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Success on social media can often feel like a secret science. Something that only the few can achieve. But creating a successful social media strategy is a skill that can be learned. Mastered, even. And you don’t need a flashy brand or a big budget. What you need is a deep understanding of what your audience cares about, and how to get your content in front of them in the right places at the right times.
Hootsuite is a social media management platform, created by Ryan Holmes in 2008. The system's user interface takes the form of a dashboard, and supports social network integrations for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Know more about its company profile here, in this article.
Hootsuite - Company Highlights
| Startup Name | Hootsuite |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 5 East 8th Avenue Vancouver, V5T 1R6, Canada |
| Industry | Social Media Management |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Founders | Ryan Holmes, Dario Meli, David Tedman |
| CEO | Tom Keiser |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| Website | www.hootsuite.com |
Hootsuite - About and How it Works?
Hootsuite - Recent News
Hootsuite - Logo and Its Meaning
Hootsuite - Founder and History
Hootsuite - Mission
Hootsuite - Business Model
Hootsuite - Revenue and Growth
Hootsuite - Funding And Investors
Hootsuite - Acquisitions
Hootsuite - Competitors
Hootsuite - Criticism
Hootsuite - Challenges Faced
Hootsuite - Future Plans
Hootsuite - FAQs
Hootsuite - Conclusion
Hootsuite - About and How it Works?
Hootsuite is a platform for managing social media. Hootsuite is a provider of a social media management system designed to make connecting with customers faster, smarter and safer. The company's platform executes campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard as well as offers tools to manage all social profiles and helps in finding and scheduling effective social content, enabling clients to spot trends and have an insight on relevant data.
More than 15 million users, including 800+ of the Fortune 1000 companies, trust Hootsuite to manage their social media programs across multiple social networks from one integrated dashboard. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
Hootsuite Media Inc. provides social web marketing services. The Company offers social media dashboards that allows updates to social networks through web, desktop, and mobile platforms and track campaign results and industry trends.
Hootsuite - Recent News
As of January 2021, Hootsuite acquired a leading SaaS provider enabling the future of digital customer engagement through 1:1 conversational messaging channels including Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat, SMS, and Chat, sparkcentral.
Hootsuite - Logo and Its Meaning
The winning idea for logo was Hootsuite, a moniker submitted by a user named Matt Nathan and based upon "Owly", the dashboard's owl logo, as a word play on the French expression "tout de suite", meaning "right now".
Sarika Anand
Hootsuite - Founder and History
Hootsuite was founded by Ryan Holmes, Dario Meli and David Tedman.
In 2008, Holmes needed a tool to manage multiple social media networks at his digital services agency, Invoke Media. Finding that there was no product in the market offering all the features he sought, Holmes, along with Dario Meli, David Tedman, and the Invoke team, chose instead to develop a platform of their own that would be able to organize their many social media accounts and networks. The first iteration of this social media management system launched on November 28, 2008 in the form of a Twitter dashboard called BrightKit.
In February 2009, Holmes offered a $500 prize for renaming the platform, and used crowdsourced suggestions from the dashboard's 100,000+ users as contest submissions. The winning idea was Hootsuite, a moniker submitted by a user named Matt Nathan and based upon "Owly", the dashboard's owl logo, as a word play on the French expression "tout de suite", meaning "right now".
In November 2009, the Hootsuite dashboard expanded its offering to support Facebook and LinkedIn, and the capability to use Twitter Lists.
In December 2009, Hootsuite spun off from Invoke Media and launched officially as an independent company, Hootsuite Media, Inc. That same month, Hootsuite received $1.9 million in funding from Hearst Interactive Media, Blumberg Capital, and prominent angel investors Leo Group LLC and Geoff Entress.
Gorish Dua
Hootsuite - Mission
Hootsuite's mission statement is,
"We created Hootsuite to help people connect on social media and do amazing things together. We connect people with the communities they live in."
Hootsuite - Business Model
Hootsuite uses a freemium model, hooking in users with a free plan, who then become paying customers. Social media represents a holy grail for brands and businesses.
So, to keep track of all of their social network channels, many brands have turned to Hootsuite, a social media management system for businesses, allowing them to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple social networks from a single, Web-based dashboard.
The first plan is free, and is recommended for personal use. It comes with the ability to monitor up to three social profiles, schedule one post to go up at a specific time, three basic analytics reports, access to monitor free apps, and the ability to create Facebook ads.
Hootsuite - Revenue and Growth
- Hootsuite's estimated annual revenue is currently $409.5M per year.
- Hootsuite received $5.0M in venture funding in April 2017.
- Hootsuite's estimated revenue per employee is $250,000
- Hootsuite's pricing is $228 per year.
ANSH MEHREY
Hootsuite - Funding And Investors
Hootsuite has raised a total of $299.9M in funding over 6 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Mar 15, 2018 from a Debt Financing round. Hootsuite is funded by 12 investors. CIBC and Insight Partners are the most recent investors.
| Year | Round | Amount | Lead Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 2018 | Debt Financing | $50M | CIBC |
| Sep 25, 2014 | Series C | $60M | Fidelity |
| Aug 1, 2013 | Series B | $165M | Insight Partners |
| Mar 29, 2012 | Secomdary market | $20M | OMERS Ventures |
| Sep 15, 2011 | Debt Financing | $3M | - |
| Jan 8, 2010 | Series A | $1.9M | Blumberg Capital, Hearst Ventures |
Hootsuite - Acquisitions
Hootsuite has acquired 13 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was Sparkcentral on Jan 6, 2021.
| Acquiree Name | Date | Amount | About Acquiree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sparkcentral | Jan 6, 2021 | - | Sparkcentral is a customer engagement tool that enables one-on-one messaging via social channels. |
| LiftMetrix | Feb 22, 2017 | - | LiftMetrix instantly creates a customized social media marketing plan to drive key business objectives |
| AdEspresso | Feb 7, 2017 | - | AdEspresso offers services for advertisers and media agencies to create, analyze, and optimize their Facebook advertisements. |
| Sales Prodigy | Mar 29, 2016 | - | Sales Prodigy is a social media power tool for sales executives. |
| Zeetl | Sep 25, 2014 | - | Zeetl enhances brand's social media customer support by combining of social network interaction and a phone call. |
| Brightkit | Sep 4, 2014 | - | Brightkit is a social marketing platform that helps brands and agencies launch web-based social marketing campaigns. |
| uberVU | Jan 22, 2014 | - | UberVU offers an insights-driven dashboard for customers to observe key conversations, connect with customers, and report their success. |
| Seesmic | Sep 5, 2012 | - | Seesmic provides social media management and collaboration tools that enable businesses to build and manage their brands online. |
| Geotoko | Oct 10, 2011 | - | Geotoko is a web-based dashboard for businesses and brands to create, manage and measure location-based marketing campaigns in real time. |
| What the Trend | Sep 27, 2011 | - | WhatTheTrend.com (WTT) provides context and meaning to social trending topics. |
Hootsuite - Competitors
Top competitors of Hootsuite are Buffer, Zoho Social, Sprout Social, Meltwater, and Sprinklr Modern Engagement.
Hootsuite - Criticism
- Expensive Analytics Reports & the Point System.
- Forced to Use Owly Short Links.
- Expensive Custom URL Shorteners.
- Facebook Image Problem.
- No Data in Facebook Insights.
- Lower Facebook Reach & Engagement.
- Expensive for Teams.
Hootsuite - Challenges Faced
In 2008, Ryan Holmes started building the idea for Hootsuite with a small team at his agency. According to Ryan everything seemed almost impossible in the beginning. Growth came fast, with Hootsuite soon being the center of how everyone—from small businesses to Fortune 500s—built winning brands with social.
Fast forward to today and Hootsuite is the global leader in social media management, trusted by more than 18 million customers and employees at over 80% of the Fortune 1000.
Hootsuite - Future Plans
Stereotypes, ageism, and a years long habit of chasing newness over effectiveness have left marketers underestimating an increasingly digitally savvy and lucrative demographic: baby boomers. By using smart segmentation and thoughtful representation, marketers that include baby boomers in their digital strategies can leapfrog those still stuck in stereotypes.
For years, linking social media engagement to customer identity has proved an elusive goal for Hootsuite. But with renewed momentum and executive attention on social media’s ability to retain critical connections with customers, now is the time to take steps—big or small—to bridging the critical gap between engagement and customer identity.
Dev Kumar Padhy
Hootsuite - FAQs
What does Hootsuite do?
Hootsuite is a provider of a social media management system designed to make connecting with customers faster, smarter and safer.
Who founded Hootsuite?
Hootsuite was founded by Ryan Holmes, Dario Meli and David Tedman.
Which companies do Hootsuite compete with?
Top competitors of Hootsuite are Buffer, Zoho Social, Sprout Social, Meltwater, and Sprinklr Modern Engagement.
How does Hootsuite make money?
Hootsuite uses a freemium model, hooking in users with a free plan, who then become paying customers.
Can you use Hootsuite for free?
One of the best things about Hootsuite is that it has a free plan. That gives a single user a social media dashboard for three social accounts. Plus, you can set up a social media posting schedule, with up to 30 messages scheduled in advance.
Is Hootsuite trustworthy?
Hootsuite is a reliable social media management platform. As a tool in monitoring mentions of your brand, Hootsuite helps you gather all public remarks from the general public.
Hootsuite - Conclusion
Hootsuite believes in the power of human connection to help people connect on social media and do amazing things together. Their platform lets people connect with the communities they live in, the teams they work with, the brands they love, the customers who believe in them, and the leaders and visionaries who show them the way forward.
Irrespective of your team size or if you're managing a small team or making a bold leap forward to completely transform your social enterprise. Hootsuite helps users to unlock the power of human connection and make great things happen while using their social media accounts. Hootsuite provides a platform to let users manage all of their social media accounts from one place for free.
Author: Sarika Anand
Source : https://startuptalky.com/hootsuite-success-story/
Date : 2021-04-21T06:30:00.000Z