24 Full Service Tools to Manage B2B Social Media

From Social Media B2B 

As the final wrap-up in our ongoing series of Social Media Management Systems (SMMS) reviews for B2B companies, we’re providing a list of the most popular desktop and web-based systems on the market. We’ve attempted to organize the platforms into categories for entry level users, advanced marketers, enterprise platforms and agency options. The social networks that each systems supports is listed along with the price (if published).

Since most of these tools are relatively new, there’s a wide variety of features, functionality and price among the various options. We encourage anyone in the market for a social media management system to understand the features and functionality you need first, then find a system that matches your requirements and budget.

If you are using any of the SMMS tools listed, please let us know in the comments below what you love about it and can’t live without and what you wish you could change. Also let other readers know if you would recommend the tool in a similar social media environment.

Note: any tool listed in more than one category only has a description the first time it is listed.

10 Tweetable Twitter Tips for B2B Marketers

Many B2B companies start their social media adoption with Twitter because it seems to be the easiest platform to jump right in without a plan. Let’s start twittering, the boss says. And the junior marketer complies . With that in mind, this post offers 10 helpful tips for B2B marketers who are running the company Twitter account. If you are just starting out, these are good things to know. If you are an old hand at Twitter, there might be something here that is a good reminder. And just to keep things interesting, each one of these tips will be tweetable. Just copy and paste into your favorite Twitter client and update. Sharing these tips could be a good way to add some value your Twitter followers.

TED Blog: 100 Websites You Should Know and Use

Somewhat dated, however still very useful:      

Anthropology: What Is It?

Anthro Links

Big List Here 

A list of top 25 Anthropology blogs by Blog Rank

Few more below

Top 10 Providers Of Free Online Training

From e-Learning

1. How to Create a Cartoon in After Effects: Excellent  and detailed tutorial showing how you can create funny and semi-complex cartoons using Adobe After Effects.
2. CBTcafe.com: Some great free training demonstrations. They also resell inexpensive e-Learning tutorials.
3. GCF Learn Free Organization: GCFLearnFree.org® is supported by the Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc.
4. Free Microsoft Office  Online Training Courses (by Microsoft): Courses developed and offered by Microsoft.
5. Small Business Association (government): SBA is dedicated to helping you and your small business succeed. There are a variety of online trainings which cover many business topics for you to learn.
6. Free Online Conversvation Training: Learn more about this facinating subject. This conservation training is an online course system focused on conservation-based training, created and maintained by the Nature Conservancy in partnership with other conservation organizations.
7. Lynda: A popular provider of e-Learning covering a wide range of areas
8. Free OSHA Training: OSHAcademy online safety and health training is endorsed by theNational Safety Management Society and approved for the accredited Associate Safety Health Manager (ASHM) certification through the Institute for Safety and Health Management. We provide free online safety courses and low cost certificate programs. We also conduct training throughout the world by independent Authorized Trainers.
9. Free Training Power: TrainingPower is committed to connecting individuals and companies to valuable free resources, getting them started with long-term training initiatives. TrainingPower has added valuable usability and effectiveness functions to free government-published content and is offering a selection of free courses to workers, trainers and employers on its FreeTrainingPower.com web site.
10. Online First-Aid Training: Everyone who loves someone should know first-aid. Do you and your fellow employees need or want first-aid training? Try this great free resource.
11. Free Online Safety Training: Offering a wide range of free and fee-based online Safety courses.
12. eLearning Center

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Use this process to create a training knowledge base

By Lauri Elliot - A knowledge base can be a highly effective, inexpensive tool when traditional user training isn't an option. Here's a case study from an IT consultant and trainer that will teach you how to create and manage a training knowledge base.

Classroom Presentation Checklist

By na - A basic evaluation type checklist for classroom presentations that contains 16 items. Can be used in a number of ways, but we include it here to be used as a basis for customizing.

What's All the Fuss About Anthropology?

July 30, 2009

What's All the Fuss About Anthropology?
by Paula Gray, AIPMM
The reason that the social science discipline, Anthropology, is gaining emphasis and focus in the business world is that someone very learned and insightful, remembered that people drive all business decisions. They took a step back from being product-focused and turned the focus to people. People buy your products, people design your products, people analyze and write about your products. People do these things - not industries, not corporations, not media, not demographic data. A person or a group of people form opinions and make these all-important decisions. This is precisely where cultural anthropology, the study of human culture, comes in. Cultural anthropology offers us a peak into the context within which all decisions are made, including buying decisions. Culture is the framework that cultural anthropology uses to create this context.
The American Anthropological Association states that "Culture represents the entire database of knowledge, values, and traditional ways of viewing the world, which have been transmitted from one generation ahead to the next -- nongenetically, apart from DNA -- through words, concepts, and symbols."
In anthropology, culture is also described as the lens through which an individual sees the world. Individuals who hail from the same cultural background will share this lens in common, even though their individual views and experiences may be different. Through this lens your product, marketing campaigns, and customer service efforts will be viewed. By understanding the common cultural lens shared by a group of people, you can better understand what they view as important, how your product fits into their lives, what traditions or taboos you may be up against or on which you can capitalize.

What Can Marketers Borrow From the Anthropologist's Toolbox?

August 13, 2009

What Can Marketers Borrow From the Anthropologist's Toolbox?
by Paula Gray, AIPMM
Anthropology's toolbox can offer much to assist business practices, especially marketing. Anthropology answers the question of what it means to be human. It is the scientific study of humankind, human origins and human variation, wherever and whenever humans have been found. This can include humans in shopping malls, boardrooms and offices. What marketers can do is to use anthropological methodologies to help inform business activities, tasks, and decisions because customers are humans, too.
Anthropology, as the study of humans, uses a particular methodology as a way of studying humans, called ethnography. Ethnography gathers data through the following methods: participant observation, interviews, life histories, photos and film, surveys, and historical artifacts. What makes anthropology more relevant than the other social sciences alone is that it encompasses much more. Anthropology encompasses sociology by addressing social institutions and relationships. It encompasses biology by addressing the environment within which humans live and how humans interact with that environment. It encompasses physiology by recognizing the limits and unique attributes that the human body has including aging, health, disease and physical characteristics. Anthropology also encompasses psychology by addressing human mental and behavioral characteristics including their beliefs, values and fears. According to the anthropologists at Palomar College,