Why I Prefer HootSuite Pro Accounts

{ 40 Responses }

1. Mathias says:
   I prefer HootSuite. the costs are little and the service are great. a very plus is the easy usability.
2. courtney stodden says:
   I use most of the features and only use several Twitter accounts so its not that big of deal and I don’t use it for other social networks accept for ping. But if I take on more clients and manager their Twitter accounts, then I will have to upgrade.
3. Mark says:
   I can definitely see the value in it especially in the case of a multi-blogger platform like this one, Hesham. I am trying to do the same with my blog as we speak, but as you know this takes time to build up to where you want it to be. With respect to HOOTSUITES abilities, the click tracking is invaluable in terms of optimizing conversions. Again, definitely a must for a multi-blogger platform simply because of the time it will save. Mark
4. Rose says:
   Hi Hesham, For extra $5.99 a month I consider is cheaper than paying one more staff to manage all social accounts for me. So, I think I would try HootSuite pro for one month and see if they can give me all I want, otherwise I may go for Socialoomph which is 5 times more expensive. I never try HootSuite, I hope that I will love them. lol
5. John Garrett says:
   Hesham I agree completely with your desktop vs. web software opinion. I prefer HootSuite because I can login from anywhere and do what I need to do! Frankly I'm not large enough (yet) to need a pro account but when that day comes I'll probably stick with HootSuite. I love the features so far, scheduling tweets and posting to my Facebook as well. I'm really glad I found it! With that said, I can see why some users are upset. I don't begrudge HootSuite for needing to monetize in a different way. I don't know the details of the costs involved in running the business, but I'm guessing if they didn't *have* to do this the wouldn't have. Anyway thanks for the post, there's been a lot of useful in the article and the comments. Have a great day! (also, how are you getting your logo in your comment response? just css or is there a plugin for that?)
6. TJ McDowell says:
   I've found myself often having a hard time forking out money for software that I buy online, but I don't have too much of a problem buying a box of software from the store. Is it the same for you? Subscription based software is especially a hard sell for me.
   • Hesham says:
     TJ, I usually buy anything by anyways when I feel the need for it, or when think I can make use of in a way that returns my money back (business mind)! I bought almost every theme, plugin, piece of software and service I promote on this blog before promoting it, and I got full money back and earned more from promoting it! I am sure that people would deal differently with HootSuite if they setup an affiliate program! It's just a matter of choosing what could work for you, and what you really need to grow your business!
7. Dave from HootSuite says:
   Thanks for your feedback. Here at HootSuite HQ, we continue to listen to all feedback closely. While we realize that limiting accounts isn't popular, we analyzed user data and found a cut off point in which 95% of users would still fit into the free plans. Keep in mind, we still offer a feature-loaded free plan which includes everything which was in HootSuite before we announced the premium plans in August. We also offer 4 free versions of mobile apps and will continue to release new tools and features for all plans. If you have any other questions about the plans, please check the Help Articles: http://ow.ly/3dSNI Thanks again for the candid feedback and for using HootSuite.
   • Hesham says:
     Hey Dave, I've just upgraded yesterday, feels good :) Thank you for the link, you guys are doing great work, keep it up!
8. Designer's Digest says:
   TweetDeck is also really cool app. It does same thing that HootSuite does and only the difference is it is Free.
   • Hesham says:
     No really, I don't like TweetDeck that much because after all it has to be installed on your PC or laptop, means you can not take it anywhere!
9. Latief says:
   Its always happened every where, when a services got thousands members and few of them can't live without the service, and the service turn to paid service :( there one choice, pay for it! That is a great way to make money or cheat? lol! The best thing to consider is the benefit if we want to continue with the service, you said features Hesham. Lucky me, I'm not using HootSuite ;) Thanks.
   • Hesham says:
     Ah Latief , come on.. who will do such great service for free?! ;)
10. Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:
    Hello, Yeah it's still Hootsuite for me too. I just feel its a lot better
    • Hesham says:
      Haha Isabel, you always know how to add a comment :) Enjoy HootSuite!
11. element321 says:
    I am still a Hootsuite fan. I don't mind them taking it pro and charging for it. But for me its annoying that they pulled this on us, as they did. Yes they warned us that it was happening, but they should have just done't it from the start or give us only a few days/weeks for us to test out the new feature instead of adding all these great features for free to use for several months and then cutting them back and taking them away. I use most of the features and only use several Twitter accounts so its not that big of deal and I don't use it for other social networks accept for ping. But if I take on more clients and manager their Twitter accounts, then I will have to upgrade. I decided I would upgrade when I needed after researching and trying several clients out. None of them worked as well or had the features of Hootsuite. I tried and TweetDeck and its just resource hog (at least on my Laptop) and I can use it at work, so I just don't use it. So now I use a variety of tools to get what I need out of Twitter. I did it before Hootsuite came out, so I know how I to do it, it just takes a little more time and effort to do it.
    • Hesham says:
      Yeah, I know what you mean, but you know.. I think we should give them a break because they are doing good job, and they are talking about monetizing since long time back! So... At least they didn't abuse anyone :) Oh! Good to know this about TweetDeck! I can imagine it will slow some machines! I really don't like to use a lot of sites, services and create 30 accounts to manage my things, this is why I prefer Hootsuite Pro :) Many thanks James, this is awesome!
12. Jarret says:
    Hesham, I do like Hootsuite, but it's probably not worthwhile for me to upgrade to the premium version. For those who just want to retweet their RSS Feeds, there are other free options such as Twitter Feed. I also hate using any non-web based Twitter application as DiTesco mentioned. Though I do have multiple Twitter accounts, I'm usually too lazy to bother scheduling Tweets with Hootsuite since it's too time consuming. For those who use the WordPress plugin, Tweet Old Posts or even Twitter Feed, there's a new option now. I know a few people who have multiple streams set up with dlvr.it With DlVR.IT (that's the web address), people can either spam the hell out of Twitter and Facebook with multiple accounts or they can just use that site to automatically retweet posts to multiple accounts. DLVR.IT is free and less painful than scheduling posts with Hootsuite. Unlike Tweet Old Posts, it doesn't add to server load either.
    • Hesham says:
      WOW! Jarret .. Thanks for the info! It all depends on your site needs, and by the way.. probably you will need to get a Hootsuite Pro account once you have more activities on your multi-authors blog, maybe then you can join some of your site editors to the main account, I think when humans use Twitter ID it will make a big difference than automation! This could add extra traffic and follower to your Twitter ID! Just added my thoughts :) and many thanks for stopping by, really great info!
13. Justin Germino says:
    I think Hootsuite is valuable for businesses who need several people managing the same account or for people who manage many social media accounts and that is their primary day to day job function. That being said, I was only logging into Hootsuite a few times per day to schedule tweets and the limitations of the free account don't bother me, because with Ping.FM you can actually leverage dozens of social networks and each Ping.FM account only counts as 1 "social network" account. So with 4 or 5 Ping.FM accounts you can reach hundreds of social media accounts from those.
    • Hesham says:
      This is a good point Justin, so.. there is a short cut then :)
14. Rahul says:
    i'm not actually focusing on this these days , it seems very interesting and has many adventages as you said ,but i will be checking it soon , i don't mind at all so thank You!
    • Hesham says:
      Share some experience with us Rahul, would love to hear what you think after giving it a try!
15. DiTesco says:
    I saw this the day before yesterday when I got this screen slapping my face saying that I had too many twitter ids and I had to bring them down to 5. No problem, I brought it down to 5 and will continue to use it, despite the lost of some features, as I love it and maybe like you will go PRO some day. I hate any Twitter client that is not internet based so I guess desktop apps that run on Adobe air is out of the question.
    • Holly Jahangiri says:
      I only have two, and it told me I had to delete one! LOL I immediately switched to TweetDeck. 'splain to me again what I'm missing out on? I have it on my desktop, on my phone... and it integrates more of the services I use. Plus lets me use multiple accounts. For free. And honestly, if it weren't free, I just don't use Twitter that much - I could use the native app or, if push came to shove, forget about it altogether. Hootsuite's great - I just don't find it essential enough to pay.
    • Hesham says:
      If you are good to go with 5 then this is pretty much cool :) I have the same feeling about desktop applications, hate them because also I can not take them anywhere!
16. joey says:
    There are still lots of better twitter clients out there...why bother.
    • Hesham says:
      Like what?
17. Mani Viswanathan says:
    I'm gonna go with the first option i.e. To stay free. 5.99$/month is more than a Premium Unlimited hosting service. But as you said when you're in a team its a lot more useful.
    • Hesham says:
      Mani, this is my choice as well, I will go for it then upgrade latter to include more services when I need it!
18. Zettt says:
    To be honest I looked for alternatives the day they announced their Pro accounts. I'm now on TweetDeck on the desktop. Right after their announcement I was trying to create an " independent online represantation", so that I'm not reliant on anyone else's service. In my opinion $5.99 is way too much money. On the desktop I pay, what?, $20 for a Twitter client and can have it for years. HootSuite costs about $60/year. That's a lot of money just for being able to tweet, because, let's face it, it's just Twitter. These kind of ideas I had in mind considering whether I still want to be on HootSuite. As I said I'm now using TweetDeck, but I really don't have any preference anymore. Kiwi 2 will be a killer, I think.
    • Hesham says:
      Seeing new applications and services coming .. this competition will benefits users like us! I have to comment on "It's just Twitter"!! FYI Twitter is driving amazing traffic everyday to my sites, and I also make sales on the fly which leads me to enhance my performance, and basically this is why I can pay for services like HootSuite, of course I can imagine if I am not making any money from it then I won't pay for a service while there is free alternatives! Beside it's really boring to get everything for free :)
      • Zettt says:
        Thanks for the comment. I think my argument didn't become clear enough. I am not against "non free" things. In fact I love to pay for good software, but I'm against paying for a service that I could get cheaper somewhere else. The thing is, HootSuite doesn't give me much advantage anymore, because I found simpler/better solutions elsewhere. I can totally understand how Twitter is good - traffic-wise. Twitter brings a lot of traffic to my sites as well. I just had a look at your Twitter. Think you can do that with other solutions too. Wordpress probably can handle 90% of your Twitter. But on the other hand, using HootSuite or not is a decision everyone has to make for himself. The main thing that drove me off HootSuite was a screencast I planned/made about Twitter. I wanted to have HootSuite in there, but their press department wasn't very helpful. (That combined with their Pro accounts introduction...)
19. Keith says:
    I went Pro too with HootSuite. What I don't like Hesham, is how they let us use all those great features for free for months and then suddenly said "if you want to keep using these features, pay up!". That part irritates me. Also, I think you can only add 1 team member with having to pay additional fees, even on Pro...
20. Hung says:
    i haven't use hootsuite before so i have no idear for pro account.May me i will try in the future.
    • Hesham says:
      Hi Hung, let us know what you think about HootSuite after you try it!