It's all digital

Manage all your social media posts with these tools

Daniel Zeevi, founder of DashBurst, revealed his favorite social media management tools. DashBurst is a content marketing platform (http://dashburst.com).

1. Hootsuite
http://hootsuite.com
HootSuite is the most popular social media management tool for people and businesses to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks like Facebook and Twitter from one web-based dashboard. Hootsuite offers a free, pro and enterprise solution for managing unlimited social profiles, enhanced analytics, advanced message scheduling, Google Analytics and Facebook insights integration.

2. Buffer
http://bufferapp.com
Buffer is a smart and easy way to schedule content across social media. Think of Buffer like a virtual queue you can use to fill with content and then stagger posting times throughout the day. This lets you keep to a consistent social media schedule all week long without worrying about micro-managing the delivery times. The Buffer app also provides analytics about the engagement and reach of your posts.

3. SocialOomph
www.socialoomph.com
SocialOomph is a neat web tool that provides a host of free and paid productivity enhancements for social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plurk and your blog. There are a ton of useful Twitter features like scheduling tweets, tracking keyword, viewing mentions and retweets, DM inbox cleanup, auto-follow and auto-DM features for new followers. SocialOomph will auto-follow any new follower of yours on Twitter if you like.

4. TweetDeck
http://tweetdeck.com
TweetDeck is a web and desktop solution to monitor and manage your Twitter feeds with powerful filters to focus on what matters. You can also schedule tweets and stay up to date with notification alerts for new tweets. Recently they closed down their mobile apps to re-shift focus on the web and desktop platforms.

5. Tweepi
http://tweepi.com
Tweepi is a unique management tool for Twitter that lets you flush unfollowers, cleanup inactives, reciprocate following and follow interesting new tweeps! The pro version allows you to do bulk follow/unfollow actions of up to 200 users at a time making it a pretty powerful tool for Twitter management.

See Zeevi’s other five picks here: http://bit.ly/1c0Yx17

Multimedia Minute

Dedicated to breeders
Suntory Flowers has launched a new film series that captures the passion, dedication, and even danger behind plant breeding. The first film features Sun Parasol mandevilla.
Watch the video at http://bit.ly/1a3NFfk

Sakata turns 100
Sakata celebrates 100 years. See how the company got its start and follow its innovations throughout its century of service.
Watch the video at http://bit.ly/HeNk3h

IPM for cluster tomatoes
Jon Steffy from ProduceGeek.com interviews Carl Mastronardi of Del Fresco Produce about his use of beneficial insects in the greenhouse and gets his tips for growing tomatoes.
Watch the video at http://bit.ly/1aaSGc9

Help needed

Here are three reasons small businesses need help with social media from Heidi Cohen, marketing expert.

1. Social media is a time suck. Dip your toe into the social media waters and soon an hour or two has passed without anything of value added to your business to show for your time. Actionable SMB Tip: Schedule a limited amount of time to accomplish a set activity. If you do this every day, you’re more likely to build the habit.

2. Social media offers a confusing array of options. You can get a headache trying to figure out the different social media platforms and that’s before you start creating content and engaging on them. Actionable SMB Tip: Don’t spread yourself too thin. Choose one to three platforms that relate to your business and build from there. I recommend a blog as a starting point since it provides for social sharing and commentary.

3 Social media doesn’t directly drive sales. Many businesses, small and large, have trouble tracking sales or profits back to their social media interactions. Actionable SMB Tip: Include a social media call-to-action in your social media content. Most businesses assume that the call-to-action is implied therefore they neglect to include it.

http://heidicohen.com

From Twitter

Bridget Behe @BridgetBehe
Good advice for any manager: What to Do When an Employee Cries at Work http://hbr.org/tip/2013/10/15/what-to-do-when-an-employee-cries-at-work-

DallasArbPlantTrials @DABSPlantTrials
Prepping for Summer 2014 Trials - wondering what our followers would like to see?? #dallasplanttrials #summer2014trials

RareFind Nursery @rarefindnursery
Bill and Jason’s pitcher plants “ate” the competition at the New England carnivorous plant society show in RI http://fb.me/2EE3xYXCC

Valleybrook Gardens @vb_gardens
It’s a Fairy Frenzy at Valleybrook Gardens! This miniature garden was designed by Becky from our Ontario Nursery. http://ow.ly/q7bWe

PlantsforHumanHealth @PHHI_NCSU
#NCStrawberries are still fruiting at the Upper Mtn. Research Station in October! Season-extending research at work. pic.twitter.com/oLrK1BZR2Y

Greenhouse Geek @GhsFanatic
Poinsettias: A feast of festive hues http://ow.ly/q8fXu 

Jim Brandle @CEOVineland
Demand grows for exotic veggies as nation’s palate changes http://cbc.sh/SzZnKVX

PRO-MIX @promixghgrowing
Helpful grower tools on the University of New Hampshire’s website. http://ow.ly/pSMeN

EvergreenCooperative @EvergreenCoop
Congrats to @GreenCityGrower for winning @NatlDevCouncil 2013 award for Most Innovative Job Creation Project!