6 Must-Know Hootsuite Features for Social Media Managers

hootsuite features

Hootsuite is our go-to social media management tool for a number of reasons; including being able to easily find and schedule relevant content. Since we’ve been using Hootsuite at VA Partners for a number of years, it’s easy to get stuck in a routine, and not necessarily use the platform to its full potential.

I recently participated in a webinar hosted by Michelle Garrigo which outlined some great Hootsuite features to help manage social media efforts more efficiently. Here are 6 Hootsuite features to incorporate in your social media management routine.

1. Auto Schedule

The auto schedule tool in Hootsuite is perfect for messages that aren’t time sensitive. It is a switch in the message composition box, under the schedule tab, that can be turned on and off. When you click into the settings of the tool, you can also customize how many messages per day you want to auto schedule, as well a which days of the week you want to schedule your posts. Hootsuite will determine what the best time to send out a particular message according to your perimeters and which social platform you’re publishing from. This will help get the most engagement. This auto schedule tool is great for evergreen content. For example, if you post 1 tweet from your archived blog posts everyday day, you can schedule a weeks’s worth with the auto schedule option.

Auto-Schedule

2. Bulk Message Uploader

This next tool, bulk message uploader, is one that I hadn’t noticed before in the Hootsuite composition box. By creating a CSV sheet according to the Hootsuite perimeters, you can schedule up to 350 messages all in one go. Refer to the image below to see the proper way to organize your excel spread sheet. To access this tool once in Hootsuite, click the calendar icon in the composition box, and you should see an option to upload bulk messages on the bottom of this view. The only downside of this feature is that you cannot include images in the bulk upload; you’ll have to add them individually.

Bulk Uploader

3. Filter by Profile

If you are managing multiple social media accounts for a number of different clients, it can be challenging to keep track of all your messages. One thing you can do to better visualize your scheduled posts is filter them by profile. You can do this by clicking on your scheduled posts and using the drop down menu to sort by account. This feature is found at the top of the publisher page. You will have a better indication of exactly what is happening on each of your social profiles at a quick glance.

4. Suggested Content Tool

It can be easy to get carried away when it comes to content curation with the huge volume of content being published daily. With the suggested content feature you can find relevant content within Hootsuite efficiently. In the publisher tab, there is a sub-page called suggested content. Here you can input keywords that you want to track. Remember your audience interests, needs and questions when determining your keywords. Then when you click into this tab again, the page will be populated with relevant news and articles. You also have the ability to remove, edit, and schedule directly within this tab. You can also click into the links to read more before you decide to schedule.

5. External Apps

Hootsuite also offers a number of external apps to integrate into your dashboard. Apps range from helping your find content, and tracking social goals and analytics. No matter what your need, there’s a downloadable app that’ll work in conjunction with your Hootsuite account and social media platforms. Increase your social media management efficiency by having all your tools in one place. There are a number of free apps available, in addition to premium paid apps, so there is a lot of room to explore. The Hootsuite App Directory can be found when you add a new stream to your dashboard.

6. Hootlet

We recently published a post on essential chrome extensions for marketers where we included the Hootlet extension. This extension allows you to access your Hootsuite composition box anywhere on the web, allowing you to schedule a message even if your Hootsuite dashboard is closed. Once you click on the Hootlet icon in your browser, it will also pull in the title of the page and shorten the link, making your posts ready to schedule. Specifically in Chrome, when you do a Google search, you also get access to Twitter results for that search as a pop-up. If your search is of particular interest you can add it as a steam to your Hootusite dashboard directly.

hootsuite

Hootsuite holds a number of webinars catered to marketers and social media managers who’d like to know more about social media trends and management. Check them out here. You can also enroll in Hootsuite Podium for a more in-depth look at social media for business.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to use social media in your inbound marketing strategy check out our white papers LinkedIn for Sales and Marketing and Twitter for Sales and Marketing.

6 Must-Know Hootsuite Features for Social Media Managers