Hootsuite takes control of your social business

So, it's been a while since I've posted...sorry about that! I took a hiatus once classes ended, enjoyed sleeping in and playing with my pup, Tobias. But now that fall is here (Happy belated Labor Day, btw!) I'm getting back into the swing of things.

I thought you should know that I'm not taking classes this semester either, but it won't stop me from posting diligently at least once a week. *Fingers crossed*

These last few weeks, I've been getting calls, emails, and presenting at work about different facets of social media and various platforms. And I'll admit, it's been a great experience applying my newly acquired knowledge IRL and providing my (albeit, limited) two-cents on content curation and engagement.

I recently just finished a webinar on Hootsuite, and thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about a few highlights that I've gathered on the online social media management tool.

Its original form dates back to 2008, when it was known as BrightKit, a dashboard for all things Twitter-related. It was renamed in 2009 and quickly expanded with new features, including the integration of other social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I found it especially important because of the following three features:

1. Listening - Only using Hootsuite to get the word out to followers? Sorry, but you're doing it wrong. You've got to listen, too! Listening to targeted conversations is often one of the underutilized methods of the management tool. You can listen to (almost) everything anyone is saying about you (or your company) by setting up streams for your platform. Take Twitter for example: you can follow Tweets Retweeted; Mentions; Keyword Search (domain name, a hashtag, alternate spelling); Sent Tweets; Your Retweets ; Direct Message (Inbox); Direct Message (Outbox); and Home Feed. This is especially great for engagement and user-generated content!
2. Insights - A social media strategy means nothing without analyzing your efforts. Luckily, Hootsuite allows users to measure ROI with real-time social analysis in brand sentiment, tracking a social profile's brand growth over time, and visualizing audience social demographics like gender and geography. You can pinpoint your reach down to the city-level. Whoa.
3. App Directory -  Hootsuite offers a collection of extensions and apps that users can add to their dashboard to create a customized experience. This goes way beyond the typical Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. You can add Instagram, EverNote, SlideShare, Reddit, DailyMotion... seriously, the list goes on and on. Users can manage, share, search, monitor, engage, optimize and explore streams of content that matter to them.

 

Hootsuite is great for its time saving capabilities. It allows users to manage social media sites from one place, no longer having to log in to four or more accounts separately. More than that, it's a crucial resource for a social strategy. Its scheduling and listening features are useful for content management and can help managers with creating additional timely/relevant posts. It's time to take control of your social business so social business can't take control of your time.