Today, HootSuite introduced their newest publishing tools: Publisher views, Limited Permissions and Profile Picker. Get the scoop on what these changes entail:
Publisher Views
The new Publisher tab removes the need for Pending Tweet/Stream columns; rather, all your information is now available in the Launch Bar, identified by the paper airplane icon. We especially like the new calendar view, where you can see scheduled and past scheduled updates as time slots in a daily, weekly or monthly calendar view. From here, you can also schedule updates by simply clicking on an empty time slot. This publisher tool also allows you to edit messages across all networks, a time-saving feature that we are all sure to appreciate!
Limited Permissions
With HootSuite’s Limited Profiles, Enterprise teams can now use a “read & draft” account for interns or junior social media coordinators to ensure that brand-appropriate content is being published. With this level of permissions, interns and junior staff can compose messages, but are restricted from posting directly to the brand’s social channels. Messages will queue up for approval by a qualified Team Member, who can then approve messages to go live. This is similar to an approval process we use at October 17 Media, however having all these functions available on the HootSuite dashboard is indisputably a major time-saver!
Although not available to those with Free or Pro accounts, this functionality could have averted countless social media crises for large brands, like the infamous rogue Chrysler tweet we blogged about in March.
Profile Picker
Lastly, HootSuite’s new Publisher tool features a drop down menu for selecting multiple profiles with a convenient auto-complete text field. Team Members can save time by creating a list of favourite profiles to publish from with one click. Alternatively, your most active account can be set as the default account to publish from. Although this isn’t a huge change from the previous HootSuite capabilities, small changes do make a difference. This could be helpful for social media coordinators who are responsible for a general corporate account, as well as sub-brand accounts from which identical messages are to be deployed.
HootSuite is to be commended for being a pioneer and constantly improving their products. After all, they were the first to offer message scheduling, and surely their competitors will follow suit with these latest changes. We’re excited to fully test out HootSuite’s Publisher tool, and we encourage you to play around with it too! If you aren’t using HootSuite to manage your social media voice but would like to after reading about their newest improvements, we’re glad to help! We offer HootSuite training and account services, among many other online marketing services. Be sure to give us a shout!
P.S. It’s Game 7 today! GO NUCKS GO!
UPDATE: Since the Publisher tab launched, Hootsuite have been listening intently to feedback about the changes. Due to strong feedback about losing Pending Streams from the Dashboard (the streams were replaced with the Publisher’s “scheduled” calendar view), the team has brought back the Pending Streams, much to the relief and/or joy of users who enjoyed the simplicity and convenience of viewing their scheduled updates alongside all other updates. The Hootsuite team also decided to use this opportunity to make a couple other improvements, including colour-coding messages from various social networks. To read all the juicy details, click here to view Hootsuite’s blog. Thank you for listening, Hootsuite!
