My Social Media System, What’s Yours?

(pic of me in Turkey)

John Jantsch recently wrote about his social media system which subsequently followed by similar post by Chris Brogan and Amber Naslund. Actually writing out your social media system is a great way to examine where you are spending your time and where you should allocate your time to achieve desired results. My social media system is very dynamic and isn’t always the same from day to day. Nevertheless here is the core of my social media system:

Tools I use

Google Docs – Use depends on project

Depending on the projects I’m working on this can either be a daily tool or a monthly tool. I haven’t used it in the past few weeks but I am now collaborating on a very exciting project with Danny Brown over at Press Release PR and Google docs is a tool we are using to share info

Twitter – Used daily (constant monitoring, never off)

Twitter is a tool that I always have open and am constantly monitoring. When I’m at home I have twhirl open constantly and when I’m traveling I used twittelator to keep up with the conversation. Twitter is probably the tool I use most often due to its very dynamic nature and constant flow of information.

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Facebook – Used daily 15 mins

Facebook has become my default events calendar for social media/marketing/tech events/meet ups. I don’t really use facebook much to socialize but as an events tool, it’s great!

Linkedin – Used daily 15 mins

I use linkedin as a connection utility to build relationships with new individuals and companies. Linkedin is a great way to generate new leads/clients while also establishing trust and authority (ask and answer questions). I can used linkedin to see what companies I am directly connected with, for example I’m connected with several managers at fortune 100 companies that I can reach out to for social media/seo consulting opps. I also receive daily requests from people who want to connect with me.

Iphone – Used Daily (always when I’m not around a laptop)

I wouldn’t really describe the Iphone as a “phone” it’s more of a gadget and has been a life saver for me. I use the various Iphone apps to connect with people when I’m not around my laptop. The Iphone has apps such as:

• facebook
• linkedin
• twitterlator
• NYTimes
• MProfs
• and many more

Blog – Used daily 1-2 hours

I keep up with my blog daily (a little less now that my laptop crashed and I’m waiting for a new one) and always try to cover relevant topics and things of interest; as they pertain to social media/marketing/technology. I also try to contribute to as many guest posts as I can. Blogs are a great way to establish trust and authority for a particular subject and can prove to be a valuable lead gen tool.

Email – Used daily 1-2 hours

Pretty self-explanatory, I get a lot of a email and I send a lot of email

Skype – Use depends on project (usually weekly)

I mainly use skype for conferences or calls with clients or partners I’m collaborating with. Skype is great for long calls (which I have many of) or file transferring.

Google Chat – Used weekly

Google chat is very similar to skype, it’s usually open when I’m on gmail and it allows for casual conversation. It’s not necessarily a tool I can’t live without, but it’s there.

Google Analytics – Check weekly

GA is just a free tracking tool that I use to monitor my blog traffic. I try not to check it that often so that I can concentrate on projects and goals I need to accomplish.

Google Calendar – Used Daily 15 mins

Again, self explanatory. I use google calendar to keep track of all of my events. Thanks to a free service by NuevaSync I can sync my google calendar with my iphone calendar.

Google Reader and Feedburner – Used daily 1 hr

I use google reader to stay up to date on various blogs I read and I use Feedburner as an RSS/email subscription tool that other people can use to subscribe to me.

Delicious – Daily 15 mins

I use delicious to keep track of and bookmark important information that I can later use for research or reference. Since my comp is dead I haven’t been on it as often as I would like, but that will change in a few weeks when my new Dell gets here!

I probably use social media tools more than most people, after all, this is the field of work that I’m involved in (that and SEO). My social media needs are probably different than your social media needs so our systems are also probably quite different. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how valuable some of the social media tools out there can be. There are probably a few other tools out there that I haven’t mentioned but the ones above are the “core” of my system.

What is your social media system? What tools are you using and how are you using them?