How to manage multiple social media accounts from your smartphone

If you're not in social media then you are not in business. But the proliferation of social media platforms can be enough to make your head spin. To keep up, you have to be able to manage your accounts on the go.

Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit - there are thousands of social media websites out there. The baffling thing is that they are all popular in different degrees. Such is people's taste for social media that even niche sites or those that are past their prime still attract 10 of millions of visits per month.

So they all have potential value to your business. The only way to realise this potential is to be able to upload your business-critical thinking wherever you go. That means managing accounts on your mobile.

Thankfully the software geeks are a step ahead and there is a host of software designed to help you coordinate your mobile social networking activities. Ping.fm, for example, allows you to post messages easily to any of your social media accounts

BlackBerry's Social Feeds app (which is standard on many newer devices) allows you to have all your feeds coming into one place so you can keep a handle on them without having to log in to lots of different websites.

Broadcasting messages is a doodle, simply write your message and when it's time to send from your BlackBerry, tick which social channels you want it to go out to and all will be updated simultaneously.

FriendFeed is one of the most popular social media aggregators around. It's clean, light and easy to navigate application which supports around 50 of the most popular social media feeds. It integrates with blogs and other websites and you can use privacy settings should you wish.

TweetDeck is available on a range of handsets and lets you organise a number of Twitter accounts. It's great for heavy Twitter users who want to keep a series of feeds for different audiences. It's attractive, manageable and flexible, making it one of the most sort after apps on the market.

Hootsuite is another popular Twitter dashboard which features a customisable interface, easy navigation, a detailed analytics package, and the ability to update Facebook.

You may choose one or more of these apps in your bid for domination of the social media universe. Which you pick will depend on the needs of your business and the social media websites you use most often.

The best advice as always is to shop around, experiment and read reviews. Take time to organise your accounts and learn how they work before you start posting to avoid embarrassing errors. Do this and social media on the move will be a breeze.

#MWW offer: share minutes with your colleagues

As part of Mobile Working Week, BlackBerry and O2 have teamed up to offer Smarta readers an exclusive offer. To find out how you can share your minutes for free, click here.

For more information about how BlackBerry can help your business go to www.blackberry.co.uk/sme

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