The following are the tools that I’ve found and use to allow me to post to my social media feeds and interact with potential clients while keeping my day job. Once you get in the rhythm of things you can do this effectively in just 30 minutes a day.

1) Morning Reading

Spend the first 20 minutes of your day learning the latest news for your industry.

Reading the daily newspaper or listening to the news on the drive into work is not going to give you the information you need to stay on top of your industry. Having  data aggregators make it easy for you to stay upto date on everything in your industry. If you don’t know where to get your data start with sites like Alltop or Smartbrief. If you already know where to get the data for your industry i suggest using the RSS app Feedly, its the best.  Google Reader is also a good one to go with.

2)  Schedule Great Content

As your reading these articles in the morning or whenever you come across some great content you want to share with your followers. You don’t  want  to have  to go to Twitter or Facebook to most it.  Also  if you find 3 great articles in the morning you don’t want to bombard your followers with everything at once, instead schedule them out throughout the day.

To solve this problem I use Buffer App which allows you to set a schedule of  upto 10 posts that will be tweeted and  posted to your Facebook at the times that you decide.  Besides being Free this app allows you to simply right click on any page to tweet it then  or put it in your buffer to be posted at your next scheduled time.

3) Engage With Potential Clients

Every business can use more leads and users on social networks are often asking for help. During my lunch break  I use Inbox Q to find those who have questions that need answers. I set up my Inbox Q to look for tweets that are “seo -rt -http ?” which means a tweet that are a question that contains the phrase “seo”, but is not a RT and doesn’t have a link in it.

The Inbox Q icon stays in your browser head and pops up a number when someone tweets a  possible questions that you can answer. Since we’re using twitter they usually have simple questions and i can give them a short answer. Doing this helps me find possible clients, network with new people, and  gain recognition as a helpful industry leader.

4) Respond To Fans

Again you don’t have time to be constantly logging into Twitter and Facebook for updates. That’s why I suggest getting a social media dashboard like Hootsuite or TweetDeck. With these dashboards you can easily monitor your social media accounts to see if you get any comments, mentions, or direct messages  to respond to.

I check them in the morning after I get done with my morning reading and then again at lunch

What Helps You Do Social Media?

These are some of the tips, apps, and tricks that I use to help me do social media without losing my day job as an SEO. Would like to hear what you do to make Social Media work for you?

Integrated Social Media Into Every Part Of The Show

The Voice planned from the beginning to make social interaction a big part of the program. On the main website they created a bio for each contestant which included prominent Twitter and Facebook icons for viewers to follow them.

Giving the Artist Their Own Social Platforms

Up until now on reality tv shows it have been really one-sided. The contestant pleads for votes with those big puppy dog eyes peering into the camera after their performance, and that was it. Having each contestant create a Facebook and Twitter now gives them a platform to really interact and win over fans.

These contestants bio’s are not a stagnant story of who they were and where they came from, but instead they give the audience a real time feed of what they are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. This is the perfect recipe to allow viewers to get to know the artist and make them want to vote for them.

Encouraging Contestant and Fan Engagement Live

Now most people wouldn’t know that The Voice was doing all of this social interaction and probably wouldn’t care much except that they frequently take precious air time to go to the social media room during the show.

What do they do in the Social Room? They answer fans questions and highlight fans comments and tweets. Which inspires more people to ask questions, and the viral marketing effect continued to grow for The Voice.

Where does it go from here?

What else can shows do to engage with viewers?
Will be get overloaded and stop caring and interacting?

Look forward to your comments!

What better way to encourage your people in your company to embrace social media then to make a big list that compares them all. That is what Anthony at my work thought when he created our Team Anchor Wave Twitter List. I didn’t mind because I’m on top (pictured below), but i got to step up my game cause Anthony is on my tails.

So what do you do to enhance your Klout score?

Whatever you do don’t side with my Nemesis @Ant1832, don’t let his good looks and charm suck you in.

Hootsuite – I can spend a post just on what I do with this application and how great this social media dashboard is! I use it a lot, heres a quick video on how its set up.

Commun.it – This is still in beta and constantly improving. I use it to better monitor those who follow with me and engage with those in my field on twitter. Get ahold @SharelOmer and he will take care of you like he’s done for me!

Triberr - I’ve heard great things about Triberr and how it can really expand your reach and impact! I’m glad that Chief @chicagodesign let me into his Triberr.

Feedly – This is the best RSS reader i’ve found yet! Makes it so easy to find great content, post it, and move on. Found out about this from @tacanderson, a great person to follow!

What Social Tools Do You Use?

Would like to hear what social tools you are using and why they are so great. Let me know in the comments.

I personally like Hootsuite, and instead of going through the ordeal of writing and taking screen shots I thought I’d save us all sometime by doing a short on the fly video.

Yes I know I didn’t cover all the great things Hootsuite can do like reports, analytics, etc but I did this just to give people a feel of how Hootsuite works.

Which Social Media Dashboard Do You Use? Why?

Would like to hear what works and why from you in the comments.

The Introduction

It all started when I got a shout out mention from one of my favorite social media all stars @TacAnderson. This is where Sharel saw a chance to get noticed by all the people Tac mentioned while congratulating him on his blog post.

I thought that complementing the whole “gang” was a great and subtle way to chime in on a conversation. I made sure to thank Sharel for the mention and after briefly looking at his twitter profile I decided he’d be a good person to follow. I assumed though that he would soon be bombarding me spam tweets. So I was surprised with what he responded back with.

The Follow Up

It was a genuine response instead of an auto-responder and it didn’t include a sales pitch. I was shocked, and it wasn’t until this point that I decided to check out his website Commun.it After I signed up for his program his direct message was sincere in wishing i found it helpful. I definitely learned some tips from @SharelOmer on how i can better engage with those on twitter.

How Do You Make Twitter Work For You?

Do You think what Sharel Omer’s approach was a good way to get involved or pushy?

What have you found to be effective to meet and engage with people on Twitter?

Please leave your answers in the comments i look forward to hearing them!