HootSuite is a social media utility that allows users to carry out social media marketing campaigns across multiple networks, including Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter and LinkedIn.

Hootsuite’s cross platform functionality and ability to allow multiple users to login to the system makes it a no-brainer for companies that are serious about social media marketing. While users of the same company account log-in with their own credentials, each team member is able to see a set of shared streams on one dashboard, which helps to minimize double posting and organize social content.

HootSuite also gives its users the ability to individualize streams according to their focus and expertise. The dashboard is clean, visually appealing and easy to navigate, which increases employee efficiency in working quickly while minimizing human error.

Lizzie Roscoe, social media manager at McDonald's Corporation, has been using HootSuite since mid-February. She says that they use Hootsuite to reply to other Twitter (News - Alert) handles, send direct messages and proactively Tweet.

Hootsuite allows clients to schedule tweets ahead of time or assign certain tweets to certain team members as well.

She expressed her fondness for the system by stating that it is the ultimate platform to bring all their social media specialists under one system. In fact, during the Olympic Games, they were able to manage all the tweets via Hootsuite, despite the fact that their office is setup in Oak Brook. Hootsuite helped them to manage all tweets, taking the time difference into consideration as well.


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When asked if there were any drawbacks to the system she replied that whenever they find something, HootSuite is always on top of fixing it. She has also been impressed with Hootsuite’s proactive approach to platform evolution and commitment to adding more robust features.  

Hootsuite’s main competitors:

• Salesforce's Buddy Media (News - Alert), which offers social enterprise software, as well as Radian 6.
• Spreadfast: offers an enterprise-class social media management system.
• Sprinklr: provides a suite of social media management tools.

Hootsuite membership ranges from $9.99 to $1000 a month, depending on the number of users accessing the platform. A free version is also available.

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