Hootsuite What is it, what is it for and how can you get the most out of it?

Due to the large amount of social networks, Many Community Manager They must resort to tools where they can manage each of the accounts of the companies they manage.

In Internet You will get many, but this time we will talk about one of the most recognized. Is about Hootsuite, a platform available for web and mobile, in which you can manage profiles on social networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google and much more.

It has a series of characteristics very interesting that will make your life easier. Read on to find out about her.

What is Hootsuite and what is this social media management tool for?

As we indicated previously, Hootsuite is a platform through which you can manage different accounts in many social networks. In addition, all kinds of activities can be carried out according to your needs. For example, you can do simple activities like choosing interesting content and scheduling it to be published whenever you want. You can also perform other slightly more complex actions such as measure ROI (Return On Investment).

One point in its favor is that a web version and one for mobile. Thanks to this, you can program and manage the social networks you need from both computers, which makes the job much easier. As an additional feature and that highlights Hootsuite above its competitors, is that offers users the option of collaborative management. Through it, different members of a team can manage the same accounts, assign messages, etc.

What are the benefits of working with Hootsuite as a community manager?

Hootsuite is a very complete tool and that it can help anyone to take better control of their marketing plan. However, it is much more useful for Community Manager, because they manage many accounts on different networks. Therefore, they require a platform that allows them schedule and study the progress in each of the accounts. Based on this, they will be able to change strategies, empower them, eliminate those that do not work and much more.

To be clear about the benefits of Hootsuite for Community Managers, we indicate them below:

Save time thanks to the option to schedule the publications.
Helps manage content on your social networks very easily.
Offers reports where results are measured on social networks.
Find and filter conversations through keywords.
Have different plans for every need.
It has a 30-day free trial.

Hootsuite tools and functions What can we do using this platform?

Undoubtedly, it is a very complete tool with which you can carry out all kinds of work to promote brands through social networks. Other than that, includes a series of interesting functions and tools that you can enjoy.

Get to know them below:

Publication scheduling

One of the chores most basic that anyone who works with networks must take into account, is the scheduling of publications. This is because on many occasions you may not have the time or tools necessary to share content.

Therefore, network management platforms are very useful. In this specific case, it could be said that Hootsuite is noted, because it offers the possibility of sync and schedule posts to be released at appropriate times. In this way you will make the scope of your content much more. Just spend a little time and you can organize your posts by days and hours.

In order to do this, you have to:

Click on "New publication".
Select accounts from which you want to publish.
Add the text and a half you want.
Click on "Schedule for later".
Choose the time suitable and ready.

Post monitoring

Within Hootsuite there is a function called Streams of new mentions, likes and followers. With it, you can keep you up to date on the interactions your accounts receive constantly. This means that they facilitate the monitoring of various accounts and the different types of interactions that occur in them.

With the assistance of streams, all the mentions of each network are gathered in one place. As additional information, you should know that they are customizable and unlimited, so you can classify what type of content they really want to monitor.

Social media analytics

Another fundamental aspect for any Community Manager or user that manages a social network, is the access to social media analytics. This is because thanks to them you can know exactly different details of your account, such as followers, engagement and much more. Let's say that with analytics you can do an in-depth study of the scope of your publications, and identify aspects to improve, enhance, etc. With Hootsuite you have a number of built-in analytics functionalities at hand.

For example, you can take a look at performance over time of your account and compare with other periods for each social media account you have connected on the platform. All this in one place. Thus, the social media administrators they can adjust their marketing strategies and publication plan based on the results reflected in the analytics of the platform.

Team collaboration

With Hootsuite you have a vision of private messages from multiple social media accounts on each platform, this means that you can view them in one place. In addition, the administrators of these networks have the option to assign team members to each message, to make sure to answer all the queries that users have. This is a feature especially valued in large teams, which receive a large number of messages each day with customer inquiries.

Customer Service

Customer service is one of the most important areas when you work with the public, because you must be able to answer people's doubts, or solve problems that come their way. In this sense, with Hootsuite you can combine the streams together with the inbox function, so that your network team is responsible for answering questions, solving problems or any other reason that merits communication between the company and customers.

Tricks to get the most out of Hootsuite

Once you choose the plan that best suits your needs at HootsuiteYou will want to know all the details in order to get the most out of it.

Therefore, we indicate some useful tricks that you should consider:

Schedule posts

It is one of the most important functions that must be considered by Community Manager. With the help of this, you can organize your work in a publication calendar and choose at what times they will be published in each social network.

If necessary, you can edit or modify them. Likewise, you can segment the contents on pages of Facebook and the messages in LinkedIn-Enterprise. In this way, you can send messages to specific groups of users according to demographic and geographic parameters.

Massive programming

With massive programming, you have the possibility to publish up to 350 posts in batch on different social networks, in addition to that you can include images. It's a great idea if you need to reach a large number of people, and it helps save a lot of work time.

Other actions that you can take with the Bulk Composer function of Hootsuite are:

Upload content quickly.
Program in different time zones.
Schedule messages of campaigns to attract customers to an event or product launch.
Use the same time every day to publish content.

Search through keywords

If you need to search for certain information, you can take advantage of the search through keywords or hashtags. To access it, you must go to "Quick search" and click on the magnifying glass located on the upper right. There, write what you need to get and go.

Apart from that, you can find content of your interest that is close to you. To do this, locate yourself on the right side of the search engine and enter the tab corresponding to location. In case you need to search for users, change the option on the left side of the box and select "Find Twitter users" or "Search Instagram" according to your objective.

Organize in a single control panel

Something very important when you manage multiple accounts is having everything organized and visually clear. In this way, your activities are carried out in a better way and avoid mistakes. With Hootsuite you can divide the topics that interest you most into columns.

It is very effective for example if you need segment by responses, campaigns, likes, etc.. This way you have access to all the information in one place. Keep in mind that the tool suggests organize columns by social networks, incoming messages, audience and much more. It will undoubtedly save you time because you can access the most relevant information regarding your accounts in a single space.

Monitor keywords

To be able to monitor the keywords in Hootsuite you have to apply the following procedure:

Click on "Add column".
Select profile that you are going to monitor.
Enter the keyword or keyword.

You can too edit or change column preferences directly in the menu located in the upper right corner.

URL shortener

This is a 100% point in favor of Hootsuite They don't include many other network management tools. You can shorten the default URLs and reduce the number of characters used in your posts. It is very useful especially in networks like Twitter, where there is a limitation on the number of characters.

However, sometimes it has a drawback that affects the images of the posts. It turns out that if you use the shortener and upload an image to TwitterIt is often published shortened as well and does not open by default. For this reason, we recommend you bear this problem in mind when make posts and use this tool.

Install Hootlet

On the other hand, we recommend you take advantage of Hootlet, which is an extension of Hootsuite in Chrome and Safari. With it you can send status updates, shorten URLs, share content directly from the web browser, and much more. In addition to that, it offers a control panel for personalized messages. Thus, you can control all your networks quickly without having to enter Hootsuite.

List of the best alternatives to Hootsuite to manage profiles on social networks

Without a doubt, Hootsuite It is a super practical alternative for Community Manager, or other people who manage more than one account on social networks, can efficiently manage what they publish.

However, in case you want to try others, we provide you with a list with three other options:

Buffer

It is a very effective platform for manage different profiles on social networks, among them are Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Work with a kind of agenda, in which you can plan the publications to be made, as well as specify the specific hours for each post.

Among the formats with which you can work are texts, news, photos, videos, and many others. Added to that, It has Chrome extensions and an app available on Android and iOS so you can work with it from anywhere. It has a free version and a pro. It is evident that the free option includes some limitations that you will not have with the pro, for example, with the paid version you can manage up to 8 social network accounts.

Agora Press

It is a very complete solution when it comes to network management tools. It has a team of support trained to offer you help whenever you need it and almost immediate. It is very intuitive, which makes it easy to use.

In addition, it offers dashboards, monitoring your publications, programming them, keyword search, reports and statistics, among other valuable features for any Community Manager. However, when we compare it with Hootsuite, Agora Press It is a little behind due to the limitation in the number of networks you can add. In this case, It is not compatible with Google+ or Pinterest.

Stacker

It is another effective solution to manage your accounts on social networks. In this case, Stacker allows you to manage accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest, as well as programming posts in each of those cases. Along with that, through the platform you will be able to communicate with other users to whom you write or mention on networks.

For those who are not very familiar with network management, it may be an excellent idea to start, because incorporates an easy-to-use analysis tool. In it, you will find a summary of the most relevant statistics regarding the scope of your publications.

Regarding the available plans, there are: