Week 2 of HootSuite Pro: First Impressions

Do you like HootSuite Pro’s Analytics Points?

After activating HootSuite’s 30-day trial of HootSuite Pro, we have some new features, impressions, and overall thoughts about what the first week experimenting with Pro was like for TRA360. Check it out.

First, just last week, HootSuite announced a new “Teams” functionality to HootSuite Pro users. “Teams” provides large-scale team management in addition to smaller teams. I watched a video on Teams and found this feature to be particularly useful for larger organizations, as an agency or fairly large company will have specific departments for marketing/PR, social media, and internal communications. Teams are only available for HootSuite Pro and Enterprise users. Basic users, you’re out of luck! With this new feature comes an increase in price. As mentioned in my previous post on HootSuite, Pro members were charged at US$5.99/month. New Pro users will be charged US$9.99/month. Already use Pro? Don’t worry because you’re already grandfathered in to the monthly US$5.99 price!

Next topic to cover: the Analytics Points system. An in-depth Google Analytics report can be extremely useful to not only TRA360, but to any company looking to measure success of their website and social media marketing efforts. After exploring this feature of HootSuite Pro, I realized the analytics component is based on a points system. “Analytics Points,” as HootSuite calls them, help keep track of analytics modules for building reports (weekly, monthly, etc.). Each component is worth a certain number of points, ranging from 0 (free) to 100. HootSuite Pro users are allotted 50 points per month which can be used to purchase report templates or any other analytic module.

Thoughts and impressions: The analytic modules seem beneficial for putting together social reports for your business. HootSuite’s point system makes it easy for users to find and purchase specific modules to build their customized social reports. However, in the grand scheme of things, 50 points per month does not seem adequate to build a substantial report based on the cost of each module. Yes, some modules or templates are only 5 or 10 points, but the modules that are crucial for accurately and professionally showing your company’s growth tend to use your total allotted points budget altogether. Looking to build a simple Google Analytics report for your company? That’s 50 points. Creating a proposal report to monitor the progress of your social media campaigns? That’s 45 points. As you can see, these modules come at a hefty points price.

I would like to know, how can a user acquire more points without purchasing them? If I had one suggestion about this points system, I would recommend HootSuite to allocate 100+ points to each Pro user and give out more points through a referral system. For instance, if you have a friend or business owner looking to use Pro, you can refer them with a unique link and receive 50 points! In the meantime, we will try to reach out maximum analytical potential using the allotted 50 points we are given.

What do you think about the HootSuite Pro Analytics Points system? Is 50 enough? Let us know!

HootSuite Solution Partner Portal Phase 1: Getting Started

TRA360 will be testing out HootSuite Pro for the month of May! 

TRA360 will be testing out HootSuite Pro for the month of May!

TRA360 has been using the basic (and free) version of HootSuite for about 18 months to regulate our social media channels. We have recently become one of HootSuite’s newest partners. As participants in the HootSuite Pro Solution Partner Program we will be testing the HootSuite “Pro” version for the next 30 days and keeping our readers up-to-date with our impressions; specifically, regarding the regulatory affairs and technical communications industries. For those of you who have yet to check out our past post about the company, HootSuite is a leading social media management system that enables organizations and businesses to reach ROI for their social media and digital campaigns. TRA360 intends to explore how using HootSuite can help our customers who are engaged in social media to reach their business goals.

Furthermore, we are especially interested in how professionals in Regulatory Affairs, Regulatory Operations, and Communications professionals in the life sciences and other regulated industries might benefit from using HootSuite Pro. Disclaimer: Our opinions about HootSuite Pro are strictly our own.

Before diving into the deep end headfirst, I wanted to highlight the additional features HootSuite Pro offers for just $5.99 per month:

  1. Collaboration – HootSuite Pro makes it easy to collaborate! With additional features such as adding up to 15 team members per account and message assignments, you won’t have a difficult time optimizing your team’s workflow.
  2. Analytics – Although the basic (and free) version of HootSuite already offers users quick reports, HootSuite Pro offers users social analytic reporting points. More on this next week.
  3. Support – Having technical problems and in need of support? No problem! Pro users are entitled to a help desk to assist with their technology needs.
  4. Social Storage – Social storage allows Pro users access to HootSuite archives which have 100 tweets included.
  5. Engagement – With access to unlimited social profiles, vanity URLs, Facebook and Twitter searches, Klout scores and an app directory, HootSuite Pro’s engagement features allow users to be fully engaged in their social media outlets 24/7.
  6. Features – Other features that Pro offers are “influences scores” and the “opt out of ads” feature. No more clutter!
Want to try Pro? Check it out for yourself here!

We look forward to sharing our experiences using HootSuite Pro with you over the next thirty days and will be writing a blog post per week about our experiences (four total). Stay tuned for the “First Impressions” post coming next week!