by Elizabeth Vassolo | Featured Contributor
As we get close to the end of the year (seriously, where did the time go, I’m still mentally in July), I like to inventory my social media tools and see what can stay and what needs to go.
Here are my five favorite tools.
1. HootSuite: Hootsuite, you were my first social media love. I love your bulk uploader. I love how you support my multiple profile disorder and I love how you don’t send me emails even after I unsubscribe. Hootsuite, you are worth every penny of your free account and worth even more at your 9$ a month upgrade. I’ve only just begin to peel back the layers to your onion of capability.
And I love your mobile app. I can manage my multiple accounts while working from Seoul to San Diego. Not that I ever get to leave my home office, but if I could, I know you have my back.
2. Sumall: You are new here, but promise me you will never change. I love your at a glance metrics and they way you make my weakest networks look like they have a mighty reach.
3. Twubs: Twitter chats move fast and furiously, and Twubs, you help me keep up. Thank you for your hashtag auto-fill and speed adjustment. Without you, my chat moderation would look slowwitted and clumsy. Instead, I create real-time conversations that make my clients look like the experts they are.
4. Storify: With every Twitter chat comes a Storify. Storify, you have been around for a long time and what’s sad? I sense you are under appreciated. I want that to end now.
Let me shout from the digital rooftops everywhere.
What more efficient tool is there to scrape the important moments of a chat and organize them into a cohesive transcript to share for days to come? When charged with the task of creating content, you provide ways to plan a variety of social media hits that add excitement to my follower’s boring Tuesday afternoon.
5. Commun.It: We just met. I’ve arrived late to your party. And I already regret the time I’ve spent without you. You tell me who has been naughty and nice, a Santa Claus with twitter surprises around each digital corner. A veritable love fest, sharing virtual hugs to all. And you do the work for me. Tweets of gratitude just appear. Those who aren’t engaged, disappear. Thank you for culling the crowd and showing me who’s important. It’s like receiving a dozen virtual roses and air kisses from an adoring crowd.
What are your favorite social media tools? Share, share, share!
Let’s connect too. Find me at @evassolo
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Elizabeth Vassolo: I’ve been a part of social media from the beginning. First as part of Chicago Tribune’s TribLocal digital launch team and now as an agency owner and Social Media consultant and guest speaker.
My advertising, branding and social media firm Vim, Vigor & Vassolo helps small to mid-size businesses overcome their communication challenges and shows them how to make their social media and digital presence work for them.
I also work as a digital consultant to other marketing firms and advertising agencies. And I’m the on-camera social media expert for PBS’s Illinois Business This Week.
When I’m not tweeting, blogging or branding, I’m reading, walking my dog, traveling and giving tram tours at the Morton Arboretum.
Let’s connect @evassolo.
