One of the really cool aspects of HootSuite is that is has a thriving App Directory with some amazing apps and plugins that can take your HootSuite Dashboard to entirely new levels of capability. We’ve been covering a lot of ground in our HootSuite Series and will be digging into the App Directory in an upcoming post, but today we’ve learned that four new apps have been added to the directory, and they bring some really exciting options.
As a quick review, HootSuite is a social media management tool that comes in free and premium flavors. Out of the box it supports accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, as well as WordPress and a few others. For Google+ the support is for Pages, while the other networks include both personal profiles and business pages, as well as Groups. The App Directory is a repository of over 65 additional plugins and apps, often by third-parties, that you can install. Some are free and some require a subscription, depending on the service. You can access the App Directory in the left side menu and choose to install whenever apps you want to use.
The latest app additions include Gmail, ViralTag for Pinterest, Vidcaster and Shopseen.
UPDATE: While ViralTag was removed from the App Directory last year, it’s now been replaced with an alternative service integration: Tailwind. You can find that app here.
Gmail
In one of the most interesting apps we’ve seen, HootSuite users can now bring their Gmail account directly into their HootSuite Dashboard. By installing the app and connecting your account, you will be able to read, reply and delete emails right from within HootSuite. This can potentially save a lot of time switching back and forth between browser tabs, when everything you need to manage and monitor your social media presence, including responding to emails, is all within one Dashboard.
But what I really like is that is opens the HootSuite ecosystem up to even more creative uses by business and corporate teams. One of the features that’s always been present within HootSuite is to view posts within a stream from a connected social network and to choose to forward a post to an email account, effectively notifying someone else of that post. Now, you could have a dedicated Gmail account for marketing and social media team use, and have that account fed directly into the HootSuite Dashboard, giving you and your entire team easy access to all of the email and social profiles they need to monitor and manage.
This app includes a 2-day free trial, and $1.99 / month thereafter subscription fee.
ViralTag for Pinterest
Unlike many of the other apps, which simply give you the option of creating a new stream for viewing network activity, ViralTag for Pinterest actually adds the ability to post to Pinterest. That means that it also includes HootSuite’s scheduling options so that now, you can publish Pinterest shares at the most optimum times for your network, as well as ensure consistent activity.
I also love that this feature can help brands spread out their Pinterest activity. Pinning is so quick and easy to do, we’re all guilty of “spam pinning” where we’ll open Pinterest and find 5 or 6 or more pins that we’ll repin rapidly. Ideally, brands would spread that activity out throughout the day, and now they can.
Using this app, HootSuite users and brands can now also more easily cross-promote their content and social networks by sharing pins to their other social accounts.
This app includes a 2-day free trial, and $4.99 / month thereafter subscription fee.
Vidcaster
The Vidcaster app brings support for the Vidcaster network within the HootSuite dashboard. Vidcaster allows you to create and share videos, much like YouTube, and the app gives you easy access to your library of videos to continue to share and promote them.
This app is free to install.
Shopseen
Shopseen is an extremely useful app for those of you who are maintaining multiple online stores on sites like eBay, Shopify or Etsy. The app allows shop owners to not only track their inventory and orders, but also promote specific products. Any product listing can be shared to your connected social networks using HootSuite and the Shopseen app.
This app is also free to install.
If you haven’t yet signed up for a HootSuite account, you can get a free trial here, and you can contact me if you would like additional training and support. And stay tuned for more articles on the power of HootSuite!