Is Hootsuite way the only way?
If you are reading this, it is probably because of the word “Hootsuite” in the title. You might have seen the posts on social media that had a little owl sign or “Hootsuite” written next to them, or you might have just heard about it from someone. In any case, Hootsuite today is often considered a synonym to the term “social media dashboard” and is on its way of owning this title (like “Kleenex” did with tissues).
This famous social media dashboard that allows you to manage multiple accounts, schedule the posts, track the results and so much more.
Hootsuite supports “your favourite social media websites”:
Google+
Foursquare
Wordpress
Sina
Vimeo
MySpace
StumbleUpon
Tumblr
Flickr
MailChimp
SlideShare
Storify
Mixi and more
The bottom line is, if there is a social network you would like to manage, you will most likely be able to with Hootsuite. So that’s a point (+1).
However, with a free account, you will only be able to manage up to 3 social media profiles (-1). A “Pro” version allows you to manage up to 100, and if that’s not enough, the “Enterprise” pack gives you unlimited number of accounts to manage (if you can really find more than 100 social media platforms and will need to manage all of them).
Additionally to variety of accounts, Hootsuite will allow you to:
Schedule when the messages should be sent out to the public (+1).
You can do it manually or automatically – Hootsuite will pick the time it thinks is best (+1).
Collaborate if multiple people are working on social media together.
Assign different people to manage different account, create and mark tasks as done and communicate in Hootsuite. (+1).
To create draft messages to leave for manager’s review or as a FAQ answer (+1).
Get analytical results of your posts’ engagement (+1).
Additionally to all of this, Hootsuite is completely integrated with most of the popular browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) and operating systems – iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry (BBM channels app). Moreover, Hootsuite has browser extensions like Hootlet for Google Chrome (+1).
At this point, you are most likely thinking that Hootsuite can actually benefit you somehow. But some of you are probably waiting for this part now: how much is it going to cost me?
With Hootsuite, you have 3 options to choose from:
This breakdown gives the highlights of each plan. While the free plan might me enough for individual use, the Pro ($9.99/month if you pay yearly at once or $14.99/month) one will really benefit you as an organization with:
Collaboration tools
More accounts
Message archives
Custom URLs for your brand
RSS feeds
Technical support
Hootsuite University to expand your knowledge on Hootsuite and social media in general
Another good thing about Pro plan is that you can try it out free for 30 days.
If that is still not enough, there is an Enterprise plan that additionally offers:
Unlimited number of accounts, analytics, team members, apps, RSS and achieving features
Professional services – more customization and training available
Dedicated account rep. - even more enhanced technical support
Compliance integrations (specifically useful for financial, healthcare and government industries)
Geo-targeting to send messages only to the right people
Interestingly enough, the price is not mentioned on Hootsuite website, so it is probably pretty high for all of those features (-1). On a bright side, it is probably customizable based on the features you want to include (+1).
Even though $9.99 may not seem too high, you will have to pay extra (and quite high extra) for analytics report ($20 - $50), custom URL shorteners ($15 - $50) and extra team members ($20 - $1,400).
In general, Hootsuite does a good job not only at providing great services but also at providing value. The website is built in an attractive benefits-focused way. If the website is built in such an effective marketing manner, it probably means that the tool will help you with your online marketing efforts, right?
Hootsuite’s overall score is:
Even though Hootsuite is the most well-known social media dashboard, there are still other options out there. Like Buffer.
Buffer focuses on the feature of drafting and scheduling posts to be sent out. Up to 100 posts can be “buffered” and then sent out to 10 social media profiles.
In terms of features, Buffer seems to provide less than Hootsuite (-1):
Scheduling
Link shortener
Analytics
Chrome, Safari and Firefox extension
iOS and Android app
However, when you think about it, these are the main features you would use anyway, right?
In terms of social profiles that can be connected, the situation is not that favourable:
Even though you can connect a bigger number of accounts (up to 10 with an “Awesome Plan”), the variety to choose from is not that big, which almost defeats the purpose (-1).
In terms of the price breakdown:
The Free plan provides everything mentioned above.
The Awesome plan ($102/year) provides:
200 posts
12 profiles
2 team members
3. The Buffer for Business Plan provides 3 different option inside of it:
In terms of the plan variety, I must admit that Buffer wins here (+1).
Also, Buffer Business Plan is integrated with Google Analytics, which could benefit some business users (+1).
Overall, Buffer’s score is:
Finally, there is a social media dashboard that focuses strictly on businesses – Oktopost. Oktopost explicitly says that Hootsuite, their competitor is awesome, but it lacks B2B understanding.
Oktopost proves that by providing:
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ support (-1)
Scheduling
Analytics
Oktopost Content Recommendation engine (content curation) (+1)
Social Inbox - automatically checks for comment
Automatic link shortener (+1)
Geo-tagging (+1)
Ability to sync lead data with marketing automation and CRM platforms (Salesforce, Marketo, etc) (+1)
30-day free trial
Division-Level Accounts
Dedicated Account Rep.
In terms of pricing, Oktopost’s 30-day free trial is the only free thing you can get:
Some of the standard Hootsuite features (Bitly integration, autoposter, analytics) are offered for a premium with Oktopost (-1). Moreover, Oktopost lack one of the integral parts of the integral parts of today’s social media – mobile compatibility! Neither iOS nor Android is supported by Oktopost (-1), and the browser extensions are not as efficient as Hootsuite’s and Buffer’s (-1).
In general, Oktopost’s score is: