Go beyond Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube with these innovative social media applications
We are in a fantastic day and age where it’s possible to manage your social media strategy via your smart phone. I do it all the time! And so do many other successful social media strategists. Smart phone apps are the most popular way to keep updated on the go—in fact they are a necessity—it you are mobile and updating your Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, etc., on the road. Thanks to smart phone social media apps on our iPhones or Androids we suddenly have the time to properly manage our social media accounts in our spare time, during a quick lunch break, or during our train commute home after work. And believe me; you can do a lot with a few extra minutes on a train when it comes to sharing links, pictures, or news to strengthen your social campaigns.
Smart phone apps are a highly effective social media management tools, but you need to be aware of what’s beyond Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Apps can be downloaded to monitor, manage, and measure your social media strategies so you know exactly when, where, and who to interact with. Here are my picks for top apps in 2012 for social media strategists:
1. Hootsuite (Free – for iPhone and Android)
Hootsuite is a comprehensive social dashboard app for your mobile phone or device. This app is fantastic, allowing users to monitor all activity across their main social networking platforms. Simply log onto the Hootsuite app from your iPhone, Samsung, or T-Mobile LG, and you can set status updates, pre-schedule new updates over a weekend so they publish at a desired time, and manage your web traffic all from one centralized dashboard.
2. WordPress (Free – for iPhone and Android)
If you have a blog it better take user comments. If it doesn’t, you might as well give your followers the middle finger. Monitoring and replying to blog comments is essential to your blog’s success. And the Wordpress app, just like the WordPress site, lets you manage your blog from your mobile device and use it just like you would if you were sitting in front of your laptop—write and publish blog content, respond to user comments and feedback, and share blog links via your social networks.
3. DocsToGo ($9.99 – for iPhone and Android)
If you run social media campaigns, chances are you use a multitude of documents to track your traffic. Well, the DocsToGo app affords users the ability to edit, create, and view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and a collection of other files you use to track your social media campaigns from your smart phone. So you can now open, edit, and resave docs all from this one DocsToGo application.
4. Dropbox (Free – for iPhone and Android)
Dropbox is a can’t-do-without free service for social media experts. Why? Simple! Because it manages all of your blog and website photos, content docs, and videos from one convenient cloud-based application. The Dropbox app works like a cloud, and like the website version of the software. Simply drag and drop files to your Dropbox app, and it will save versions on all your computer, laptops, and mobile devices so you’re sure to have access to it when you need it most!
5. Flipboard (Free – for iPhone)
Think of the Flipboard app as a master social media news feed that’s catered just to your interests. It’s kind of like Facebook’s newsfeed in some ways, as it offers a fast, efficient way to flip through news, photos, videos, and updates—but it takes these from all of your social media sources—including Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc. Flipboard is like your very own social media magazine, and you are the editor-in-chief. It’s a handy way to catch up on the latest news and videos from friends in your social networks, as well as that of your favorite publications—such as The New Yorker, Wired Magazine, Forbes, and even Martha Stewart (if that’s your thing).
Author bio: Melanie Gray is a staff writer and cell phone geek from Going Cellular, a popular site about cell phone news, reviews, and commentary.
