Old Reliable!
May 25, 2019
Old Reliable!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Hootsuite Free
Overall Satisfaction with Hootsuite
Hootsuite needs no introduction, we use it to put all of our social media accounts into one app, making it really easy to keep track of post and pre-schedule content to go out on social channels. The main benefit this provides is allowing us to line up multiple posts ahead-of-time and schedule them to go out. This is particularly useful in the music industry because you can schedule several posts to go out prior to a concert, and even up to the starting moment of the event to drive more attendees.
- Integrations work flawlessly with no issues or needing to reconnect things incessantly.
- Very reliable and consistent platform compared to cheaper alternatives.
- It does a very good job of allowing you to put the most important information that you need front-and-center.
- I personally don't like the way Hootsuite displays multiple social channels on the interface. It's very utilitarian and it does have a modern look, but there's just something about the multiple column look that really bugs me. It feels a bit dated and cluttered.
- I've used both the free and the pro versions before. Pro is somewhat overpriced for the value that it provides and the free version limits you to too few social profiles which puts you in a position to either overpay or go to another option like Buffer which is cheaper but isn't as reliable. I'd say somewhere around $12-15/mo. would make the single-user Pro tier more palatable.
2 - Owner, Marketing Coordinator
- Hootsuite saves us approximately 2 person hours each week by enabling quick and efficient scheduling of content across different social channels.
- The analytics offered in Hootsuite provides a clean, easy-to-consume dashboard that provides high-level insight into the performance of social posts. If you're not heavily invested in social as a lead-gen channel (we're not), this is a great view to get an idea of how engaging your content is without going too in-depth.
- Amalgamating social channels under a single platform has made it really easy to curate content and cross-pollinate across channels. This is part of the two-hour per week time savings I mentioned.
- Buffer and Sprout Social
I first evaluated Hootsuite seven years ago in a past life. I evaluated it against Buffer and Sprout Social. I found it to be generally better than Buffer in most ways. I like Buffer's clean interface more but it's heavily limited compared to Hootsuite. The pricing of Buffer is better, but you do get what you pay for. We currently use Buffer in my main job and it has reliability issues that Hootsuite does not. I loved Sprout Social and it offered some features that were really cool and an attractive user interface but the pricing was prohibitive for a business that doesn't make quota via social channels. Bottom-line, if you need a low-budget option, probably go with Buffer knowing that you'll have issues—especially with LinkedIn frequently disconnecting itself. If you have the budget and social is a core part of your marketing strategy, I'd say definitely go with Hootsuite. If you have a lot of budget, and social is the main revenue stream for your business, then maybe look at Sprout too.