Hootsuite
HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard. Streamline team workflow with scheduling and assignment tools and reach audiences with geo-targeting functionality. Invite multiple collaborators to manage social profiles securely, plus provide custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools for measurement.
Opinion
Hootsuite was the best, first dashboard to launch and because of that it will continue to be the tool of choice for community managers for the foreseeable. Hootsuite has 3 million users add through continued development is adding more and more supported services. It’s the tool that I use and there isn’t really anything out there that’s notably better (yet).
On the other hand their revenue model isn’t particularly enticing – charging on a per-use basis for social media reports neither has the scalability nor the volume to make it a viable long term option for the company.
TweetDeck
TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application, currently in public beta, that looks to capture the abundance of social media and display it in a unique columned user interface.
In recent months there has been an explosion in social media with hundreds of services offering an abundance of information to the masses. TweetDeck is a realtime application that allows users to monitor that information in a single concise view. TweetDeck currently integrates services from Twitter, Twitscoop, 12seconds, Stocktwits and now Facebook.
Opinion
Tweetdeck for the first social media dashboard tool that I used to compose my tweets (I now use Hootsuite or simply Twitter interface). The technology behind Tweetdeck was short sighted – Adobe AIR and the desktop nature of the app meant that there is considerably more effort involved in work with the tool – get AIR, download tool, open, login use – repeat for your next device.
Tweetdeck has been bought by Twitter so there is considerable weight behind the tool, though that in itself is a double edged sword with Tweetdeck only interfacing with Twitter related services. Twitter will probably look to turn Tweetdeck into an enterprise level option for composing and monitoring brand comms in Twitter.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social allows businesses to efficiently and effectively manage & grow their social presence across channels and turn social connections into loyal customers.
The web application integrates with Twitter, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, FourSquare, Gowalla and other networks where consumers are engaging with businesses and brands.
Opinion
Loverly interface, easy to use, multiple services and easy one-click intergration (in most cases). They offer different levels of pricing starting from $39 dollars a month so they have an option for individuals, teams and agencies alike, in addition at the moment they are offering a 30 day free trial on all levels of account, so give it a try.
Gremln
Gremln is a web-based software tool for businesses that use social media (http://gremln.com).
They have created a suite of tools to help businesses get organized and take control of their brand within the most popular social media networks (like Facebook and Twitter). Businesses are able to manage all of their social media accounts from several networks within one easy-to-use website. To provide data analysis, Gremln has also developed a robust, social data analytics platform. This enables businesses to better understand their communities by reviewing real-time data about customers and revenue generated from social media efforts.
Opinion (this one is from RRW)
Like Hootsuite, you can schedule your tweets in advance and the free service allows you to access five different social media accounts across Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. You can schedule up to five messages per hour for the free service. There are numerous charts and graphs to show you various statistics, such as the number of LinkedIn posts per day.
There are various paid plans that start at $6 a month and expand the number of Tweets per hour scheduled, the number of saved report templates, and that add the ability to include Web analytics so you can track the results of your social networking campaigns to see if they actually resulted in increased Web traffic. And there are ways for work teams to share and jointly manage their accounts, something that Hootsuite isn’t good at. If you are obsessive about your Klout score, you can link to your account and watch it ebb and flow as the company tweaks its algorithms too.
