By Angela Bickford
Originally guest posted on The Work at Home Woman

You love being social. You love networking. You’ve got the communication part down, but the media part? Using the various channels? Being tech savvy enough to figure it all out – that’s got you stuck…

What can you do?

Well, first, give yourself a break. The forms of media and the technology used to deliver your message are constantly changing. In fact, most people have a hard time keeping up. That’s why there’s an abundance of classes, articles, and consultants at the ready to help you figure it out.

But, if you just want a few simple tips and want to be pointed in the right direction, then read on…

Managing all your accounts
One of the biggest complaints I hear is that while you know you need to have a presence on more than one media channel, you can’t quite keep up with all the places you have to post, comment, etc. Or, you’ve got more than one account to manage – say your personal and your work. A few great sources for managing your multiple accounts include TweetDeck, Hootsuite, Ping.fm, and one I just recently learned about that I’m excited to try – AtomKeep. The great news about these management devices is that they work on most smart phones too, so you can still manage all your accounts on the go.

Tracking and personalizing your links
When you write a lot of blog posts or post articles that you’re interested in knowing how many people read, tracking links can be helpful. Sites that can help you track, as well as personalize and shorten your links, include Bit.ly and TinyURL, or BudURL for more serious tracking. I love personalizing my links because then I don’t have to remember random numbers and letters, I can direct people to an easy to remember link.

Find out your ‘worth’
Holly posted an article earlier about monitoring your name and your business, which you can find here, and I really like and personally use many of these resources. My favorite, which Holly mentioned, is HubSpot. I like Hubspot because not only do they have a grader for twitter, facebook, your blog and your website, but they also offer many webinars and assistance with the exact information I’m providing now. I recommend at least checking them out for the free resource that will help you find out your worth.

Geo what?
If you’re like me, you don’t get the point of ‘checking in’ and ‘geo location’. I personally don’t like using services like Foursquare and Facebook check-in, but many businesses – and customers - rave about the benefits of these services. If you are excited about the potential of these services, and want to learn more, this article might help.

Sharing through videos and photos
Showing is usually more intriguing than telling, but won’t help if you don’t know how to use YouTube, upload a photo (don’t laugh – some people haven’t quite figured out uploading photos that aren’t sideways to Facebook!), or tweet a photo. I just started using YouTube, believe it or not, after years of resisting integrating video into my social media efforts. Setting up an account was easy – you can do it through Google – and what you post doesn’t have to be public. The settings are such that you can easily set individual videos to public, private, or ‘people with the link only’. Then, you post the link to the video like you would post any other link. Way easier than I thought it would be.

Are you struggling with something I haven’t listed? Leave your question in the comments, and Holly or I will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible. Have a great idea to help ease the tech struggles related to social media? Feel free to share that too!