If your knowledge of social media sites is limited to Facebook and Twitter…you’re missing the hashtag. Take a look at some of these goodies that will boost your social savvy beyond the Twittersphere:
1. Pinterest. Pinterest is an online pinboard for sharing photos of everything from food to hairstyles. The reason we included it on this list is because of the site’s “request an invitation” feature and implication that there’s a waiting list to join. We think that’s a bit of marketing genius in itself. There’s nothing like telling people they can’t join a club to get them to want to join it!
2. Gentlemint.com. To give the guys a fair shake, Gentlemint.com is a newly launched site billing itself as the “Pinterest for men.” It follows the same kind of invitation-only model but lets guys share content with a decidedly more male focus.
3. LocaFollow.com. This handy tool may just become an essential part of your PR toolkit for social media outreach by city. It helps you locate people to follow based on their location and bio.
4. Friend or Follow. Here’s another Twitter-focused service that lets you manage and filter your Twitter followers. It tells you things such as who has stopped following you and who you’re not following back. It’s a great way to boost your Twitter marketing.
5. ClickDummy. ClickDummy turns your design mockups (for web sites, mobile and software applications) into clickable prototypes to get feedback from the cloud – fast.
6. ZoomSphere.com. Similar to FameCount.com and SocialBakers.com, this free service lets you analyze your global social media stats and monitor keywords. You can also see which topics are most popular by country and check their social media trending.
7. Kurrently. This free, easy-to-use search engine lets you find out what’s being shared on Twitter and Facebook in real-time so you can join the conversation. Use it to write posts that focus on trending topics.
8. Klout. Here’s a great tool to measure the influence of your brand evangelists. Seek out key opinion leaders with social media Klout on Twitter, Facebook and Google +.
9. Skitch. Skitch is your online camera and pen. You can screen grab anything, add a note and share it quickly. The company was recently acquired by Evernote (wonder how long it will continue to be free?) It also offers Mac and Android apps.
10. Ning. What could be better than building a community around your own brand? Ning makes it possible by integrating Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Constant Contact and other services into a single online community. It’s a fee-based service but with an Alexa rank of 339, it’s the 11th most popular social media site online today (according to eBizMBA Rank) .