your town who would be happy to barter.  

Remember, these solutions don’t necessarily generate huge revenues over night. But with a little work, you could see an uptick in sales. And, at the very least, you will have created a strong base of supporters and be very well positioned for when the market bounces back and people start buying again.