We love using Hootsuite to schedule social media posts ahead of time (it’s such a time-saver!) but there’s a lot more to it than that. Here are four less well-known uses for Hootsuite that you may want to add to your social media management plan.
Analyze metrics
Set up the analytics you are most interested in within Hootsuite, and then you can track all the metrics for your social media platforms all in one place! See what type of content does best on each platform and what you’re posting that is just universally awesome.
Use streams for engagement
Creative use of Hootsuite’s streams gives you quick access to information on engagement with your posts.
To use streams for Twitter engagement, create a tab in Hootsuite that’s just for your Twitter account, and create streams within that tab—you might want to have streams for your home feed, mentions, direct messages, and retweets. Then you can respond, like, and retweet within that stream without leaving Hootsuite!
For blog engagement, you can create a stream that will search the web for the specific URL of your blog. You’ll know who’s sharing your blog, and since you’ll be able to see that information all in one place, that makes it easier for you to thank them!
Mobile capability
Not near your computer? Not a problem. With the Hootsuite app, you can access your accounts and lists from a smart phone. The app is easy to use, and allows you to schedule or change posts from anywhere.
New platforms
Hootsuite added Instagram to its list of managed platforms last year. If you connect your Instagram account to Hootsuite, you can pre-schedule posts like you would for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google Plus. One quirk that we’ve found is that (at least currently) you’ll get a text to confirm sending out a pre-scheduled Instagram post, and you have to approve it before it will go out.
YouTube is the newest addition to Hootsuite’s platforms. This means you’ll be able to easily schedule YouTube videos from your other platforms. You can also manage your YouTube account directly from Hootsuite! This makes it possible to schedule videos and check metrics for YouTube without leaving Hootsuite.
Hootsuite is constantly improving and adapting to trends. This is what makes it such a useful resource! What features do you think more people should know about?