Power tools make the work go faster…

We specialize in helping companies set up and grow successful in-house marketing teams, so part of our job is to identify and select the right tools and vendors for our clients based on their unique strategy, tactics and measurement infrastructure.

If you are doing this on your own, there is good news and bad news. The good news: New tools pop up every day.  The bad news: New tools pop up every day.

You might find it useful to think of tools (and agency services for that matter) in terms of where they fit into the lifecycle of a Social Media Initiative:

1.)  Intelligence/Strategy Development – In the “homework” phase, you are doing a lot of listening and learning in order to understand the people you plan to engage with, what their needs and preferences are, how best to connect with them, etc.  Monitoring tools can be used to gather good intelligence in this early phase; tools like Unbound Technologies can help you identify Influencers across multiple comunities; channel/platform specific tools like Tweetdeck can help you analyze community norms and habits.

2.)    Execution/Implementation/Deployment – This is the action phase.  In this phase, you’ll need tools that help you put your plan in motion.  Some examples: Ratings and review tools (Bazaarvoice); community/ social networking platforms or tools for creating special communities (Ex: Leverage Software, Communispace), project/data management tools (many monitoring tools have a management module that allows you to track engagement and outcomes), online advocacy tools for ambassadors (Zuberance), tools that help you manage specific channels or work with content (Cli.gs).

3.)    Measurement: This is the phase that is critical to holding on to your job and your Social Media budget.  The choices here are numerous and often complex, but basically it boils down to:

1. Monitoring tools
2. Web Analytics tools, overlays and extensions (Clearsaleing, Social Media Metrics, xinureturns, PostRank)
3. Hybrid Monitoring, Analysis and Management tools (Media Logic’s Zeitgeist & Coffee)
4. Platform/community specific tools (TwitterSearch, Tubemogul)

One important note here:  Remember that many agencies and vendors in the Social Media space work on a business model of services supported by proprietary tools.  This can be really helpful in some instances (for example, Communispace can help you populate a research community).   Unfortunately, it can also mean that you are stuck with the vendor’s tools regardless if those tools are right for your strategy, tactics, and measurement infrastructure.

At the end of the day, tools (and outsourced services) should be chosen based on their alignment with your Social Media strategy, tactics, and measurement plan!