Inman

HootSuite adds new Facebook tools

Editor’s note: View the original article at InmanNext: "4 New Killer HootSuite Updates for Facebook."

Anyone who knows me knows I love HootSuite.

Why? I think HootSuite is the preeminent tool if you are going to manage multiple social media accounts for your real estate business. Whether you are a real estate agent or broker, HootSuite is the perfect platform to manage multiple social media accounts.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Ryan Holmes, CEO and Founder of HootSuite at Real Estate Connect. When I met Ryan, I urged, pleaded and begged for more Facebook functionality and thankfully he told me, "Don’t worry, it is coming soon!"

In fact, I interviewed Ryan (see video below) and he explains more about the exciting things that are happening at HootSuite, and how a real estate professional can make the most of their services.

I am very excited to share four brand-new HootSuite Facebook enhancements that they just announced on their blog!

1. Facebook events

Do you have scheduled events on your Facebook business page? Perhaps you have a "First-Time Home Buyer Seminar" that you have created an event for or maybe you organized a "Tweet-Up" with local real estate professionals. You can now view and manage all of your events right from HootSuite!

2. Facebook groups

I am thrilled that HootSuite now supports groups! In addition to managing your Facebook personal profile and pages, you can add in your groups. As a member of several groups on Facebook, I find it difficult to keep up with the conversation. But, by including it as part of my HootSuite dashboard, this makes it much easier to engage with all of my different groups. You can also schedule messages to be posted in your various groups and view any group event, which I think is a really nice option.

3. Facebook search

This is H-U-G-E! Have you ever wondered who was sharing your content on Facebook? Wouldn’t it be great if you knew who was mentioning your brand or sharing your content? In the past, to find out this information you had to use services like Kurrently or Social Mention. Now, HootSuite has integrated that search functionality right into their platform! So now you can easily search who is mentioning your brand and sharing your content, which gives you the ability to comment and thank them, which equals more engagement and oftentimes more "fans!"

4. Facebook photos

In the past, you were unable to post a photo to Facebook from HootSuite. Posting a photo alongside your Facebook post is an easy way to get more impressions and more comments. Traditionally, the posts that have a photo associated with them get a higher impression rate and a higher level of engagement from "fans." Now, it is super easy to upload photos to Facebook right from HootSuite.

Here is the interview I did with Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite, where he talks about some of the new things HootSuite is working on and how that can help you –the real estate professional!

Additional links:
HootSuite for Real Estate Agents – A HootSuite Industry Sheet
HootSuite University

Do you use HootSuite? I’d love your comments. What features would you like to see? Post your feedback below!

Katie Lance is the contributing editor of InmanNext, and the social media director for Inman News. InmanNext is a part of Inman News.