August 3, 2011 59 Comments

Social Tools Workflow

Suitcases

I’ve changed up how I’m using social media tools lately, and I thought I’d write it up, in case this proves useful to you. Your mileage will vary. This is just what’s working for me.

Listening

I’m still using RSS searches more than anything else for listening, seeing as most of my listening is just for personal projects at this point. If I were going to pay for a listening tool, my choices of late would be some mix of Radian6, Sysomos, and/or Trackur.

Blogging

I use WordPress for my home base for several reasons. One is that it’s robust. Two is that I like that I can use premium wordpress themes (affiliate link) with it, that give me all kinds of extra SEO and other features. I’m not giving up my blog for Tumblr, Google+ or any other real estate that’s not mine to build on, nor should you, unless you just want a transient place to write.

Outposts

I’ve pretty much abandoned Facebook. Yes, there are hundreds of millions of people on there. It’s just never given me much value back. I’m not interested in trudging through it. Yes, I’ve temporarily left a bit of a ghost town there, but I’ll go back and clean up once I’m really sure about the rest of it.

Twitter, I’ve just recently restructured to give me more of a “news” feeling than a “conversation” feeling. I’m following lists of business news reporters, lists of close friends who haven’t quite made the shift over to Google+ as their primary outpost, and friends who I want to track what they’re doing with Twitter that’s different than what they’re doing with other networks.

Google+ is my primary outpost at this point. I’m doing more work there than ever. Why? There are lots of reasons, but primarily, it’s because I’m getting much more engagement, much more activity, and a lot more back and forth with really interesting people.

WorkFlow

Here’s a rough sketch of one of the workflows that I’m using these days:

  • Use listening tools to determine how else to be helpful.
  • Create blog post (with or without video).
  • Promote via Twitter (2x).
  • Promote via Google Plus (1x).
  • Respond to comments via Google Voice.
  • Respond to comments on blog post.
  • Track any calls to action I might have seeded the post with.
  • Comment on other people’s blog posts, and/or Google+ posts.
  • Share and Curate in Google+

When I’m spending time on social media platforms these days, that’s what I’m doing.

Curious to Know About YOUR Workflows and Any Changes

What have you done differently these days? How have your workflows changed? What are you adding or removing?

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  • http://dragonsearchmarketing.com/ Ric Dragon

    Workflow is nice! I’d even like to think that workflow and process is the “next big thing” in social – or at least a meaningful next phase. I’ve got a feeling there is a difference between how businesses set out to create social media marketing flow, and we as professionals that use the media for both personal and professional reasons.  I know that I get sort of caught in little whirlpools of activity on one platform or another, that if I was being strategic about it, I probably wouldn’t allow myself.  

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    If you try to be everywhere, you dilute your efforts & impact. 

    I’ve stopped Quora, FB, LK and a few others… and it feels like a huge relief :) 

  • http://mrtunes.ca/blog Mr. Tunes

    How do you promote using google voice? Is it some sort of option for posting in google+?

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan Biddulph

    Hi Chris,

    I’m automating more processes these days.

    I work more effectively when I find a mix between automation and actual engagement. So much easier to connect with more people by setting up my tools, and respond and engaging when appropriate.

    Thanks for sharing your plan with us.

    RB

  • Fmcbatista

    What about using also Blaving to post and  promote your content?

  • Anonymous

    Chris, it must be tough being one of the ‘influencers’ out there and I’m wondering how’s your social media sanity these days.  I think, blogging is still important ( even if many would argue that it’s so dead ) for the simple fact that you don’t control these 3rd party platforms, where they can shutdown anytime – not to mention privacy issues.  Thanks for sharing your workflow anyway.  To answer your question, I’m trying to squeeze Google+ in my sched.

  • Anonymous

    Hi Chris, its reassuring to see you are still using RSS for listening. Once you start looking at all the other options it can make your head spin!

  • http://www.i95dev.com Henry Louis

    Never thought about changing it. I do not see a need to change my ways of working for my business. By the way, is it gonna help in any way?

  • Peg M

    Hi Chris,

    I liked the community you were building on Facebook, via your Blog Topics Not a Fan Page. Have you considered creating a circle for Blog Topic members and experimenting a bit with Google+’s more community-based features…hangouts, etc., updates on your Blog Topics newsletters, etc.

    ~Peg

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      Hi Peg- Circles don’t seem to work as well for it *yet*, but I’m thinking it through.

  • http://onwardstudios.com Carma

    Thanks, Chris, for sharing this. For us just starting to get into social media (finally), it’s incredibly helpful to hear how you navigate the waters.

  • http://joshmuirhead.ca Josh Muirhead

    Good morning Chris (well, it’s morning where I am)

    Interesting post this morning, and thank you for sharing. I have come to similar conclusions myself about my social media life, and what I will continue to use, and what I’ll have to let go. 

    Personally for me, I share similar start to yourself – I use RSS feed to keep track of what I feel is information I need to know. It allows me to stay updated, and because I have the lovely app, it is as mobile as anything else.

    Blogging for me is still my favourite space (both in producing, and reading others). I’ve always found the more in-depth conversation about business development, personal growth, and media use interesting, and enjoy sharing my thoughts / ideas as well. 

    Twitter for me remains the centre for connection, especially when I’m traveling and/or presenting. I find it fits with my personality better, as I’m quick with a comment, and much happier to add in different elements to the conversation (i.e. linking) 

    Currently, I’m personally torn between Google+ and Facebook. I enjoy the user interface of Google+ and the ability to connect with Friends, all the way to key influencers like yourself. However, I’ve built a much stronger community for myself on Facebook. However, I’ve certainly focused much more of my personal attention to Facebook, and shifted the business to Google+

    I’ve almost 100% left Linkedin, as I was never in love with the network. 

    Excellent post, and thanks for sharing your work flow 
    Josh

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      LinkedIn is tricky. For me, it’s become mostly spam management. : ) 

  • http://twitter.com/susangiurleo susangiurleo

    Google+ jammed up my social media workflow in a big way. Business-wise, I have my foot in 2  worlds – one is keeping up with the new and looking at changes in the social media space, two is teaching non-techie types how to use social media. Lots of my clients are confused and overwhelmed about Facebook and Twitter, so I need to be there to teach and model, but lots of my online colleagues are hanging out on Goggle+.

    That’s a long way of saying, I have no flow and it’s frustrating because I can’t really leave one to integrate the other.
    I’m trying to be patient and just observe my own process to see where the sweet spot is in terms of allocation of my energies.
    But I feel that this is the ‘new normal,’ as new platforms are cropping up all of the time, so settling down into one approach for the long haul will be impossible and continually adapting will be the name of the game.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      So does this get you started on that? : ) 

      • http://twitter.com/susangiurleo susangiurleo

        I have to admit, I resisted shifting things for a few weeks, but then realized I had to move things around, so, yes, I’ve started and see no end in sight : ).

      • http://twitter.com/susangiurleo susangiurleo

        I have to admit, I resisted shifting things for a few weeks, but then realized I had to move things around, so, yes, I’ve started and see no end in sight : ).

  • Alan Weinkrantz

    Google+ has made me re-think my work flow too.  I’m not abandoning Facebook- just scaling back.  I will check it once a day, just to see what my friends are up to, where they are, what is going on in their lives.  When I travel, I check in everywhere on Foursquare- which automatically posts to Facebook, while I am not posting to Facebook (and Twitter) I’m still “posting” via Foursquare.

    I am also unsubscribing to more and more online newsletter and media outlets that consume too much time or are no longer relavent.

    Part of your work flow can be improved by simply taking stock of what you are doing, what you can do without and re-focusing your efforts to be helpful and meaningful to those you engage with in life and in business.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      I’ve definitely unsubscribed to a lot more newsletters. I just honestly wasn’t reading them. 

      • Cat J Winblood

        I recently did the SAME thing.  I found my inbox was too full of ‘marketing muck’ and didn’t have the information I was seeking ‘right now’ – it was useful before – but things change.  I think it’s good practice to take stock in your Inbox and get it clean and organized a few times a month.

        Explore new newsletters – out with the old and in with the new!  It can be refreshing.

  • http://mycoopergroup.com Ginny

    And if you own your domain name which is your email address and a gmail account is NOT your primary email????

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      You use your primary email, but just slip into that gmail account to pick up what needs picking up. Make sense? 

      • http://mycoopergroup.com Ginny

        Not really…link me to your tutorials again? I have a gmail account I opened in the days of the dinosaur when I had a blog at blogspot. I don’t use it for anything – all my social contact info – FB business page, LinkedIn personal and company pages, Foursquare company page, QR code….everything goes to my primary email account. Until Google+ came along. Now I feel like I’m living a double life! Seems I must log out of Google Reader with one account and log in with the other….can’t be in two places at once.

        • Todd

          If your business email address uses Google Apps, you can import your Gmail account and then choose when to send from what account, but it all comes into one inbox!

  • http://scalableintimacy.com Mike Troiano

    I’m in a similar track. Google Reader, flaws and all, is still my listening station of choice. Facebook is just a Circle, in a way, of family, late adopter close friends, and people from the past I’d like to keep in touch with for whatever reason. Twitter feels more and more like a targeted broadcast medium, and I find myself using it more like one, as you say. I still use Tumblr, but only because it’s kind of… er… easy, and cheap. G+ is becoming home base, but range of posting options means blog is getting neglected – again like yours, despite the recent push. Totally hooked on Instagram as well, and getting there with Spotify and Turntable. 

    If the whole world were on G+, I’d have to give serious thought to chucking it all and committing to a single platform for all of it. Liberating, in a way. Could focus more on content quality.

    • http://e1evation.com Todd Lohenry

      Totally agree, Mike. Google Reader is the killer app for listening — it’s the foundation of my thought leadership marketing workflow and best part? It’s free…

  • http://twitter.com/smontoya86 Sam Montoya

    I’d say the one thing I’ve liked a lot about Google+ is that it can incorporate both Twitter and Facebook streams so it helps keep up with all three of them in one place. Tweetdeck is useful, but it doesn’t feed Google+ that I have seen yet so I’m slowly migrating things over to it. 

  • http://www.ecigator.com/ Electronic Cigarette

    Google+1 is now the first choice, and facebook, damn, banned in China~~~

    Google voice, never used it~ 

  • http://flavors.me/40deuce 40deuce

    Glad to hear that Sysomos is in your list of tools to use, Chris!

    Cheers,
    Sheldon, community manager for Sysomos

  • http://www.socialtechzone.com/ Frank

    I’ve definitely been able to have quality conversations on Google+ than any other social network.  However, one thing I was wondering, do you notice people clicking links from Google+?  I’ve had the feeling that people may not like clicking links to different pages on Google+ as much.  Maybe that’s just me. 

  • Anonymous

    Can someone explain to me what Chris means by promoting on Google Voice? I’m not following this statement. Google Plus yes, but he mentions Google Voice, and Google Plus. I’ve never heard of promoting via Google Voice.
    Thanks…

  • Jack Lynady

    The best engagement I have is at my blog. It’s small but the conversation is more refined to what I am bringing there. Next, is the community I have on Facebook. Next is twitter mostly for promotion and listening. Last, is google +. Why? Because my community isn’t fulling engaging there yet. Don’t take this wrong Chris but u instantly had a bunch of people in your circles whooping it up. Thats awesome but not the case for most of us.

  • http://mywebgal.com/blog/ Deb

    Looks like a great workflow. I’ve also been spending more time on G+ rather than FB or Twitter. However, I do promote my blog and interesting articles I read through the latter two only (so far). My RSS reader is another place I spend a lot of time. Listening is key! Since I have my own blog and guest blog 4 days a week and “ghost” blog 5 days a week, I have to order my time well. It’s the meetings that kill my day far too often.

  • http://nateriggs.com nateriggs

    I’ve never used Sysomos, but have heard great things about it.

    Have to also give props to Engage121. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but I know Jack Monson and have seen about 3 demos. The way that they have workflow organized in terms of talking with folks online as well as distribution content is probably the best I’ve seen this year. Also doing some pretty cool things to tie social interaction to increases in in-store foot traffic and sales. Super cool stuff from the folks in Chicago…

  • http://justinmwhitaker.com justinmwhitaker

    Great post Chris! (As usual).

    I’ve never really taken to Facebook. I have an account, but I basically use it as an aggregator, the same way I used FriendFeed, and not for much else.

    Google+ is getting more attention from me, pretty much for the reasons you pointed out: better engagement. 

    Don’t know what happened to Twitter, but there are not a lot of conversations going on…maybe I need to revisit my followings again?

    Blog wise, I’ve given up on “my own platform”. I found the combination of WordPress+Thesis+Plugins to be a time sink on it’s own.

    I don’t want to spend time maintaining a blog, I want to get some content out the door. As long as you own the content and the URL, who cares who runs the back end? 

    I’m with Mike Troiano though: the hub is Google Reader. For all it’s flaws. Outside of Gmail, that’s where the day begins and ends.

  • Anonymous

    I’m tweeting less, reading more, and thinking about the next blog post, and where it should go. Trying to shift from being an end user, to the salesman that I need to be. Only time will tell if I’ve made the right decisions.

  • Anonymous

    I’m tweeting less, reading more, and thinking about the next blog post, and where it should go. Trying to shift from being an end user, to the salesman that I need to be. Only time will tell if I’ve made the right decisions.

  • http://homeremediesmd.com Home Remedies MD

    I have begun Google+ as well and the engagement is definitely there because most of the updates automatically send to people’s gmail accounts

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  • http://twitter.com/DigitalSherpas DigitalSherpa

    No social bookmarking in the process?

  • Richard

    I’m echoing my blog to FB just to have a presence there but still cannot get in on the ground floor on Google + :(

    Thanks for sharing your workflow.

    • http://read2learn.net Kent Mauresmo

      You actually have a Google+?? I have not even been invited to participate in there exclusive program. Hah. Facebook is better anyways, so I would stick with that.

      I think the Google+ is more like a fad or competition type thing

  • Anonymous

    I guess I can take your old Farmer List off of my wall and put this one up. Thanks!

  • http://BestSellerAuthors.com Warren Whitlock

    I say NO RULES. If this plan and mix work for you. Great. 

    For me, it’s important to connect with people. I really don’t care what platform, as long as it’s the one my audience/market/network/friends use. 

    I’ve always done business on Facebook. Since I’ve stopped using it as a repeat to get traffic, I’m getting more engagement from thought leaders and those that want to be though leaders (my market).

    I’m leaving a comment here because I assume you see it. On other blogs, I tweet a response. Hardly ever get into a discussion on Facebook that isn’t from a post there. The masses aren’t using + so I go there only if I want to talk about “cutting edge”

    Bottom line. If someone wants to buy from me or create new business, I’m listening anywhere they want

  • http://www.realityburst.com Eugene Farber

    I really need to create a social media workflow for myself. There are so many options that I feel like I’m not putting in a full effort into any of them. Like creating a Facebook page for my blog then never really looking at it again.

    Owning your own blog is the only way to go in my opinion. That way you have full control (unless there is a server problem). Writing on a platform owned by somebody else provides for too many variable.

    For example eHow just decided they don’t really want to pay people the way they used to any more. Sure some people got a nice check for the work they’ve put in, but I’m sure many people just plain got screwed.

  • http://www.leadingeveryday.com Juan Cruz Jr

    Thanks for sharing. I think I will try Google +. I have a Gmail account but use no other Google services. I do have facebook for me personally, but no separate page to market my WordPress Blog. I do use Twitter as a news feed as well, and also to tweet other blogs that I like.

  • Julia Rymut

    Thanks Chris.  One of the things I love about your advice is that you encourage people to do what works for them–not what “they” say to do.  I have never liked FB for lots of reasons.  I’m much more excited about Google+ but I feel guilty for wanting to abandon FB.  I think I’ll do what works for me and stop worrying about it.

    • http://www.theskinnyonrealestate.com Beth

      Julia, what is the deal with feeling guilty about abandoning FB? I’m going through the same thing! Lately it seems like I get nothing from FB but a feeling of discontent and crankiness; yet I feel guilty for walking away from it.  

  • http://www.online-business-virtual-assistant.com/ Virtual Business Assistant

    Lately using Facebook  has become boring since we get a lot of people who want to be friends but dont really seem to be communicating…Thanks for the share Chris and will try out
     Google +

  • http://pmerrill.com/ paulmerrill

    Chris, I think you’re getting more G+ engagement for 2 reasons:

    - It’s the new place to be – aware social media people are excited to be there.

    - You have given it your best energy – and where we give our energy, we often get the most returns.

    And thanks for leading the way.

    • http://e1evation.com Todd Lohenry

      So true, Paul — the grass is always greener where we water it! :-)

  • http://www.ventureneer.com Geri Stengel

    It’s interesting to see how someone else sorts through the social media overload we all sometimes feel. You seem to find Google+ a good platform. More about why?

    • http://www.theinternetlaboratory.com Paul

      “Why? There are lots of reasons, but primarily, it’s because I’m getting much more engagement, much more activity, and a lot more back and forth with really interesting people.”

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  • http://bensleygram.blogspot.com/ Skip Bensley

    i still use facebook but for friendships, sharing pictures of my kids with people i know in person. I hate to use the word real friends but there I have said it. My companies have pages on Facebook as well but if we relied on them for revenue we would be out of business. Google+ is still figuring out what is is and what its business pages will look like. It is a good place to for discussion. I blog casually on posterous and blogger. I am on twitter and I am trying to consolidate accounts. I still think less is more. i use instagram now to share photos and I listen to others on rss on google.

    • http://e1evation.com Todd Lohenry

      I frequently wonder what it would be like to only have ‘real friends’ in Facebook! Thanks for saying it… :-)

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