My journey to getting my certificate on Hootsuite and lessons learned from this powerful social media managing page.
Alright, let's get into this #Hootsuite... have you heard of it? Do you even know what it is? I didn't earlier this year until one of my social media teachers instructed my class full of nearly graduating senior to check it out.
Hootsuite is a media managing page. I'm sure you've heard of pages that combine Instagram, Twitter, FB, Snapchat, you name it to one cohesive page where you can post messages, view analysis, comment, schedule post, you name it. But if you haven't, Hootsuite is the full package tied into one.
As some of you may or may not know, I'm a writer. Yeah, there's a lot of writers out there, but I'm an actual writer (I'm getting my degree in journalism and copy editing) so I spend large amounts of time on social media promoting my poems and books and author events. I didn't occur to me that there was a better way to combine all my social media marketing into one page until Hootsuite came along.
Hootsuite is very simple, sign up, name, information, connection you media pages, then the real work begins.
I'm into scheduling, as most authors, or adults should be. I wake up at 6, stretch for 30 minutes, drink tea in the morning while listening to some of my favorite motivational speakers like #lesbrown or #Garyvee, then I write for at least one hour before I go to work or school, you name it. Adulting, it steals most of your time. But with Hootsuite, I am able to a calendar and map which days I want to begin say a book campaign. Lets say I have a book signing this upcoming Sunday, which I totally did, and I want to get the word out to my friends and family and followers to come and join me. Monday should be announcement day. I quickly shot a video with my camera and with the help of Hootsuite analytics, I was able to figure out what where the best times to post a video. Instagram was between 1 to 3 p.m., YouTube was after 4 p.m., and Facebook was ongoing so I chose the morning to do so.
Then, I contacted a friend of mine to help me with the comment section of each of my platforms during the day because she's a wiz at responding on time. I gave her an submission to freely edit and do as she pleased.
So my schedule for the week was set, Hootsuite gave access to my friend to answer comments, and I had the rest of the week to prepare for my event and even begin writing my next book!
“I was looking for something to manage my Facebook and Twitter feed, and I found exactly that.”
What did I learn from Hootsuite?
I learned that life is only hard when you don't find easier ways to live.
I can't tell you how much time I wasted posted freely on my media platforms at odd hours, not understanding why my platforms were not growing or how I was missing the something million people on Instagram or Facebook a day. The problem was that I wasn't just missing my consumers, I was posting at hours when they were least likely to see my content. That, Hootsuite analytics truly changed my forum. It made me take a hard look at my business, because that what social media truly is, and take better tactical chances at exposing my art to the world.
Even if you're not using social media for business purposes, Hootsuite can be good for delegating content and finding ways to grow your page.
If you want to take your relationship with Hootsuite a step farther, Hootsuite does offer online certification and use it to help you with landing a PR or Marketing job for any company, since nowadays consumers decide whether or not to purchase items or travel through social media photos or videos. The certificate can add a little more credential to your plea.
P.S: The certificate does require you to research Hootsuite by doing study lessons.