What Is It?
HootSuite, in the same fashion as TweetDeck (which we reviewed last week), congregates all of your social media platforms into one space. This includes Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace (who uses that?), PingFm, and Foursquare.
With HootSuite, small businesses and freelancers can easily launch marketing campaigns, track their audience and efficiently spread their messages across multiple platforms at once. HootSuite users can schedule updates ahead of time and the program is compatible with the web, the desktop and mobile devices. For example, I can (and have) sat at a pub and updated my client’s Twitter via iPhone because something interesting came up in conversation that would be of interest to my client’s Twitter followers.
Meet Your Audience
What’s better? Via HootSuite’s stats feature, I can check out what my most popular Tweets are, who’s RTing me and how many clicks I’m getting in a day. This, in turn, helps me figure out what the readers want and which days/times created more traffic. Do they want fun of interesting little tidbits from the Web (mostly related to the client’s trade, of course)? Are they responding to the teaser text I’m writing that sends readers to the company’s website and its editorial content? HootSuite tells me this, and if I need to brief the client on my progress (and they will want to know your progress in numbers), I just export and print the report and I’m set for my meeting or conference call.
The Nitty Gritty
The basic and free Hootsuite package allows five social networks, two RSS/Atom feeds, 30 days of stats history, and ad support. For $5.99 a month, users can upgrade to a Pro version that allows unlimited social networks, RSS and Atom feeds and stats history. You also get one free team member, GoogleAnalytics and Facebook Insights integration, and free advertising.
Here’s other stuff about Hootsuite:
- The multiple stream layout allows you to see updates on all of your platforms at once. In addition to a stream of what your users are doing, you can set up streams on what you’ve posted, what you will post and who’s mentioning and messaging you.
- Dolly Parton uses it! So does Facebook, TED, The White House, I Can Haz Cheezburger, and Martha Stewart.
- They’re always winning awards for rocking (more on that later).
Beginnings
CEO Ryan Holmes hatched HootSuite in 2008 from his agency, Invoke, which also offered other web-based solutions before HootSuite. Before developing the application, he founded a pizza chain and built the top online paintball supplier in Canada.
“HootSuite was created at a digital agency called Invoke where we experienced the problem of managing multiple social accounts on multiple networks for multiple clients,” said Community Marketing Director Dave Olson. “So we set out to solve this problem elegantly. We created a comprehensive social media dashboard allowing you to manage multiple networks & profiles from one place, plus share access with teams without compromising security.”
The Verdict
The app gets an A from me and I’m not alone. Says social media researcher Ayala Gordesky, Hootsuite is a game-changer.
“If I didn’t have a one stop shop to filter content through to all SM outlets I would never be able to pick up multiple clients,” she said.
News
The New Year had barely started when the Hootsuite team was awarded Best Social Media Management Tool at the Mashable Awards.
The fact that it was Mashable and that the award was decided by the people excites Hootsuite, said Ashley Jane Brookes via a Jan. 6 blog.
“First, Mashable is among the most highly-regarded social/web/tech news sources anywhere plus enjoy over 30 million views each month – of which we are several,” she said. “Their clout in the industry is well-earned and we’re always pleased when they pick-up HootSuite news and share our story, and their opinions.”
“Secondly, she added, “the Mashable Awards (formerly Open Web) are based on community votes, which means we have our many Hoot-fans to thank for nominating and voting for us.”
From the Blogosphere
- Jenny Anderson, blogger for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, thinks the price for Hootsuite Pro is reasonable.“If you manage more than just Twitter and Facebook accounts then this product is probably even more useful. And for $5.99 a month, the price is really not bad,” she said.
- Business solutions coach Cindy Murphy simply enjoys the time-saving aspect:“One of my favorite time management tools, that has helped me save time and become more organized in my business, is HootSuite,” she said. “You can also add the app to your iPhone or android.”
- Says Boagworld founder Paul Boag: “There was a time when all we needed to worry about was our website. Now we have cater for users on numerous social networks and monitor what people are saying about our brands online,” he said. “Constantly checking Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks can be incredibly time-consuming. That is where HootSuite comes in.”
From the Team
Olson said HootSuite’s high demand keeps the team on their toes. In addition to closely listing to feedback, Olson says they have a “feature request channel.”
“The biggest challenge so far is keeping up with user demand. This challenge applies to both technical concerns of maintaining high performance while rapidly adding users from all around the world, plus addressing the specific expectations of each market – from language localization to adding specific networks,” he said.
HootSuite’s growth and global expansion took the team by surprise.
“Since turning HootSuite into a product, it has exceeded our expectations by growing quickly and globally with an enthusiastic user base,” he said. “With this growth, we’ve fostered a community of fans, plus built a developer community who are using the API to add new tools to the HootSuite dashboard.”
“We also are very happy to see people building an economy of services on top of HootSuite including consulting, training, extending etc., which was a little bit unexpected. Many of these pros come from our HootSuite University certification program and they’ve experience great success with the certification. “
Here are some things we can expect from Hootsuite in the future:
- Continued frequent releases on web and mobile versions “Upcoming versions will include a highly requested program for Pro users plus deeper analytics and more reports which will help businesses quickly understand the results of their social media campaigns,” Olson said.
- More networks and services provides by third parties using the Hootsuite API. Says Olson: “These extensions and mash-ups will be available in the forthcoming App Directory – so if it’s not already in the HootSuite dashboard, you can build it (and be a hero!).”