I love social media. It has transformed my world both personally and professionally. And it has given me the opportunity to create my own path in the world of social recruiting.
But social media can be a massive drain on your time!
It requires organisation and discipline to use effectively. So here are 5 tools that I use to (hopefully) keep on track.
1. Feedly
Ever read a blog or article and lost track of it? Feedly solves that problem.
I’ve grown my Twitter following by sharing my own articles and content from others that I believe my followers will find engaging. When I first started out I struggled to keep track of blogs, then I found Feedly.
It’s easy to import feeds, organise into topics, and share posts directly to your social channels. You can choose your layout, I love images so use the magazine layout, and hide the posts you’ve read.
The Feedly app is very handy too!
I use the free account and the paid version gives you Hootsuite, Bufferapp & Evernote integration amongst other features… but to be honest, you can click through to the original website & post quickly with browser extensions anyway.
2. Google Alerts
For both managing my reputation and for finding new content, Google Alerts are super useful.
I have one set up for my name, company name, website and so on. It never ceases to amaze me where my name pops up and this way I can ensure it's not tarnishing my personal brand. Of course, it helps that there aren't too many Katrina Collier's floating around!
And to find more content, I have several set up for key industry terms like “social recruiting” and as soon as new content is published anywhere on the web, it arrives in my inbox. That keeps me ahead of the pack and well informed.
3. Bufferapp
I simply love Bufferapp because I can stack it with posts in the morning and it will drip feed them to my LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ (page) and Facebook accounts over the course of the day. I look like I am there but yet I'm not.
TIP: Use bit.ly as your chosen URL shortener then followers won't know you're scheduling your posts.
The other reason I use Bufferapp is because of the analytics. It will show you how many clicks you receive, retweets and favourites etc, which gives you the opportunity to change what you're sharing or the times that you're posting to improve results.
4. Falcon
Falcon is an extenion I use in Chrome, it's useful for growing your networks and finding out what other social channels people are using.
In this example I looked up Social-Hire's CEO, Tony Restell, and Falcon showed me a list of other places he can be found. This gives me the opportunity to connect with Tony on other sites.
As a job seeker though, it could reveal some surprises, so it's worth checking yourself too.
5. Twitter lists
Twitter moves fast and without lists I'd be lost! I recently wrote a post on my Twitter Tactics because I just can't follow everyone back. I would miss engaging with the people I really want to be chatting to if I did.
So instead of simply following back I often add people to my Twitter lists. Then I can go into each list and engage and retweet more effectively.
Enough about me, what are your favourite social media tools?
Grab the eBook: The Essential Guide to Recruiting on Twitter
Katrina Collier is an independent voice on social recruiting; speaking, training and writing about the use of social media for hiring and job search. She shows companies proven methods for effective recruitment on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter and a range of small and niche sites. Companies learn to find the right people on the right sites. Katrina teaches job seekers how to use social channels to gain attention and open opportunities. When not training, Katrina is a regular conference and event speaker and writes avidly about social recruiting & social job search.
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