In this comprehensive 2024 Hootsuite review, we aim to evaluate and understand the various facets of this popular social media management tool.
This article is designed for businesses, marketers, and individuals looking for a detailed Hootsuite Review article to help make better-informed decisions. We’ll delve into Hootsuite’s key features like their publishing and scheduling capabilities and its analytics features including post-performance insights and customizable reports. Additionally, we’ll evaluate Hootsuite’s ad management, content curation tools like hashtag suggestions and Canva integration, and its collaboration functionalities.
Whether you’re a small business, a growing agency, or a large corporation, this review will provide a detailed look at what Hootsuite offers, as well as some alternative social media scheduling tools like Hopper HQ that you may want to consider.
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is a widely recognized and elaborate social media management platform that empowers users to efficiently manage and oversee their social media presence across multiple networks.
Founded in 2008, Hootsuite has established itself as an essential tool for businesses, marketers, and individuals seeking to streamline their social media strategies.
What is Hootsuite used for?
At its core, Hootsuite enables users to schedule posts, track social media conversations, measure performance, and manage multiple social media accounts from a single place. This includes popular social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest. The ability to schedule posts in advance is a particularly valuable feature, allowing for consistent content delivery and engagement with audiences at optimal times.
Additionally, Hootsuite offers extensive analytics and reporting tools, giving users valuable insights into their social media performance. This data-driven approach helps in fine-tuning strategies, understanding audience preferences, and enhancing overall engagement.
Hootsuite caters to a diverse range of users, from small businesses and solo entrepreneurs to large enterprises. It’s a tool that adapts to various needs and budgets, making it a go-to choice for anyone looking to boost their social media presence.
Hootsuite Pros
- Provides a 30-day free trial to all subscription plans
- Has a variety of social media management properties
- Allows for customizable reports on their analytics
- You get unlimited posts on any of their plans
Hootsuite Cons
- Can be a costly social media tool for some businesses
- Limited in regards to Instagram tracking
- A lot of the additional functionality pieces are add-ons
- A steep learning curve and training may be needed
Hootsuite Overall Rating
Here you can quickly analyze how well Hootsuite performs regarding the following subtopics, which were chosen based on what social media and marketing teams normally look for in a scheduling or management app.
We compare it against Hopper HQ which is known for its accessibility and ease of use. Making it to be a viable alternative to Hootsuite for those who may not have the budget or the resources to fully leverage the tool.
| Feature | Hootsuite | Hopper HQ |
| Pricing | $99/month | $16/month |
| Curation & Planning | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Publishing & Scheduling | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| Analytics | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| Team Collaboration | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Advertising | 3/5 | N/a |
| Customer Support | 3/5 | 4/5 |
HootSuite Pricing
Over the years Hootsuite has changed its pricing a few times. However, currently, they offer 3 monthly subscription plans at different prices and different limitations to features.
Hootsuite provides a 30-day free trial to try out the selected plan and see if the tool is a good fit for you and your team. If you choose to skip the free trial and purchase a subscription, you’ll be able to get a 20% discount on the select plan.
Below you can find a comparison of all of Hootsuite subscription plans and what they offer:
| Features | Professional | Team | Enterprise |
| Starting Price | $99/month | $249/month | Custom |
| Users | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Social accounts | 10 | 20 | 50 |
| Unlimited posts | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Curation and Planning of Content
…it has great AI to help with your post wording, when you need a visual you can choose one from their free range or connect to another app like Canva.
Vanessa M.
Hashtag suggestions are a standout feature, guiding users towards trending and relevant hashtags to increase post visibility. The stock photo library is a valuable resource, offering a wide range of images to enhance posts. For more personalized content, their native digital media editing tool is essential, allowing for easy customization of images and graphics.
Content discovery streams are another significant aspect, enabling users to find and share engaging content relevant to their audience, aiding the ideation process. Hootsuite also has available integration with Canva, providing an extensive array of design tools and templates, further streamlining the content creation process.
These features collectively make Hootsuite a comprehensive tool for content planning and curation, catering to various needs and enhancing the overall quality and efficiency of social media management.
Publishing and Scheduling
“Scheduling posts also saves me a ton of time. I am able to compose a post in one window then push it out to multiple channels with the push of a single button.”
Hootsuite’s publishing and scheduling features are particularly beneficial for maintaining a consistent online presence, optimizing engagement, and maximizing the impact of social media strategies.
One of the most significant advantages of Hootsuite is the ability to schedule an unlimited number of posts across various social media platforms. This feature allows users to plan and organize their content calendar well in advance, ensuring a steady stream of posts even during busy periods or outside of business hours.
With Hootsuite, users can create a single post and easily adapt or distribute it across different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Also, you may want to consider their bulk scheduling features. Users can upload and schedule multiple posts at once through a CSV file, making it incredibly useful for executing large-scale social media campaigns or for managing content across several accounts.
Analytics
“ For reporting, the accuracy and detail of the endless amounts of data they provide has solved our issues of having to use different tools or native/manual reports to gather and track information.”
Hootsuite’s analytics capabilities offer an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of your brand’s social media performance. This is vital for refining strategies and enhancing engagement. These features provide a clear picture of how content resonates with the audience and how to optimize future posts for maximum impact.
With Hootsuite, users can track the performance of each social media post in real time. Metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and reach give valuable insights into what content works best with your audience, which in turn, helps in crafting more effective and engaging posts.
Hootsuite can also analyze user engagement to suggest the optimal times for posting content. By scheduling posts when the audience is most active, users can significantly increase their content’s visibility and engagement.
Users can then compare their social media performance against competitors, providing a broader market perspective and helping identify areas for improvement.
However, it’s important to note that some advanced features like Team Productivity Reporting, Paid and Organic ROI Reporting, and Social Listening are available as add-ons with an additional fee. These features offer deeper insights into team efficiency, the financial return of social media activities, and the broader conversation around specific keywords or topics, respectively.
Team Collaboration
“The app allows me to manage multiple social media accounts from one place, it enables team collaboration, making it easier for my team members to work together on social media tasks.”
Hootsuite’s collaboration features, particularly in its Team and Enterprise plans, offer valuable tools for team-based social media management. The platform allows for departmental organization and sharing of a social content calendar, fostering better coordination and planning.
Approval workflows enhance content quality control, ensuring consistency in visuals as well as content messaging. However, the limitation in the number of users per subscription plan, with just one user for the basic plan and up to five for the custom enterprise plan, might restrict larger teams or those requiring more extensive collaboration. This constraint could be a significant consideration for teams seeking expansive collaborative functionalities.
Advertising
“I post a large number of job ads on Facebook and sometimes, the ad will be rejected when I go through Hootsuites, but if I post the exact same ad directly on Facebook, it posts just fine. I am not sure if this problem is more a Facebook problem or Hootsuites.”
Hootsuite Ads offers comprehensive management of ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Google. Its capabilities include an intuitive overview of campaign performance, allowing for effective monitoring and optimization.
Users can manage multiple ad accounts, access detailed reports, and sync data seamlessly. Additionally, it simplifies campaign creation, using past campaigns as templates for new ones. However, on the basic plan, the minimum budget for post boosting starts at $500, which might be a consideration for smaller businesses or those with limited advertising budgets.
It offers functionalities for creating, monitoring, and optimizing ad campaigns, which are crucial for any digital marketing strategy. However, it’s important to note that while Hootsuite covers the fundamentals, it may not be the most suitable option for more in-depth or highly specialized ad management needs.
Customer support
“Customer support is fantastic when requested – but it can be difficult to locate where to contact their help team aside from the chatbot.”
Hootsuite offers support through a variety of ways including a live chat system accessible from the user dashboard, initially connecting users to a bot for basic queries. Which can then lead you to a live chat with one of their customer success specialists.
For more complex issues, users are prompted to provide contact details for a live agent. However, response times can be lengthy which has been echoed in user reviews. This may be due to a high customer support demand and the company’s lack of resources to meet expectations.
This can be a notable concern considering Hootsuite’s higher price point. The platform also extends 24/7 support through Twitter and Facebook, but these channels might be less effective for intricate technical issues or immediate responses.
Also, like most of its- competitors, it does provide a help center where users can independently search for the answers to their queries.
Hootsuite Alternatives Comparison
If this Hootsuite review, makes you understand that it’s not the ideal fit for your social media management needs, it’s worth exploring other popular alternatives like Buffer, Hopper HQ, and Sprout Social. Each of these platforms offers unique features and strengths that might align more closely with your specific requirements, whether it’s for individual use, small businesses, or larger enterprises.
Comparing Hootsuite with these alternatives can provide a clearer perspective on which tool best suits your social media strategy and goals.
| Features | Hootsuite | Hopper HQ | Buffer | Sprout Social |
| Starting Price | $99/month | $16/month | $6/channel | $249/month |
| Free Trial | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Users | 1 | Unlimited | 1 | 1 |
| Extra Users | ❌ | Unlimited | ❌ | +$199 |
| Social Channels | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest, Google My Business, Mastodon | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Youtube, Pinterest |
| Nº of accounts | 10 | 1 social set | Pay by channel | 5 |
| Unlimited Posts | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Bulk Schedulling | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Conclusion
Hootsuite excels in providing a comprehensive platform for social media management with robust scheduling, analytics, and content curation features. Its ad management and collaboration tools, while useful for most, might not be viable for small businesses, as these features are only present in higher-priced subscription plans.
This Hootsuite Review believes it to be a tool for larger teams and enterprises as a whole, Hootsuite may need to work on its customer support responsiveness and the limitation on the number of users per subscription. Overall, Hootsuite is well-suited for streamlined social media management!
As it may fall short of some requirements, for those seeking an alternative, Hopper HQ offers a range of features and could be an excellent option to explore for free!
