How Many Social Media Tools Do You Need?

Social Media Tools - JeffKorhan.com
Tools

If you walk into Home Depot they will gladly sell you all the tools that you need.  How many is that?  That's up to you to decide.  It stand to reason that the more tools you have, the more you can get done.  Right? 

Wrong?  Home Depot is in the tools business. They want you to use every tool they have.  Google and hundreds of others are quickly becoming the Home Depots of the Web.  You have to discriminate.  You have to choose. 

If you love your tools, then you are tool guy (or gal).  You are a craftsman.  The problem with most craftsmen is they starve because they fall in love with their work.

If you love the results that you get with those tools, then I want to hire you.  You are someone who has discovered that you can do a lot of things with a hammer, so to speak.  If I hire you, I can only only imagine how much more you could accomplish with that hammer if I give you a couple of screwdrivers and a wrench.

Results

If I need a tool to get a job done – an important job, here is what I would do.

I would find one of the few remaining full-service hardware stores.  I would saunter into the place wearing my most worn-out jeans, and preferably a dirty John Deere cap.  Then I would find the representative with leathery skin from too much time in the sun working his ass off to get a job done.  He's the expert.

I wouldn't have to ask the first question.  He would ask me two questions that are critical to the success of my project.  "Whatcha tryin' to do?" And after a bit of conversation, he will ask: "How ya tryin' to do it?"

When it comes to work of any kind, this is what you need to know. What are you trying to do and how are you trying to do it? 

If I were building a deck, there would be a need for some lag bolts to properly secure the railing posts to the frame.  Nails could work, but bolts would be better.  I could use a hex wrench to secure those bolts, but a socket wrench would be even better.  It costs more, but it would be much easier and save time.  And I would then have that tool to use later for another project.

The only tools that matter are the ones that will help you get the job done right. So then, why are so many social media marketers enamored with their knowledge of tools?  I suspect they don't really know how to use them to help you get the results you are looking for.  They are stuck in the tools business, and you are in the results business.

Social Media

There are social media tools that will help you to measure just about anything you care to measure. You can research all kinds of demographics and gather all kinds of data that you will never need.  You will find tools that will allow you to do just about anything – to push messages to places where the sun don't shine.  Yet, at some point you have to ask yourself a couple of simple questions.

Whatcha tryin' to do?

And how ya tryin' to do it?

Social media is not about the tools.  It's about engaging with people to accomplish practical results.  Small business owners know this from experience. 

To be successful with social media, you have to to apply what you already know about your customers.

Then it is easy to choose the right tools to get the job done.

Photo Credit:  Danny_McL

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