Savvy B2B Marketing

Stephanie

HootSuite

HootSuite is one of the first apps I load up every morning. From the dashboard, I can easily find folks to follow, shorten URLs, schedule tweets, manage my tweet streams, and communicate with those in my network. Plus the integration between HootSuite and LinkedIn lets me keep my LinkedIn network up to date.

Jamie

Buffer App

Like Stephanie, I'm a fan of Hootsuite (can't imagine using Twitter without it); but I'm almost more in love with a newer app called Buffer. In the simplest terms, Buffer is a tweet scheduling app. "So what?" you might say. 

Well, let me tell you! 

Buffer has changed the way I use Twitter. Where once I felt hard pressed to maintian even a slow drip of tweets, I can now easily and consistenly publish a rich and full stream of tweetable goodness.

I have installed the Buffer bookmarklet in my browser (which lets me schedule tweets as I'm reading posts on various blogs), and I have also added it to my Google Reader, so I can schedule tweets right from my RSS reader.

Buffer pulls in the post title and adds a shortened link. I wish it could also insert the author's Twitter handle, but I don't mind adding that in myself.

On the back end, I configured Buffer to send my tweets out at regular intervals that I defined in my settings. You can send out as few or as many tweets as you like and set the times at which you want them sent. The app also offers some basic analytics that will help you see which of your tweets had the most cilcks and retweets. 

I highly recommend Buffer. It's the easy way to get yourself in a regular tweeting groove without having to babysit the site all day. 

Michele

NutShell Mail

I want to keep on top of my social media channels and conversations, but I don’t want to be checking Twitter and LinkedIn all the time, either. So, I’ve been on the lookout for tools and processes to help me be more efficient.

One new service I am using is called NutShell Mail. It’s a free email you can sign up for that will give you a digest of activity on your social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, CitySearch, FourSquare and YouTube. I’m using it for LinkedIn and Twitter.

Here are a few things I like about NutShell Mail:

• You can set the specific frequency of the emails.  For instance, I get an email Monday through Friday at 11 AM so I can review everything while I am eating lunch.
• You can customize what information I receive for each account. For instance, on Twitter, I get notified on mentions and DMs, and I also set up some search terms to follow.  For LinkedIn, I want to see profile and status updates.
• You can respond directly to the tweets via your email. It makes retweeting and replying very easy!