Whether you are a seasoned real estate broker, or a budding professional just out of college, keeping pace and knowing the best tools to help get the job done is always sound reasoning. Below please find some simple, yet complete tool sets that can give you the edge.

Contaxio – No Less

Ever wonder if anyone makes a unique system for tracing friends and followers on the social networks? Well, Contaxio is a system that provides detailed help on making the all important decision of when to “follow back” – the real time tool saves headache and resource (time) when optimizing for Twitter especially. The service basically provides user metrics related to your relationships. Bottom line: Dump those hangers on and pat those pals on the back.

Jack Be Nimble

While we are into the social media and networking response aspect, engaging in CRM without the right tools can be nightmarish. Being “Nimble“, even being quick, is certainly something Jack or Jill need in this real time online business world. Trust Me. Well, the tool by the same name nimble and slick enough to save not only a bundle, but a throbbing stress headache at the end of a SM manager’s day. With Nimble, operators can manage all their contacts, communications, network activities, and sales in one place. With Nimble 2.0 you get all your social interactivity in one place.

Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara, speaking at DEMO.

The Answer: ProProfs Quiz Maker

Engaging audiences or training personnel, cool tools for blog interaction and user generated content and quick edgy tools for business or schools do not usually co-exist in one tool. Such is the case, however, with ProProfs new Quiz Maker tool. If there were ever a more user friendly assessment tool on the web, I have not found it yet. ProProfs refined quiz builder is something I could have used when teaching Geography back when. For the corporate training room, or just having fun with readership, this powerful solution just makes sense. Create, share, examine results, powerful stuff in a simple package.

The Real EASY Button – Social Machines

Since we first ventured onto the Internet, those of us pioneers willing to peck out commands in DOS or worse still surf via the first Navigator, the so called Easy Button has been a sort of Holy Grail. Geeks, let’s face it, are ever hunting and coding for the elusive end all program or device. A company named iStrategyLabs, founded by super hack, geek, entreprenuer, producer, whatchamakalit, Peter Corbett, makes marketing Easy Buttons galore. The digital agency’s latest such tool, a so called Social Machine, empowers companies with the ability to intersect technology-social-real-people into moments. Okay, the non-dreamy description would be marketing campaigns on auto pilot, sort of. Heck,  check out what the machine did for GE in the video below. How bout this for experimental social media engagement?

It’s All About Influence: Klout

Being labeled a super geek, or a techie, or whatever descriptive people use for those of us who love technology, the tag comes at a price. Like any niche or click, our associates tend to drive us, to an extent. That said, many of my contemproraries, clients even, scoff at the idea of rating influence via tools like Klout. To be blunt, they are wrong.

Klout, put simply, measures your influence on your social networks. No tool is absolutely perfect, and herein resides my associates’ problem with it. However, anything we want to measure needs a gauge, a standard, or benchmark so to speak. Klout does a nice job of defining variables, weighing differentials, and spitting out a general score for users and the world to see. In an abbreviated time slot, the digital interactive world, glancing at Klout is helpful. On the other side of the coin, interactive functionality, I think my pals would do better to learn from Klout, rather than criticize so much. Check this out, and remember, there’s no substitute for being influential in communications.

And there you have five very useful digital tools to ramp up your digital toolbox in the social sphere. There are, of course, many more to be had. I will try and test some others for you later on next week, but for now shoot for a Klout score of 70, my next goal. Cheers until.

Realtors, we have found, are not exactly prime candidates as social media gurus. As it turns out, neither are many top CEO’s. You’d think decision makers would jump at the chance to enable new channels, but you would be wrong too. The ReMax agent at left thought stone tools were frivolous too, look where he is now. Just because you tried using wet flint to start your business fire, does not mean fire cannot be created.

Looking at the infographic below, what many perceived as an advantage of youth at the onset of Web 2.0, turns out to be just that. The graphic illustrates a steadfast resitence by older decision makers to adapt to technological change, even in the face of devastating competition. Just how difficult can it be to adopt these new social media strategies? (click the image for the larger version)

Nearly half of all 50+ CEO’s get their business intelligence someplace besides via a mobile device! This seems astounding. Talk about giving away an advantage. If we interject that brokers are in effect, CEO’s, imagine the opportunity costs there. It’s worth thinking about, Baby Boomers simply retiring instead of fighting an un-win-able fight during these economic times. In the end, that’s what you’re doing giving up digital and social channels to your competition. Just because twitter seems stupid, can you afford not to compete? Food for thought, I am on G + if you need help.

Caveman image courtesy © Bastos – Fotolia.com