Here are a few of the advantages HootSuite has over most of the competition:

The ability to schedule tweets.

I like to check my feed reader once in the morning, so it doesn’t distract me through the rest of my day. Usually I find several articles worth passing along on Twitter, but don’t want to send them out three or four at a time. With HootSuite I can schedule the first to post at lunch, the second in the late afternoon and the third in the evening. If I find one part of the day results in more clicks I can adjust, sending future tweets at half-hour intervals during the optimum time period.

Built-in stats for tracking links.

This is the key feature for knowing when and how to tweet for maximum impact. Any links that are shortened within HootSuite using their native service Ow.ly can then be tracked within the program’s dashboard.  It records the number of clicks in total, or for any particular post in a given period. Anyone trying to avoid wasting time and effort on items of little interest to followers will find this invaluable.

Multiple account management.

I am running three Twitter accounts full-time. Very few programs offer a convienent and intuitive interface for accomplishing this. HootSuite uses a combination of tabs and columns that will be familiar to almost any user, limiting the learning curve and effort it requires to become efficient. None of its competitors can match its simplicty and ease of use with multiple accounts.

For those of us seeking to minister to people online without sacrificing valuable face to face outreach time, HootSuite is a top choice. We want to maximize every effort, monitor its effectiveness and spend as little time as possible learning the ropes. HootSuite hits a homerun on each of those counts.

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