Week 5 - Hootsuite
Thing 16: Create a free Hootsuite account
Hootsuite is a online app that makes managing your social media accounts a breeze! Now that you're using Facebook and Twitter, it's time to create a free Hootsuite account.
Visit Hootsuite.com. On the left side of the screen, you should see a signup form:
Simply type in your e-mail address, name, and password of choice - your account will be created within 15 seconds.
If you already have an account, you can log in to Hootsuite using the "Login" button above the sign up box.
Thing 17: Add your Twitter and Facebook accounts
Now that you have a Hootsuite account, let's see what it can do.
Upon logging in for the first time, you will see this window:
Let's start with your Twitter account. Click on "Add a Twitter profile" to start.
In order to add Twitter, Facebook, or other social networks, Hootsuite will require you to authorize your account. In this case, simply enter your Twitter (not Hootsuite) username and password and click on "Authorize App."
Once these are entered, you'll be able to post to Twitter through the Hootsuite app!
Thing 18: Write your first post on Hootsuite
On the very top of your screen, you should see a textbox, along with an icon (our example has many icons since Morris County uses a number of social media services). It will look something like this:
To post on Twitter, type your message into the textbox (remember to stay at 140 characters or below!), then select the social network you wish to post to by clicking on the icon of your choice (note the checkmarks on our example). Above, we've selected two networks; you can pick as many or as few as you wish. For now, click on your Twitter icon.
When you're done with your post, click on "Send now" (below the text box to the right). Hootsuite has just posted its first tweet to your Twitter account!
What if I need to link to another site? Hootsuite makes that simple. Copy the address of the link you wish to add, then paste it into the "Add a link" box (below the "Compose message" box). Click "shrink" and your link, now shortened to help with the 140 character limit, will be added to your post.
Thing 19: Schedule posts
You can schedule posts for months in advance in Hootsuite. This makes it substantially easier and faster to maintain your social media presence online - write your posts for all of January in one day and schedule them to appear throughout the month!
Scheduling is simple to do. When composing a message, you'll see a calendar icon below the "compose message" box. Click it, and the following appears:
Compose your message as normal, then choose the date and time when you want the post to go public. Click "Schedule" and the post is saved.
Thing 20: Add Youtube, Flickr and more
Note: This feature requires a Pro (paid) account. To sign up, go to Hootsuite's Plans & Pricing page.
Recently, Hootsuite has begun allowing the addition of "Apps" - including Youtube and Flickr - to your Hootsuite account.
Here, we'll add your Flickr account. This will let you upload photos to your account directly from Hootsuite.
On the left side of your screen you will see a dark gray/black bar with icons. Move your mouse over the bar and it will expand into a menu. Hover over "Tools", then click on "App Directory":
You will see a window with options to add applications, as seen below:
Click on the green "Install" button next to Flickr to add your Flickrstream to Hootsuite. Just follow the on-screen instructions (similar to adding a new social network)!
Thing 21: Analytics
Now you're managing your social media presence using Hootsuite! By now you must be curious as to who is viewing your posts. With Hootsuite, this is easy to find using Analytics.
Hover over the black bar on the left and click on the menu item "Analytics".
Click on "Quick Analytics" on the top left and you will come up with a window like this:
You can view who visited your pages (Facebook) or tweets (Twitter), their ages/genders (if provided), what counties they come from, and more. This is a simple way to keep tabs on the success of your social media presence.