Updated November 13, 2014

Hootsuite Enterprise Review: "HootSuite as one of the leading Social Media management platforms"

Igors Skute

Junior Analyst

AboutAnalyticsInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

Score 9 out of 10

Vetted Review

Verified User

Software Version
Hootsuite Pro

Pros and Cons

Effective overview of Social Media environment thanks to the well-developed dashboard and customization options.
Good tracking & monitoring capabilities thanks to the simplicity of adding required data (tweet) streams.
Easy-to-use communication capabilties. The highly intuitive HootSuite dashboard makes it very easy for users to publish new content, and reply to other users, on various different platforms, e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.
Integrated link shortener.
Effective & customized KPI reports that offer good first overview of business performance with an additional option to integrate your Google Analytics account.

Competitor analysis could be improved in the future. At the moment, HootSuite is lacking superior capabilities around tracking competitor performance.
Access to historical data is rather limited, but this is a common issue for most of the tools in this category.

Return on Investment

Increased social media community that generates more leads can be partially attributed to the integration of HootSuite into our business activities.

The role of the web analyst requires testing a wide range of different tools, but HootSuite was integrated also as our internal Social Media management platform, and was selected mainly because of the easy-to-use dashboard for all the users involved.

Users and Roles

9 - CEOs, analysts, developers

Likelihood to Recommend

HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations, and it does a great job of helping you to effectively manage your social media presence across different platforms, and develop your online community. The tool offers you adequate customization options and strong support. HootSuite is famous for its HootSuite University program that helps you maximize ROI. If you are unsure how to boost and benefit from your social media activity and are considering social media management technology, it is definitely worth signing up for a free trial of the HootSuite platform to see what it can do.

Support Headcount Required

2 - These are the analysts experienced in online monitoring and analytics solutions, and are the main internal system experts. But it should be said that there is no strong need for internal support during general usage.

Business Processes Supported

Social Media management
Communication
"Buzz" monitoring

Likelihood to Renew

During use of the tool there was almost no negative experiences, and it fulfills all expectations.

Products Replaced

We started with the Free plan and switched to Pro, and later also to the Enterprise plan.

Implementation

Implementation should not raise big problems even for new users. It is easy to set up different accounts and members using the main starting dashboard.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Training Types Used

Online training
Self-taught

Online Training

HootSuite offers all the necessary online materials, including guidelines on how to use and also optimize usage of the tool. There are numerous video trainings and lots of webinars, so there is no lack of basic training information. Users that want to use HootSuite for professional purposes, like market segment analysis or competitor analysis might need to request private training options.

Ease of Hootsuite Enterprise Training

From my personal experience and the experience collected from other clients, including complete newcomers, there are no big issues encountered in learning this tool. In case some tips & tricks are necessary, most of answers can be found on the web.

Support

HootSuite has one of the fastest response support teams in the business. Additionally, they provide support in lots of different ways. In addition, to tradional phone and email support, the HootSuite support team can be easily reached on platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

Premium Support

No - There was no necessity for premium support.

Usability

HootSuite is a tool that can be used by experienced marketers and also by people completely new to Social Media. The tool is very easy-to-use for everyone and it allows to track your social media performance in fast and effective way.

Reliability and Availability

The HootSuite team is doing a good job offering their clients the best service on the market.

Performance

HootSuite does everything it is designed to do very well: the product's performance is very reliable and efficient. Like other tools, there is always a room for new developments and updates, and the HootSuite team recognizes this and focuses on new development as well.

Future Integration Plans

Integration with Google Analytics may be done in the future, and this is already supported by HootSuite.

Key Negotiation Points

Clients considering Pro and Enterprise plans can negotiate on different topics, including how many users are going to work with the tools; what kind of support is necessary; and the amount of credits required to track the data via analytics reports. For this reason, it is advisable to decide exactly how the tool will be used before engaging into a firm business relationship. Bear in mind that you have an option to try things out with a trial account, so use this trial wisely!.