HootSuite or TweetDeck – The Choice is Yours

So, let’s say that you have selected the social media sites you want to use for your business and if you are like most people, the thought of logging into various social media sites every day to post updates seems daunting. That is why we are dedicating this blog post to social media monitoring tools. We have decided to focus on two options which happen to be the top two tools available: TweetDeck and Hootsuite. Now we don’t really see this as a battle between the two sites. It is important to note that there is no perfect tool for everyone. It really comes down to which social media sites you are using and your personal preferences.

So, let’s cover the basics of the two tools.

TweetDeck and HooteSuite are social media monitoring tools which means that they both allow you to log into one system and see all of your social media efforts in one spot – in essence it streamlines your social media world. You can schedule posts, check on those you are following, look at analytics – all from one place.

TweetDeck is currently used to manage Facebook and Twitter accounts. For the most part it focuses on Twitter. (Which makes sense because Twitter actually purchased the monitoring tool in late 2011.) It allows for people to manage multiple Twitter accounts – think of managing your personal Twitter account and your business Twitter account in one location. HootSuite on the other hand has been built to handle more of today’s popular social media sites. (Currently you can manage Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more on HootSuite.) Sorry but Pinterest hasn’t joined the party on either tool as of yet.

Both TweetDeck and Hootsuite are free to users. (Well, HootSuite does offer a $5.99 per month “pro” version if you really want all of the bells and whistles.  Our thoughts on that are if you are going to pay for anything social media related, put that money into some social media ads.)

The set up of the two tools are slightly different. HooteSuite is a web-based application while TweetDeck is powered by Adobe. As a result, some users find HootSuite to be a bit faster and more reliable since it is web-based. The good news is that both have mobile device applications.

So, which one should you use? Well, there really isn’t a simple answer to that. If you are just using Twitter and Facebook, TweetDeck may be the perfect solution for you. If you are managing multiple social media profiles across more social media sites than what TweetDeck can handle, you should look to HootSuite.

After talking to some of our clients, those who use TweetDeck prefer the layout of the tool – it is a bit sleeker. Those we talked to remarked that HootSuite is a bit bulky – overwhelming at first glance. (Basically TweetDeck is arranged in columns in a single view and HootSuite uses tabs to separate each social media profile.) So, you have to ask yourself – do you like columns or tabs?

Coming up next week: should you advertise on social media sites?