Hootsuite is a useful tool for your social media. Find out more here.
- What is Hootsuite?
- Scheduling posts in Hootsuite
- Using Hootsuite for social listening
- Further resources you may find helpful
1. What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is a social media management tool. It lets you manage multiple social media profiles from one screen, set up streams for monitoring interaction or keywords and schedule posts. As well as a paid version there is a free version.
You can sign up using your Twitter or Facebook account. Once you’ve logged in, Hootsuite will guide you through setting up your account and the basics of how to use it.
2. Scheduling posts in Hootsuite
Scheduling posts can be really useful if you have limited time to dedicate to social media. While ideally social media would be used to interact with your followers in real time, this isn’t always possible alongside other responsibilities.
Scheduling posts can save time; allowing you to maintain a consistent social media presence without having to dedicate time to it every day. For example, using Hootsuite you could schedule a week’s worth of tweets or Facebook posts in less than half an hour. If you work part time or have annual leave planned you can schedule posts for when you’re out of the office, meaning that your social media presence doesn’t dip.
To find out how to schedule posts, see Hootsuite’s guidance.
3. Using Hootsuite for social listening
Social listening is ‘listening’ to conversations that take place on social media (usually Twitter) with a view to engaging and making new connections.
Social media is all about connecting directly with other users but it can be difficult to filter out relevant content. Plus, unless you’re monitoring your social media accounts 24/7 it’s inevitable that you’ll miss opportunities to engage with new people or to promote your work and services.
By using Hootsuite (or a similar social media management tool) it is possible to set up streams which filter out social media content using key words searches.
As an example, if you want to promote your gardening service in Anytown, the key words to use would be ‘garden Anytown’.
Or, if you’re concerned that some users are confusing the @Age_UK twitter account with your local twitter account you could set up a search for ‘@Age_UK Anytown’. This should let you easily see any tweets which have mistakenly been sent to the national twitter account.
4. Further resources you may find helpful
- Find all of our social media guides
- To listen to our Social Media manager responding to partner’s questions about social media, see our Social media Q&A