Social media marketing is the craze these days but are you tracking your social media efforts?

These tools will help you track your social media marketing efforts to insure that you’re obtaining results from your efforts. Whether you’re using Twitter or whether you’re simply trying to find relevant content you need a way to measure the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns.

Sure, social media activities run the gamut from blogging to micro blogging and Tweeting. Social networking communities like LinkedIn and Facebook, are great content distribution channels for video, music, and unique useful content. Of course this also includes discussion forums, photo sharing and marketing of your article across various channels. With so many different sites and ways to participate, it can be difficult to keep track of all your efforts.

Try these tools for effective social media tracking:

1)http://BackTweets.com
A search engine for Twitter. Find out who’s tweeting your links and more. Can also sign up for email alerts of new findings and topics.

2) http://Surchur.com :
Search for the latest and greatest topics that are popular right now. Type in a keyphrase and it searches blogs, social news sites, photo and video sites for your targetred topic.

3) http://www.google.com/alerts :
This is an absolute must have. I’ve been using this “secret weapon” for many years. It’s easy to use, simply type in your name or company name and receive daily emails of results found all across the Internet. They do the work, you receive the links. Free and nice tool.

4) http://SiteMention.com :
Simply type in your url and find out what’s being said about you. your site or your organization. The results returned are gathered from Google Blog Search, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube, MySpace, Digg, Delicious and many more. Want to know if you’re creating buzz… This one is also a must have.

5) http://AlertRank.com :
This tool extends the power of your Google alerts. What a way to organize and sort Google alerts. Get a daily report emailed to you in a spreadsheet format of what it finds. Build a chronological record of when and where your important topics are found online.

As you know, there are many ways to market your company using social media marketing. you may be surprised to find that there are also a multitude of tools to measure your online marketing effectiveness.  Post, tweet and measure, my secret formula for directing future activities and measuring online effectiveness.

While having a well ranked video on YouTube is certainly not the equivalent of having a top ranking page for your best keyword in Google, it is comparatively easier to accomplish, and may yield productive results much quicker.

YouTube has become an important part of online web marketing these days. Many online marketers haven’t even scratched the surface as it relates to capturing exposure and capitalizing on the marketing power of YouTube.

One of the keys to understanding and using YouTube effectively is to understand the search parameters that are available for sorting and organizing YouTube searches. These can be found by selecting “Advance Search” in the search bar.

The search parameters are important because the search results are presented in a manner that can be extremely helpful to the online marketer. By default, the search parameters are typically sorted by “Relevance”, however there are several different ways that you can sort search results.

Here’s just a few:

Relevance: Returns your search results sorted by relevance to your search term. This is helpful whenever you want to make general searches for topics specifically of interest to you. This is also helpful for developing long tail key words associated with a specific topic. As many marketers know, long tail keywords present unique opportunities for finding new clients.

Statistics & Data: This feature allows you to see statistics & data about your search term. This sort feature can be especially useful when sorting YouTube search results. These groupings tend to attract people that are quite passionate about specific subject matter. If your marketing efforts are targeted at specific target markets. This is a great way to identify people that are interested in your market. URL’s are also noted.

This is also a great way to find herds of people that are interested in your market. Most marketers try to find web traffic opportunities and “lure” the traffic to their web portals. Using “statistical” search parameters on YouTube, you can find the market and go stand “smack dab”, right in the middle of it. Find groups that are of interest you and engage them in conversation.

Date Added: This feature allows you to find playlists or videos organized by the date they were added. This sort function is great for finding “clusters” of current videos on common topics. This can be a very good source of finding videos for re-branding, particularly if you need current and relevant content.

View Count: This sort allows you to sort videos base on videos that have been viewed the most. This is another hidden jewel within the YouTube search options. When sorting your search by “view count”, you’ll be conveniently provided with information that tells you which videos were viewed the most. In some cases, tracing the source of the video back to it’s original home can provide you with great ideas for advertising and promotion. This is also a great way to use video branding (http://www.cyberincomesolutions.com/affiliatevideobrander/splash.html).

Here’s how it works. Search on your topic, find a very popular video and see if you can trace it back to the original site. It the video is “really” popular, there’s a good chance that others have done exactly what you just did. Contact the web site or blog owner and negotiate the placement of one of your advertising banners on their web site or blog. Find the traffic and stand in front of it!

Rating: Sort by “stars” ratings. This is a good sort parameter as well. Though not as useful as some of the other sort methods, it does give you an idea of how popular a particular video has been. Use this as a factor, when considering popularity that could possibly lead to larger gatherings of like minds.

Refine by Category: This is pretty self-explanatory, you can search by what topic of video you are looking for. This is a great “drill down” tool to get to videos that are quite targeted to a specific term or theme. Depending upon your goals, refining a category for specific criteria can also be useful.

Though most people think of YouTube as a directory of videos, it may be a good idea to look a little deeper. YouTube can also be used as a great tool for accomplishing a variety of online marketing tasks. Probably one of the most over looked uses of YouTube is the “Search” function. This is a great place to find gatherings of similar interest. Use YouTube to find specific targeted demographics and stand in front of the traffic you need.

Are you a Tweeter? If so, what does that mean?

Is it simply another opportunity to expose your offerings? Is it simply another channel to convey the benefits of your products or services?

I would suggest that it’s all of the above, but it’s also much more…

Maybe it can be best described with this analogy.

Let’s say you’ve just walked into a room filled with lots of people. A room that that is filled with people that (for the most part) you don’t know. Some are simply standing around talking and chatting with one another.

Some of these people may or may not be interested in your products, services and most importantly some of these people may or may not be interested in YOU.

Here’s the question?

How do you effectively find out “who’s…who”? How do you develop a strategy that will allow you to interact with some of the people in the room in hopes of exposing your products, your services and most importantly exposing yourself?

Let’s face it, most business relationships start with the simplest of conversations. On Twitter, your objective is to begin to start conversations with people to find out if they are of “like mind”. If they have interests that mirror your interest. Maybe just maybe, we can establish friends, prospects, customers, and other types of relationships that can grow to become business alliances that share “mutual interest”.

Now back to our analogy… Would you walk into a room filled with people that you don’t know and stand on a table and begin shouting about your great products and services? Would this be the most effective and appropriate means of achieving your objectives?

This approach may yield minimal results however it probably won’t maximize your potential for long-term success. Another more effective approach may be that of “mingling”… or gently injecting yourself into existing conversations that interest you.

This is a very effective approach when marketing on Twitter. An approach that lays the foundation for relationships that may prove a bit more fruitful. This approach is also much easier than simply branding yourself as a product or service promoter.

Joining an existing conversation is much easier than starting your own with the hope of attracting those who may be remotely interested in what you’re trying to say.

One effective way to do this is the Twitter Search function. This allows you to search for topics that may interest you and respond or “join in” on conversations to expose yourself to others. It also allows for “targeted” followers.

This approach is far better than standing on a table in a crowded room (Twitter) and shouting about your products, services and offers in hopes to attract those prospective business partners.

If you’re trying to attract new targeted followers on Twitter one of the best ways to do this is to “join” existing conversations by responding, contributing and engaging in the conversation that are parallel to your interests..

This can be done with comments, videos that are relevant, of even quotes or jokes that are consistent to the existing conversation. An occasional “ReTweet” of interesting elements of an existing conversation will also get you noticed quickly. Think about it, we are all flattered when someone else “validates” our perspectives or shares our views with others.

In some cases you can even introduce other like minds to one another. This immediately brands you as a “valued” follower.

Try expanding the conversations of others when Tweeting and you’ll find that your presence “in the room” will rapidly increase. People will begin to take notice of your thoughts, views and yes even your products and services because of the relationships that you’ve established.

Once you’ve established yourself as a valued contributor, collaborator and someone that brings people of like minds together… then gently add your prospective, products, offerings and other interesting elements to those conversations.

Consider a different approach to your Twitter marketing to get better results.

As always I enjoy reading your comments…