An Expert Marketer’s No-Fluff Hootsuite Review
A few things to keep in mind before investing in this popular social media management tool.
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Hootsuite claims to save your team 130 hours per year on social media management and posting… is that true?
It’s a trusted platform, but some people are now curious about Hootsuite alternatives and if the platform is outdated.
Start a 30-day free trial to test out the platform for yourself.
When you compare several social media management tools, most of them hit on the same key marketing messages: saving you time on posting, automatic scheduling, AI-generated content and engagement analytics.
Hootsuite is no different.
It is very difficult to know which social media management tool is right for you, especially when all the leading contenders are (basically) saying the same thing.
Hootsuite is trusted by 22+ million users, but that still doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your business. Let’s digest pricing, pros and cons and more.
In this Hootsuite review, I’ll share my thoughts on Hootsuite. I’ll cover key information that can help you generate a more accurate cost-to-benefit analysis for your own organization.
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My name is Amanda. I am an expert copywriter who has been working with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) since 2017. I also run multiple websites and brands of my own.
I offer various copywriting services to clients, including social media advertising and omnichannel marketing. I help clients create content marketing strategies that capture audiences during various stages of a marketing funnel.
Over the years, I’ve either invested in various digital marketing tools, or I have worked within client accounts. I’ve been lucky to witness the pros and cons of various tools and understand how they can be best applied.
My Main Concerns Behind This Hootsuite Review
If you’re reading this, you’re probably associated with a small or medium-sized business (SMB). Like me, you might be very selective about which business tools you invest in – whether due to budget constraints or wanting to be wise with your money. I get it!
So as I work through this Hootsuite review…
My main goal is to truly assess whether Hootsuite is worth it for the money, time and effort it requires, especially in the context of SMBs that are spread quite thin.
Now, I’m NOT saying that large enterprises don’t also have to be wise about how they spend their money, but they’re really on a whole different level in terms of what they can afford and what social media management tools are available to them.
I’m always thinking about whether or not a business tool is practical in terms of the money invested, the time it takes to set up and the ongoing maintenance.
What you don’t want is to invest in a tool that causes you to burnout after a few months working with it, especially if it also does not yield some sort of monetary gain for your business.
What Is (Really) Included in a Hootsuite Subscription?
The availability of some Hootsuite features depend on which plan you choose. However, let me give you an overview about the most common features (and use cases):
Hootsuite Features (and Related Use Cases)
Social Media Post Scheduling: Many Hootsuite users come for the convenience of scheduling their posts across platforms. Many stay for the sheer number of posts that can be scheduled out (unlimited posts). Some competitors have monthly posting limits, even with paid plans.Analytics and Reports: Just like many social media management competitors, Hootsuite can generate reports and track engagement stats (industry standard). This information is helpful to determine your effectiveness.
Hootsuite AI Writing Tool: This tool can help you generate social media content, hashtags and stir up some post ideas based on trending topics. This is particularly useful for solopreneurs and small teams since it can generate creative, engaging posts for you, especially when your creative energy is drained.
Centralized DM Inbox: Hootsuite can funnel all DMs from various social media channels onto their platform. That means you can easily converse with your audience in one place, rather than hopping to each individual platform.
Multi or Unlimited Account Management: The most basic Hootsuite plan enables you to manage and post across 10 social media accounts or channels. You have the option to increase the number of accounts (for an upgrade). For reference, some social posting tools only allow 1-5 social accounts.
Audience “Listening” Radar: This feature is definitely not available with all other competitors. Hootsuite leverages AI to monitor and track overall audience sentiment surrounding your content. You can learn how your audience truly feels about certain topics – after all, some controversial topics go viral. It’s almost like conducting market research without having to interview tons of people.
Link Tracking: Hootsuite’s link tracking capability allows you to gain better insights about how your audience moves through the customer journey. It can also provide details about the effectiveness of your paid and organic campaigns.
Automation Workflows: With the higher-tier Hootsuite plans, you can assign messages and tasks to specific team members. This could mean tagging certain topics to subject matter experts or sending distressed customers directly to your customer service person so they can immediately resolve issues.
100+ Integrations: Hootsuite integrates with Canva, Google My Business, Dropbox, Google Drive and more. Some competitors may offer a handful of integrations, but Hootsuite’s integrations can help improve the efficiency of your backend workflows and your front-facing customer journey.
Organic and Paid Social Ad Content Management: Not offered by every Hootsuite alternative, you can track engagement and performance of both organic posts and paid ads. Since some social media ad studios (ahem… Meta) are notorious for being cumbersome, glitchy and confusing, managing your ads via Hootsuite can be much easier.
Custom Link in Bio: For smaller businesses who don’t really need a custom link in bio, you can opt for the lower-priced Hootsuite plan. However, as your business grows, you may want to have a custom branded link in bio that is free of Hootsuite branding.
For a complete overview of Hootsuite features, click here.
Benefits of Hootsuite
To help you come to a decision about whether or not to invest in Hootsuite, let’s look at some of the biggest benefits of Hootsuite and how it stands out as a leading social media management tool.
Time-Saving Benefits of Hootsuite
There is no doubt that Hootsuite is designed to help you save time (and spend less time) on individual social media platforms. Gone are the days of creating a post and sharing it manually across different platforms.
If you want to deal with anything pertaining to social media, you log into Hootsuite. And you likely will never have to log into your individual apps.
More Time-Saving Benefits of Hootsuite
Scheduling out a month’s or a year’s worth of posts. With some planning, you can still put out timely posts (e.g., holiday posts, weekend, limited-time posts) without ever having to log in live, especially during off hours.
Unlimited mass posting across channels. With no monthly posting limits, you don’t have to feel limited by how much you can engage with your audience. And you don’t have to schedule out your “post creation days” based on when the platform lets you post.
Approval workflows to expedite editing, revisions and finalization. With certain Hootsuite accounts, you can create workflows that will ping the appropriate managers to approve and check pending posts. This feature simplifies post approval processes so your posts are optimized and approved as fast as possible.
Assigning DMs and customer conversations to team members. Instead of risking misinformation or a ton of back and forth internally and externally, Hootsuite can help you funnel audience messages to the best person on the team. Customers get the right information in the quickest, most efficient way possible.
Sanity-Saving Benefits of Hootsuite
Aside from time and monetary gains, your chosen business tools need to also save your sanity, right? There is no point in choosing a social media management tool that stresses you out or leads to burnout.
If you are completely overwhelmed managing your social media accounts and ads, Hootsuite simplifies everything. You can still actively leverage social media without it taking over your life.
More Sanity-Saving Benefits of Hootsuite
Managing organic posts and paid ads all in one place. No need to hop over to the cumbersome ad creator suites within various social media platforms. Hootsuite offers a much more streamlined and uniform approach.
AI-based tools for writing, ideas and trend tracking. We can’t always be on our A-game when we’re tasked with posting daily or weekly. Just like many business tools, you can generate (fairly) acceptable captions, hashtags and topic ideas with a little help from AI. Add a little human oomph to really put your posts over the top.
Direct integrations for customer-facing and backend workflows. Hootsuite’s ability to integrate with 100+ common business tools makes post creation, collaboration and market research 100x easier. No more tedious uploading, downloading, copying, pasting or modifying onto various devices.
Analytical Benefits of Hootsuite
Many social media management tools offer analytics tracking and reports. Same goes for Hootsuite. However, there are a few features that make Hootsuite stand out from others, and they can have a major benefit on your business.
If you want to understand your audience beyond the basic engagement metrics, Hootsuite can help you build a clearer picture about how people truly feel about your brand.
More Analytical Benefits of Hootsuite
Post effectiveness and engagement tracking. Hootsuite meets the industry standard, and can generate custom reports, formatted for both internal and external sharing (e.g. clean PDF exports).
Social listening and sentiment analysis. Sentiment analysis is being used across applications, including in contact centers and for sales teams. It’s great to see that Hootsuite is also opening up this technology to its customers. With the help of AI, you can glance into the positive, negative and neutral sentiments of your audience to understand how to better connect and engage with them.
Recommended time to publish. While you can easily Google “when is the best time to publish?” you won’t have access to personalized channel and audience insights. Hootsuite leverages industry knowledge, research and your account’s individual performance to determine the times with the highest engagement potential.
Cons of Hootsuite
Whether you’re considering Hootsuite or a Hootsuite alternative, no tool out there is perfect. Here are some Hootsuite cons that you should be aware of prior to investing.
Common User Complaints About Hootsuite
Based on trending topics and Hootsuite reviews, some people have raised specific concerns about Hootsuite, including:
Hootsuite Pricing: When you compare Hootsuite’s Professional plan to the Team plan, it’s a big price jump. Some people worry that the price difference does not accurately reflect the difference in features.
Hootsuite UX/UI Platform: Some users report that the Hootsuite platform is not completely user friendly. However, much of the confusion arises due to the extensive library of features that Hootsuite provides. Just like any business tool, there will be a learning curve.
Hootsuite Updates: New social media management tool competitors come out all the time, and some users worry that Hootsuite can’t keep up with more modernized features and capabilities.
“Pay-to-Play” Free Trial
Hootsuite offers a 30-day free trial of their plans, however, you do have to input your credit card information to access the free trial.
Other competitors allow you to demo their platform without such information, which is always my preferred choice.
If you end up disliking the platform, you just have to remember what you signed up for ahead of them charging you. Hootsuite does not charge you until your 30-day trial is over, but it can be a nuisance to remember to cancel.
How Does It Compare to Hootsuite Alternatives? (Perks and Drawbacks)
As a small business owner – who also tends to work alongside other SMBs – I’ve used or have worked in tandem with several social media management tools. So, how does Hootsuite compare to other options out there?
Please note, these are general pros and cons which may differ when we highlight specific Hootsuite alternatives.
Hootsuite vs. Competitors (Hootsuite Pros)
More robust functionalities and featuresMore integrations (100+)
More cost effective than other feature-rich social media management platforms
More Hootsuite brand recognition and trust
Better social listening tools than competitors
Hootsuite vs. Competitors (Hootsuite Cons)
Less user-friendly platform compared to othersPricier than some basic social media management platforms
Some user reviews of platform glitching
Less robust analytics
Free trial (with the requirement to add payment information)
Additional Hootsuite FAQs
Let’s touch on a few more specific FAQs about Hootsuite that many users and potential customers have.
Is Hootsuite Worth It?
Yes, especially for SMBs that can afford the monthly or annual cost. While Hootsuite is not the most expensive option, it is also not the least expensive.
Hootsuite’s wide range of tools provides a multitude of benefits: analytical insights, streamlined posting processes, saturating your social channels and gaining relevant customer insights – as well as the potential monetary benefits that coincide with highly effective organic and paid campaigns.
And when it comes to annual versus monthly Hootsuite pricing, you definitely can see significant savings by choosing the annual subscription. This makes the investment even more worthwhile.
Is Hootsuite Good for Small Business?
As a small business owner myself – who also works with SMBs – I’m always assessing whether or not tools like Hootsuite are truly worth the investment.
Small business budgets are usually very tight, so we don’t want to mistakenly invest our time, money and energy into something that will not churn a profit.
As I’ve mentioned, if you can shoulder the upfront cost of annual pricing, Hootsuite is definitely a good option for a small business.
Why Hootsuite Is a Preferred Choice for Small Business
Access to a Diverse Suite of Tools: If you don’t have the manpower or resources to conduct market research or effectively answer all DMs, Hootsuite simplifies and streamlines the process for you.
Integrations with Common Business Tools: Unlike competitors, Hootsuite has 100+ integrations with very common business tools – including free and low-cost tools that you may already be using: Google Drive, Dropbox, Canva and more. Since small businesses may not be using other premium tools, there is no benefit if Hootsuite can integrate with them.
One Place to Log In: Especially in the case of solopreneurs, it is essential to simplify and streamline how you manage your social accounts. Aside from the time-saving benefits of logging into one platform to address all your social media management needs, Hootsuite can also save your mental load by not having to repeatedly check several apps.
What Is the Current Hootsuite Pricing?
Hootsuite offers three different plans: Professional, Team and Enterprise. Each provides cost savings when you choose the annual option over the monthly rate.
Click here for the most current Hootsuite pricing.
For example: The Hootsuite Professional plan enables you to save $600 when you choose the annual option (equating to $99/mo). If you opt for the monthly plan, you’d be paying $149 per month.
My Final Thoughts on Hootsuite
I decided to write this Hootsuite review because I know how confusing and complex it can be to choose a social media management tool.
Overall, many competitors appear to offer similar features and marketing promises, so it can be difficult to decipher which tool is the best for you.
So, what’s really the bottom line here?
Hootsuite is a well-known social media management tool that is a great all-around option for SMBs. Hootsuite pricing is middle of the pack, and yet, their suite of features and capabilities is far above average.
While I can’t make decisions on behalf of your business, I encourage you to explore all the nitty gritty details about all Hootsuite plans to determine your best next step.
Hootsuite Review
