Manage Social Media Commerce with HootSuite

By Marsha Collier from Social Media Commerce For Dummies

HootSuite is a social media management system for executing outreach and monitoring across social networks from a single web-based dashboard. For business, HootSuite is used most often by social media teams with multiple agents, but many individual users like it as well.

When you're looking for a robust platform that keeps everything in one place, HootSuite is a perfect option. HootSuite offers a free basic plan for up to five social profiles. (Note that HootSuite has its own link shortener, so you will not be able to connect to bitly.)

The basic account gives you access to data on your Twitter and Facebook accounts, but you need to upgrade to the Pro plan for Facebook Insights and Google Analytics. A basic account with HootSuite is shown in the figure, and many people find it easy to use.

Monitoring a Facebook account on HootSuite.

The Pro plan, at $9.99 a month, gives you a complete management platform. From a Pro (or Enterprise level) account, you can connect HootSuite to Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr, Trendspottr, Digg, MailChimp, LinkedIn, Get Satisfaction, Constant Contact, and more.

When it comes to reaching your customers online, putting time-saving systems in place early on makes your move into social media easier. Small businesses can benefit from starter packages. The bigger your business gets, the more you’ll need to use these online platforms to organize your outreach.