Time-saving Online Tools

 Akin to Sawmill Marketing’s online list of Twitter handles for Baltimore-area media, I’m compiling this list of time-saving online tools. I’ll update it as needed, so this will be a live, fluid document, with the items in no particular order other than being grouped by free versus fee-based.

There are hundreds (thousands? millions?) of such tools out there, so I’m sure I’m missing many. Send me suggestions of an awesome tool you use!

Free Tools

• Groupsite - for file sharing and group management.
• SnapPages - create a very basic Web site (you can also use Wordpress to do this, either the Wordpress hosted or self-hosted versions)
• Google Docs - Don’t want to pay Microsoft licensing fees for their Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint? Use Google docs to create text, spreadsheets, and presentations.
• Google Voice - Integrate your telecom services with one phone number, send voice-to-text voicemails to your e-mail and more. Google Voice is currently only available for GrandCentral users, but will be open to new users soon.
• Del.icio.us/delicious.com - One-stop list of your favorite bookmarks. Billed as a “social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source”, you can bookmark sites, share them, and even check out popular tags.
• Twitter - need I say more?
• FaceBook - again, the dilemna of whether or not to put these obvious ones on this list.
• Google Buzz - Once again, Google is attempting to corner the market on, well, everything. Share updates, photos, videos, and more. Basically, it’s a combination of FaceBook, YouTube, and Twitter. Plus, you can import from Twitter, Flickr, etc.
• Tweetdeck - View your Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as see YouTube and Flickr images, all in one spot. Categorize Tweeters into columns so your topics are separated.
• Ping.fm - Type once, update several accounts at the same time.
• SocialOomph - Schedule messages on Twitter (plus, pay $29.95 per month to schedule messageson FaceBook pages).
• Gist - Though this is in beta right now, I’ve heard some buzz about it. Essentially, it will integrate and update your contacts from all your various social media sites, along with your e-mail contacts. I’m looking forward to playing with it when it’s out of beta.
• Hootsuite - Have multipel Twitter accounts and cant seem to find the time to udpate them all adequately? Hootsuite is your answer.

Fee-Based Tools

• Basecamp by 37 signals - A great online replacement for Microsoft Project, with cost plans ranging from $24 to $149 a month. It’s billed as a “web-based project collaboration tool.”

Top 100 New Media Tools

Yes, yes, yes, we’ve all heard of Tweetdeck, and FaceBook, and LinkedIn, YouTube, and Delicious. But have you heard of Twhirl, Pageflakes, Scribd, or FreeMind? Or am I just showing my ignorance? Anyway. I always hear of these other tools others are using, and I wonder what these elusive tools do and how these people hear of said tools.

I found a great compendium of the top 100 new media tools. Though the article is geared for a job search, these tools can obviously be used for other purposes. It’s a helpful list, nonetheless.

100 Tools to Help You Communicate Better by Jane Hart on jobsuccess.org.

The Need for Technology Etiquette Guidelines

Following a colleague on Twitter for professional reasons and yet keep reading their Tweets that they’re “at the soccer game!” or “so hungover!”? Still getting e-mails from people in all caps? How about that coworker who, in the middle of an informal business meeting, but a meeting nonetheless, is blatantly texting or checking voicemails?

With the rash of technology we follow and technological devices we use, we should develop some technology etiquette guidelines.

I read somewhere (sorry, can’t remember where) that we should employ the crossword puzzle test. If you’re somewhere where you wouldn’t pull out a crossword puzzle and start filling in the boxes, you shouldn’t be texting or answering e-mails. Some of my other personal etiquette guidelines are to remember that a real person should be put first before technology, and that we should only send relevant e-mails (especially considering that the average person receives thousands of e-mails a day).

Purchasing Decisions

Per Public Relations Tactics’ August 2009 issue, a poll by Harris Interactive shows that 55% of consumers use marketing communications as a source of information to make their purchasing decisions.

To break it down, 36% use company Web sites and 19% use print media advertising. Face-to-face meetings with company rep accounts for 22%, while 21% is input from family, friends, and peers, and 19% are consumer reviews.

Once again, the importance of marketing communications is revealed - make sure yours are top notch!

Big Brother

Something struck me as I was reading through my latest copy of The Public Relations Strategist (Spring 2009). “In 2009, Big Brother is now a vast, collective and diverse group of individuals, organizations and industries watching the Internet and sometimes acting upon the information that they obtain.” This quote is in an article titled “Social Networking Media Present New Ethical Challenges for Public Relations” by Tim O’Brien, APR.

It truly is Big Brotherish out there. You hear seasoned celebrities make comments all the time, grateful that they didn’t come of age as a celebrity in this, the digital media age, because, today, they could not have gotten away with the things that they did then.  A listtle closer to home, where home is our marketing and public relations world, no longer is an irate or unhappy customer relegated to their simple letter to customer service and a few phonecalls to same. Today, these same disappointed customers take to the blogs and forums, loudly proclaiming to all who listen their woes with you and your company.

Today, everyone is watching, listening, and talking. You need to be aware, and you need to likewise - and you may need to respond. Or at least have a plan in place on how to react. But, more on that later.

Rethink Your Approach to Employee Communications

How do you communicate to your employees? Do you post signs on the bathroom doors? Send out a mass e-mail? Hang up posters in the break rooms? Or, are you more advanced, with an employee newsletter, executive blog, and/or intranet site? Honestly, I’ve been at companies that have used all these approaches, from the bathroom signs to the dynamic intranet site.

Depending on the make up of your company, any and all of these methods can be effective. However, you should also consider utilizing social media. Develop a group for your company on LinkedIn and FaceBook, set up a Twitter feed, and even utilize YouTube and Wikis.

Hey, your employees are on these sites - rather than ignoring that fact, embrace it and use it to your advantage.

PR, Marketing, Communications - Oh My

I just spent a jam-packed weekend at the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Leadership Rally in New York City, and left not only with tons of ideas for our Chapter but also with the suspicion that public relations as it has been known for the past 100+ years no longer exists.

Now, I’m more of a mind to think that public relations, marketing, and communications are blending into one field. The standard distinction has been that marketing is about sales and pr is about reputation management, but, honestly, isn’t it all the same now? We all employ the same tactics to achieve the same result - brand management to build/foster a company’s/person’s reputation to, ultimately, increase sales.