Review of Hootsuite iPhone App v. 2.7.1
Hootsuite is social media management software for business. Some of the key features are that all of your social media sites can be managed from its dashboard, you can schedule when posts are to be sent out, and that your social media campaigns are measureable via reporting.
Hootsuite logo
I started dabbling with Hootsuite a few months ago as part of my Masters in PR program at Full Sail University. Until just a few days ago, I was only using the software on my MacBook Pro. As a PR professional, taking advantage of productivity apps such as Hootsuite on my iPhone is an essential part of the job. Since I had less than a week to review this app, it will be brief. Unless specified, any functionality that’s discussed is also available with the desktop version.
General requirements:
iOS 7.1 or higher
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
This app is optimized for iPhone 5
My setup:
iPhone 4s running iOS 8.0
Hootsuite v. 2.7.1
The good
Up to three Social Media platforms can be managed for free. Since I’m a poor college student, I’m using the free version to manage my Facebook and Google + PR pages, as well as my Twitter site. The ability the schedule posts at a later time is one of Hootsuite’s top features and is very handy. An AutoSchedule option is also available.
The new Share Extension allows you to quickly share content from any app to Hootsuite. Simply select the Hootsuite icon from the Share list to post or schedule to your social networks.
Photo showing Hootsuite Share button
This is very handy indeed and I believe that it’s unique to the app version. I visited Dodge.com on my iPhone to test the Share Extension and saw the Hootsuite icon. However, when I visited the site on my Mac, I couldn’t find a Share icon. Note: users must have iOS 8.0 for this functionality.
One of Hootsuite’s primary selling points is that you can measure your social media campaigns via reporting. I haven’t evaluated this feature due to not having enough posts, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this. Hopefully I’ll have time to dive into it at a later date.
A little help here
I noted Hootsuite’s ability to schedule posts. The iPhone app doesn’t allow one to view the upcoming or past schedule by day, week, and month as it does in the full web version. Here’s what a Hootsuite tech support person told me “At this time, our iOS app does not have a built in Publisher view to see what posts you have in the future. The workaround for this is to set up specific ‘Scheduled Post Streams’ for each Social Network on the Dashboard. This will then show the streams on the iOS app for you to view. Please note that whilst you can’t edit these messages, you can delete them.”
The aforementioned AutoSchedule sounds very handy for optimization- however, I haven’t used it because the iOS version doesn’t show the user what time the AutoSchedule is set up for. I also mentioned that one of my Social Networks that I track is my PR page on Google+. Per customer support, Google+ pages are not supported at this time via the app.
Some users have complained that the iOS 8.0 version is buggy. Here’s a quote by Random Boy: “Having similar issues as the previous reviewers, but also having a significant issue when posting simple updates: the text box does not scroll properly to keep the line you are working on visible.
Photo showing text visibility limit
This results in having to manually scroll to see what you type, but then you are quickly jerked back to where you’re not able to read (such as I’m able to do atm as I write this review).”
I brought this specific example up because I experienced the same issue. It was very frustrating! Perhaps the reason for less viewing space in the typing area is due to the new iOS 8.0 word suggestion capability, despite the fact that it is below the typing area. Having not used this app with iOS 7, I’m not certain if this was an issue before. Per Random Boy’s comment above, it appears to be related to the new iOS. Whatever the case, the developers need to fix this ASAP.
According to my research, as well as talking to a Hootsuite support person via Live Chat and email, they currently do not provide a customer support phone number. This is unacceptable in my opinion. In this age of customer-centric focus, you’d think they’d have this. Oh well, at least Live Chat is better then having to scour support web pages, especially if one just has a quick question.
Conclusion
Afrodigit listed Hootsuite as one of the 7 must have iPhone apps for PR professionals. I agree. The iOS app compliments the Hootsuite Web Dashboard and helps you keep an eye on and manage your streams on the go. In fact, I’ll be scheduling this review via the Hootsuite app. Hopefully they’ll address some of the problem areas that were discussed.
I give the Hootsuite iPhone app 3 out of 5 stars
Here are the customer ratings from iTunes
Wish App
If I could have the ultimate app for PR, blogging or content creation, it would help me build my personal brand. The app would not only monitor my social media activity, but also optimize it for content, timeliness and impact with respect to brand awareness. This would all tie back to how my activity drives traffic to my website.
Have you used this Hootsuite app? What do you think about the review? Any feedback is always appreciated!