Pros and Cons
- Manage multiple social media accounts from a centralized dashboard
- Robust scheduling features, including bulk uploading and auto-scheduling
- Get comprehensive analytics and customizable reports
- Great for team management and collaboration for larger organizations
- Offers app integrations with tools like Canva, Dropbox, and Google Drive
- Includes features for monitoring brand mentions and industry trends
- More expensive than some competitors, especially for advanced features
- It can be overwhelming for beginners due to its numerous features
- Direct posting to Instagram is restricted due to API limitations
What is Hootsuite?
So what is Hootsuite? Let’s take a look at its main features and core functionality.
Overview of Hootsuite’s Core Platform
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that was created by Ryan Holmes in 2008 in Vancouver.
What started as a tool for managing Twitter (fun fact: it was originally called BrightKit) has grown into this powerhouse platform that supports multiple social networks including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok, and is used by over 18 million users worldwide.
Hootsuite has some pretty impressive stats. They’re used by over 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies, and the platform supports integration with more than 35 social networks. The last time I checked, users were publishing something like 40 million posts through Hootsuite every month!
Main Features & Core Functionality
The core of Hootsuite is its boards and streams. It has multiple columns laid out side by side, each showing different social media feeds, mentions, and scheduled posts.
The game-changer is how you can customize these streams to monitor multiple clients’ accounts simultaneously. You can see everything happening across all your social platforms in one place!
Hootsuite has quite a few features, but let me break down the most important ones:
- The Scheduling Tool: With this tool, you can schedule posts across multiple platforms simultaneously which saves countless hours! The bulk scheduler is particularly handy when planning content for an entire month.
- Analytics reporting: This tool lets you track everything from engagement rates to follower growth. The custom report builder lets you focus on the metrics that matter to your business.
- Assignment & Approval Workflows: If you’re someone who works with teams, the assignment and approval workflows are lifesavers for preventing social media mishaps. You don’t want to be that person who accidentally posts personal content to a client’s account!
- Keyword Streams: This tool helps you monitor industry terms and competitor mentions. It helps spot countless opportunities for client engagement that would’ve been missed otherwise!
The thing I really appreciate about Hootsuite’s evolution is how they’ve managed to stay relevant. They’ve kept adding features like social listening tools and AI-powered content recommendations.
Price-wise, it might seem a bit steep at first (especially for small businesses). But when you consider the time it saves and the features you get, it makes sense. They offer various plans starting from individual users up to enterprise-level solutions, and each tier unlocks more features and social profiles you can manage.
Who is Hootsuite Best For?
Hootsuite is best for a diverse range of businesses and social media professionals, from small startups to large enterprises. More specifically, Hootsuite is best suited for:
- Organizations looking to manage multiple social media accounts from a centralized platform.
- Companies looking to boost their social media engagement and customer interactions.
- Businesses wanting to develop and optimize their social media strategy.
- Retail companies for social media customer service.
- Marketing agencies to see their analytics and use social listening tools to track campaign performance.
- Social media teams to develop comprehensive social media strategies.
- Social media managers to plan, schedule, and publish content across multiple platforms.
Hootsuite Key Features
Here are Hootsuite’s key features.
Social Media Scheduling & Publishing Tools
Hootsuite’s scheduling system is probably the feature I use most religiously. It’s way more sophisticated than just queuing up posts!
I learned this trick where you can use the bulk scheduler with a CSV file to plan out an entire month’s content in about 30 minutes. The best part is that you can preview exactly how each post will look on different platforms before it goes live!
There’s also an AutoSchedule feature that automatically selects the best times to post based on user engagement data. This can enhance the effectiveness of your social media campaigns by optimizing posting times!
Analytics & Reporting Capabilities
Hootsuite’s analytics capabilities are really impressive. You can track everything from basic engagement metrics from multiple platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok to deep-dive custom reports.
Here are the engagement metrics you can track:
- Reach
- Engagement rate
- Impressions
- Likes
- Shares
- Comments
- Video views
- New followers
I’ve spent hours manually tracking social growth before discovering you could create automated weekly reports. The platform lets you measure things like team response time, sentiment analysis, and even ROI tracking if you’re running paid campaigns.
Pro tip: set up custom report templates for different stakeholders. Your boss probably wants different metrics than your social team!
Team Collaboration & Workflow Features
Hootsuite’s team collaboration features is where the platform really shines for larger organizations. The platform has this intuitive permission system where you can assign different access levels to team members.
One feature I love is the content approval workflow where you can set up multiple approval stages. No more accidental posts from interns going live without review!
Plus, team members can collaborate on social media posts by creating drafts, providing feedback, and managing tasks within the platform. Hootsuite also features a team inbox that aggregates social media messages, to organize communication among team members.
Social Media Monitoring & Listening Tools
Hootsuite’s social listening tools are like having your ear to the ground 24/7. With this tool, you can set up custom streams to monitor keywords, hashtags, and mentions across platforms. It lets you monitor mentions across various platforms, including up to 150 million websites and 30 social media channels in 187 languages.
You can catch some amazing opportunities this way, like if a customer has an issue but doesn’t directly tag your brand. Plus, the sentiment analysis feature helps you understand not just what people are saying, but how they feel about it.
Hootsuite uses AI-driven insights through its Blue Silk™ AI model, which helps predict trends and analyze consumer sentiment effectively. This enhances the ability to engage with audiences based on real-time data.
Content Curation & Suggestion Features
Content curation might seem like a minor feature, but it’s become one of my favorite time-savers.
Hootsuite suggests relevant articles, blog posts, and news stories based on your topics of interest, and you can easily share them with your audience. Once you’ve found the content you want to share, you can schedule your posts individually or in bulk.
You can find some absolute gems through this feature that’ll get great engagement. Just remember to actually read the articles before sharing them!
Using Hootsuite for content curation is beneficial in a couple of ways:
- By providing relevant content suggestions, Hootsuite significantly reduces the time spent searching for shareable articles (a common challenge for social media managers)
- Sharing curated content helps maintain audience interest and encourages engagement by providing valuable information rather than just promotional material
- Regularly sharing high-quality, relevant content can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry, fostering trust and loyalty among your followers
Security & Compliance Features
Security features might not sound exciting, but they’re crucial if you’re managing enterprise-level social media. Hootsuite offers two-factor authentication, single sign-on, and detailed audit logs of all actions taken within the platform.
I particularly appreciate the IP address restriction feature. It lets you limit platform access to specific locations, which is great for compliance-heavy industries.
Here are some additional security features:
- Data encryption at rest and in transit
- Network protection with firewalls and intrusion detection mechanisms
- Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing
- Compliance with standards such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS
Hootsuite Mobile App
The mobile app deserves a special mention too. While it doesn’t have all the features of the desktop version, it’s perfect for on-the-go management and crisis response!
The app includes essential features such as:
- Streams: Monitor various social media activities and interactions in real-time
- Composer: Create and schedule posts across multiple platforms
- Inbox: Manage and respond to messages from different social media accounts in a centralized location
- Publisher: Schedule and publish content efficiently
Remember that these features are spread across different pricing tiers. Start with the core features you absolutely need, then expand as your social media presence grows. No sense paying for enterprise-level features if you’re just managing a handful of accounts!
How to Use Hootsuite
Here’s my hands-on experience with Hootsuite’s daily workflows:
- Go to the Hootsuite Homepage
- Choose a Plan & Connect Your Accounts
- Set Up Boards & Streams
- Create Posts
- Create Social Media Captions
- Create a Post with the Caption
- Schedule Posts with the Content Calendar
- Schedule Bulk Content
- Set Up & View Analytics
- Set Up Scheduled Reports
Step 1: Go to the Hootsuite Homepage
I started by going to hootsuite.com and selecting “Start your free trial.”
Step 2: Choose a Plan & Connect Your Accounts
Next, Hootsuite asked me to select my plan: Standard or Advanced. I went for the 30-day trial of the Standard plan.
After signing up, Hootsuite asked me to connect at least two social accounts.
Step 3: Set Up Boards & Streams
After creating and connecting my accounts, I was taken to my Hootsuite dashboard! But before getting ahead of myself, let’s talk about setting up the dashboard.
When I first started using Hootsuite, I made the classic mistake of diving in without a proper setup. But taking time to configure things properly makes a huge difference in the long run!
The first thing you’ll want to do is set up boards and streams. Hootsuite Streams are essential for managing and monitoring social media activity across various platforms.
To access your streams on Hootsuite, select “More” and “Streams.”
Hootsuite will have already created boards for the social media accounts you’ve connected. I can view my analytics, past posts, and scheduled posts on each social media account on one screen!
If you want to create a new customized board, select “New Board” on the top left.
On the right, you’ll see different board types you can choose from:
- Social media content monitoring
- Discover new trending content
- Create custom streams based on any theme or activity
- Get RSS feeds to post your favorite stories from websites and blogs (paid)
- Create a link-in-bio for Instagram
- View and share TikTok videos on Hootsuite
- Find more apps to improve your productivity
Customize your boards and streams in a way that works best for you!
Step 4: Choose How You Want to Create a Post
You can also create posts with Hootsuite! Access different posting options from the home page on Hootsuite:
- Create from scratch
- Post across networks
- Post about a trend
- Start with AI
I was curious about the AI option so I selected “Start with AI.”
Step 5: Create Social Media Captions
Next, Hootsuite asked me how I wanted to create social media captions with their writing generator OwlyWriter AI:
- Repurpose your top posts to reach more people
- Create new captions from scratch
- Get inspiration for post ideas and captions
- Turn blog posts and other content into captions
- Create captions for upcoming holidays
I selected “Start from scratch.”
From here, Hootsuite presented me with various types of posts I could get OwlyWriter AI to write a caption for. These included captions for different social media platforms, captions for followers to take action, “hook” captions to reel in prospects, etc. I selected “LinkedIn post.”
Hootsuite asked me what kind of LinkedIn post I wanted to write about. I typed “Simple budgeting tips for first-time savers” and hit “Create Caption.”
Step 6: Create a Post with the Caption
Within seconds, Hootsuite generated three captions with emojis that were perfect for LinkedIn!
From here, I could select any three of them and hit “Create post” to post on social media.
Step 7: Schedule Posts with the Content Calendar
Next, I wanted to explore the content calendar to create a posting workflow. To do this, I started by selecting “Plan” from the navigation bar on the left.
On the top right, you can change the content planner view (I like the calendar view best for an overview of the content I will post for the entire month).
From there, click on the date you want to create a post. On the right, a panel will open with a button for you to start to make a post. Within this panel, Hootsuite will even offer a recommended time for you to make a post based on the last 30 days of your posts!
Step 8: Schedule Bulk Content
Pro tip: use the bulk composer for regular content, but always schedule time-sensitive posts individually. You can create content libraries by going to Plan > Content and hitting “Bulk Message Upload.”
Step 9: Set Up & View Analytics
The analytics section can be a bit daunting at first, but here’s what works best!
Start by setting up a few key report templates. You can do this by selecting “Analytics” and hitting “Create a report.”
Hootsuite comes with different report templates:
- Multiple networks overview
- Brand awareness
- Audience growth
- Post reach
- Link clicks
Just to name a few. Choose the reports that align with the metrics you want to track. For example, if you’re running a campaign, create a custom report tracking campaign hashtags, engagement rates, and click-through rates.
Step 10: Set Up Scheduled Reports
Also, you might want to schedule these reports to be delivered to your inbox weekly to stay in the loop!
To schedule your reports, select the report from the “Analytics” tab, select “Export,” and hit “New Scheduled Report.”
How to Use Hootsuite the Most Effectively
- For team collaboration, establish clear workflows from the start. Set up approval paths based on content type. For example, maybe regular posts only need one approval, while campaign content needs two.
- Use the assignment feature for customer service messages to avoid duplicate responses.
- Always use the notes feature when assigning tasks to team members. Future you will thank past you for the context!
- The mobile app is your friend for on-the-go management, but don’t rely on it for everything. For example, you can use it for monitoring and quick responses, saving the heavy lifting like bulk scheduling and analytics reviews for desktops. The interface is pretty intuitive once you get used to it, especially for checking urgent notifications or approving scheduled content.
- Don’t forget about the security aspects. Enable two-factor authentication for all team members, regularly review user permissions, and set up IP restrictions if needed. These might seem like annoying extra steps, but they’re way less annoying than dealing with a compromised account.
- Make friends with the support team. Hootsuite’s help docs are pretty comprehensive, but sometimes you need human help. I’ve found their support team to be super helpful, especially when dealing with API changes or new feature rollouts.
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