1.
Comparing
Social
Media
Tools
By
Michelle
Golden
This
document
includes
adapted
excerpts
from
Social
Media
Strategies
for
Professionals
and
their
Firms:
The
Guide
to
Establishing
Credibility
and
Accelerating
Relationships
©2010
John
Wiley
&
Sons
Not
for
duplication.
1
©2010
Golden
Practices,
Inc.
michelle@goldenpractices.com

2.
COMPARING
SOCIAL
MEDIA
TOOLS
At
present,
there
are
four
new
media
tools
that
are
most
suitable
for
professionals
and
their
firms:
LinkedIn,
Twitter,
Facebook,
and
blogs.
The
pace
of
innovation
is
rapid
so
these
are
unlikely
to
be
the
most
popular
and
appropriate
tools
for
your
business
use
in
a
few
years.
New
tools
continuously
emerge
and
some
will
build
upon
or
replace
these
tools.
Therefore,
as
you
read,
and
later
as
you
formulate
your
strategy,
it’s
important
to
consider
the
objectives
each
tool
helps
you
accomplish
(through
its
features)
rather
than
focusing
on
a
tool’s
current
popularity
alone.
Popularity
is
certainly
a
legitimate
consideration,
however,
because
of
the
need
to
assure
that
you
are
in
the
correct
space
to
find
and
interact
with
the
people
you
seek,
and
because
of
the
value
of
critical
mass,
for
instance,
a
tool
like
LinkedIn
or
Facebook
is
exponentially
more
valuable
because
of
the
sheer
number
of
people
on
it.
Recognizing
that
new
tools
will
continually
emerge
reinforces
the
importance
of
clarity
in
your
marketing
objectives—your
purpose—behind
adopting
any
specific
tool.
Unless
you
have
the
tremendous
time
and
resources
it
takes
to
establish
a
strong
presence
everywhere
at
once,
you’ll
want
to
decide
which
new
media
to
explore
and,
among
those,
what
to
bite
off
first.
These
tables
are
subjective,
based
on
my
experience
with
the
way
CPAs
and
lawyers
would
and
do
use
the
tools.
People
in
other
professions
may
experience
greater
or
lesser
usefulness
or
concerns
with
the
tools
assessed
in
the
tables
on
the
following
page.
2
©2010
Golden
Practices,
Inc.
michelle@goldenpractices.com

3.
Compare
Usefulness
(based
on
moderate
to
excellent
use
of
the
tool)
Objectives
or
Benefits
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Blogs
(C
=
credibility
oriented,
N
=
networking
oriented)
Obtain
answers
to
questions
(C)




Demonstrate
your
expertise,
establish
credibility
(C)




Increase
your
knowledge
(C)




Distribute
content
(C)




Sustain
customer
loyalty
when
things
go
wrong
(C)




Communicate
without
distributing
content
(firm




developed
or
otherwise)
(N)
Promote
others
(building
goodwill)
(N)




Conducive
to
deepening
relationships
and
building




rapport
(N)
Connect
others
together
(facilitate
mutually
beneficial




introductions)
(N)
Regularly
alerted
to
opportunities
for
interaction




(reasons
to
reach
out
as
others
update)
(N)
Identify
resources
(N)




Maintain
contact
and
reconnect
(N)




Meet
new
people
(N)




Promote
events
and
firm-­‐hosted
activities
(C/N)




Recruiting
(via
a
firm
vs.
individual
presence)
(C/N)




Concerns
(more
stars
=
greater
concern)
Concerns
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Blogs
Business/personal
crossover
among
contacts
N/A


N/A
Time
investment
to
be
effective




Noticeable
if
absent




Process
needs/considerations
for
best
execution




(internal,
firm
level)
These
objectives,
benefits,
and
concerns
can
also
be
considered
when
you
need
to
evaluate
new
tools
as
they
emerge.
After
weighing
these
factors,
you
can
determine
if
migration
from
a
current
tool
to
a
new
one
is
best.
3
©2010
Golden
Practices,
Inc.
michelle@goldenpractices.com