Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, etc

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

Do any of you use Tweetdeck, Hootsuite or any of the other services like them?  If so, which and why?  Do they really help save time with social media?  Pros?  Cons?

I’ve explored several of them, only to give up because I don’t completely understand how to use them and don’t want to spend more time trying to.  I’d love to better organize my participation in social media, but not sure how. 

[SureFlap]

Hi Sue,

I use Hootsuite to manage the SureFlap Facebook and Twitter page (facebook.com/sureflap & @SureFlapNews). I find it really useful to monitor what is being said about our product and related keywords using ‘streams’. It’s also useful if you want to schedule facebook posts and tweets at different times of the day. I often schedule posts for the evenings and weekends which is really beneficial. I believe Tweetdeck is similar.

The two main cons I’ve found with Hootsuite are that you can’t direct posts on Facebook to specific locations (like you can directly on Facebook) and you can’t follow a Twitter conversation. If I see a tweet of interest and want to look at he whole convo that person’s had, I have to go into Twitter to do that.

Hope that helps!

[Melody McKinnon]

They may work for some, but I believe individual posting is more effective.  Some negatives include:

– I don’t like seeing Twitter hashtags in Facebook posts, etc.  Not everyone is familiar with Twitter so it looks bad, and it could be confusing to Grandma who only joined Facebook to keep in touch with her grandchildren. 

– Some social networks don’t integrate them well.  Facebook, for example, will often group Hootsuite posts with other Hootsuite posts in a ‘see more posts from Hootsuite’ format, so you lose visibility. 

– My target audience in some social networks is different.  Twitter has more business eyes on it so I may post something there that I wouldn’t post on a more B2C oriented social network, for example.  I also frequently word the posts differently for the same reason.

If your objective is just to get it out there, the automation can work.  I don’t believe that’s the point of putting effort into social media so it’s not for me.  Social media isn’t about broadcasting, it’s about communicating.  Automation does offer tracking and managing benefits though.

[Rumpy Drummond]

I use Tweetdeck when I’m attending a Twitter party or event.  For instance, Wednesday night I’ll use it when I participate in the Red Carpet Cat Event. 

I do have my Twitter and Facebook accounts linked, and I find it works well for me.  I have a paying gig that takes alot of my time, so I don’t have alot of free time to engage in alot of chatter online during the day.  But I can still let my friends know I’m around by posting from my phone to both FB and Twitter when I take a break at work.  

[Vicki Cook]

I use Tweetdeck, and I have been using it for nearly 3 years. I have multiple Twitter accounts, so it’s much easier to deal with than the web version. I like it because I can put everything it’s own column and keep track of it all at once rather than click from page to page. It is especially helpful when I’m doing online fundraisers.

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

Thank you!  Your “con” is really helpful because one thing I’d like to do is easily follow a twitter conversation!
 
SureFlap said:

Hi Sue,

I use Hootsuite to manage the SureFlap Facebook and Twitter page (facebook.com/sureflap & @SureFlapNews). I find it really useful to monitor what is being said about our product and related keywords using ‘streams’. It’s also useful if you want to schedule facebook posts and tweets at different times of the day. I often schedule posts for the evenings and weekends which is really beneficial. I believe Tweetdeck is similar.

The two main cons I’ve found with Hootsuite are that you can’t direct posts on Facebook to specific locations (like you can directly on Facebook) and you can’t follow a Twitter conversation. If I see a tweet of interest and want to look at he whole convo that person’s had, I have to go into Twitter to do that.

Hope that helps!

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

“Social media isn’t about broadcasting, it’s about communicating.”  Totally agree, Melody.  
 
Melody McKinnon said:

They may work for some, but I believe individual posting is more effective.  Some negatives include:

– I don’t like seeing Twitter hashtags in Facebook posts, etc.  Not everyone is familiar with Twitter so it looks bad, and it could be confusing to Grandma who only joined Facebook to keep in touch with her grandchildren. 

– Some social networks don’t integrate them well.  Facebook, for example, will often group Hootsuite posts with other Hootsuite posts in a ‘see more posts from Hootsuite’ format, so you lose visibility. 

– My target audience in some social networks is different.  Twitter has more business eyes on it so I may post something there that I wouldn’t post on a more B2C oriented social network, for example.  I also frequently word the posts differently for the same reason.

If your objective is just to get it out there, the automation can work.  I don’t believe that’s the point of putting effort into social media so it’s not for me.  Social media isn’t about broadcasting, it’s about communicating.  Automation does offer tracking and managing benefits though.

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

Thanks so much to you all!  I have multiple accounts (personal and business) and get so bogged down with “real” work that I find I just don’t have time to participate in social media things like I’d like.  For example, I’ve seen announcements of Twitter parties and have no clue how to participate – yet have noticed others using Tweetdeck to do so.  Sometimes I would like to schedule a tweet – when I know I won’t have access to a pc, etc, so that would be ultra convenient.

Again, thanks!

[Dawn]

Sue, 

I can commiserate with the lack of time to do all the social media things. :>) I use Tweetdeck and like it.  You can set up columns to follow a specific person or hashtag.  It makes it easier for me to follow on there than on Twitter and makes it easier to follow a Twitter Party (although I find they make my head spin a little bit trying to keep up). 

[Vicki Cook]

I also use Social Oomph when scheduling tweets. As far as automation is concerned, it goes like this – I post updates to Facebook, which go to Twitter, which go to Linked In. I have other automated tweets that come through my tribes on Triberr. Automated tweets are good for keeping information out there, but they are not a substitute for direct interaction. You still need to talk to people on a regular basis.

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

I should have come here long ago to pose my question!  Thank all of you so much!  I’m definitely going to give Tweetdeck a try.  I especially like the idea of actually being able to follow special events and topics.  I may give Social Oomph a look, too, though I mainly want to schedule tweets when I have an event I want to publicize.  Thanks again, Sue

[Karen Nichols]

Sue, you can always google “hootsuite tutorial” or something similar for each service. There are quite a few video tutorials that show you how to use hootsuite, tweetdeck, etc. Once you know your way around the interface, the services are easy to use. 

I’ve been using HootSuite since the Red Carpet Event and I like it. I can upload a spreadsheet and schedule tweets throughout the day in one operation. I post manually to Facebook (both personal profile and page) each day for a number of reasons, some of which have already been mentioned here. 

I really wasn’t getting much traction on LinkedIn, but my blogs aren’t business-oriented, so LinkedIn isn’t a  fruitful place for me to post. (It is great for networking, however. After BlogPaws, for example, I’ll get out my stack of business cards and link to everyone I met.)

I used su.pr as a link shortener vs. the default ow.ly because I like to double-check my clickthrus and I think (based on hunch, not empirical evidence) that your chances of getting stumbled are better when you use su.pr.

[Sue at For Love of a Dog]

Thanks, Karen.  The video tutorials are a good idea, but so far they’ve not helped me.  I downloaded Tweetdeck.  Unfortunately, the video tutorials I found are for previous versons of Tweetdeck (and comments on them note that.)   So far, I’ve found that –for me– Tweetdeck is not all that helpful. 

[Carol]

I like Tweetdeck the best but do have Hootsuite I deter to if I am going to be out with the dog or away or offline for the weekend. Just for some basic automated tweets, but I interact on Twitter and like the personal touch. 😉 

[Karen Nichols]

This may not be for you, but I throw it out there for anyone who’s interested: there’s a software tool called Tweetadder (tweetadder.com) that is useful for tweet management. You cannot view streams in tweetadder, so you can’t use for twitter parties, but it gives you complete flexibly and automations for tweets, follows, DMs, etc. Set it and forget it. They have online tutorials. I’d say it’s not for Twitter beginners, but if you have some experience with Twitter and aren’t intimidated by new software, I’d recommend giving it a try. Again, it’s different than HootSuite and Tweetdeck, but can really help supercharge your Twitter experience. 

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