Based on the discussion threads in my Facebook page, I’ve updated my mega list of tools in my social media listening and engaging instructional wiki. In reflecting over the past three years, the definition of listening tools has broadened beyond “monitoring” or “research” to include several categories: social media engagement management, analytics, influencer identification, and social network analysis.
Here’s a couple of new tools I’ve been exploring:
RowFeeder should be in your spreadsheet aerobics routine. It searches Twitter and Facebook for phrases or hashtags and dumps them into a google doc spreadsheet. Saves a lot of cut and paste time and great for analysis. The basic version is free, but you can add on data like Klout scores for a minimal fee. It’s particularly useful for aggregating hashtags from events or trainings.
NutshellMail: About a month or so ago, Manny Hernandez mentioned this free tool as a social media time saver. It grabs all your “bacn” from social networks and aggregates into a single email. The sources include Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You need to customize which updates (wall posts, friend requests, Twitter lists, etc.) to make it useful for your needs. I’m testing it with Facebook because it grabs both my personal profile stuff as well as from Facebook pages that I am an administrator of.
You can also customized the delivery time and frequency. That means it can arrive in your email box when you’ve scheduled to work on it. The email that arrives links you to the places you to respond. This seems like a good tool for those starting out and and with small followings. Saves you time logging in and checking or getting separate notices in email from the social network site.
My colleague, Devon Smith, mentioned another tool, Postling, which aggregates your social networks into a single dashboard online and is also free, although it lacks the robust features of paid tools like Spredfast or SmallAct.
I’d like to update my listening/engaging tools list.
What tools you are using for listening, engaging, social media management, and finding influencers on your social media outposts?