Hootsuite and Sprout Social are two wildly popular social media management tools that many small businesses are gravitating towards to assist with their online marketing efforts. Both tools offer companies a streamlined way to connect to fans and manage multiple social media profiles with ease. These two services also offer a great deal of flexibility in their scheduling services that enable users to pre-schedule social media updates; eliminating the painstaking task of having to manually input posts different times throughout the day.
Although there are many similarities between both of these social media management tools, Hootsuite and Sprout Social do have some differences. See if your small business needs seem to be more inline with one or the other in this face-off of facts for both tools:
HootSuite and Sprout Social are two forces competing to work with your small business. Who’s team are you on?
- The Bottom Line – Let’s be honest, marketing budgets for small businesses are usually conservative. According to avid social media blogger Sophia Haggerty, Sprout Social has a three month installment plan that allows from 10 to 50 accounts at three different payment tiers. Whereas HootSuite offers up to 5 free accounts and unlimited accounts for only $9 a month.
- Learning – Although both social media management tools offer learning resources for their users, their teaching methods seem to differ a bit. Hootsuite offers a unique learning tool named HootSuite University that trains users on how to take advantage of the tool. Although Sprout Social offers plenty of opportunities for users to learn their system, their tool only offers tutorials, which seem a bit lacking in comparison to the full onboard learning system of HootSuite University.
- Interface – Sprout Social’s dash board has a lot to offer and a lot to learn. With tabs for feeds and new followers, and tons of other features, it’s no wonder they had to create a 45 minute tutorial to get users started! Although there are many features, the organization of the Sprout Social dashboard makes navigating through all that information fairly easy. HootSuite’s initial login is a bit intimidating, but once you are past the first phase, using the system is simple and self-explanatory. Yet, simplicity on the dashboard of HootSuite does seem a bit of a snooze compared to Sprout Social’s sparkling extravaganza of information.
- Analytics – One of the most important differences between HootSuite and Sprout Social (and why a lot of people are willing to pay more for Sprout) are the analytics. Although Sprout Social’s interface may take a bit of getting used to, this social media management tool offers great analytic data and reports that you can export. Sprout offers a great in-depth analysis of your followers and offers unlimited reports for users. Although HootSuite’s interface may be easily navigated, custom reports are often time consuming and can cost users “points” once they venture into advanced territory.
Hootsuite and Sprout Social are two social media management tools that your small business can pursue when trying to streamline your marketing efforts. Do you use HootSuite or Sprout Social? Which do you prefer and why? We would love to hear your opinions in the comments below!
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