Chapter 21. A Sample Social Media Toolkit

There are countless ways to get into the game with social media, but sometimes we get hung up on evaluating tools and thinking about which are the best for the job. We go further thinking about the variety of tools and why we'd use which ones for what, and then, next thing you know, the day is over and nothing's been done. Here are a few sample tools and what they can be used for, and from there, maybe some new ideas will spread. (Realize that these might be outdated soon after this book reaches the you.)

Quick note: I know, use, admire, and communicate with lots of providers of these tools. For every one of these categories, I could probably name between 4 and 16 more tools. If I didn't list your favorite, I probably still love you and your company. Maybe in the future I will publish a big fat list of resources.

The Quick List

For the sake of summary, let's list what's in our toolkit, and why, and then we'll go into detail after that:

  • Listening tool: Google Reader

  • Search tools: Technorati[100] and Google Blogsearch[101]

  • Home base blog: WordPress.com or WordPress.org (to host your own)

  • Scratch blog: Tumblr.com or Posterous.com

  • Better reach: FeedBurner

  • Mobile blogging: 12seconds.tv, Utterli, Qik

  • Social conversation: Twitter

  • Social profile: Facebook

  • Business profile: LinkedIn

  • Social bookmarking: Del.icio.us

  • Collaboration: PBwiki[102]

  • Shared documents: Google Docs

  • Instant messaging, Web-based: Meebo or Campfire[103]

  • Photo sharing: Flickr or Zooomr[104]

  • Video ...

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