As a Part-Time Social Media Specialist for our company and a few clients, a big part of my job and daily routine entails researching the web for relevant and “tweet-worthy” information. It is essential that Social Media Specialists know and understand the goals of the company they are working for in order to represent the company effectively.
Knowing how to find content for social media channels can be challenging (at times). The following is a list of websites I have organized together in order to find information on the web.
Great Third Party Sources
It is useful to have a few reliable sources you visit every day for content. These types of sources produce information relevant to your industry.
Here are a few examples of my trusted third party sources:
The Globe and Mail
I visit the small business and technology sections Globe and Mail as my first source of news. The Globe has endless articles detailing sales, marketing, social media and technology news.
Inc Magazine
Working with small businesses, it is always good to keep on top of the industry news. I visit Inc Magazine in order to see what topics are generating buzz.
Mashable
Mashable consolidates many of the top stories on social media, digital culture and technology.
Partners and Associations
Before we begin with a client, we outline their Partners and Associations (including websites, Twitter handles and Facebook Pages). Visiting these sites for tweet-able or posting information is a great way to endorse one’s supporters and keep the relationship strong.
Prospects
We also outline what type of prospects our clients are looking for. If they are specific companies/people, these outlets are great for RT-ing – supporting a prospect is a great way for them to get to know you.
Google Alerts
Every day Google sends me articles and blogs based on my keyword searches. For instance, I’ve used the keywords “start-ups” and “Toronto” and last week I received information about a start-up in Toronto who raised $8M in funding.
Twilert
This is a tool I recently started using and so far it has been successful at keeping me up-to-date with Twitter, without me having to keep two eyes on my home feed. Similar to Google Alerts, you choose which keywords you would like to flag and Twilert sends information with these keywords directly to your inbox on a daily basis.
The home page of my LinkedIn account has been a great source of information regarding who is reading what, who wrote what article and which article are the “top” stories of the day. By taking a 30 second look at what content has shown up on my home feed, I never leave LinkedIn empty handed of information. Using keywords to search “updates” in LinkedIn will also generate the top posts, articles and/or questions relevant to your keywords.
In order to stay on top of emerging trends and new outlets of information, continue to explore new ways of finding information. Start with this exercise:
- Read an article
- Look up the author on Twitter
- See who they are following
- Start following some of the same people
- See what these new people are tweeting about
The chain of information is endless.
For reading suggested, sign up for our monthly newsletter which includes articles, books and blogs we’ve found useful at VA Partners. For more information visit our Part-Time Social Media services web page or connect with us.
