Others have offered this quiz, but how ’bout we see what the readers of MarketingTwins.com think!
Of all the current online marketing tools, which ones are your favorites? Is it your blog? Facebook? Jott? Flickr? LinkedIn? Kudos? Google Analytics? Twitter? iContact? Basecamp? iStockphoto? StumbleUpon? Digg?
If you can share why it’s important for your marketing strategy, or why you think it can be a powerful tool for others?
You can rank in order of importance, or just list the top 3-5 that work the best for you! What could you not live without?
I’m gonna leave this up for a few days (starting over the weekend since I’m gonna be out of pocket). In a few days, I’ll try and give my list.
* DON’T FORGET: One of the BEST online tools for increasing your search engine ranking is MAKING COMMENTS ON OTHER PEOPLE’S BLOGS!! It’s a proven technique that just about every SEO guru will tell you that is important in enhancing your online presence! So take the hint and make a comment! Can you really just walk away without offering a quick thought to share with others? Take 5 minutes to not only help others, but help yourself, too!
** Welcome all readers of John Jantsch’s blog! Please make your comments, I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can also take a look around the blog (click on overview) or link over to our company’s site where you learn more about these guys who call themselves The Marketing Twins at 1429 Creative!
Because making comments on other blogs should be part of everyone’s SEO strategy, I will guarantee that I will reciprocate to everyone who makes a comment on this post. I will go to your blog and make a comment as well (I hope I’ll be commenting on something current – get to blogging!)
I love the following 2.0 tools:
1. iContact (www.icontact.com/a.pl/205052) – what a great tool and it’s EASY and AFFORDABLE
2. iStockphoto (www.istockphoto/rkvaughn1)- what a tremendous resource to give you a professional look
3. LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com) – still evolving but a great way to stay in contact and to get connected to old college classmates who are potential business partners
4. Facebook (www.facebook.com) – I’m still learning how to utilize this resource for our business in the most effective way, but the connections are amazing!
5. Box.net (www.Box.net)- what a great resource for storing large files that can be retrieved by others. Amazingly simple to use!
Those are mine – let’s hear from some others!
Ah, 2.0 tools…Love 2.0 tools:
1) Blogs: a great way to be on the leading edge of the learning curve of your industry or area of interest. Reading good ones regularly gives you access to the latest trends and issues as they happen. Better for that than any book or newspaper. If you are blogging yourself, it affords an opportunity to process your thoughts as a leader in your area of expertise and it connects you to like-minded people and clients around the world. I live in Canada and just recently developed a client relationship with someone contracting me for my marketing services in Tennessee. That all happened because of my blog…awesome!
2) Twitter: I was a huge skeptic at first. With each passing week I realize more and more the business relevance of this tool: http://twurl.nl/2pjgca
3) iStockPhoto: I love this site. It is a marketers dream site with its excellent and affordable graphic images.
4) Facebook: I am getting a little bored with Facebook but it has allowed me to reconnect with a few old friends. Problem is that now I have to check it regularly because so many people choose to send e-mail though Facebook rather than to my regular e-mail.
5) Podcasts: If you have an iPod or portable music device, you can regularly subscribe to some great content being produced in your area of interest and expertise.
David & DV,
Great lists – there’s so many tools. I hope that all our readers can learn so much from what others are using. Long gone are the days where we hoard our “secrets” for ourselves – this is the day for OPENNESS and I hope people will share why some of the big name tools are well-known (and so popular), but I also hope some lesser known tools will surface so that others can take advantage!
David – hope the new venture’s going well for you . . . persevere my friend – the road’s not easy, but it is less traveled and so there’s lots of adventure ahead!!
Yes, if you are using any of the social networking tools (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), please feel free to share your profile link so we can all get connected better!
My Twitter profile…follow me: http://twitter.com/Mi_Integrity
Hi Randy,
The toughest part of this is just picking a few, but here goes.
1. Blogs – using a feed reader like Bloglines or Google Reader make it easy for me to keep an eye on lots of blogs and drill down into an article when I see something interesting.
2. Facebook – I probably don’t use this to the degree possible, but I like being in touch and I like many of the applications that are being developed to work in conjunction with it.
3. LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/wemakemarketingeasy) – the thing I like most about LinkedIn is the ability to ask and answer questions.
4. Twitter (http://twitter.com/kenpartain) – can be an excellent tool for learning. I was able to search for keywords that I would like to learn more about (SEO) and now I am following more than a dozen people who talk about SEO on a regular basis and therefore I learn something new almost every day. I only stay on for a couple of hours in the morning, otherwise I don’t get any work done!
5. StumbleUpon (http://kenpartain.stumbleupon.com/public/) – I like this one because I can stumble articles or web pages that I like and share them with others. I can also find some pretty interesting things by stumbling what others have tagged.
6. Basecamp – this tool makes working with clients all over the US a breeze from a project management standpoint.
Thanks Ken – those are great tools! I use most of them, but not all very well. I’m learning alot about LinkedIN that seems very useful. And some of that I learned from your presentation at the trade show last week!
I’m still hoping to hear from our Tornado marketing friend!!!! Kenneth C, are you using any of these tools? Andy J? Deana H? I’d love to hear what you have to say!
A favorite??? Boy, what a Sophie’s Choice that is. An internet revolution is underway right now. Never before has the internet been so relevant for small regional-based businesses. It’s getting my attention for sure!
I feel like the up and coming app (if they can solve their technical problems) is Twitter. Way back to April I wasn’t so sure, but today I tell you Twitter is twitterific — even if it is creating a lexicon of strange tweetish words.
My solid will-be-there-for-me-always app is WordPress, where I nurture my blog. http://www.tornadomktg.com/blog
But my fav at the moment is Facebook. It links with my blog and my twitter.
Friends are welcome to join me at on Twitter @amachina or on Facebook.
http://profile.to/adriannemachina/
Keep up the good work Randy!
Adrianne Machina
In no particular order, I’m fond of:
1) Blogging – When done corectly iot’s the most powerful Social Marketing Tool. Point Blank.
2) Facebook – I don’t use many of the apps, but I understand the power of them. However, from a ‘basics’ standpoint, just the idea of being able to network, form groups, communcate with them in messages and thru notes…it’s a great tool.
3) Bloglines – this is what I use to keep track of the blogs I follow. Sure, I don’t use it as a ‘proactive’ marketing tool…but I use it for all of my marketing research.
4) Squidoo – a free and fun way to share information with the public. Great tool.
5) Digg and Stumble Upon (tie) – Not only to I use it to archive my interests, I encourage my friends/fans to mark my work as THEIR favorites when applicable.
I really, really, really don’t like Twitter. Sorry to be contrarian. HOWEVER – I acknowledge the fact that everyone ELSE likes Twitter, so I continue to use it just to stay on the radar.
(It’s like changing diapers. I don’t RELISH the idea…but I do it because it’s important).
Adrianne,
Twitter, huh. I’m not seeing the full benefit as you are, but hey, I once was a blog skeptic!! I am using Twitter a little, trying to find my use of it. Thanks for the consistent comments here as well!
Jeff,
I love what you said about bloglines. I do alot of research with it. I love getting blog post ideas. I love reading a few industry blogs of my clients – the “shock” on my clients’ faces is priceless when I email them an article that I found on one of their industry leader’s blogs . . . most of the time, they aren’t even reading the blogs so I come out looking like an informed expert! I also use my Google News Alerts for this purpose. But I enjoy Bloglines because it is easy to use and I love knowing when my favorite blogs update . . . the problem is my favorite blogs now number over 75! It’s hard to keep up!
-RV
I have to admit, some of these tools are new to me; Twitter I don’t yet understand the value of for business, but I’m willing to try. I hadn’t heard of Bloglines…where have I been, you wonder? In “newbie” land. I’m curious, Google Analytics was on the list, but no one has commented on it – is it used and of value?
Linda –
I just wanted to reply to your question about Google Analytics – I do use it and I do find it valuable.
I have tied G.A. to one of my blogs (www.SodaIsGood.blogspot.com), and I use it to see which pages/articles/topics are getting the most hits. This allows me to give more constructive thought to what I’ll write about moving forward.
The blog is silly, but I like the idea that I’m appealing to the small-but-core audience that reads it.
Jeff – welcome to MarketingTwins.com
How long have you been reading here? Did you come over from John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing blog?
Thanks for the input on GA. I use it in the same way – but I’m still trying to navigate all the features. I used to use (actually still do) SiteMeter – I like some of the things I can find out there. It’s interesting to see where traffic is coming from and what pages people come in and go out on. The data is important for effective writing.
Linda – I used GA for not just my blog, but I put a unique GA code for several web pages I am trying to track. I put an ad in a local newspaper and directed readers to a unique page I created just to correspond with this ad. I have been able to track precisely the number of hits I got based on the ad.
Since I use traditional media (newspapers and direct mail) but also contemporary social media (Facebook, blogging), I need to know how people find me. And what stirs their interest. I am bored with statistics usually but these are the meat around my “guess” at which medium is most effective in certain situations. I’m learning alot.
-Randy