The rise of social media presents a new set of challenges for digital marketing agencies. The influx of content needed to keep users engaged has risen dramatically since the dawn of the web marketing and won’t be easing off any time soon. As online marketing takes first place among emerging advertising techniques, how do companies large and small handle the constant need to deliver valuable content all day everyday?
Content is king when it comes to curating an online presence, but finding the right articles, tweets and blogs can be challenging. The right content will lead your client’s campaign to bigger and better places if you have the right tools to tailor it. So how does Hootsuite stack up to Raven Tools and vice versa?
Raven Tools provides more than the standard social media management/monitoring tool simply because it includes everything SEO and advertising related. It’s best feature lies in its ability to sync client social media accounts and WordPress blogs to measure and analyze activity, and even grab suggestions to improve the overall reach of a campaign. Link monitoring and management is one of the most beneficial facets of Raven Tools, allowing agencies to manage workflow, and control user access of various accounts. One really strong selling point of Raven Tools is its Google Adwords and Webmaster Tools integration, to create customizable reports to deliver an in depth analysis of site performance, keyword monitoring, Google rankings and social media presence. Now, what’s missing?
Although it seems to be a full-fledged tool, it does lack key elements digital marketing agencies might find less than acceptable. Raven supports Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and has a poorly designed scheduled posts platform that are far from user friendly. This tool might be too large of a system for small businesses as it isn’t always the easiest online tool to navigate without a tutorial.
As a social media management system Hootsuite helps you track social networks using streams to organize various client profiles. It keeps marketers attuned to what’s being said about a brand or topics with the option to geo target keywords. This can be especially helpful in a local marketing campaign. Set up streams to view multiple social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Google+ to directly contact desired users or accounts. It has a leg up on Raven Tools, as the posting interface is more user friendly and allows for more than three social networks like, Foursquare, Myspace, WordPress blogs, Vimeo, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr and a few more!
Companies with multiple social media accounts on the same network such as Twitter or Facebook will be happy to know Hootsuite allows you to manage all of these accounts in one single interface. It also allows you to create teams to better manage workflow and designate tasks based on the level of access given to each team member. For large scale social media campaigns involving multiple team members direct messaging makes it easy to communicate and track what each person has completed.
So, which tool is the better investment? Think about three key items to decide which one is the best fit. Is price a factor? If so, Hootsuite is pricier if you’re constantly adding team members and creating more organizations while Raven Tools allows unlimited users at $249 a month. This price break can be an attractive selling point for most companies. Answer the question if analysis or management is more important to you? Raven Tools does a fabulous job reporting and analyzing while Hootsuite has a better user interface for active social media campaigns that include user engagement every single day. Finally, take a look at the client volume of your company. Small businesses will do better to invest in Hootsuite while larger companies will gain more benefits from Raven Tools with its advanced and customizable reporting system available.
Both social media management tools are valued assets at Fabric Eleven and help us to manage workflow, analyze client campaigns and schedule posts across multiple social media networks. The decision remains up to you to decide which tool will bring you the most bang for your buck.