Item: Hootsuite
Rating: 9
Author: Kent Lewis

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm the primary user of HootSuite in our organization, for business and personal use. I currently manage 5 profiles but used to manage 12. One employee uses the platform to support our social media efforts at Anvil. HootSuite allows me to have a much deeper presence on social media (via scheduling) and informed about what content is performing (analytics and reporting) to inform future efforts.

Pros and Cons

Auto-scheduling posts easily, especially via the mobile app.
Tracking clicks across channels with URL shortener.
Provides helpful real-time and automated weekly reports via email.

I believe the app is very intuitive and valuable, but the desktop app is a little more clunky, especially when scheduling posts. It takes too many steps to create a post compared to the mobile app.
I believe the app is very intuitive and valuable, but the desktop app is a little more clunky, especially when scheduling posts. It takes too many steps to create a post compared to the mobile app.
The free reporting has not improved over time, surprisingly. Reporting options are somewhat limited in value.

Return on Investment

The ROI has been strong for HootSuite, due to the relatively low cost for 2 users. Alternative platforms appear to be more expensive yet not more robust.
The platform has made it easy to monitor DMs, mentions and shares/retweets, which helps with conversation and community engagement.

Alternatives Considered

TweetDeck and Sprout Social

I found TweetDeck's interface to be overwhelming and unintuitive. I also didn't feel it provided comparable functionality. My team likes SproutSocial, but I was already too comfortable to consider switching over from HootSuite, plus I believe it's more expensive and roughly comparable.

Support Rating

The support is decent, but not amazing. I haven't had much need for them, fortunately.

Key Insights

Do you think Hootsuite delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Hootsuite's feature set?

Yes

Did Hootsuite live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Hootsuite go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Hootsuite again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

HootSuite is ideal for 1-3 person teams, from a cost perspective. I've found it's very easy to schedule posts and track performance. The basic keyword and hashtag tracking is decent, but not perfect. The reporting is good enough for smaller businesses and is reasonably actionable. I've struggled with some of the connections to Instagram and other platforms at times.

Users and Roles

2 - The other employee that uses HootSuite is responsible for managing Anvil company social media platforms, including LinkedIn and Twitter. We also use SproutSocial for Anvil client support and management, as it has a slightly different feature set but primarily because I prefer Hootsuite and my team prefers SproutSocial for whatever reasons.

Support Headcount Required

1 - I'm the primary support provider for Hootsuite currently. It doesn't require much attention, at least for our application of baseline profile management for Twitter and LinkedIn. It's not as strong for Facebook/Instagram, which is why our team also uses SproutSocial for client work.

Business Processes Supported

Personal social media management
Baseline company social media management (scheduling posts and measuring results)
Monitoring keywords and hashtags, including brand, industry terms and competitors

Innovative Uses

I didn't expect to be able to easily integrate with Google Analytics, which is handy
I've found the mobile app to beg more intuitive and easier to use than the desktop interface

Future Planned Uses

If we add more team members, we should get more ideas to answer this question, as it's currently only 1-2 users and perspectives
If we test out management of client accounts (vs. Sprout) we should see more innovation as well

Likelihood to Renew

The few shortcomings are not outweighed by the low cost and value it provides. Being able to automatically schedule posts across platforms with shortened trackable URLs is a huge productivity boost and the weekly reports are helpful to keep on track with longer-term content planning and optimization strategies.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Auto-scheduling posts with 1-2 clicks is very powerful
Shortening URLs is easy and helpful for tracking
Setting up new streams is easy and helpful when tracking event hashtags

Difficult Tasks

Scheduling manual posts on the desktop takes a few extra steps vs. the mobile app
There have been some issues with the reporting breaking and some formatting issues

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - I find the mobile app is more intuitive and convenient than the desktop and I prefer to use it for auto posting and real-time posts. It's not as easy to schedule posts on the mobile app, so I use the desktop for that, as well as monitoring live keywords feeds/streams while at events.

Usability

There are only a few fixes the platform could make to improve the mobile and desktop interface. For example, it's impossible to toggle out of the Scheduled Posts section in the mobile app; you have to back out, which is less convenient when switch-tasking. Minor bug really. The desktop view could be streamlined a bit, but generally, it's more robust and thus needs a few extra steps in general.

I give a Hoot about HootSuite. It's affordable, intuitive and convenient.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Hootsuite