HootSuite is considered by many to be the ‘crème de la crème’ of social media management tools for businesses. They earn this recognition as it is one of the most comprehensive tools of its kind out there. With HootSuite, businesses can track and manage all of their social media channels in one place. No hopping from platform to platform to engage with their various social media audiences, promote their products, keep an eye on competitors, gain analytics and build campaigns. This can all done under one house with HootSuite. It is an incredibly powerful and valuable resource for managing an online presence.
HootSuite For Personal Use
The value of HootSuite doesn’t begin and end with business. You may not have any involvement with social media marketing but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using HootSuite.
56% of adults online are using more than one social media platform (source) yet the majority of them are hopping from one platform to the next.
HootSuite is any social media enthusiast’s dream internet home. It supports the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, WordPress and Google+. It also offers additional integration apps both free and premium (they have over 160 currently). These apps everything from Flickr to Adobe to Pinterest to FourSquare to Google Drive to SoundCloud and beyond. Apps can be browsed here.
Streams are created and organized to give you “an owl’s eye view” of all things that are important to you across all of your platforms. A user can build an unlimited number of streams. Want to have a stream dedicated solely to #cleaneating near your location? Done. Maybe you want a Twitter stream with everything from or posts about @StephenKing. Easy.
Losing track of replying to comments on your Facebook posts? You can have a stream for that. All of the streams you build are in front of you, all at once, in an organized way that makes sense to you. No more bouncing around the internet trying to keep up with your friends, family and interests in five different locations.
If you’re using HootSuite for personal use only, chances are you won’t need the post analytics. You probably won’t even need the scheduled posting feature— but they sure are great bonuses.
HootSuite Academy
HootSuite also offers free courses to learn not only about how to use their service effectively but also courses on social media strategy, content marketing, and social advertising. Most of those courses probably aren’t needed for most personal use of the product but, again, a perk for those interested in gaining some knowledge. The one that is certainly worth taking is the Fundamentals of Using HootSuite. All HootSuite courses can be seen here.
For all you self-proclaimed social media buffs spending too much time in different places trying to keep up with the world— HootSuite’s free plan is certainly worth checking out.