Vancouver-based start-up HootSuite, the social media management system for brand management has announced a new feature called HootSuite Conversations which lets you chat to anyone that you want – both inside and outside of your company – and connect with numerous people in real-time.
Since being launched in 2008, HootSuite has caught on quite rapidly and is being used by a number of reputable companies and organisations including FaceBook, McDonalds, the Obama Administration, Virgin, and Pepsico. This latest feature looks certain to bring in more users.
The expansion to the HootSuite social media dashboard is being called an ‘internal communications tool’ and is now available in beta to five million users around the world.
So what exactly is it?
Don’t be worried if you don’t have a clue what this new internal communications tool is all about – I couldn’t understand it at first either. HootSuite CEO Fred Harrell explained the new feature in a statement, “One of the things we’re seeing as a trend is a need for organizations to work together more effectively,” adding, “Conversations is a tool to help people collaborate more effectively and we’re excited about it.”
“Conversations will increase efficiency between teams or departments and ultimately improve ROI,” continued Fred Harrell in his statement, ““Now, true social collaboration can happen around campaigns or trending topics that impact business immediately.”
HootSuite says Conversations will benefit users in three ways: simplify communication, internal conversations and collaboration with everyone.
- Simplify communication lets you chat with anyone you work, collaborate and share messaging with directly from the HootSuite dashboard. This would generally be done via email, but Conversations streamlines the whole process.
- Internal conversations let you share social messages internally with teams and work on response strategies.
- Collaborate with everyone lets you add anyone from your organization to your conversation.
The Conversations tool also lets you send out invites via email to encourage people to join the conversation. Those already using HootSuite will automatically be added, while non-users are asked to join the fun. HootSuite basically puts users in charge of their marketing campaign, letting you bring in new users.
Building an Empire
Conversations is just the latest in a steady stream of announcements coming out of HootSuite recently. Just a few weeks ago the company acquired social media rival Seesmic in a purchase that HootSuite said would help put its “management tools into the hands of even more social media business users.” There was also a $20-million injection in an equity stake by OMERS Ventures; a Canadian venture capital firm. Holmes has also stated that HootSuite plan to build a billion dollar company in Vancouver.
