HootSuite launches hardcore tools for serious business users

^[1]HootSuite ^[1], makers of the market-leading social media management system, releases HootSuite Teams ^[2], tools aimed at serious business collaboration. With corporate social media exploding, businesses have been stuck using tools intended for the dorm room, not the boardroom. Until now.

Teams offers an industrial-grade solution for global enterprises and small businesses. In the past year, corporate ^[3]clients on HootSuite have tripled, with two-thirds of Fortune 100 companies now active users of the dashboard. Leading companies have seen their social media teams grow exponentially in the space of just a few years.

In April 2009, Free People, an Urban Outfitters Inc. company, had a single Facebook Page maintained by one specialist.  “It was basically just for responding to customer questions,” says Jed Paulson, Free People’s Director of Marketing. Today, Free People has more than 70 Facebook Pages for their stores, with over 150 employees authorized to contribute content on everything from product, customer service, merchandising and store promotions. “When you have so many hands in the pot, it’s a challenge to ensure the posts stay on-brand but are also unique to each store’s personality,” Paulson says.

For social media managers wrangling large teams across multiple departments, the updates are timely. “HootSuite makes it really easy to collaborate,”  says Dewayne Hankins, New Media Director for the LA Kings NHL team, which has 220,000 Facebook fans and nearly 100,000 Twitter followers.  “I can even keep tabs on our mascot’s tweets now.”

Corporate teams now average 23 team members each. Increasingly, these teams are decentralized – with members updating multiple accounts from different locations and different departments. But while teams have grown, tools haven’t always kept pace.

HootSuite Teams changes that. Featuring secure and scalable collaboration capabilities, it empowers companies of all sizes to onboard new teams and integrate social media into every aspect of business. Scalable and intuitive, the new toolkit enables teams to be built organically.  Managers enjoy top-down control, with user-friendly tools that enable scheduling, assigning and vetting of messages.

“This is a product that’s overdue and clearly needed. Social media used to be one intern,” says Ryan Holmes, HootSuite CEO and founder.  “Now it’s multi-million-dollar teams at the planet’s largest companies. Customers are asking for enterprise-grade support, and Teams is a powerful, intuitive solution.” ^[4]

So what’s inside the box?

• Plan sophisticated social media campaigns months in advance with robust scheduling features.
• End rogue tweets with powerful permission settings.  Limit who can post what to which networks — from the CEO to the summer intern.
• Build social media teams intuitively and organically: by department, product line or region.  Expand seamlessly as teams grow.
• Post freely across Twitter, Facebook and all of your social networks as a cohesive team.
• Approve and align all messages before posting with global, top-down controls.  No more PR meltdowns (see #gettngslizzerd ^[5]).
• Assign incoming messages among team members for follow-up, keeping customer complaints from going viral.