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It’s been nearly two and a half years since I wrote a post specifically extolling the virtues of Hootsuite, so it’s time to share my favourite Hootsuite features. Since the last post I’ve become a Hootsuite Ambassador for North America (volunteer) and Hootsuite has introduced many new features, add-ons and even updated their logo and user interface. Here are some of the best features and reasons why I love using Hootsuite to manage social media for my clients.
Ability to Schedule Content
Like it or hate it, social media is here to stay and to keep up, you’re going to need a way to schedule content and spread it out, or you’ll be spending way too much time on each of the networks. Hootsuite gives you the ability to choose a specific time for each tweet/post to arrive, or you can use the Autoschedule feature whereby Hootsuite magically determines what time would be best to reach the most of your followers.
Ability to Cross Post
On the free version of Hootsuite you can hook up five accounts and cross post the same content to all of them at once, saving oodles of time. If you pay for the upgrade, you can hook up unlimited accounts…perfect for those who are using more networks, or have multiple brands to manage.
Saving Streams of Searches
Perhaps one of the most underrated features of Hootsuite is the ability to save a search as an always-updated stream. For example, as a Hootsuite Ambassador, I have a Twitter search that watches for comments about Hootsuite in my geographic area of Halifax, Nova Scotia. This column is always up-to-date with the most recent tweets making it very easy for me to respond to questions and comments on behalf of Hootsuite. You could use this feature to look for leads!
Link Shortening
Not only is link shortening built right into the compose window, you can easily add custom url tags to each link making it easier to track campaigns in Google Analytics. If there are certain tags formations you use regularly, you can even save them as a preset so you don’t have to remember the specifics each time.
Analytics
There are reports for everything from your Twitter follower growth to the number of people that clicked on a specific link you tweeted (if that link was shortened through Hootsuite). Some of the analytics reports are free, and you can upgrade to get more options.
Schedule Pictures to Twitter
For a long time Hootsuite users were resigned to sending out links only to their scheduled pictures…but no more! Pro users now have the ability to send pictures to Twitter that will appear as in-line pictures instead of links. This was one update I was very excited to see.
Hootsuite Mobile App
Like many apps, the Hootsuite app doesn’t have all the same features, but your accounts are all synced with what you might have been doing on your laptop, so no matter which device you’re using, you’ve got the most up-to-date information to see. The mobile app also has push notifications so you can be alerted to tweets and messages on the go. The app includes the autoschedule feature, but as of yet does not include the ability to send pictures to Twitter.
These are just a few of my favourite features in Hootsuite I also love that it is a Canadian company and they happen to have very good online support options if you’re having problems…not to mention your local Hootsuite Ambassador (AHEM, that’s me!) is just a few clicks away!
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