Hootsuite

BACKGROUND

Can you please provide a brief description of your company?

My organization is Crea7ive Interactive Agency. We are a digital marketing agency and creative agency.

What is your role there?

I am the COO of the agency.

OPPORTUNITY/CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your company was facing that incited the need for this platform?

We were looking for a tool that allowed us to be more efficient with our time to manage our clients' social media accounts.

SOLUTION

Was your company considering other platforms?

Hootsuite is one of the most recognizable social media management platforms out there. We went with the best and most cost efficient option in that market.  

How much does your company spend to utilize the platform?

The cost of implementation is confidential. 

RESULTS

Can you share any success, metrics, or overall results of your implementation of this platform?

Using  Hootsuite saved our team a lot of time and effort, which allowed us to focus on other tasks for our clients.

FEATURES

Were there any software features or tools that really impressed you?

Hootsuite's dashboard is very flexible, accessible, and efficient. We deal with a lot of accounts, so Hootsuite was the best for us. We used Hootsuite to keep an eye on all the hashtags that we wanted to see or see feedback from clients. That allowed us to curate some content, and use it on social media.

Can you speak to the analytics tools available on  Hootsuite?

Hootsuite's analytics aren't as strong as we wanted them to be. We create custom reports for clients with the metrics that we want to show them. For the most part, we created the reports ourselves by piecing together data directly the social channels, using Facebook analytics, Twitter analytics, Google analytics... We used to use little pieces from  Hootsuite but, honestly, that isn't Hootsuite's strongest part.

Looking back, are there any areas of the software that you feel could be added or improved upon?

I wish the analytics were better. I remember that Facebook made a change while we were using Hootsuite, and that's when we decided to stop using the platform. Facebook changed and if we posted things onto Facebook using  Hootsuite, it didn't have as much flexibility as if we posted it directly on Facebook. If you wouldn't post directly from Facebook then the content wasn't going to rank as high as if you posted on Facebook directly. That hurt the engagement we were getting on our posts.

OVERVIEW

We have a few quick questions and, for each question, we ask you to rate the software on a scale of one to five, with five being the best. What would you give the software for functionality of the features available?

Five.

What would you give the software for ease of use or ease of implementation into your business?

Three. I haven't used it in a while but, at the time, it was a three.

For support, as in responsiveness of the team or helpfulness of the resources available?

Four.

For overall satisfaction with the platform?

Four.

How likely are you to recommend the software?

Five.

BACKGROUND

Can you please provide a brief description of your company and the role that you play there?

I work for MindSea and we create smartphone applications. We're based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am the mobile marketing manager, so I handle any kind of marketing for the company and the apps that we create.

OPPORTUNITY/CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your company was facing that incited the need for this platform?

We have our own Twitter account and Facebook account, but we also were starting to ramp up marketing on one of our flagship applications. It's called Transit 360, and we were ramping up social media on that account as well. So, to maintain all of the accounts was becoming a little bit labor intensive for my team. We wanted to be able to maintain a steady stream of information with relevant and timely posts without eating up all of our time – that's why we sought out a social media management tool.

SOLUTION

How does your company implement this platform or software?

I know that Hoot Suite is capable of so much more than I have been using it for so far. I do intend to ramp up even more on the tool but, as of right now, it's been very useful. I use HootSuite most commonly to do pre-posts a bunch of pre-planned posts within Twitter. I can draft a bunch of tweets for the next two or three weeks. I can drop them into the HootSuite system, make sure I put in the links and images in, and schedule them throughout each day. I can also set it to auto schedule. I personally prefer to set the schedule because our audience is in very specific markets and time zones. I want to be sure to target the post to land where it's more likely to hit our customers when they're online.

Was your company considering other platforms? Why this platform?

There were a couple of other tools we came across. I know there's Buffer, and I was familiar with an app that's produced locally called SimplyCast. HootSuite, I'll admit was one tool that we already had an account in house but it wasn't being utilized to its potential. I know we have found Buffer to be useful as well, however, HootSuite had better scheduling and viewing options.

In addition to HootSuite, I've also been using TweetDeck to observe the Twitter activity on my account and on industry specific terms. I was told that HootSuite would allow me to do all these things as well as schedule the posts, manage the timing, set up some streams to observe the account, retweets, activity, and I could follow competitor's accounts or key industry terms to see what the activity is in the area.

RESULTS

Can you share any success, metrics, or overall results of your implementation of this platform?

HootSuite's allowed us to increase our Twitter followership. I've been doing a number of different methods but I'm sure that keeping the account active has allowed us to triple our account base since April. I don't have any specific numbers.

FEATURES

Were there any software features or tools that really impressed you?  

For me, the best part is HootSuite's scheduling. It's all about the calendar. That's where I see the most value. I would say the scheduling – seeing the calendar and being able to do it as a day or a full month so I could make sure I'm spreading out similar types of tweets. I can see how full my month is and where I have gaps.

Looking back, are there any areas of the software that you feel could be added or improved upon?

I would love it if I could duplicate posts. For example, I want to be able to create a post on Monday, I want to be able to repeat that post or modify it and tweet it a week and a half later. Currently, I don't have that option. I have to recreate each post from scratch.

Have you had to interact with the platform's support team or reference their support resources?

I have not.

OVERVIEW

We have a few quick questions and, for each question, we ask you to rate the software on a scale of one to five, with five being the best. What would you give the software for functionality of the features available?

Four.

What would you give the software for ease of use or ease of implementation into your business?

Five.

For support, as in responsiveness of the team or helpfulness of the resources available?

Four. I can't speak to the team because I haven't experienced that. I do know they're there and they're available. I did go in to see what kind of training material they had. It seems like there is a lot there. They also have the university option if you wanted to do more formal training on it. I'm very optimistic about what the results will be when I go to look for those resources.

For overall satisfaction with the platform?

Four.

How likely are you to recommend the software to a colleague or similar business?

Five.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a hospitality group. We’ll have 20 restaurants around the country by the end of the year. They are of different varieties, scales, and menus. Some are in hotels and some are freestanding.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the marketing and social media manager. I manage everything from website development to social media calendars for each property. I also manage the relationships with social media influencers as well as any third-party review site, such as Yelp, Trip Advisor, and OpenTable. Since we’re small, I often end up onsite for a lot of big activities that we’re doing.

OPPORTUNITY/CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your company was facing that incited the need for a Social Media Marketing platform? Was there a specific business goal that you were hoping to accomplish?

When I first started, I was doing a lot of our social media through my mobile, so the HootSuite app was not necessarily an amazing interface for me at the time. I went to using solely the Twitter app. I had the opportunity to meet the HootSuite team, and they uncovered for me a lot of the potential that I wasn’t tapping into before. Through that, I dove back in with my team and found ways to make it more effective for us. I now use it as a listing tool in terms of managing the reach, and it’s great. We really found ways to leverage HootSuite that we weren’t taking advantage of before. That’s the biggest and best thing I’ve found about it. When I was using it as a scheduling tool, the ease of use wasn’t apparent to me and now that we’re using it as a whole hub of all of our information, it has become invaluable.

SOLUTION

Did your company have a formal selection process for deciding on a Social Media Management platform? Was your company considering other platforms or possibly contracting a Social Media Management agency?

When I came on board, we were already using HootSuite. The fact that they have so many dedicated people that are vouching for this program and are diehard users really sold me on it again. At the conference where I met them, they were speaking about how they’re really building the HootSuite community out. From my eyes, HootSuite has grown very organically, and I think that anything that happens organically speaks very highly for the brand. 

What is your annual spend on the platform? Did you start using the platform’s free trial prior to purchasing the platform’s subscription plan?

We use the lower of the business plans. We have two users on it. As we grow, we’ll move up to the other levels. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any success, metrics, or overall results of your content marketing campaign since initial implementation of the platform?

No specific stats are coming to mind. HootSuite has been so crucial in moments when I needed the dashboard, for example, we launched a delivery partnership with a large taxi service application. We were able to track all the stats on exactly how many people were interacting on social media with the launch hashtag. The HootSuite dashboard allowed me to monitor all of our four restaurants that were participating as well as our corporate restaurant and the hashtag all from one platform. There’s no other way we could have done that. It’s my center for any moments of crisis.

FEATURES

Were there any software features or tools that really impressed you and of which potential buyers should be aware?

Since I’m on such a small team, scheduling and pulling reports through HootSuite is so useful because I don’t have time to write the reports. I also love that we are able to schedule everything for the week in advance. Anytime I’m doing anything strategic that takes planning, I use HootSuite. HootSuite’s auto scheduling is awesome. I use it all the time with user-generated content. 

Can you speak to the tracking and analytics tools available?

I haven’t found any serious issues with the tracking features. I find them to be sufficient. I wouldn’t say it exceeds the capabilities of Twitter, at least at the level we’re using it, but I find it to be as good.

Have you found it necessary to use any of the company’s available tutorials or support resources? Was the support useful and accessible?

I haven’t found it necessary to utilize their support resources, I’ve been able to figure out most everything myself. 

Are there any areas of the platform that you feel are not intuitive or that you feel could be improved upon?

I think everyone wishes Instagram was available on HootSuite, but I don’t think that will happen. From my experience five months ago, the mobile interface wasn’t where I needed it to be, but I haven’t used HootSuite on my mobile recently. I would love to have more users be able to access my account. I would prefer to have unlimited ability to add users and would rather be charged based on the number of accounts I have. I see many more ways to use it. 

OVERVIEW

We have a few quick questions and, for each question, we ask you to rate the software on a scale of one to five, with five being the best. What would you give the platform for ease of use and implementation?

Four. There have been weird bottlenecks I’ve run into when I’m synching up new accounts. The experience until then is a five, but when I have to get into settings, it brings it down to a four.

For support, as in responsiveness and resources available?

Five. I see them as being very capable. 

For overall usability and satisfaction with the platform?

Four and a half.

How likely are you to recommend the platform to a similar business?

Five.