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There’s no going back – many of us lead busy social lives… online. Social media needs to be an essential ingredient in a birth pro’s marketing and networking strategies. Facebook and Twitter are currently the places to be – they are where a large number of expectant mamas hang out, and where we can get their attention. These online gathering places are where we can be influential, and where we can really expand our reach to change the state of maternal health in our society.

The issue many birth pros face is that aside from the learning curve newbies face when starting out, to get the most out of social media, time must be invested in it. Anyone who is a heavy user of Facebook and Twitter (and now Google+) knows all too well the time suck that can result.

As a busy mom and business owner, squeezing as much time out of my days is becoming an art. I am an enthusiastic advocate of tools that add to my efficiency, both online and offline. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a number of Twitter tools and discovering how I can create a more efficient rhythm for my social media usage.

Before I talk about the tools, I’ll share two main reasons I use social media:

1. To connect with birth professionals, potential clients, friends, and other interesting people. My social media activities include one or two Twitter chats each week, conversations with those who happen to be online when I am, and responses to questions or comments. On the Inspired Birth Pro page on Facebook, I ask questions and invite birth pros to respond. The variety of interactions have been great for developing friendships with people locally and around the world, learning more about current issues and trends in the birth field and maternal health.
2. To find and share useful information. In addition to connecting with others, I share blog posts from Inspired Birth Pro and links pertaining to birth, parenting, social media, small business, and quirky stuff. I enjoy exploring the links that friends of mine have shared, and admit that finding great information and resources has become a hobby. Being curious about what others are doing, saying and sharing makes social media fun and interesting. Being helpful lets others know that they can count on you as a dependable resource.

Most of the tools that I’ll be sharing are for use with Twitter, but there are a couple that will work with Facebook as well. All of these tools are also either totally free or they have a free version you can use. Some of the services require that you fill out an email form to request an invitation to use their service. Don’t let that deter you. Sign up and within a few days you will be able to begin using their tools.

Finally, I will also apologize in advance to very new Twitter users, who may not understand all the lingo that follows. Please contact me if you need me explain anything further.

Tools for Connecting with Others

When I first started using Twitter in 2008, I admit I used a service that auto-followed other users when they followed me. It was easier than opening each one of the emails I received from Twitter, going to Twitter to see who they were, and then following them. However, as marketers and spammers learned about Twitter, the amount of spam I was seeing in my stream was ridiculous, so I stopped using the service. I also stopped using Twitter for about a year.

Eventually, I cleaned out all the followers who were not offering me anything of value, and began looking for better ways to “vet” my followers. Here are the tools I use now:

Topify – When you sign up to use Topify, you have to initially set up Twitter notifications to go through Topify’s system. Once that’s done, when someone follows you, Topify will send an email that includes your new follower’s name, her bio, number of followers, and a few of her most recent Tweets. Once you review the information, you can choose to follow that person, block her, report her for spam, or do nothing.

Because there are so many Twitter users who either use auto-follow services, are spammers, or are just following random people to increase the numbers of followers they have, using Topify offers Twitter users a way to quickly see who followed them and lets them take immediate action.

SocialOomph – SocialOomph offers a wide variety of free features and also has a paid professional version with a boatload of tools. The main feature I use is their free keyword tracking service. Specify up to 50 keywords of interest to you, and this tool will send you periodic emails with all tweets that contain those keywords. Note that these are tweets from Twitter’s public stream (as in ALL tweets), not just from your own. My keywords include my own Twitter username so I can see who shared my tweets or replied to me, and several hashtags, such as #birthpro, #birthgenius, #doulaparty and #breastfeeding.

Once or twice a day, you’ll receive an email with the tweets for that 12- or 24-hour time frame, categorized by keyword. Following each tweet are links so that you can reply, view the tweet in Twitter, retweet it, or send the original user a direct message. Also linked are Twitter usernames, hashtags and website links.

I’ve found this SocialOomph feature extremely helpful for reading Twitter chats I missed and replying to those who contacted me or shared my tweets. It’s also a great way to find new Twitter users to follow and links to share.

Rapportive for Gmail – I’ve recently added Rapportive to my Gmail and think it rocks! Basically, when you open an email, Rapportive creates a column to the right of the email and lists the sender’s social media links and shows their bio, recent posts/tweets from several social media services. In addition, you are able to follow or unfollow people, and you will see links to other emails within Gmail from that sender. This tool is especially useful for business owners, because you may find new people to connect with or see what your friends and colleagues are up to, right from your email.

Try out any or all of the above tools, and let me know how they work for you. Next time, I’ll be sharing more tools that help you find and share links and information.

These posts may also inspire you:

1. Social Media Tools to Minimize the Time Suck: Putting it All Together (Part 3)
2. Social Media Tools to Minimize the Time Suck: Tools to Find and Share Content (Part 2)
3. Stepping Back from Social Media Madness
4. Where’s the Party? Doula Party, That Is
5. Facebook Ad Crash Course for Birth Pros (Part 3)