Out of all the Social Media management and measuring tools available to Social Media Managers and Consultants many (including myself) favour one in particular. . .Hootsuite. It's not the most in depth measuring tool and it's not the most sophisticated management tool but what it does do it does well, it's reliable, it's easy to use and what's more you can use it for free! Yes, OK there are more expensive and more complicated analytics tools out there but, for getting the job done simply and efficiently, it's my recommendation. Here's 5 reasons why Social Media Managers love it:
1. Schedule Messages
The schedule messages feature allows us to post across platforms (no biggy right?). But Hootsuite's messages scheduler allows users to post to Facebook groups as well as pages and profiles. It also has a conveniently placed link shortener and tracker. Perfect for putting together reports at the end of the month that relate to the scheduled messages. The schedule message feature also allows you to add a location to the messages.
2. Dasboard Convenience
The fact that the layout is in the Dashboard format is a great help to Social Media Managers. All from the one screen we can keep an eye on the clients "Mentions" , "Retweets", "Keywords" "Direct Messages", "Wall Posts", "Post Comments" etc.
The Dashboard system allows you to manage up to about 30 social profiles no need to keep logging in and out of Facebook & Twitter for your various clients.
3. Geo Keyword Searches
What a great tool this is. I had a few customers that were retail business (a luggage store that had been established for over 50 years, local electrical supplies store and a furniture retailer) The Geo Keyword search tool allowed me to find leads for these clients really easily e.g. For my Luggage suppier and Electrical supplies client i would set up Geo Keyword searches on say "Vacation" and "Lighting" so if some had tweeted "Can't wait for my vacation! got to get my outfits" or "need a deal on my kitchen lighting" they appear in the search feeds and I can tweet them and tell them about my clients deals on luggage for the vacation and lighting for the kitchen. This really works wonders for clients that are local business.
4. Easy Tracking & Analytics
I always endeavor to give my clients the most comprehsive report of their Social Media Activity. Hootsuite always makes this easy for me. Because I've scheduled my clients messages and shortened the destination links in Hootsuite the "Quick Analytics" tool gives me fantastic graphs and data analysis on elements like "which messages where the most popular in terms of click throughs" "what demographics are the messages resinating with" and graphs of how the clients campaign is performing overall in the month.
5. Value
The paid version is still only $5.99 a month but to be honest kept my free version for the first 4 months of running my Social Media Management & Consultancy business.
There are many other great analytics, monotoring, engagement and tracking tools but if you're starting out as a Social Media Manager or Consultant or maybe you just need to manage a hand full of clients Hootsuite will help you get up and running in your Social Media Business.