Why HootSuite is so sweet…

So we’ve been playing a little at Camp JLB. The latest toy? HootSuite.
If you’re new to social networking, you might not know what HootSuite does. If you’ve been social networking, you might not realize how far HootSuite extends.
So what is this technological joviality? HootSuite is web-based software for social media management. It is a resource that brings many of your social networking profiles under one roof. HootSuite built its business as a “Twitter tool,” allowing for the management of multiple Twitter accounts. But it has expanded its reach to include Facebook profiles, Facebook fan pages, LinkedIn, Ping.fm, WordPress, Myspace, and Foursquare.
For a brand management firm like JLB, HootSuite is a powerful tool that allows us to manage our own social media profiles in one place. And with the Pro version, we can manage our clients’ accounts in one spot, as well. This means if you’ve got a message that you want to distribute to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn simultaneously, you can post it into HootSuite and assign it to all three networks with just a click. (Gone are the days of logging into three social networking accounts and “copying/pasting” the message multiple times.)
And, if you are the kind of business that likes to tailor its announcements and plan out  Tweets, Status Updates, and Posts, HootSuite allows for the scheduling of messages. This is very helpful when planning an overall social media campaign for the month (let alone for the year). It’s a great way to craft a series of messages and develop your comapny’s voice.
What’s more, HootSuite provides rich statistical data for Twitter and Facebook accounts — allowing us to see the effectiveness of a series of Tweets or reading into the demographics of your Facebook fans, for example. HootSuite even has a tie-in for your Google Analytics (one of the more powerful stats trackers on the Web).
Sounds pretty nifty, huh? We think so, and we’re expecting to see HootSuite expand its social networking reach over the coming year.