Social Media Convergence Issues

[imageworks-261290]

Hello and Good Morning,

I have a tech convergence question...

In our social media package we have listed that we will subscribe to hubpages and scribd.

a lot of these services do the same thing (twitter vs identi.ca, color vs instagram, gowalla vs fourquare, ect), what are some of the better services to use and why? We have our favorites but they may not necessarily be the most effective.

thanks!

[kwoolf]

I'm not convinced social media is on a path of convergence. Each platform offers something different for its user base. But if you want to overcome the duplicity of multiple platforms, I found that Hootsuite.com has really helped me put a leash around social media management. Simply put, this platform combines all your social networks (Facebook, Facebooke pages, Flickr, Ping.fm, WorPress, etc.) and can post to all at once, or you can select which networks to post to at any given time. You can also schedule posts to be delivered on a schedule, which I find very convenient. Reports are pretty good in letting you know which post on each platform gives you the best response. I've also tried Hubspot but found it a bit under-featured and overpriced.

[alexhoug]

Glad I could help! Let me know if you have any other questions.

[imageworks-261290]

Thanks. Very insightful.

We work mainly with SMBs, and not retail. For them to go beyond FB and twitter is a stretch. In fact they can barely handle the idea of those two, so we dont want ot scare them off

LI seems more of a personal networking tool, the corporate pages are automated by LI and many areas (SUCH AS OLD EMPLOYEES) cant be removed without a lot of headaches. WE need something easy and affordable...probally based on the blog feeding all SM platofrms that we choose. I think options to add slideshare, scribd are good ideas. 4square, prob not viable for us at this time.

(This coment is form IWS owner, not my SMM, i thought id chip in and tell you how much i enjoyed your feedback)

[alexhoug]

Hi,

1. In terms of LinkedIn, here is a video that will help explain the power of LinkedIn: Linked Influence.

2. Myspace is still there for leverage, but I think the focus of it has moved towards music.

3. Photo sharing, I would recommend: Flickr and Photobucket.

4. I would definitely recommend Foursquare over Gowalla due to its massive popularity. And any features it may lack I am sure it will be developed within 6 months most likely.

5. I would skip the group texting, as this would be just one more thing to manage. I would have people just stick to communicating on Facebook and Twitter.

6. I would suggest Blogger and Wordpress.

7. I am not familiar with Fwix or Whatser.

8. Definitely go with Groupon, but you could certainly try Living Social for extra umpf!

9. Bump has multi phone support, I'd recommend that.

10. I would create offers for both Foursquare and Yelp if that's what the customers use. It would also create additional exposure for the business and helping them get people they would never normally have would make them happy.

11. Slideshare and Hubpages aren't apples to apples, but you should use both.

12. Use both Squidoo and Scribed.

Hope my opinion helps.

[imageworks-261290]

Hi Alex!

Thanks for your response!

A couple of items:

How effective do you think Linkedin is?  We havent been terribly successful with it.

Myspace? Still? they are talking about shutting down...

What do you suggest for apps for photo sharing? Color? Instagram? or shall we stick to flickr?

What about for location based?  We are pushing gowalla because the icons are larger on facebook and it syndicates to Foursquare.

In gowalla you can commission them to make custom badges, how do you feel about that?

grouped in or beluga? or none?

fwix or whatser?

tumblr or blogger? or none? just stick to wordpress? or a combination?

groupon or living social?

bump or cloudcard?

for brick and mortar clients should we be making foursquare or yelp offers for check ins?

slideshare or hub pages?

squidoo or scribd?

these are just a few examples....

[alexhoug]

The most effective social media solutions would be: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Myspace, Foursquare, etc.

These are the ones you would want to incorporate into your package.

If you could, clarify your question further so I can provide a better answer and so other people can join in too!

-Alex