Content marketing is all about creating great content, right? Right. So that means that, as a content marketer, what you will most likely be focussing the majority of your energies on most of the time is – you guessed it – content.

And what is content?

Well, for the most part, it will probably be blogs. Lots and lots of blogs. Hundreds of them, in fact, over the course of a year. And yes, in order to be successful, you do really need to produce that many. One blog a week you can just about get away with (so 52 blogs a year), but really, you should be writing at least 2, if not 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 a week. Hell, if you can do more than 1 a day, then do so.

Needless to say, creating great content is time consuming. For it might not just be blogs either. You will also be composing tweets, Instagram photos, Facebook posts, and perhaps even the odd YouTube video if you’re really on top of your game.

As such you will no doubt find that most of your working day will be consumed in the creation of content – and then somehow you’ve got to find the time to share it. You will be forgiven for sometimes feeling like you’ve chosen the wrong career path somewhere along the way.

Sharing Makes The World Go Round

But, sharing your content, like it or not, is, at the end of the day, what it’s all about. When all’s boiled down, no matter how good or inspiring or outrageous your content is, if you’re not taking the time to make sure that it reaches people, then there will have been no point in writing it in the first place.

Trying to balance your time between growing a strong social media presence across all of your channels as well as producing the quality content that will get you noticed in the first place may seem like a juggling act that you just simply aren’t equipped for.

But, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and WordPress aren’t going anywhere anytime soon – and you need a way to get your posts seen on all of them.

And Hootsuite might just be the very thing that you’re looking for.

5 Benefits Of Hootsuite For The SME

So, I suppose we need to answer the most pressing question first – what is Hootsuite and what does it do?

Well, put simply, Hootsuite is a software package that will manage the scheduling of your social media posts. And not just for the next week or 2, but for the upcoming months and years in the future.

If you’re dealing with a lot of content, then you have to find a way (and the time) to get it shared with as many of your followers as possible. Hootsuite is one platform that provides a solution to this ongoing social media management problem.

A lot of brands out there are already using Hootsuite – in fact, the site boasts that it currently enjoys over 10 million users – so if you’re not on board yet, then now is the time to head over to the website to see what it’s all about. And, just in case you’re in any doubt about the service, we’ve put together a list of 5 benefits that Hootsuite can bring to the SME.

1.     Scheduling

This is the primary reason that a lot of marketers start using Hootsuite. As part of your social media strategy, you will of course have learned by now when the best times of day (and days of week) are to post your blog links to Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc.

But this can be time consuming and a bit of an inconvenience, especially if you’ve got a worldwide audience who will be checking their Twitter feeds at different times right around the clock.

But with Hootsuite you can schedule tweets and other social media updates months and months in advance. Written a great blog post that you think will be relevant to your readers for the next year? No worries, just spend 5 minutes scheduling it to be posted twice a week on Twitter at specific times for the next 12 months and forget about it – Hootsuite will take care of the rest.

2.     Analytics

Another great feature of Hootsuite is that it will track all of the links that you provide across all of your social media so that you can determine which ones are receiving the most clicks. The graphs and visualisations of your data also mean that you will even be able to use the software as a meaningful research tool when creating professional reports for your business.

3.     Finding New Contacts

Another great tracking feature of Hootsuite is found in the tool that allows you to track key phrases as conversations are taking place in real time on social media. Hootsuite will alert you to the action, where you can immediately jump in and potentially gain new relevant contacts, followers and even business just by being in the right place with the right information at the right time. Brilliant.

4.     Manage Multiple Accounts

No matter how many accounts or social networks that you are signed up with, Hootsuite allows you to send out messages to all of them instantaneously at once.

Furthermore, you can use the software to keep track of any mentions that you receive, or any mentions of other key terms on any sites that you have Hootsuite integrated with.

5.     Collaboration

If you’re more on the medium than the small side of the SME definition, then you might very well be part of a larger social marketing team. As such, you will want the ability to allow multiple users to log in to a single social media management account. You will also want to be able to see who’s posting what, who’s responding to and engaging with followers, and who is scheduling posts on which platforms at what times. And, you’ve guessed it correctly, Hootsuite provides you with the capabilities to do all of this and a lot more besides.

Are you using Hootsuite to help you manage your social media marketing routines? How much time has it freed up for you to concentrate on creating great content? Please share your experiences with us in the comments below.