What do I post? Finding And Managing Content to Beef Up Your Social Media Presence

Awhile back I shared some tips on how to use social media without being annoying, which was also the title for one of my Muse & the Marketplace sessions in May. In that article I talk about the 80/20 rule and I give some examples of how to think about the types of content you are posting on your social channels. I am not going to rehash the article here, so make sure to check it out.

Instead, I wanted to share some great sites to help you find and manage the content in your social channels.  

It is likely that you are consuming a slew of content every single day and I bet that much of what you are reading would be of interest to others as well. As a result, I highly recommend you check out Buffer.  Buffer is a fantastic service that lets you easily add content from wherever you may be viewing it, on the Web or your mobile device. You can schedule posts for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Not only is it easy to use but you can easily see stats for your posts. There is a free version which is fairly robust and a paid subscription for those who want a bit more functionality.

If you want to save articles to read later and then potentially Buffer them after you have had a chance to read the article, you want a service like Pocket. A bookmarklet on your tool bar makes it easy to save articles at the touch of your mouse.  Pocket will also send you a periodic email of articles you might find interesting, based on the types of articles you have already saved.

Now for the sources of content. There are many out there, but here are ten of my favorites: 

1. Feedly
   Feedly allows you to easily subscribe to all your favorite news sites and blogs and read them in one place. You can save articles to Pocket, you can Buffer them, send them to Evernote and a slew of other places as well.
2. BuzzSumo
   BuzzSumo provides insights into the most popular content online and the influencers sharing it. You can easily see what is trending and find ideas to help jump in on the conversation. This post will go into more depth on how you can turn BuzzSumo into a powerhouse content generator.
3. AllTop
   As the site says, “MyAlltop enables you to create a “personal, online magazine rack” of your favorite websites and blogs. You can create a personal collection from over 32,000 information sources.” Plus you can check out trending topics and see what everyone else is chatting about.
4. Google alerts
   Set up personal alerts about topics you care about. My book, Feast of Sorrow, is set in 1^st century Rome, so of course one of my topics is Ancient Rome. Every day I receive a digest of articles from all over the web that might be talking about that period in history.
5. Quick Meme
   Ever want to create your own funny images to share with your social channels? Now you can.
6. Reddit
   Reddit is one of the most popular sites on the Net, and for good reason. ANY topic you can imagine can be found in secondary “forums” called subreddits. Be careful though as once you start to personalize this site it will become very very addictive.
7. Topsy
   Topsy allows you to search the Twitttersphere to see what people are saying about a given word or topic. It is a great way to potentially find the right people to follow but to also start conversations about subjects you care about with others who share the same interests.
8. Good Reads Quotes
   Quotes tend to do well on Twitter and Good Reads has a great repository of bookish ponderings. Make sure not to use too many though—people want to know YOUR thoughts as well as those of others.
9. Medium
   Medium is one of the most interesting social sites to come around because it is essentially an homage to long form narrative. No 140 characters here. Instead, you will find a wide variety of thoughtful posts from people, both well-known and not-so-well-known, all over the world on a myriad of topics.
10. Scoop.It
    Finally, there is Scoop It, which is another site that curates stories from all over the Web. You can follow topics, other users and create your own special curated topics as well. If interested it can also publish and deliver up analytics on your content.

So there you go. Ten fantastic sources of great content. Now your only excuse is finding the time. Which, as I’ve said before (at the start of this article, in fact), isn’t a great excuse.

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