Rachel Levy: Social Media & Marketing

Lately I feel like I’ve been discovering some REALLY cool online tools that now that I am using them, I can’t imagine not having them! So, I thought I’d put them together into one post.

Followup.cc – This is one of the simplest, but most useful tools!  Basically, instead of having to remember to follow up with people you’ve sent emails to about something, followup.cc will take care of reminding you. All you do is put a date/time code into the bcc field of your email, and it will send you a reminder when you specified.  So, if I want to be reminded to followup with someone in 3 days, I bcc 3d@followup.cc, and in 3 days, it sends me a reminder!  Using this with Gmail is awesome, because with nested conversations, the reminder email comes with the whole prior thread.  I also have a label setup so they’re flagged green when they come in.  I feel such a weight off my shoulders about not having to remember to follow up with people!

Delicious – If you like browser bookmarks, you’ll love Delicious.  I used to use bookmarks, but then could never find anything, as I had way too many, and they weren’t organized in any way (yes, there are folders, but within each folder, it’s just a long list).  Delicious allows you to tag articles with as many keywords you want, so you can easily go back and find things later.  You can also send a link to a keyword to someone to show them all the articles you have on a particular topic.  Very helpful.

Shop Shop (iPhone app) – This is a simple iPhone application that allows you to make lists of things, and easily cross them off.  I used to use “Notes” on my iPhone for this, but Shop Shop lets you cross things off with one click.  I use this for everything… my standard shopping list, remembering what I need to get at CVS, packing up my dog for the weekend, etc.

Zosh (iPhone app) – Ever get a PDF that you need to sign and send back to someone?  You need to open the PDF, print it out, sign it, scan it, and then attach the file in the email.  It’s a bit of a pain.  Zosh lets you open a PDF on your iPhone, add a signature, image, date or other text, save it, and send it back right from the application.  No printing and scanning.  It’s awesome!

Topify (Twitter app) - This is one of my favorite Twitter applications, that no one seems to know about!  There are two Topify features I use… reply to a DM via email and reply to a new follower notice by email to follow the person back. Both are very useful, and allow you to do a lot via email.  Their follower notices are also more comprehensive than Twitter’s.  What I do is have the new follower notices go automatically into a folder, and then review them all at once (ugh, I have over 600 to review now!)

Tweepml (Twitter app) - Twitter’s list function can be a great way to find new people. The confusing part is that when you click “Follow List” on Twitter, you don’t actually follow those people, you are only following the list, so only see the tweets from the people on that list when you CLICK on that list.  If you actually want to follow the people on the list, you can use Tweepml.  You just put in the list name, and all the people come up.  You can then choose to follow everyone, or just certain people.  Click Follow, and you’re done!  Very easy.

Twitter Gadget (Twitter app) - Because it’s easy to get sucked into Twitter, I try to take a “get in, get out” approach.  I open Tweetdeck, do what I need to do (make posts, reply to people, RT things, etc) and then I shut it down.  If I leave it open, I find myself clicking back to see what’s going on, and get sucked right back in.  Twitter Gadget runs right in the sidebar of Gmail, and is a simple interface.  Because it’s simple and not very advanced, I can use it quickly to tweet something I think of, or check to see if I have any replies, but manage to stay mentally more out of twitter.

What are your indispensable online tools?  Please share them in the comments below!