Hootsuite FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions
Hootsuite FAQ | Frequently asked questions
All your Hootsuite questions — answered. Get detailed information on our integrations, plans, and how Hootsuite can help you reach your marketing goals.
The Basics: What is Hootsuite and more
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is an all-in-one social media management tool. It lets you schedule, post, and track performance across all your social media networks from one dashboard.
Who uses Hootsuite?
Anyone who uses social media can use Hootsuite! There are Hootsuite plans for individuals, small social media teams, and enterprise businesses. You can use Hootsuite to grow your budding presence as an influencer or join the majority of Fortune 1000 businesses that trust it to manage multiple profiles at once.
Professionals in every industry use Hootsuite to manage social media. It’s a good choice for those who work in highly regulated industries, including government, healthcare, finance, and higher education.
Hootsuite is FedRAMP certified to help ensure the security of the U.S. government's cloud services. This makes it an excellent option for public agencies looking for more secure ways to engage with their communities.
Because Hootsuite is HIPAA-friendly, it’s also a smart choice for businesses in the healthcare sector.
We have adopted various administrative, physical and technical safeguards relevant to our environment for consistency with HIPAA standards. We also comply with privacy and data protection laws including the GDPR, California’s CCPA, and Canada’s PIPEDA.
What are the benefits of Hootsuite?
Hootsuite helps you grow your business and save time on social media by combining everything on one easy-to-use platform.
Here are a few of the top benefits of Hootsuite:
- Grow your followers and improve reach with analytics that show you the exact best time to post on social media based on your audience.
- Save time by scheduling posts on several social media channels at once and handling all your messages in one place.
- Automate your workflow with AI tools, including an AI caption writer, automated DMs, saved replies, and more.
- Post better content with content inspiration, hashtag ideas, built-in templates, and advanced spelling and grammar suggestions from Grammarly.
- Stay ahead of the competition by monitoring relevant trends, accounts, and conversations in your industry.
- Get inspired by setting up Streams with industry trends and top accounts.
- See what's working with analytics and custom reports showing which posts perform the best and why.
- Stay on top of everything with listening streams and a single inbox that pulls all your messages from every network into a single inbox.
- Improve efficiency with streamlined content approval workflows, a visually pleasing content calendar, and a unified inbox.
- Protect your brand’s reputation and monitor negative mentions and reviews with user-friendly social listening tools.
What can Hootsuite do?
Hootsuite has many tools and features that help you go further on social media. It can:
- Tell you exactly when to post on social media to get more engagement
- Post to multiple social media networks from one place
- Bulk schedule hundreds of posts in advance
- Schedule social media posts across all your networks in one place
- Save you time with content inspiration and templates
- Engage customers and respond to comments and mentions across all your platforms in one place
- Track mentions, reviews, and conversations about your brand
- Listen in on competitors and follow trends in your industry
- Identify and fill gaps in your content calendar
- Track your performance on social media and quickly generate reports
- Learn which posts perform better than others and why
How do I use Hootsuite?
To use Hootsuite, start by creating an account and choosing a plan that works for you. Once you've signed up, you'll be prompted to connect your social media profiles to your dashboard. From there, you'll be able to plan, schedule, post, and track performance from a single tab. Here’s a quick flyby of the Hootsuite Dashboard to get you started.
How do I request a demo of Hootsuite?
Want to see Hootsuite in all its social media magic-making action? Request a demo here.
Where can I get a Hootsuite Enterprise quote?
The Hootsuite team would love to build you a quote to suit your enterprise needs. Request a quote here!
Features & Products
What are Hootsuite’s features?
The Hootsuite dashboard is packed with features that help you grow your business on social media.
The best way to see all of Hootsuite’s features in action is to give it a try.
Until then, here’s a quick rundown of Hootsuite’s main features.
- Composer lets you draft, schedule, and publish content across all your social media channels. Some of its features include:
- Built-in Canva templates right at your fingertips
- An AI-powered caption and ideas generator
- Hashtag suggestions generated based on your captions
- Easily attach files and other media to your posts from your computer or the cloud
- Planner is a user-friendly content calendar that displays all your posts across each channel. Some of its features include:
- A birds-eye view of all your published and scheduled content
- The ability to duplicate published content and turn it into new posts
- A place to create drafts and get feedback from team members
- Analytics is where you can monitor and track your performance across all your social media networks. Some of its features include:
- A heatmap showing the best time to post based on your audience
- Tracking of hundreds of metrics across all social media channels
- A snapshot of key metrics, like post reach, impressions, likes, and more
- Customizable reports with the metrics you choose
- The ability to see your top-performing posts instantly
- Listening lets you listen in on what people are saying about your brand or industry across 150 million websites and 30 social media channels in 187 languages. Some of its features include:
- Quick Search to monitor posts about your brand, industry, and specific trends
- Sentiment analysis to see how people feel about brand, industry, and specific topics
- AI summaries to quickly understand what’s happening in your niche without digging through tons of content
- Inbox is where you can monitor and reply to messages and comments across all your social media channels in one place. Some of its features include:
- A view of all your public and private messages, including comments
- The ability to assign messages to team members so they can respond
- DM automation for Instagram
- Saved replies and auto-responders to speed up responding to common questions
- Amplify is an employee advocacy tool that makes it easy for your team to share your content, ensuring it gets more views. Some of its features include:
- The ability to share approved content in just a few clicks
- Weekly share goals to encourage employees to post
- Advertise is your space for streamlining ad campaigns across social media. Some of its features include:
- Campaign management across social media
- Automatic boosting to extend the reach of your best content
- Advanced audience targeting to ensure the right people see your ads
These are just a few of Hootsuite’s features. Want to see everything Hootsuite has to offer? ➡️ Try it for free right now.
Can you create social media reports with Hootsuite?
Yep! Hootsuite Analytics is one of the best tools for creating customized social media reports.
You can quickly create attractive reports showing the metrics you select. Edit the title, choose your preferred visualization style, and select your metrics. For a professional flair—and to impress your boss 😉—you can even add your logo. When you’re done, export it into a PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, or .csv file.
You can even automatically generate scheduled reports that go straight to your email on a recurring schedule.
Does Hootsuite have social listening?
Yes. Hootsuite offers industry-leading social listening and brand monitoring tools. They can help you protect your reputation, maintain your competitive edge, and improve your social media strategy.
All Hootsuite plans include Listening Basics, which allows you to search mentions and trending topics and compare searches side by side. From within the Hootsuite dashboard, you can instantly view sampled results from social media, news sites, newsletters, blogs, forums, and more.
Hootsuite Listening features Blue Silk™ AI, a proprietary AI model tailored to the specific needs of social marketers. It instantly summarizes complex results, predicts topic volumes, and identifies peaks.
For deeper social listening, Enterprise users can upgrade to Hootsuite Listening powered by Talkwalker. Get the broadest social listening data coverage on the market and monitor up to 150 million websites, 30 social media channels, and 187 languages.
Hootsuite Streams is also available to all Hootsuite users. Here you can set up feeds to monitor mentions, retweets, and specific hashtags. You’ll be able to see what people are saying about your brand across multiple social media platforms in one place.
Hootsuite Integrations
What social networks does Hootsuite support?
Hootsuite can help you automate content, messaging, and more on all social channels. We support Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, WhatsApp, and Pinterest.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Instagram?
Yes. You can use Hootsuite to create, schedule, and post Instagram feed posts, carousels, and Reels. Plus, thanks to Hootsuite Analytics, you can track your performance across the app and see exactly when to post to get the most engagement.
Note: You’ll need an Instagram Business account to access certain Hootsuite features. Don’t worry—it’s easy and free to turn your personal Instagram account into a Business account. Here’s how.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Facebook?
Yes. You can use Hootsuite to create, schedule, and post content on Facebook. Hootsuite also comes with in-depth Facebook analytics tools that show you how your content is performing and when to post on Facebook to get the most views. With Hootsuite, you can schedule and post to Facebook profiles, Pages, and groups.
Note: To schedule posts on Facebook Pages, you need to be a Page Admin or Editor. To schedule posts on Facebook groups, you need to be a group Admin.
Does Hootsuite integrate with TikTok?
Yes. You can use Hootsuite to post and schedule TikToks. It’s also a great tool to use if you want to see the best time to publish TikTok videos to increase your chances of going viral. With Hootsuite Analytics, you’ll be able to schedule your TikToks right alongside your other social media channels.
Note: To schedule TikToks with Hootsuite, you’ll need to have a TikTok Business account. It’s quick and free to convert your personal TikTok account into a business account. Here’s how.
Does Hootsuite integrate with X/Twitter?
Yes. You can use Hootsuite to post and schedule Tweets. Hootsuite also features X analytics to help you track your performance across the app and see the best times to Tweet based on when your audience is the most active.
Does Hootsuite integrate with LinkedIn?
Yes. Hootsuite lets you post and schedule LinkedIn posts right alongside content for your other social media channels. See the best time to post on LinkedIn, promote your best-performing content, and use Hootsuite Analytics to measure your performance.
Does Hootsuite integrate with YouTube?
Yes. Hootsuite provides a simple way to manage YouTube content alongside your other social media channels. Use it to schedule YouTube videos to go live at the ideal time, to track your results across the platform, or to streamline your video approval workflow.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Pinterest?
Yes. Hootsuite provides tools for managing Pinterest alongside all your other social media networks. Use it to create and schedule Pins on all your public, private, and shared boards.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Google My Business?
Yes. Hootsuite has a Google My Business app that lets you manage your Google My Business page right from your Hootsuite dashboard. With Hootsuite, you can create posts and respond to reviews from a single tab.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Tripadvisor?
While there is no Tripadvisor app for Hootsuite, you can still monitor and manage your Tripadvisor reviews from your dashboard if you have a ReviewTrackers account. Install the ReviewTrackers app to monitor dozens of review websites—including Tripadvisor—in one place.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Glassdoor?
Hootsuite does not currently integrate with Glassdoor. Have a suggestion about a feature you’d like to see on Hootsuite? Get in touch!
Does Hootsuite integrate with Facebook Shops?
Hootsuite does not currently integrate with Facebook Shops. Have a suggestion about a feature you’d like to see on Hootsuite? Get in touch!
Does Hootsuite integrate with Reddit?
Yes. If you want to listen for brand mentions or relevant topics on Reddit, install the Reddit app for Hootsuite. This app allows you to set up a Stream to monitor brand mentions on thousands of subreddits so you never miss important conversations.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Google Analytics?
Yes. Hootsuite Advanced Analytics users can connect a Google Analytics account to better track the full funnel of customer journey. You'll be able to track which organic and paid content generates the best conversions on leads or revenue.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Salesforce?
Yes, Hootsuite Enterprise customers can add the Hootsuite Salesforce integration to bring social media interactions into Salesforce.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Monday.com?
Yes. The monday.com app for Hootsuite helps you streamline your social media workflow across two of your most-used tools. It offers a two-way data sync so you can see your Hootsuite scheduled posts and change when posts are shared right from your monday.com tab.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Asana?
Yes. If you use Asana to manage your workstreams, you’ll want to add it to your Hootsuite dashboard with our Asana integration.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Wrike?
Yes. The Hootsuite Wrike app is a must-add for teams and individuals who use Wrike to plan social media content and strategize.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Outlook?
Hootsuite does not currently integrate with Outlook. Have a suggestion about a feature you’d like to see on Hootsuite? Get in touch!
Does Hootsuite integrate with HubSpot?
Yes. You can quickly link your social media management and CRM with the Hootsuite app for HubSpot. Create more effective marketing campaigns by adding social interaction data to HubSpot and refining segments to target the right audience.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Slack?
Yes. Install the Slack for Hootsuite app to better collaborate with team members on your social media campaigns and strategies. The Slack app lets you grab posts, comments, and more to quickly share with your team in Slack.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Dropbox?
Yes. You can connect your Dropbox account to Hootsuite to get easy access to your cloud-based files, images, and videos. With the Dropbox app for Hootsuite, you’ll be able to pull from your Dropbox to create high-quality social media posts from anywhere.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Google Drive?
Yes. Forget saving all your files to your phone or computer. Cloudview, the Google Drive app for Hootsuite, lets you add images, files, and videos to your social media posts without ever leaving the Hootsuite dashboard.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Bitly?
Yes. If you already have a custom Bit.ly link shortener, a super admin can add it to Hootsuite for you and your team to use in Composer. To enable an external shortener, contact your customer success manager.
Psst… Did you know Hootsuite has its own URL shortener, Ow.ly, that provides in-depth insights on the traffic from your links? Give it a try!
Does Hootsuite integrate with Canva?
Yes. Canva is built into Hootsuite Composer so it’s always right at your fingertips. Tap the Canva logo within Composer to discover hundreds of customizable templates. Add images or custom text to templates optimized for Instagram feed posts and Stories, Facebook ads and posts, Twitter posts, and more. Plus, with the Canva integration, you’ll be able to add files you’ve already created and saved natively in Canva.
Does Hootsuite integrate with Shopify?
Yes. The Shopview for Shopify app makes it a breeze to share products from your Shopify stores to social media. Shopview lets you see products from your shops right in Hootsuite Streams, share attractive product posts with images to all your social media channels, and much more.