Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Critical Mention
Score 5.3 out of 10
N/A
Critical Mention headquartered in New York offers their eponymous media monitoring platform for public relations and crisis management.N/A
Hootsuite
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Hootsuite is a social media management platform for building brand awareness, engaging with customers, and driving business results. Users can schedule posts across multiple social networks (including Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube ), manage organic and paid social content together, keep track of customer conversations, integrate with over 200+ applications, and gain actionable real-time insights from social media to make critical business decisions from…
$99
per month
Pricing
Critical MentionHootsuite
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Professional
$99
per month
Team
$249
per month
Business
$739
per month
Enterprise
Contact for Pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Critical MentionHootsuite
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details*Prices displayed in USD, based on annual billing, but do not include applicable taxes. Free - 1 user / 2 social accounts Professional @ $99/month - 1 user / 10 social accounts Team @ $249/month - 3 users / 20 social accounts Business - starting @ $739/month - 5 users / 35 social accounts Enterprise - contact for pricing, unlimited users / 50+ social accounts
More Pricing Information
Features
Critical MentionHootsuite
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.6
261 Ratings
0% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings7.5177 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings7.0185 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings7.5179 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings8.3244 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
8.3
367 Ratings
4% above category average
Content planning and scheduling00 Ratings8.9366 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings8.1251 Ratings
Content optimization00 Ratings7.8299 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings8.2308 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.8
294 Ratings
4% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings7.8212 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings7.6229 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings8.0252 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.4
284 Ratings
3% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings6.6170 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings7.8254 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings7.6169 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings7.8217 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
8.7
363 Ratings
2% above category average
Twitter00 Ratings8.9332 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings9.1347 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings8.7303 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings8.960 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings8.6306 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings8.2157 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings8.2144 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
7.8
291 Ratings
1% below category average
Campaign success analytics00 Ratings7.8267 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings7.9268 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings7.8181 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Critical Mention
-
Ratings
Hootsuite
8.2
303 Ratings
1% above category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings8.4256 Ratings
Mobile access00 Ratings7.9281 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Critical MentionHootsuite
Small Businesses
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.5 out of 10
Publer
Publer
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.5 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.5 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Critical MentionHootsuite
Likelihood to Recommend
1.8
(21 ratings)
8.5
(426 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(7 ratings)
9.2
(89 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(2 ratings)
8.2
(65 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.5
(21 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(19 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(263 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
6.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(17 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.1
(39 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.1
(3 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(3 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.5
(3 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(18 ratings)
User Testimonials
Critical MentionHootsuite
Likelihood to Recommend
Critical Mention
Critical Mention is great for schools/businesses/etc. that want to know when they are in the news. Sometimes a brand's reputation can suffer greatly if you are not aware of an issue that was posted by a competitor or media outlet If you are not in the news a lot, there is no need for this product.
Read full review
Hootsuite
I really like that I can just go into hootsuite, connect all the our social channels and be able to have a great overview on what our social feeds look like. It's super handy not having to spend time going into each social platform to do the same post, and I can spend one day scheduling out that month's social plan. I much prefer sorting out boosting post from Hootsuite, the only downside is that they have a limit to what you can boost a month so a lot of the time I have to grin and bear it and use Meta Business Suite instead for boosting posts.
Read full review
Pros
Critical Mention
  • Critical Mention's customer service is excellent. Any time we've had a challenge finding a clip or anything, they are on top of it and go above and beyond to make sure we have what we are looking for quickly.
  • The ability to create tailored clips of each mention and quickly share them is unparalleled.
  • The reporting feature is fantastic. It makes it very simple to pull detailed reports and share them with interested parties.
Read full review
Hootsuite
  • Scheduling of content. The ease of use for Hootsuite's planner abilities is top of the industry. It is simple and effective in posting content to different channels and accounts.
  • Analytics are superior on Hootsuite. Their custom reports allow you to view very specific KPI's that you can adjust for each channel or account. The reports are also exportable to be used for others in the company.
  • Inbox management. The inbox manager is superior to any in the industry. Hootsuite allows you to tag certain phrases or keywords to better filter messages based on importance or topic.
Read full review
Cons
Critical Mention
  • I believe the one frustration I have with searching in general that if the closed captioning is not correct on the broadcast end Critical Mention will miss that data. Which is not a Critical Mention issue and does overcome depending on the search. Also, it would be great if you wanted to capture a complete 30 minutes newscast, it could be done by using the search. The clips need to be about to handle 30-minute programs.
  • One nagging issue when using Critical Mention is that it does not save e-mail addresses when sending a report and this requires a waste of time having to type in e-mails that should be able to be pulled from the customers' contacts.
  • Also, it would be great if you wanted to capture a complete 30 minutes newscast, it could be done by using the search. The clips need to be able to handle 30-minute programs.
Read full review
Hootsuite
  • Because of the way algorithms works, we would have loved to be able to automate making a post with no link and posting the first comment with a link (hello LinkedIn)
  • We would have loved an easy way to post from a main account and repost the post for other accounts we administrate, for instance a corporate post reposted by individuals for LinkedIn, or retweets from one main account by child accounts
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Likelihood to Renew
Critical Mention
I gave this a 5 only because I do not make the decisions to renew. When I used this at my previous company, I also recommended to the decision maker to renew this tool as it was a crucial piece to the overall client objective
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Hootsuite
At this time we are satisfied that Hootsuite offers the most of what we are looking for at the most reasonable price point. As the social media landscape and monitoring/scheduling software changes, so do our needs. We re-evaluate our tools semi-annually or as new tools emerge onto the market. If we find at any point that we aren't gaining an advantage, then we are open to switching products.
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Usability
Critical Mention
It's great for quickly looking up a specific clip, but this platform makes it difficult to select and accurately report on a high volume of clips
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Hootsuite
Hootsuite is probably the easiest to use social media scheduler of all the ones that I've used. It's been easy to teach clients how to use the software themselves and it can be accessed easily on anyone's phone through their mobile app. Highly recommend for anyone that wants a software that is easy to learn!
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Reliability and Availability
Critical Mention
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
Any outages are communicated in advance and have not been a problem. We let our clients know based on communications from HootSuite. Since we operate 24/7 with multiple shifts, planned outages can interfere with our operations, but we can always work around it.
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Performance
Critical Mention
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
Hootsuite makes passing on articles from the web very easy- when it works! I have had a number of gliches with Chrome where it does not open properly and the solution (after some toing and froing with support) was to uninstall and reinstall. The support staff are always very helpful (which is great!) but the gliches..... well, they suck when you are already busy!
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Support Rating
Critical Mention
Look, Critical Mention follows up on an or phone call immediately or in the AM the following business day. I have called them after hours and get a live person to work through any issues that may have come up. Support seems to be job one with Critical Mention.
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Hootsuite
I can manage all of my accounts on one site! It's absolutely amazing!
The dashboard is helpful to see how you are doing as well. Still
getting to understand the analytics and may need to reach out for help
on this
Read full review
In-Person Training
Critical Mention
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
Very easy to teach and learn
Read full review
Online Training
Critical Mention
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
The online training is decent; however, it takes a lot more time to search for answers to my questions. Having a training session with a live person was much more effective as they were able to quickly address the business needs I have.
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Implementation Rating
Critical Mention
Critical Mention implementation was easy and fast. Their support and training were awesome.
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Hootsuite
• Combination of vendor and internal. The vendor bumped up our account to the Enterprise version (quite simple and easy) and then set up our organization and team structure. We then had to log in and set up team members and assign members to social media accounts. This was pretty easy to do as they have a great user interface. We simply had to drag and drop people into the correct team giving them access to specific social media accounts.
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Alternatives Considered
Critical Mention
Burrelles is confusing and outdated. Critical Mention works on the side of the account team and understands our needs better. I was able to share hundreds of outlets that I wanted to be included in my online search and Critical Mention added all of them in less than a day I was seeing better results in my searches. The possibilities with Burrelles seem limited while Critical Mention's online monitoring service really lets me craft reports the way I want to
Read full review
Hootsuite
Hootsuite's free account was sufficient for use on behalf of our client. When they restructured their pricing model and eliminated free and affordable subscriptions suitable for a small business, we found that Zoho Social was an excellent replacement. The interface was simpler and the pricing was affordable and suitable for a small business.
Read full review
Scalability
Critical Mention
No answers on this topic
Hootsuite
We are only using in marketing and have been able to scale.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Critical Mention
  • Every week the department I am a part does dozens of searches on Critical Mention. We use it as our primary search engine for all things broadcast.
  • One negative aspect is that we do not know where Critical Mention gets their audience viewing numbers from so we just have to take it as their word.
  • Another negative aspect is that we are limited on the amount of time that one clip can be so we have to share several clips of the same show with our clients.
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Hootsuite
  • I have been able to evaluate which posts, in general, do well and figure out what types of posts to make (content)
  • It's been harder however to compare on social medial platform compared to another because it's hard to duplicate a post with a new owly (I think you used to be able to) but more so, you also can't assign it a custom owly link so I can see at a glance which owly link was associated with what platform.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Hootsuite Screenshots

Screenshot of Monitoring: Monitors social media profiles in one place and tracks the topics that matter to the brand.Screenshot of Publishing: Create, publish and schedule engaging posts across social channels.Screenshot of Customer Engagement: A consolidated stream of messages across networks that can be triaged and assigned to respond to customers faster. Provides optional chatbot handover for automated responses.Screenshot of Scheduling: Social content can be planned as a team with a shared calendar that features collaborative post drafts and built-in approval workflows.Screenshot of Analytics & Reporting: Measures the effectiveness of a social media strategy to help turn strategy into execution with meaningful and actionable insights. Reports can be customized and shared according to unique business goals and objectives.Screenshot of Best Time to Publish: Helps to find the best time to publish so posts are seen more often by fans and followers.