"Businesses today are social. Success depends on connecting with customers instantly across multiple social media channels and networks. The growth of our App Directory gives clients an impressive arsenal of tools to do this, all in a single place. Our goal, as we close in on six million users by end of year, is to continue aggressively integrating leading apps, turning our dashboard into the mother of all SaaS resources for the social business."

This statement by Ryan Holmes, CEO of social media management platform, HootSuite reflects how important innovation is in this industry. Being a Small Business, in a pool of Big Businesses, is nothing short of a whirlpool-like situation - it is so easy to get pulled down in the eye of the storm. The concept of 'one for all and all of one' is an illusion when it comes to facing off competition in a buyer's market.

For Small Businesses, any help is good help; especially when it comes to reputation management through online marketing. Choosing the right social media management platform is a very important step, depending on the nature of the business one is involved in.

The HootSuite App Directory has set a benchmark for progressive apps and extensions since it kick-started in November 2011. Currently it includes Digg, TrendSpottr, InboxQ, Constant Contact, Get Satisfaction, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr and Orkut. In addition, HootSuite has introduced three new small business apps that could boost customer relationship management vastly in a cost effective manner. The simple reason being ,the sign up is absolutely free!

Here's what's trending on HootSuite.

Nimble facilitates sales and front-end customer service. What does it mean? In simple words, the users will now be privileged to access unified communications for client management and team co-ordination in a single plug-in on its dashboard. Moreover, the users will have contact records, view full chat histories, schedule their follow ups, add client-specific notes and drafts as well as handle forecast sales in a more organized manner.

What's best is the simple UI that makes HootSuite a user friendly platform for customers. When one comes across something really interesting but is unable to post it simultaneously or share the information at one go, with the fear of generating spam; nothing is more annoying. As a businessperson, one has to multitask various actions and responsibilities which requires a smooth functioning social media application. Ow.ly and Ht.ly (hootly), HootSuite's URL shortner makes social interaction more dynamic by directing a user directly to the required page.

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