Being proactive on social media has a ton of benefits. Business owners need to have a strong social media presence to expand their business. There are lots of different social media tools that can aid us in achieving this. Whether you are using Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. There are many online platforms that allow you to keep an eye on your social networks.
In this article, I want to show you what Hootsuite can do for you. I will go over the pros and cons of Hootsuite now.
HootSuite Pros
There are some pros to using Hootsuite. They are listed down below:
Lots of social networks supported. You can use Hootsuite to manage many different social media accounts. Here is a list of social networks they support with no applications to install:
- WordPress
- FourSquare
Here are some social networks Hootsuite supports that do require you to install an application (some free and some are paid):
- YouTube
- Storify
- Viadeo
- Dailymotion
- SoundCloud
- Vimeo
- Ping.fm
- Mixi
- MySpace
- Ning
- Tumblr
- Blogger
- StumpleUpon
- Scoop.it
Low Cost. For their Pro version plan, it only cost $9.99/month which will be more than enough for most small businesses. You can pay monthly or yearly. You do get a price discount for paying annually.
Manage Accounts Multiple Streams. It’s very easy to manage all your accounts in different tabs. Their all-one interface allows you to add different networks you wish to monitor quickly. The organization is excellent for monitoring multiple Twitter streams, Facebook business pages, etc.
Auto Schedule Posting. It’s very easy to auto schedule different post on your social networks. You can upload a .cvs file and schedule 100’s of post to go out at various times throughout the day, week, month, and year.
Lots of Apps. There are lots of different applications you can install.
Analytics. You can easily make analytics reports for you social media properties.
HootSuite Cons
There are some cons to using Hootsuite. They are listed down below:
Fees. There is a monthly or yearly fee for using HootSuite’s Pro or Enterprise plans. Can be a $100+ a year.
Free Account. The free account you can start with Hootsuite is limiting, but then again it is free. You can manage three social media accounts, have basic analytics, basic message scheduling, have access to basic applications, etc.
Auto Scheduling Problems. There are some bugs when you auto schedule your post which does take some additional time. For instance, you can’t add images to all the social networks you want to use. Meaning that you will have to add them in once your .cvs file manually is uploaded.
Extra App Fees. To use some of the apps, you’re going to want use. You are going to have to pay $.99 to $4.99 more each month.
Overwhelming. Since Hootsuite is very robust, it can be very overwhelming for people that are not all that computer savvy.
Training Cost Money. Training does cost money for HootSuite. It’s called Hootsuite University. It does cost $21 a month. You can cancel at any time and even get a certificate of completion if you want.
The Bill Can Get High With Extras. If you want extra apps, it does cost extra. Adding team members cost a monthly price. More detailed reports cost you more money. Running contest cost you more. HootCare, which is extra support cost you more. Vanity URLs cost more. More social networks cost you more money.
HootSuite Prices
All good things do have a price tag, and Hootsuite does have a free option as I stated. You can either get a Pro version, the Business version, or a custom plan.
Final Verdict
If you spend a lot of time on social media and find yourself losing lots of valuable time, it could be for you. Hootsuite can save you lots of time. You need to commit to using Hootsuite to make it a profitable investment for your business. There is a bit of a learning curve to using Hootsuite. There are a ton of extra apps that you can install. Many of them are very useful.
I have 4 years of experience using Hootsuite and do really like it. You can try Hootsuite for 30 days and see if it’s right for you. I do recommend you check into Hootsuite if you’re looking for a platform to help with your social media management. Hootsuite does get lots of good feedback on sites like Pcmag.com, g2crowd.com and TopTenReviews.com.
Please let me know down below about any of the pros and cons that you think need to be added to this article. Otherwise, you can tell me about your experience with Hootsuite. If you have any questions about Hootsuite please feel free to leave your comments down below.
Thanks Garen, I found this really useful. I currently use Buffer, I’m not sure if you are familiar with them?
I’ve been quite happy with them and used them for a long time but now I am interested in finding out if another company is able to auto rotate posts, for example like Tweet Jukebox does? Can Hootsuite do this? Then I can just post my new content and not worry about posting other updates.
Yes, I have used Buffer over the years. I do like them too. Hootsuite does have a feature where you can auto schedule content to go up. However, for Twitter you might want to check out this article I wrote on Twitter plugins:
https://tbwhs.com/blog/twitter-wordpress-plugins/
Hope it helps 🙂
This sounds like a good tool for implementing social media with a website.
1) I am a little confused though. Am I right to assume that Hootsuite is not actually a hosting provider?
2) And, if not a hosting provider, is it easy to set it up so that it can auto-post blog posts from my WordPress site hosted on iPage?
Thanks and btw, I wanted to thank you for your review on iPage (https://tbwhs.com/ipage-review/ ). My wife and I decided to use them after reading many of the reviews on your site.
Hi. I haven’t used Hootsuite but I think that if you’re managing websites for clients these days, it’s not enough to just build a site and update it regularly. You need to manage the social media side of things for them too to some extent.
I’m wondering if Hootsuite would make a good tool for this purpose?
No, Hootsuite is a social media platform. They have nothing to do with web hosting. They are solely used to help manage your social media profiles. Yes, they do have an auto schedule feature. You can upload 100+ tweets at a time through Excel.
Glad, my web hosting reviews helped you 🙂
They do have a free version and a 30-day risk-free trial. It’s worth a shot to see if you like them.
So what social media management tool do you recommend above all others?
Hootsuite.
I am looking into a system like Hootsuite to take my business to the next level up. I always share my article to most of the popular social media sites that you listed above so I think that with a system like Hootsuite, it would be a much easier process for me to get my content out there easily.
Are there any other similar companies out there like Hootsuite that provides a better or similar service? Or is this the top recommended platform in the industry?
I like comparing services when committing to purchase.
Would love to know your advice.
Kind regards,
Jason.
hi Garen
Ha! I learned something new today. I had no clue such a program existed but Hootsuite is somewhat genius! I use social media a lot (even though I am out of the loop with things such as Xing, Ning and Scoop.it, what the heck are those?). And I thus spend a lot of time every day posting on different sites. What I put up varies a bit from site to site but nonetheless, there is duplication (I mostly use Facebook, Pinterest and Google +). So to have a program that manages posts and lets me schedule them would be a time saver for me.
There are many different social media management tools. A couple that comes to mind is Sprout Social, Social Studio, TweetDeck, Buffer, Sprinklr, etc.
I actually find a good article that shows more about these different social media management tools:
https://www.g2crowd.com/categories/social-media-mgmt
However, there is a free WordPress plugin which does allow you to auto-post your content on Twitter, Facebook, Google +1, etc. Might want to check into it:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/social-networks-auto-poster-facebook-twitter-g/
Hope this helps.
Xing, Ning, and Scoop.it are just other social sharing platforms. I have used Scoop.it in the past, but haven’t ever used Ning or Xing.
Hi Garen
I personally think HootSuite is a fantastic tool especially for those who have high demands in social media. It can be a complete nightmare trying to manage and update the four major networks alone. Without giving consideration to the remainder networks.
For beginners, I, however, suspect a great deal of overwhelm. In any case, a free account although limiting would probably be ideal. Once he or she became confident then by all means up grade.
Learning how to use HootSuite with a free account will give you a better indication as to whether you required the additional features offered if any at all.
Excellent read Garen, thanks for sharing.
Kind Regards
Michelle
I agree that it can be overwhelming for beginners. However, as I have mentioned in the article, you can sign up for Hootsuite training. They are excellent video tutorials on how to do any and everything with Hootsuite.
Years ago I did get Hootsuite certified in a month, and it only cost me 21 dollars.
There was an interesting article by Ian Anderson Gray did show 7 reasons on why you might not want to buy Hootsuite. https://iag.me/socialmedia/reviews/7-reasons-not-to-use-hootsuite/ I wanted to show you the pros and cons and then let people decide if it’s right for them.
Thanks, Garen. Glad you found my article on Hootsuite interesting. I really enjoyed your article – a really balanced one looking at the pros and cons. Great stuff! Ian