Why HootSuite Rocks

It’s no secret that Twitter and Facebook can be huge time sinks. Tweeting, keeping up with the tweets of others, keeping an eye on what people are saying about you, it goes on all day (and night, depending on your market). So how do you actually get any work done? And if you are using social media to promote a cause or a business, how do you make sure that your Twitter habit doesn’t eclipse the point of the whole thing?

Enter HootSuite. Billed as “The Professional Twitter Client,” HootSuite has many features that will (hopefully) enable you to keep the amount of time you spend on social media in check and get down to the business of doing the other things you need to do.

It’s Portable
There are several things about HootSuite that make it preferable to other Twitter clients like TweetDeck, for example. The biggest is quite possibly the fact that it is web-based, meaning that you don’t need it installed on the computer you happen to be on in order to use it. This means that you can update and keep tabs on your social media accounts wherever you can find a computer, whether or not you have access to your own.

It’s User-Friendly
Another great thing about HootSuite is its usability and layout. You can of course manage multiple social media accounts, and they are conveniently tabbed so that you can flip between them with ease. Within each account, the various feeds are laid out in columns so that you can simultaneously see your home feed, your mentions, your own updates — really whatever configuration you like.

It Supports Marketing Efforts
If you are tweeting (or Facebooking) on behalf of a business or organization, and if you are not the only person who tweets from that account, then HootSuite can help coordinate your various social media efforts and improve your inter-Twitter communication. You can add multiple users to whichever social media accounts you choose, and you can even select their time zones, meaning that you don’t all have to be in Denver in order for it to work.

It Has Stats
HootSuite lets you track the statistics of your social media efforts, to the point of being able to see which tweets with links got the most clicks. (If you use their ow.ly link shortener.) This can be a great way to hone your efforts and to see what your audience is most interested in.

So far, the main drawback to HootSuite is that it is directly connected to Twitter’s API, which means that it will probably crash occasionally. But overall, HootSuite is a great tool to help weave all of those stray social media threads into one cohesive tapestry.

Do you have a favorite Twitter client or social media tool? Tell us about it!