I started using Hootsuite to help streamline posting on social media to support our new event. It was taking to long to post on each type of social media account. As a small business owner I needed something that would reduce time needed for social media posting which is not something I enjoy.
Pros
Editing scheduled posts is very helpful
Schedule view is great to see how posts are set
The mentions in the streams make it easier to comment when you are tagged.
Cons
The free version keeps losing features which is disappointing. Went to another program because of this. Now I see they are totally closing. Monthly cost was too much
Likelihood to Recommend
The free version was worth trying for a new business starting with social media. Now that they are removing that options I do not remove. In my opinion, $99 a month is just too much. $10 a month sure! Definitely not $99/ month which is why I went to another platform (Later). Hootsuite did have a few features I liked better, but not $100 a month better, can live without them.
I use Hootsuite to currently schedule all of our social media. I love that I can schedule up to 30 days out and don't have to think about it on a daily basis - it is a lot of work but being able to set aside one day a month is priceless. I really appreciate the analytics sharing of the best time to post - I use that the majority of the time. I also appreciate the publisher screen that shows me how each post will look next to each other. I also love that I can cover IG and FB in one joint post.
Pros
Best posting time Analytics
Broad look at "bulk" posting
Opportunities on multiple forums
Cons
I wish there was a resizing option for files that are too large
I wish there was an option to view the posts set up like Instagram in the 12 view
I wish there was a "memory" template for hashtags or other content that is used on a regular basis.
Likelihood to Recommend
I love using this posting scheduler - it is really easy to learn and use whether posting on a daily or weekly basis. It is helpful with posting times and showing publishing dates. I believe it is a great option for scheduled posting. I also love that it gives suggestions for the best posting times and offers further analytics should I want to explore those.
I use Hootsuite to share content relevant to our clients and applicants. We are a staffing and recruitment firm for allied health, especially school-based and pediatric speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special education teachers, school psychologists, and others. Hootsuite allows me to organize, schedule, and publish my content ahead of time across several social media platforms.
Pros
Easy to populate schedule/calendar
Finds photos associated with links automatically
Suggests times my users are online
Cons
I am not able to repost an item and simultaneously change the bitly link. Harder to track posts that are essentially the same but are going to different audiences. I have to recreate the post from scratch to do that. I wish I could repost a post and customize the back end of the owly so I can see just by looking at the owly what post it was and where I posted it. For example, I would love to post my newsletter using an owly link like: ow.ly/NLpediatricOTtwitter and then repost it (from the original post by renaming the link to ow.ly/NLpedatricPTtwitter etc....... It's impossible for me to easily compare the performance of a single post across multiple social medial platforms or accounts
Analytics are clunky and hard to manipulate.
I wish they would increase the size of scheduling time (hour, minute, am, or pm) drop-down boxes. I have to click and scroll to find times later in the day. Every click matters.
It would save clicks if you could navigate from one social media account to another without clicking a dropdown box and then scrolling. It would be great to be able to assign "favorites" that you can check and uncheck from the main planner/calendar view.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is great for small operations that do not need extensive metrics. Analytics are clunky, at least at my level of membership. I have to copy and paste data to excel to run reports. Also, you cannot sort Owly clicks by tag. It would be nice to be able to compare the performance of posts based on what category or tag I assign to them. For a small company that does not have to adjust social media monthly based on goals, it's just fine. For any larger company, I think that some of the others would be better choices (Sprout Social for example)
I use Hootsuite to manage my personal brand through social media. The free plan is more than enough for me to get things done. I do two profiles, and it has worked wonders. I can keep myself organized, and my brand looks better now. I've been using it for four years, starting with a client's account and then mov[ing] to mine, because it was so easy to use and so organized, I needed it for myself.
Pros
Organization
Scheduling
Interphase
Cons
Adding more social media profiles
Enterprise plan pricing
Advertising workflow
Likelihood to Recommend
Hootsuite is one of the best platforms I've tried for social media work. Hootsuite is a simple and straightforward method for planning your Facebook and Instagram posts, tweets, and then some. Scheduling was never easier, as it is an extremely helpful device for arranging your posts days, weeks, or even a very long time ahead of time.
[Hootsuite is being used for] planning and managing our Social Media accounts[.]
Pros
Personal service in case of issues (it was my fault, system is ok!)
Overview is handy
Planning and managing different media is done in one click
Cons
Dashboard view could become "cleaner"/intuitive
Likelihood to Recommend
[Hootsuite is] well suited for multi channel + multi language social media management! Less appropriate in case of very simple SoMe management I guess.
VU
Verified User
Employee in Marketing (Facilities Services company, 51-200 employees)
In marketing we use Hootsuite to manage our social networks, quickly share content across multiple platforms and stay plugged into what our audiences are saying about our brand.
Pros
Design - I am able to design posts using the free media library, which reduces my iStock costs. It provides dimensions by social platform, eliminating the need for resizing in iStock or Photoshop.
Manage content and time - I can create multiple posts and schedule them over a period of time, which enables me to stay abreast of my social media efforts without a major impact to time.
I can post content to multiple sites with the click of one button, which is a huge time saver.
Cons
Tagging - there are times that I would like to tag individuals or places in a photo. This feature is not offered in the version I have, forcing me to visit the actual sites to complete these tasks.
While I can add links to a post, I cannot hyperlink words which would be helpful.
Likelihood to Recommend
Hootsuite is perfect for managing posts and posting to more than one site at a time. If bandwidth is an issue, in just a few hours on Hoosuite you can create social content for several weeks, eliminating the need to have someone dedicated full time to social.
VU
Verified User
Contributor in Marketing (Security and Investigations company, 201-500 employees)
Hootsuite is utilized at our organization to help schedule and share on our social media pages by the personnel within the marketing department. It helps us organize posts across different markets we serve, submitted by different people in our organization. This is a real game changer in how we can see who is posting when, where and what.
Pros
Hootsuite allows us to schedule postings days/weeks in advance so we can manage other aspects within our work functions and not miss a beat.
I love Hootsuite because I can see my post before I schedule it to go live, which allows me perfect my messaging.
Hootsuite allows me to page through my social platforms, see the activity on my page, upcoming scheduled posts and what others are posting. This really keeps everything in front of me to help manage all of the different social platforms I manage.
Cons
I wish Hootsuite would update their Facebook feed icon. Currently, it shows as a flag, which is very confusing when trying to manage multiple platforms. For example, twitter is the bird icon which makes it super easy to identify that it is Twitter... no guessing games.
To view all of my posts in the planner page, I would like to see the whole month, versus only showing weekly. It's a strong asset to see your scheduled posts on a calendar, but to see the entire month would be most beneficial.
When you are already viewing your streams for facebook, twitter, etc., I wish Hootsuite would automatically refresh new feed, rather than me having to click to refresh the stream.
Likelihood to Recommend
Hootsuite is best for companies or anyone managing multiple media outlets. It allows you to schedule and manage postings across multiple platforms, and compiles them into a planner so that you can stay on top of what you are posting, when you are posting them and where you are posting them to.
Just by me, posting stuff for clients and potential clients to see and read about. I'll get different ideas from others in our company and others companies that post stuff as well. I try to post 2x per week on a regular basis. It's been very user friendly and saves me lots of time manually posting on all of the different sites.
Pros
Post to multiple sites with ease.
Work on the go with the app.
Schedule posts in the future.
Cons
When scheduling a post, it would be nice to be able to post to Twitter in the same window, because Twitter requires less text.
Emailed reminders if no more posts are scheduled.
More webinars for how to maximize your use of Hootsuite, such as reporting.
Likelihood to Recommend
Small businesses and large businesses. I wouldn't use it personally though.
