RISMEDIA, January 10, 2011—Our past two columns have given you some of today’s tools to save you time when you are networking on social sites and posting content. We’ve got two more for those of you who post content consistently and want easier ways to spread that content to your network for brand building and business development. Our resident search and social media guru, Tracy Crane, has provided these tips for a more efficient tech experience.
Chris Kaucnik: Some of us want to keep it simple and just use Facebook and Twitter. How can we just connect the two and make posting easier?
Tracy Crane: TwitterFeed is a great tool for that purpose. It feeds blog posts automatically to Twitter and Facebook, and can scrape your blog at preset intervals for automatic posting of new content to Facebook. You can even customize the initial post’s content for attention-grabbing effect.
CK: How do you set up a TwitterFeed?
TC: You just go to www.twitterfeed.com and register for a free account. Then select the social media sites you want to publish the feed to, enter the credentials to authenticate the account, create the services and you’re done. You can use advanced settings to customize functions.
CK: Now tell us about Ping.fm, your next recommendation.
TC: Ping.fm is definitely useful for the more avid social networker who’s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Through e-mail, text, AOL Instant Messenger or RSS feed you can post content and Ping.fm will automatically feed it to all the sites you set up.
CK: How do you set up Ping.fm?
TC: You just go to www.Ping.fm and create a free account. Next, add the social networks you want to hook into and follow the instructions to connect each service to your account. It’s very easy. Here’s how to post from anywhere with Ping.fm:
-E-mail: Ping.fm will give you a personal e-mail address to send posts to from your computer or mobile phone.
-SMS/Text Message: Ping.fm will give you a personal phone number to send posts to from your mobile.
-RSS Feed: Just provide the feed URL.
-AOL IM: Send an instant message to the Ping.fm AIM bot with your verification code and now you can even send your posts through IM.
Chris Kaucnik is marketing director for Home Warranty of America, Inc. Tracy Crane is new media manager for HWA. For more information, please visit www.hwahomewarranty.com.
