Hootsuite for Social Media Management
Table of Contents
Humans are social animals!
Human beings are naturally wired to relate and connect with each other, that is why social media is one of the greatest inventions of all time because it allows humans to exhibit their full potential where socialization is concerned.
We have so many temperaments and an introvert naturally prefers to be indoors, social media has made it possible for such individuals to relate and connect with people all over the world, without leaving the comfort of their homes.
Wherever people are gathered, especially in the unity of purpose, growth, development, and wealth reside in their midst. It is just like a goldmine waiting to be explored.
In recent years business owners and companies are tapping into this “goldmine” to generate more sales and increase the popularity of their brands, products, and services. Find the banner size for Twitch.
Social media platforms
The first recognized social media site in the world is six Degrees. It was created in 1997 by an American entrepreneur, Andrew Weinreich. The site consists of basic social media features such as a profile page, and a friend list, and you can send or receive private messages from people you are connected to.
Fast forward to two decades later, we have many popular social media networks today with millions of people on each platform. The popularity and rapid growth of these platforms is an indication or a stamp on the fact that humans love to socialize.
Wherever people are gathered, businesses and companies can make more sales, expand and grow. This is why social media is a great marketing tool for businesses and brands to increase not only their sales but also their feasibility. Check out the guide for social media image size.
Below are the top ten most popular social media platforms in the world, based on the number of active users present on each platform.
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Snapchat
Each platform has its own unique features that distinguish it from other social media channels. Also, the primary purpose of these platforms varies. We will go through the basic features of each platform so that you can analyze the top best platforms related to your business, or where your ideal customers are likely to gather.
Facebook is a popular social media platform Launched in 2004. It has a monthly active user of2.9 billion people across the world. Facebook’s basic features include; the home page, where you can view pictures/videos, comment/like, view your friend request list, notification, watch list and search for friends or any other information on Facebook generally. Other great features include the following.
- create story
- pages
- groups
- memories
- Timeline
- Messages and inbox feature
- Market place etc.
Facebook is composed of many users with varying age ranges, locations, interests and goals. If you desire your business or brand to be well known internationally across various age groups, then a Facebook account is important for your business. Explore the complete guide about Facebook touch.
YouTube
YouTube is a video social media channel, launched in 2005 and it has an active monthly user of 2.2 billion people.
YouTube is an online learning hub where an individual can learn about almost anything that pertains to life, development and our environment. Thousands of valuable information are being added to the platform on a daily basis. Find the perfect thumbnail size for YouTube.
With YouTube, users can search for certain keywords or phrases of their interest, and create their own personal YouTube channel, where they share information with other users, who might later become their followers or subscriber. Its other basic functions include, but are not limited to the following.
- Users can upload videos and graphics to their channels.
- Viewers can Like, Comment, and share YouTube videos.
- Users can subscribe to and follow each other or YouTube channels.
- Users can create playlists to organize and group videos.
For business purposes, YouTube ads are very effective, so far you are able to target the right group of people or audience. It is also a great way to build social media presence and to create products or brand awareness. You can create branded content or social posts related to your business niche for people to learn more about your product. Download some banner templates and create some awesome designs.
WhatsApp is an audio and text messaging app launched in 2009. It has a monthly user of 2 billion people as of January 2o21. The basic features of the app include the following;
- End-to-end encrypted text message
- WhatsApp web for desktop
- Video call feature
- Document and file sharing
- Mute group notifications
- Voice message feature
- Group chat
Most business owners use WhatsApp as a means of reaching out to new and existing customers, post updates about their products or services on their statuses, and sharing customer feedback.
Instagram is a social network that was launched in 2010, where product-based businesses, brands, coaches, and influencers can thrive. It has over 1 billion active users per month.
In 2018 shoppable social posts were introduced and since then, it has become a great “business page” for many small business owners and brands, thereby increasing their potential ROI tremendously. Product-based businesses and B2B companies can connect with massive audiences and can easily link the product or service information to their targeted audiences.
Instagram is a very important platform for your business, especially if your potential demography is under 35 years old. This is because 68% of those aged 18-24 are Instagram users and 57% of those aged 26-41 use the app on a daily basis. The top Instagram features include, but are not limited to the following;
- Image and video editing feature
- Shoppable tags
- Analytics features
- Instagram ads features
- Instagram stories
- Instagram live video
- Instagram IGTV
- Geo-tagged contents
- Hashtags
- Instagram creator studio
- Ads features etc.
TikTok
This is one of the youngest social media platforms in the world, it was launched in 2016 and has been able to grew its active users to 1 billion per month.
TikTok pride itself has been the leading destination for short fun-filled mobile videos. The company mission was to inspire creativity that brings joy to its viewers.
In 2017, TikTok was named the fastest growing social platform in the world, this was after just a year of been launched.
If you desired to connect with 10-25 years old, then TikTok is a platform to check out. In the US, 26% of TikTok users are teenagers and young adults. Its main creative features include the following;
- Video Upload
- Video Editor
- Filters and Effects
- Social Sharing feature
- Likes and Comments
- Notifications
- Duets
- Reactions
Snapchat
If your target audience or prospects are teens, you definitely need to get in on Snapchat!
The most active users on Snapchat are 12-13-year-olds and they spend nothing less than 30 minutes on the app daily.
Snapchat is popular for taking pictures and recording videos with many beautiful filter effects. It is also a haven to enjoy user-generated content, videos and influencers. Below are some of the features of Snapchat.
- Video/photo Snap
- Snap stories
- Custom Stories
- Snap streak
- Filter
- Lenses
- Geofilter
- Snap code
Are you into fashion, interior decoration, jewels, and clothing? If yes, you need a Pinterest account!
This is because, Pinterest is home to popular content on luxurious fashions, foods, DIY-related posts, workouts, weddings, and interior decorations.
Another thing to take note of is, the fact that any content of rich and high-quality visual will thrive effortlessly on Pinterest.
Also, if your ideal audience is female, especially those below 50 years old then, you really need to consider investing in some Pinterest ads or marketing strategies.
Pinterest’s home page allows users to search for certain keywords of their interest, after which relevant social posts, blog posts, and other related content will be displayed to them. Taking high-quality pictures or videos of your product or service is one excellent way to succeed on Pinterest.
If you are looking for key decision-makers in your career line or directors who have the power to hire your company`s service, buy your products, or partner with your company, LinkedIn is the best place to search and strategically approach them. Check out the finest guide for the LinkedIn background banner.
LinkedIn is very focused on connecting professionals, creators, employers and employees. For this reason, it has unlimited potential for connecting you with an elite group of professionals who can make a difference for your business or company. The key networking opportunities that you can access on LinkedIn include the following.
- Job search/ job creation
- Group discussion
- In-mail messaging
- connections
With a Twitter account, your company or brand has the opportunity to craft and hone its voice. Twitter gives room for creative, personalized content that clearly represents your brand product or service. There is room for cleverness and realness, while still being helpful, informative, and motivative.
You can engage other users’ threads by providing valuable comments, retweets and likes. Twitter is a give-and-take social media platform, engaging other people’s posts, will help you to organically gain more followers who will also be willing to engage your own content in return. Here are the key features you can find on Twitter.
- Quote Tweet
- Twitter Lists
- Pin Tweet.
- Tweet Website Cards.
- spaces
- photos and video post updates
- Gif
Social media management tools
Since there are so many social media platforms with a lot of users all over the world, having a social media presence on those platforms is an effective way of reaching out to new prospects and managing your existing customers.
Keeping and managing multiple social media accounts is not an easy task, it takes good strategies, focus, and dedication to carry out the tasks successfully. This is why it is important to embrace the use of social media management platforms. Using such a platform to manage your social media accounts will make the whole task easier and more realistic.
Social media management tools are software designed such that its user can publish, manage and monitor two or more social media networks from one interface. Such tools help companies and brands to maintain a consistent social media presence.
There are so many social media management tools that you can use and they are classified into four types, which include the following.
- Content creation tools
- Social media scheduling tools
- Content curation tools
- Social media analytics tools
Some social media management tool combines two or more of these group listed above, a popular example is Hootsuite.
Advantages of using social media management tools
The benefits associated with using social media management tools are numerous, as a business owner or manager, embracing such tools is worth it. Below are some of the benefits of using a social media management system.
It saves time
Managing multiple social accounts from one interface will save you a whole lot of time.
Scheduling social posts and content in advance on such platforms will help you to maintain a consistent social media presence on many social media platforms relevant to your business while saving time in the process.
Your social media management team can work more effectively by scheduling posts in advance at the most convenient time instead of rushing to create and publish the content during peak time.
Fast response
Not only is it important to respond to customers’ complains and comments via social media, but it’s also essential to react swiftly. A large percentage of customers expect companies to respond to their complaints or question within a maximum of one hour or less on social media.
When your company is managing multiple social media accounts, the expectation above might be difficult to meet. Implementing a social media management tool will streamline this process, thereby making it easier to see customers’ comments, complaints, questions and mentions, across all your social networks, from a single interface.
Clearer Audience insight
Using a social media management tool will give you a deeper and clearer insight into your audience. You will know your followers, their geographical location, and other relevant information that can improve your brand awareness and engagement across all your social networks. Implementing this data into your overall marketing plan will result in more informed marketing decisions.
It improves customer support
Monitoring and responding swiftly to customers’ or prospects’ questions and complaints can streamline their path to purchase. It can also lead to an increment in customer satisfaction rates.
Research published in Harvard Business Review shows that customers who received a swift response to their inquiries on social media are more likely to remain a customer, spend more money with the brand, and recommend the company to their friends and family.
What is Hootsuite?
Although there are much social media management software out there, for the purpose of this blog, we will focus on the most popular one, which is Hootsuite.
Hootsuite is a digital services agency that offers software used for social media management. It covers almost all the activities and tasks carried out by social media managers to monitor and manage multiple social media networks.
From a single interface, managers or users can carry out basic activities such as scheduling posts, curating content publishing social media posts, and monitoring customers’ or prospects’ reactions across multiple social media platforms.
Hootsuite can also be used to carry out advanced activities such as managing team members’ productivities and measuring ROI and analytics.
What is the Hootsuite dashboard?
Hootsuite dashboard is a page that allows community managers, marketers, and social media managers to monitor all of their social platforms from one screen.
The dashboard allows its users to create, schedule, view, post and respond to both organic and paid social media posts, and to view analytics reports. Hootsuite dashboard is also an important tool for social listening, by allowing you to monitor all comments, conversations, and posts relevant to your business or company.
Hootsuite plans
There are four different plans available on Hootsuite, excluding the free plan, that users or social media managers can choose from.
The plan to choose depends on the number of social media accounts that you intend to manage and the advanced features that you desire to get.
1) Free
The free plan has limited features and can be used to manage 2 social media accounts. It can be managed by only one user and can be used to schedule just 5 social posts.
- 5 schedule posts
- 2 accounts
- 1 user
2) professionals
The professional plan is basically for entrepreneurs, who own and manage a business by themselves. The plan can be operated by a single user and it can manage up to ten social media accounts. Hootsuite professional plan can be used to schedule unlimited posts in advance, it has other great features such as the following.
- Access all messages in one inbox
- Schedule multiple posts in advance
Team plan
This plan is basically for digital service agencies that offer social media management services using small team collaboration, to manage up to twenty social media accounts.
The team plan can be accessed by three different users, while the team manager will be able to assign tasks and monitor each member of the team. Here are some of the amazing features included in Hootsuite’s team plan.
- Manage team access and roles with permissions
- Assign posts and/or comments to team members
- 3 users or managers
- 20 social media accounts
- Schedule unlimited social media posts in advance
- Access all messages in one inbox
Business plan
A business plan is ideal for small business owners or managers with larger audiences across many social media platforms.
A business plan can be accessed by five users or managers and it can be used to manage up to 35 social media accounts.
- 5 users or social media managers
- 35 social media accounts
- Schedule unlimited social media posts
- Access all messages in one inbox
- Manage team access and duties with permissions
- Assign posts and comments to team members
- Review all messages before they are published
- Extend the functionality with premium apps such as Slack and Zendesk
- Unaltered priority support
Enterprise plan
This is a special plan for large companies or organizations who desire customized features that will best suit their marketing strategies and social media preference. This plan can be accessed by more than five enterprise users and can be used to manage more than 50 social media accounts. Its core features include the following;
- 5+ enterprise users
- 50+ social media accounts
- Schedule unlimited posts
- Access all messages in one inbox
- Report on team performance
- Customized solutions
- Schedule unlimited posts in advance
- Manage and monitor team access and roles with permissions
- Automatically assign posts and comments to team members
- Review messages before they are published
- Extend the functionality with premium apps such as Zendesk and Slack
- Unaltered priority support
- Receive quarterly business review
- Get recommendations and reviews from the Customer Success Manager
- Hootsuite Social Ads
- Analyze performance and engagement metrics for ad campaigns, individual ads, and organic posts
- Promote unlimited social posts
- View Ad spending for more visibility of posts
The key benefits of using Hootsuite
Hootsuite happens to be the most popular social media management platform in the world. It is used by big and popular companies like Coca-Cola to monitor their social media accounts and for social media marketing purposes.
Planning and scheduling social media posts are two of the key activities carried out by social media managers. With the Hootsuite Calendar view, the community managers can pick time slots to plan content publication on several of the connected social media networks.
We will be looking at six key benefits of using Hootsuite to manage your company’s social media presence.
1) Monitor Multiple Social Media accounts
One of the most compelling reasons to utilize Hootsuite for your business or brand is that it allows you to monitor and manage multiple social media networks in one place. You don`t have to remember multiple passwords for your various social media accounts or website since you will be able to access them in one central location.
With Hootsuite, you will be able to connect with your customers and prospects across over 35 social media platforms, post updates, respond to questions or complaints, and build your social media presence consistently.
Some of the popular social platforms that can be accessed on Hootsuite include; Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn google drive+, WordPress blog, Instagram, etc.
Hootsuite integrates several other platforms that can be accessed via third-party apps, they include; Reddit Vimeo, Instagram, MailChimp, Tumblr, Flickr, Evernote, SlideShare, Storify, Edocr, etc.
2) Schedule multiple posts in advance
Another mouth-watering benefit of using Hootsuite is that it allows you to schedule messages or post across all your desired social media platforms in advance. This will enable you to create productive social media strategies, that take into consideration crucial times when your ideal audience or customers are likely to read and react to your post which can also lead to an increase in the number of your social media followers simultaneously.
You can pick a day and time that best suit your audience`s needs and your marketing plan, then schedule each post in an easy-to-read calendar format, that can easily be published at the appropriate time.
3) Analytics Data
Hootsuite integrates a unique analytics feature that gives you an in-depth view of how well your social media strategy is working. This tool can track clicks across all of your chosen social media platforms and then delivers them in an easy-to-read series of charts.
Hootsuite also provides other extensive monitoring and reporting features for community managers that allows them to create professional-looking and printable reports of the progress of all the social media account they are managing.
4) Social Media engagement
An excellent way to connect with existing customers and new prospects is through social media mentions, where you take note of what others are saying and bring your company’s value to the conversation. This happens to be an effective method of organically increasing your social media followers.
New followers are usually attracted to valuable information that is been passed across to them consistently and they can become paying customers along the line.
Another great benefit of using Hootsuite is that it allows you to track key phrases across other users’ posts to determine when your product or services could be beneficial to them. This can be an excellent way to bring in new clients or gain new followers simply by being highly in tune with their needs.
5) Effective customer service
One of the reasons why companies shy away from social media platforms is that it can be difficult to manage audience engagement and also deliver effective customer services across multiple social media platforms. By using Hootsuite, you can view customer complaints, comments, questions, and reactions to your posts all in one single place without having to check multiple social media accounts.
You can also create a content library where you store direct messages or answer frequently asked questions so that you can post them swiftly when a client asks such questions. For eg, your store opening and closing hour, directions to your business location, etc.
6) Team Collaboration
You will be able to manage your team effectively with Hootsuite!
Hootsuite has features that allow you to assign tasks to multiple team members, such that they are able to perform a specific task on the social media accounts of your choice. It also allows you to have first-hand knowledge about who is posting what information, who has scheduled posts, and who has published content.
The cons of using Hootsuite
Anything that has an advantage will surely have its own downside!
Humans usually make choices most times when the advantages of a thing far outweigh its equivalent disadvantages or when the risk to be taken is worth it.
This same natural principle, also applies to Hootsuite, despite the fact that it is a very popular software, this does not cancel the fact that it has some disadvantages. Below are some of the notable downsides of Hootsuite.
Complex interface
For someone using Hootsuite for the first time, or someone who values simplicity, the Hootsuite interface especially for the pro plan can be crowded and confusing.
Community and social media managers that monitor many social media accounts, seeing many social networks and profiles appearing on the interface at once, especially for the team and professional level, can be confusing and overwhelming given the fact that there are so many activities taking place within any one tab.
Many small businesses may find Hootsuite offering more features than they need. Business owners that are interested in using the software will have no choice but to commit hours to learning its features and how they work.
But this cannot be considered a long-term disadvantage, because you will get used to the interface and how it works as time goes by. The more you use it frequently, the simpler it becomes to you.
Although the software learning curve might be longer for a beginner, but it is possible to learn and understand it. Also, Hootsuite announced that they have ‘Hootsuite university’ where you can access resources and learning materials on its website that can further assist and guide you about the software.
High-cost
Valuable things are never cheap!
Although the Professional plan costs just $9.99 per month, adding more than one social media team member increases the cost and if you further add a second-team member, this can double the price to approximately $20 per month.
While most of the apps on Hootsuite`s directory are free, some require premium subscriptions to access them. Also, some of the analytics reports require payment, which increases the overall cost of using the software.
Conclusion
For your company to gain popularity, increase its sales and provide good customer service and support, a workable Social media management system needs to be put in place.
It is important that you select social media platforms relevant to your business because it is not all social media channels that you can find an audience, prospect, or client that will be interested in your product or service.
Focusing on social channels relevant to your business will save you a lot of time, and effort and will increase your overall productivity level.
For businesses with a limited budget, but diverse social media channels Hootsuite is one of the most comprehensive all-in-one social media management tools on the market. Hootsuite Pro version provides more features than many small businesses will need, but you necessarily do not need to use them all.
If you are looking for the best software for scheduling posts, social media monitoring, analytics, and team collaboration, Hootsuite is one of the best marketing tools out there.
