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The Pros and Cons of Social Media Dashboard Use

By on September 30, 2011

With so many social media sites to manage, it’s almost impossible to run a decent social marketing campaign online without a dashboard of some sort Iron Dream. But what are the pros and cons of using these dashboards, and do they really make a difference to your social strategy? Let’s examine the evidence.

The Pros of Social Media Dashboards

It’s essential in this wild, untamed social landscape to be able to unify your goals, under one solid social plan Download Orbi. This is the reason why social dashboards were created. Here are some of the reasons why having a social dashboard is an excellent idea Process Clean 2.30a.

#1: Managing The Big Sites

Most social dashboards will integrate with your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog and Youtube accounts – which is great news if you post on these all the time Download the pivot program. They allow you to manage your efforts, while keeping track of the comments that pour in.

#2: Managing The Little Sites

There are a few social dashboards that allow for a fair amount of customization – for example, if you’re a photographer, and your main social site is Flickr 8 miles. Add the ‘smaller’ sites into your social dashboard, and manage them from a central location.

#3: Tracking and Measuring

The key reason why all of the big marketers have one or more social dashboards, is that they automatically monitor, track and measure your sites 임진록 2. Then they conveniently display these results in the form of graphs, charts and data. Use this data to tweak your campaigns and improve your overall strategy 배틀그라운드 무료 다운로드.

#4: Team Building and Collaboration

If more than one person manages your social sites, a social dashboard is a great way to keep track of what each individual has done 랜능크. Using custom logins, these people can go about their business, with set tasks and without the fear of doing something another team member has already done Download Palace Comics.

#5: Manage Multiple Accounts

One social media campaign is tough enough to manage, but when you have three or four, things can get out of control Meditation mp3. Certain social media dashboards allow the separation and integration of multiple accounts and multiple campaigns, which makes things a lot easier to manage, track and adjust.

The Cons of Social Dashboards

And now, for the not so nice side of using social dashboards.

#1: Finding The Right One

Everyone’s needs are different, and unfortunately – so are the social dashboards. You’ll need to investigate each one carefully before you decide to buy it, or even use it. Choosing the wrong one could end in a lot of hours wasted. On the bright side, there are a lot of trial periods up for grabs.

#2: Finding The Right Five

You’ll often find that the best social dashboards are specialized – meaning it’s really good, but it only manages and tracks your Twitter account, for example. Having more than one social dashboard is time consuming, and time in social media is everything.

#3: The Little Issues

Each social dashboard has its problems, and you need to decide whether you can live with them. Some don’t properly integrate with API software, some time-out if you don’t use them for a while. The trick is to always be on the look out for something better, newer – with more features.

The best social dashboards are still Hootsuite, Argyle Social and Spredfast. Which social media dashboard is your favorite and why? Tell us below!

About John Souza

John Souza is founder and chief strategist of SMMU and Social Media Impact, and is a bestselling business author. He won the 2011 Tech Marketing Awards ‘Social Media Marketer of the Year’ and most recently the About.com Reader’s Choice Award for Best Online Education Site. John has appeared on The Michael Gerber Show, and his business has been honored at the Mashable Awards, Forbes Business Awards and The Stevie Awards.
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