Everyone knows social listening tools scan the web to to identify insights helpful for managing your reputation, strengthening customer relationships, and unlocking market trends. But there’s even more to it. We talked to marketers and did some scanning the web ourselves to put together this list of less obvious social listening benefits you might not have heard of before. Bonus: Take action on customer insights and drive impact for your organization with our complete guide to social listening using Hootsuite x Talkwalker. 5 key benefits of social listening Let’s recap the main benefits of ..read more

A well-planned social listening strategy allows you to keep tabs on millions of conversations across the social web. It also helps you cut through the noise to find the most relevant insights for your brand. It’s like having an unlimited number of detailed focus groups operating all at once, all around the world. And conveniently, they report their top findings directly to your inbox. Social listening uncovers important strategic data like: who your customers and competitors are, what motivates people to engage with brands like yours, what people really think about you, and where your custome ..read more

The unhinged social media manager trend is thankfully behind us. Now it’s time to recognize social as a serious driver of growth and revenue. Welcome to the era of social media performance. Bonus: Download a free guide and checklist to help you convince your boss to invest more in social media. Includes experts tips for proving ROI. What is performance marketing? Performance marketing is a modern approach to marketing that focuses on driving growth and revenue. Traditional marketing goals can be somewhat vague. Think about a concept like brand awareness. Yes, it’s important for people ..read more

Need an Instagram planning tool that puts the fun in functional? Managing an Instagram account can feel like a juggling act, but the right tools make it a breeze. Imagine effortlessly scheduling posts, finding the best times to engage your audience, and organizing your grid for maximum visual impact. In this blog, we’ll explore the best Instagram planning tools of 2024, highlighting both free and paid options to help you stay cool, calm, and collected. Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance. What is an I ..read more

Has the elusive unicorn of Instagram automation ever tempted you? We can’t blame you.  The powerful solution promises to streamline social media management and free up your time, so you can kick back and relax. Even brands like Nike and Nasa are jumping on board.  But does it really work?  In this blog post, we’ll dive into the world of Instagram automation, and explore the best tools to help optimize your social media presence.  Plus, we put Instagram automation to the test with our own experiment. Keep reading to learn all about those real-life learnings and results. Bonu ..read more

Social listening helps marketers gain priceless audience insights. Now—with the added power of AI—it’s becoming even more valuable. But what exactly is AI social listening? How does it work, and why is it such a game-changer? Read on for our introduction to AI for social listening, and a rundown of the top 5 tools that will help you get the most out of AI in your listening strategy. Bonus: Download this free cheat sheet with 250 professionally engineered ChatGPT prompts that will help you be more productive at work and in your daily life. We’ve included specific prompts for over 25 industrie ..read more

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Instagram’s video editing tools. There’s the green screen effect, you can add text and filters, and the music library is overflowing with Taylor Swift songs. But sometimes, only a third-party editing app will get the job done. The question is: if you edit your Reels outside of the Instagram app, will your reach and engagement suffer for it? Here on the Hootsuite Blog, there’s only one way to find out. That’s right, we’re putting our Reels to a real test. Bonus: Download the free 10-Day Reels Challenge, a daily workbook of creative prompts that will h ..read more

If you’ve ever wondered about the difference between social listening vs. social monitoring, we’re here to fill you in. They may sound similar, but in terms of execution and strategic purpose, they’re quite different. While social listening is more high-level and proactive, social monitoring tends to be more reactive and on a smaller scale. Both social listening and monitoring require specific tools and skills to be done well. Still, both social listening and social monitoring provide valuable data for businesses. They enable businesses to understand what their customers are saying about them ..read more

Which do you prefer: brands that post a single Instagram Story per day or ones that share a flurry of updates? Which of those tactics actually earns a brand more reach? Is there even a “right” number of Instagram Stories to post in a day? We’ve got our own personal preferences, of course, but opinion is no match for data. As dedicated social media scientists, we put on our lab coats and fired up Instagram to find out once and for all if the number of Stories you post per day can impact your reach. Bonus: Download a free Instagram Stories style guide template that will help you maintain a con ..read more

You ever want to get off the hamster wheel of content creation? A social media post template (or 70 of them) can help. Post templates are designed to speed up your social media content creation process, saving you time while ensuring your posts are visually appealing, on-brand, and effective. Whether you’re crafting Instagram stories, Facebook posts, LinkedIn updates, or TikTok videos, using a social media post template will help you maintain consistency, engage your audience, and drive results. Bonus: Get 5 free, customizable Instagram carousel templates and start creating beautifully desig ..read more