Should Seesmic Desktop 2 become your new Social Desktop Application?

Seesmic Desktop 2 has come a long way since it previous release. While I really do like the new interface, speed, and layout it is missing a few things that will make me not want to leave Tweetdeck, permanently, any time soon.

So let’s get to my review shall we?

What I like:

• Streamlined design: Once you boot Seesmic Desktop 2 up you will appreciate the elegance and layout.
• Columns: The columns are easy to add, as well are additional accounts. You can add Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Buzz, and Ping.fm.
• Plugins: Also interesting are the plugins that Seesmic Desktop 2 has to offer from 3rd party developers.
• Speed Baby: What is also great is the speed. This may be due to using the Silverlight platform, rather than Adobe Air that has been used by many other developers, including Tweetdeck.
• Photos: Having photos people share via twitpic, yfrog etc being displayed direct in the timeline is very cool as well.
• Quick profile preview button: There is a little Seesmic Icon under each tweet opens up a mini profile that shows bio, follow counts etc.
• Tabs: One other thing I like are the 3 different tabs on the left side of the screen. They are All, Accounts, and Userlists. Here you can have additional columns open. This is kind of cool, and it reminds me of Hootsuite BUT you are not able to add additional tabs like you can in Hootsuite.
• Real Time Rules: Possibly the coolest feature is the real-time feed. No more waiting for columns to load based on the old twitter API, at least for the home column. I have been having some issues with lists I have open not refreshing real-time.

What’s Missing or Different:

If you are an avid/power Tweetdeck user, there will be some glaring features missing.

• Spell Check: This is a must in my opinion, especially because I occasionally mis-spell a word here and there.
• Scheduling: You can not schedule tweets for a later date. If you can, I have yet to find it. But I rarely schedule anyway, and if I do I use CoTweet.
• Reply with #Hashtag: If you are a fan of the Hashtag, prepare to copy paste, or re-type it all the time as Seesmic does not include it in the reply.
• Account Sync: Use your 3rd party app on multiple PC’s? Tweetdeck has the account sync feature. But with the speed of Seesmic, setting up columns on a different PC will not take that long.
• Preview Link: Do you want to see where you are going before you click that bit.ly link? I know I do!
• ReTweets: By default, the ReTweet is the Twitter style version only. Unlike Tweedeck, you can not option to the old style RT to be default. You can however still do the old style RT by selecting the options icon, and selecting “Quote (Old RT)”. This I am not a fan of as I prefer the old RT, and I do not like the extra clicks to make it happen.
• Reply All: In Seesmic it is called “Mention All” and I guess that is OK. The annoying “feature” is it adds your own name to the reply. Like Tweetdeck, it should strip your own name in the “Reply All” tweet. (Let’s save character space)
• Filters: If you ever want to filter out content in twitter streams, no way to do it here in Seesmic.
• Search: There is no way to start a search column, at least not that I have found. You can however click on a #Hashtag in Seesmic Desktop 2 and it will open a search column for that hashtag. So from what I see, you can not do a keyword search in Seesmic Desktop 2. Correction: Search is at top right, and will open a new column.

In the end, I guess it really comes down to how you use your application of choice. For me, there is just too much I am used to in Tweetdeck to abandon it completely. Tweetdeck now has a real-time version that I am just starting to use, and so far so good there as well. However, I think real-time is still having some hiccups on both platforms, and that could be due to Twitter, and not the apps.

Overall I am really impressed with Seesmic Desktop 2, as well with the service I have been getting from them on Twitter (@askseesmic). I have been experiencing some challenges, and they have been great at replying on twitter!

Currently I am using Seesmic Desktop 2 only on my Windows PC, and I think I will try it out on my Mac eventually. (I am just a boob about installing Silverlight on my Mac)

Real-time side note: When you follow thousands of people, this stream can just go non-stop. Be sure to make twitter lists to sort out the constant stream of information hitting your screen.

So what do you think about Seesmic Desktop 2? I’d love your comments below!

Until next time…

Doc

After seeing this blog post by Chris Brogan about this cool plugin for WordPress, I decide to give it a shot and see how it works.

The pluging is called Editorial Calendar and it works like a charm. In fact I started this post using the plugin.

If you fail to plan, you may be planning to fail!

I have not been great at getting content to my blog, and I really need to do a better job of it. So when I saw the post from Chis I thought this may be something that could help me schedule posts, and keep blogging on top of my mind.

The cool part is being able to start a new post right from within the calendar. So if you have ideas or maybe a series of posts you want to write, you can schedule them right here as drafts. Within moments you can have a handful of posts started and scheduled.

Another cool feature is drag and drop… being able to move your post drafts around the calendar as needed.

If there were any features I would like to see added it would be for the calendar to automatically move any draft that did not get posted to a future date automatically. Having a draft 30 plus days old that you have to scroll back and find is my only complaint. But that is really not a big deal as you can still see all of the drafts in the traditional view, just no drag and drop available there. Maybe they will add that feature down the road? You know, kind of like an unfinished task in outlook that just keeps on haunting you until you complete it!

Anyway, if you like to blog often, or need a great way to help you visualize what you are doing to help you plan ahead, I highly suggest using this plugin.

According to the plugin page, here are some of the Editorial Calendar features:

1. See all of your posts and when they’ll be posted.
2. Drag and drop to change your post dates.
3. Quickedit post titles, contents, and times.
4. Publish posts or manage drafts.
5. Easily see the status of your posts.
6. Manage posts from multiple authors.

I am planning on using this plugin to get my blogging butt in gear, and help to plan more content for my site.

How do you see yourself using this plugin, could it help you as well?

Would love your comments below.

Until next time,

Doc

PS: In case you do not click through to the post by Chris Brogan, here is a great video tutorial from the developer Zack Grossbart.

Recently I have been reading blog posts and articles about companies calling Social Media a major “Time Suck”… I think they are wrong!

I really think the term “time suck” needs to be retired when it comes to Social Media. Time suck has a major negative tone, and to apply it to such awesome platforms where you actually have the opportunity to engage with your clients, or future clients should be considered a TIME MUST!

Let me ask you this: Is Social Media any more of a time suck than a “traditional” job within a typical business organization? If you are a business owner reading this, do you consider your best sales person a time suck position? How about your receptionist (the in house first face/voice of your organization)?  Sure, it may not be YOU doing some or all of those efforts and positions, but you value their time and efforts right? Also, you invested time in training these individuals to be their best… was that a “Time Suck” as well?

Doesn’t monitoring your brand or business make sense? How about engaging your customers beyond your physical location as well? No not just in traditional advertising methods… besides, who wants to be interrupted by advertising!

Maybe you have tried your hand at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn on your own and you did not see any immediate results and you decided to quit! Maybe you outsourced your Social Media efforts to what I refer to as a Social Media Huckster and you wasted your time and money and did not see the results you were promised. If that is the case, brush yourself off, put in the time and continue working on it!

YES, Social Media takes time, but so does building relationships at your local chamber meetings, or client calls. Social Media can be one of the best networking/word of mouth tools in your marketing tool belt! So why are you ignoring it or treating it like the marketing version of an “ugly step-child”?

Twitter and Facebook: A new front door to your business?

Your Physical Front Door: Let’s say you have a retail store… and someone walks in that door. What do you do… you greet them right? You ask them how you can help them, offer them (hopfully) great service and close the sale. BUT what if the customer walked in and you ignored them? Possibly this customer may tell friends they know about the bad service… yup, negative word of mouth is not what any business wants! (We all know that!)

On the other hand, you may get praised for great service in the same manner… but we all know bad word of mouth spreads more than positive… sad but true, so do not count on it!

So get out there and make the positive happen… Care, Listen, and Engage!

Your Online Front Door: You may refer to this as your website, but you are assuming people are coming to your site. So why not listen online and be proactive? Just do not be “that guy”! (We will cover “that guy” in another post)

Let’s say someone on Twitter or Facebook mentions your business or product. Maybe they are looking for (in general) where to find a product or service, or maybe they mention you by name. Maybe the person is happy with your product or service, or possibly they are upset with the lack of service received, and in either case they tweet about it or post something on their blog, Facebook, Yelp, UrbanSpoon etc. THE PROBLEM: This is your virtual front door and everyone can see it, NOT JUST YOU! Everyone can see the interaction (or possibly lack there-of). EVERYONE has access to customer comments, good or bad… and you need to be on top of it!

If you do not get your Social Media house in order and take advantage of the opportunity you have to engage you can and may:

• Leave business on the table and lose sales
• Lose the opportunity to become the leader in your business in social media
• Lose the opportunity to turn a negative into a positive
• Lose a customer to a competitor that cares and is proactive in the Social Media space

So, why is hiring someone (outsource or in-house) to handle your social media properly not a priority? You may have a professional CPA do your accounting, an attorney to review your contracts, maybe you outsource your H/R and payroll as well? But you have yet to take Social Media seriously! Why is that? Do you not care? Are you scared to see and have to react to a negative comment? Are you not IN LOVE with your customers and want to thank them for their business? Do you not like building relationships and in turn possibly getting return business and or referrals from existing clients?

When thinking about your Social Media strategy, do you:

• Care about your company, products, services, and most important your customers?
• Listen and Monitor  Twitter for real time comments regarding your business or product? How about Facebook, other websites and blogs talking about your company?
• Engage your fans, or react properly to good and bad comments? Do you create an online community around your business?
• Do you do this all over and over again with a passion?

Obviously these are just some ideas to get you thinking, and there is so much more to cover. We will leave that to future posts!

Now the million dollar question: Do you outsource your social media efforts, or do you do it in house? Well, I say you do whatever works best for you… as long as you plan your strategy, execute, and stay on top of your efforts… but most important, DO NOT QUIT!

And, if you are looking to outsource… I am available. (shameless plug).

Anything to add? Leave a comment below.

Until next time,

Doc

Huckster by definition:

n. One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product.

v. To promote or attempt to sell (a commercial product, for example) in an overaggressive or showy manner.

Now that we have that definition out of the way, let’s get to the meat of this post!

A few days ago, I was on a webinar talking about “social media tactics” on how to use platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. The webinar was put on by someone I have come to respect and admire, but I was so flustered by the end of the webinar, I just needed to write something about it.

I was enjoying the content, and even picked up a golden nugget or two, but about 45 minutes in the information it went from good social media practices, to “we’ll teach you how to game the system, get hundreds, if not thousands of followers every day, and well show you how to do it while you sleep!” In other words… automation!

Ugg, anything automated in social media (except for maybe a couple of exceptions) is complete and utter BS! Add on top of that, people were asked to spend (at the end of this particular webinar) a lot of money paying these “trainers/gurus” on how to learn to game the system, automate their social existence, and in my opinion fail in this world we call social media!

At the end of this presentation, I got the typical Huckster promo… “but wait, there’s more. If you buy now, we’ll not only train you to be a guru, but we will also throw in our 3 ebooks, and give you 1 hour of personal coaching… all for the low low price of $x.xx” you get my drift right?

I do not have a problem with these type of webinars, nor do I have a problem with training people on how to use social media, but if you are going to offer a course of any kind don’t do it with hype, smoke and mirrors. Don’t just sell your prospects on how they can have 50,000 followers in 3 months, and it will all be done while they sleep, teach your students how to do social media the right way!

Social media is indeed that… social. You can’t win by gaming your number of followers. People already on twitter can smell these techniques like a fart in the car, and they either #1 do not follow you back #2 are on an auto follow system and do not pay attention to you anyway, or #3 report you as spam.

It is funny to see how so many social media “guru’s” are applying the old traditional media tactics on twitter etc. They figure the more eye balls, or impressions you get, the more sales will eventually follow. And maybe that is true to an extent, but is that the route you want to take? Do you want to be “that guy” or “that company”? Social media is not a newspaper, TV or radio commercial, or even a billboard for that matter. Just because people may follow back your mega automated account does not mean they are listening or paying attention to you, your brand or your message.

Years ago, in our family business where I handled all our advertising, I would have reps come in from every media telling me how many subscribers they have, how many drive by impressions a billboard will get, how many listeners the radio station has, how many readers their particular publication has, what their demographics of all of the above is… well woop dee freaking doo man! In social media if people are not looking, listening or paying attention your message goes unheard… PERIOD!

So, to the hucksters selling this BS bill of goods, you are just taking money from the uneducated, teaching them bad black hat tactics, and just ruining the reputation for what is, arguably one of the best ways to market yourself and your business… social media! So STOP IT already!

To the audience or consumers of these hucksters… don’t buy into the hype, the automation or how easy it is. Building your brand in social media is hard work, and takes time. You get back from it what you put into it. Put in the time, and you will get the great results you desire.

So, you want to do social media the right way? Here you go! And I won’t charge you $999! (assuming you have a killer product, service or content.)

1. Care
2. Listen
3. Care
4. Engage
5. Repeat

Find the tools and networks that will work best for you while applying the 5 steps above! And if I can be of assistance in helping your decide where to get started, you know where to find me!

Now… go get to work!

Feel free to leave a comment below… would love your feedback!

Until next time…

Doc