June 29, 2011 36 Comments

Hootsuite Publisher Function

Hootsuite Publisher Function

I really like the Hootsuite (affiliate link) publisher function inside of the Hootsuite Twitter application. Not only can you schedule tweets, but you can see it in a form that lets you better understand what you’ve got planned for the day, week, month, etc. I’ve shot a short screencast to show you why I like the feature. If you can’t see the video, click here. Essentially, I just walk you through how to schedule tweets, and/or what they’ll look like in the publisher.

The best thing this allows you, as a marketer and communicator, is a way to better understand just how self-promotional you’re being. Putting 5 tweets into the day I recorded this that promote myself means that I’ve gotta consider putting 15 or so tweets about other people’s stuff into the scheduler as well, so that I’m promoting people besides myself, and that I’m sharing good information that’s not mine. I do this so that people don’t tune me out as a marketing machine, and so that people know that I care about information that I didn’t create, as well.

What do you think? Are you scheduling tweets? Are you using them as part of your projects or marketing? How are you doing it?

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  • http://twitter.com/bexmountain Rebecca Mountain

    I live and die by Hootsuite. I look at it as my foundation scheduler, to keep me in the twittersphere while I’m out training people on how to use social media for business all day, and then I tweet in real time whenever I can. It’s super!

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      Thanks Rebecca, we truly enjoy hearing your kind words. 

  • http://twitter.com/swoodruff Steve Woodruff

    Hootsuite is one of my key tools. When it comes to sharing links (vs. live interaction with people on Twitter), Hootsuite is a go-to app, esp for scheduling. The Hootlet toolbar links makes it even easier to share while reading on another site.

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      The Hootlet is indeed a powerful little tool.

  • http://twitter.com/phyllisneill Phyllis Neill

    Definitely scheduling social media, but using Sendible instead of Hootsuite.

  • http://twitter.com/phyllisneill Phyllis Neill

    Definitely scheduling social media, but using Sendible instead of Hootsuite.

  • http://rickmanelius.com Rick Manelius

    I didn’t realize tweetdeck had a similar function (if you setup a column to show your scheduled tweets). Trying that out today…

  • http://goo.gl/QvKcQ SusieBlackmon

    I do use Hootsuite but discovered ShareFeed and keep going back to it for scheduling. 

  • http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

    One of the things that I love about Hootsuite is that they keep on improving there platform while they continue to listen to there customers. I remember the initial pricing platform they proposed many of us where shocked and they almost lost a lot of users. Thankfully they listened to their users and came up with an attractive pricing that worked for many of us. 

  • http://twitter.com/John_Trader1 John Trader

    I like the publisher function in Hootsuite but I am careful about what I schedule in advance due to the real time aspect of news updates and events that unfold may have an effect on the information I tweet about.  Where scheduling in advance especially helps me are in the global markets we operate in where international customers are more likely to see the tweets in the wee hours of the morning here in the States.  I think it’s a great tool.

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      Good points John. I agree that scheduling messages is not a replacement for the conversational nature of social media but can be handy for: reminders for programs/events/etc.; reaching out to international audiences in their best time (for us this is often Japan); and planning campaign message points at strategic times.

      Indeed, less is often more when it comes to planning your outreach.

      @daveohoots:twitter 

  • Anonymous

    I absolutely love and cherish when people like you take the time to explain things I work with every day and never take the time to dive into..
    Great and informative post.
    Thanks CB!

  • http://twitter.com/derekbarney Derek Barney

    I think it is probably even better for a team of people using the account. I keep a stream of sch tweets so I don’t use the publisher function that much. I do lots of reading at night and schedule most of them to go out the next day while I’m working or leaving comments on a blog :)

  • http://twitter.com/VYFCT VirtuallyYoursFromCT

    Hi Chris -

    When the Publisher first was launched, I wasn’t sure I’d like it. I’d been using the scheduling feature with HootSuite and could see “Pending Tweets” on my home page. So when the Publisher came out and that column was no longer there, I was skeptical.

    Fast forward – it took less than 2 days to get used to the change and now, like you, I love it! The way it shows the scheduled tweets is much clearer and more efficient. I think this was one change that was definitely for the better!

    Tweet on!

    Virtually Yours,
    Anne-Marie

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      Glad to hear Anne-Marie. I’m sure in your line of work, this will be a useful tool in your kit. 

  • http://twitter.com/C_Pappas Christina Pappas

    I was posting tweets when I ran my previous company’s Twitter account but I had a slightly different approach. I would devote whole days to sharing other people’s content and then I would do a ‘whitepaper Wednesday’ with links to all my whitepapers with no form. Other days I would share cool stuff our customers created using our software. But I did schedule them all ahead of time. I did notice that while I was trying to help my followers by serving them content from all over, my inbound referral traffic suffered so its important to find the perfect balance for you.  

  • Lacey Wilcox

    I loved this.  Is this function available in the free version of Hootsuite, or only in the Pro?

  • Lacey Wilcox

    I loved this.  Is this function available in the free version of Hootsuite, or only in the Pro?

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      Hi Lacey, 

      Publisher is available in Basic (free) but the Pro customers enjoy many more features and views. Try it for 30 days by clicking Chris’ link above ;-).

  • Randal

    I’ll be  honest, the publisher function is nice, but i HATE!!! that they’ve taken out the pending stream. When managing social media for multiple clients, it means clicking through back and forth to ensure we’ve scheduled tweets correctly for each client. It would be so much easier had they added this feature but kept the pending stream…

  • Randal

    I’ll be  honest, the publisher function is nice, but i HATE!!! that they’ve taken out the pending stream. When managing social media for multiple clients, it means clicking through back and forth to ensure we’ve scheduled tweets correctly for each client. It would be so much easier had they added this feature but kept the pending stream…

    • Arglebargle1

      Pending streams are back…

      • Randal

        Well son-of-a-gun… I need to go back and re-add them! Thanks!

  • http://DempseyMarketing.com/journal/ Robert Dempsey

    Hey Chris I am scheduling my tweets. I use an app called 14blocks to see when most of my Twitter folks are so that I can put my stuff on to Twitter then. The rest of the time is promoting other people’s awesome content, like this post (tweet already scheduled). A great thing about scheduling tweets is that you can space them out so they aren’t coming one on top of the other.

    • http://swflmarketinglabs.com Adam Teece

      I love 14 blocks.  I do kind of wish that Hootsuite Publisher could be set up so that you could choose certain times on each day and then easily add Tweets to a Queue that outputs those Tweets on the times you have set.

  • http://www.fattorezero.it Fattore Zero

    Great post with useful take away-tips!

  • http://viewsouthcarolinarealestate.com markbrian

    I love the Hootsuite publisher function so I do not overwhelm my twitter friends with posts and I can space them out some.

  • http://twitter.com/NickGShields Nick Shields

    Signed up a year ago, but did more in the last 20 minutes than I have since I signed up.  Thanks for reminding me what robust features there are at HootSuite.  Already scheduled several Tweets highlighting old blogposts.  

    • http://blog.hootsuite.com/ HootSuite.com

      Good idea Nick – good content can be evergreen and feel brand-new to recent followers. 

  • http://matthewtbrowning.com/ Matthew T. Browning

    I don’t think there is anything wrong with scheduling tweets, as it’s extremely efficient.  That’s not to say you set things up days in advance and never touch it again.  That, of course, would negate any engaging conversation with your network.  However, promoting others or initiating new conversations need to be planned anyway.  It’s a necessary tool for sure!

  • http://www.hansschiefelbein.com Hans Schiefelbein

    Is this Hoot Suite on a Mac?  How do you get 5 columns/streams and how do you get the black background?  Is this only on the Pro version?

  • http://www.hansschiefelbein.com Hans Schiefelbein

    Is this Hoot Suite on a Mac?  How do you get 5 columns/streams and how do you get the black background?  Is this only on the Pro version?

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