Today’s blog post was contributed by my guest, Ann
Smarty, who I have gotten to know through her managing the LinkedIn
Subgroup “The Guest Blogger.” Her post is about my preferred
Twitter tool which I am also passionate about and use in my own social media consulting and implementation,
Hootsuite, which just today released new Social CRM features allowing
you to filter tweets by
Klout score or keyword. Ann is also currently Director of
Media for BlueGlass.
Business power Tweeters can rejoice – the tool you need is finally
here. Any business who has a social media policy and uses Twitter
or Facebook extensively to reach out to customers now
can fully manage their social activities through this site.
Hootsuite is
an evolution of Twitter management that started out as “Brightkit” in
2008. While Brightkit began with potential, the creators found that the
name was not in line with their services. Subsequently, the company
updated their service features, changed the name to Hootsuite, and
developed a winning product that is more than suitable for business and
personal social media activities.
Hootsuite offers numerous features that result in maximum benefits to
business mini-bloggers. Here is a look at a few of the best ones:
Manage Multiple Social Networks
Hootsuite allows a user to integrate multiple social networking sites
into one manageable location. The first and main network is Twitter,
giving you the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts. And
alongside Twitter, Hootsuite helps you manage accounts with Facebook,
LinkedIn, and the ability to update a host of other social networks
through Ping.fm.
Create and Manage Team Workflow
Hootsuite allows accounts to add as many users as they want. New
users can be added from around the country and be given editorial
permissions to update certain feeds and share tweeting responsibilities.
Create Twitter Lists
If you follow any number of Twitter accounts, managing and reading
all the feeds can be nearly impossible. Hootsuite allows you to create
lists of Twitter followers so you can more easily read their updates.
Customize URLs and Upload Files
Your tweets or other updates with links or files are a breeze with
Hootsuite tools. It uses its own URL shortening function that allows you
to customize URL parameters. If you want to share a file with your
tweets or other updates like a photo, Hootsuite instantly converts the
file into a shortened ow.ly
link embedded into your update.
Schedule Tweets
Scheduling tweets is a feature that many businesses have demanded,
but few have provided. Hootsuite allows a business to pre-write a number
of tweet updates and schedule them for later posting onto Twitter. This
allows you to provide new and fresh Twitter content any time of day.
New iPhone and Droid App
Hootsuite works with the iPhone and Droid mobile devices. Now your
Hootsuite team can perform their social media duties anywhere.
Tracking Statistics
Hootsuite tracking provides you with comprehensive data about how
many clicks your tweets are getting, where they are located
geographically,
So what does all this mean for your business? The Hootsuite social
management tool gives you many benefits:
· Manage your brand – Through
Hootsuite, you can find out what people are saying about your company.
Track backlinks and retweets, and follow how your tweets are
circulating.
· Increased Productivity – Hootsuite
gives your business added productivity with easy team workflow, tweet
scheduling, stat tracking, all in one place.
· Better Social Policy Communication –
Your business can more easily manage how it executes its social media
policy through unified interaction with all social media team members.
Indeed, HootSuite makes tweeting for businesses more productive,
intuitive, and effective.
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