Using Hootsuite to Grow Your Audience

Today we are going to be talking about a very helpful social media tool, Hootsuite.  Hootsuite allows you to group your social media accounts and to organize and schedule your posts.  It's pretty awesome.  Let's get started.

The first thing you need to do is create an account.  It's free and easy.  Just go to the site and create a new account.

Next you will need to set up your social media accounts.  On the side of your screen, find settings and select social networks.

Once there, you can click add social network.  From there, you can enter in your different accounts (I have twitter and facebook set up).

The next thing I recommend is linking it with your blog feed.  To do this, click on RSS feed on the side of the settings window.  You can then click on add new feed.  Enter in your feed and whatever settings you want.  I have mine set to post every day and to start with the text "New Blog Post."  I chose to post to both my twitter and facebook.

Okay.  Now that you have everything set up, let's post something.  On the top of your screen you will see a little window that says "Compose message."  That's where you enter in your text or links.  Next to that, you will see a little icon to select which accounts you are posting to (only twitter, only facebook, or both).  You can also click on the calendar to schedule.

 

Scheduling posts is awesome because you can plan out your whole week and then not get bogged down by constant social media.  I like to share fun links throughout the week and will try to spend an hour setting them up for the rest of the week.  You can see the list of your scheduled posts on the side.

You can also schedule posts with the publisher tool on the side.  There you can see an entire list of your scheduled posts.

Those are the basics.  I hope that helps.  I've found the program to be pretty user-friendly but feel free to ask any questions you have.

QUESTION: What do you use to help you keep in touch with your audience?
*********************************************************************************
Today's post is written by:

Jenny studied biology in school but is now following her dream of being an artist.  She is the owner/artist of A Bird in the Hand Art where she focuses on colorful jewelry and home decor pieces.
Blog  Facebook








**********************************************************************************
Be sure to read the rest of our Audience series:
1.) Determine Your Target Audience
2). Be FANatical in Your Search for a Solution
3). Using Hootsuite to Grow Your Audience