Behind the Scenes | Hootsuite vs Tweetdeck

Regular readers of this blog who are social media whizzes might not find this post terribly helpful. But if you're like me -- somewhat new to social media -- keep reading :) 

One of my goals for this year is to learn how to better market myself. Part of that involves better utilizing social media to reach clients and people in my community. A lot of photographers rely heavily Facebook for this, but I've actually had more luck with Twitter. I love Twitter!

For months now, I've been using Hootsuite to manage my Twitter account. I love the platform's user-friendly interface and am especially fond of the function that allows users to pre-schedule tweets. But there's been one problem: for the longest time, I was unable to schedule tweets with photos attached. Don't get me wrong--the function was there, but it wasn't working. I'm a photographer. That's a pretty significant problem, but one I haven't had time to look into until just recently.

I mentioned this to a few friends who are social media experts, and they suggested Tweetdeck. So, I decided to check it out. Late last week, I scheduled my first tweet with a photo using the new-to-me platform. (For the record, this is Snorri, the Icelandic goat!)

Trying out Tweetdeck for the first time. Can y'all see this photo of a baby goat from #Iceland? pic.twitter.com/7pHPVoYd9V

— Jonna Michelle (@PhotoJonna) June 18, 2015

I must say: I'm not that impressed. Maybe it's because I'm relatively new to the program, but I don't find it as user-friendly as Hootsuite. There's a lot of up-and-down scrolling just to schedule a tweet, and the scheduled-tweet column doesn't populate immediately. This makes it take about three times as long to schedule a tweet in Tweetdeck than in Hootsuite. Given that I do most of the work for my photography business in the morning before heading to my day job, my time is limited. 

There's no reason why I can't use both platforms, but for sanity's sake, I realize I need to choose one. Over the last few weeks I've done some testing of my own and Hootsuite is on a roll -- I haven't had any problems scheduling tweets with photos. So, Hootsuite it is! 

Those who don't following me on Twitter, now's a great time to do so! My feed is going to be, shall we say, picture perfect? (HAR!) Those who are already followers, be on the look out for great visual content!

(Keep reading for additional details about Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, including my own list of pros and cons!

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Okay, so there's a lot both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck have in common. For starters, they're both free. They're also both customizable, so you can use each platform in a way that fits you best. As mentioned above, I'm most interested in the scheduling-of-tweets functions.

The graphic below shows Hootsuite's interface. Here, I'm in the publisher tab and you can see tweets that I've scheduled by the day and time. Scheduling tweets using Hootsuite is so simple, and there's no annoying back-and-forth/up-and-down scrolling. 

WHAT I LIKE

• User Friendly
• Great visual layout--scheduled tweets are easy to review at quick glance.
• Scheduled tab populates instantly (there's no wondering whether or not the platform is working).
• No scrolling back and forth or up or down to accomplish a simple task.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

• The program often logs me out, so I have to re-enter username and password information even after I've saved it. (I haven't had Tweetdeck long enough to know if that platform has the same issue).
• To see scheduled tweets with photos, the user must be in the home tab.

This is Tweetdeck's homepage, which shows the user multiple columns at once. I haven't figured out how to separate out scheduled tweets from everything else this platform offers. Don't judge. 

WHAT I LIKE

• I know it might sound crazy, but I LOVE Tweetdeck's home column. It just makes sense to me.
• The messages tab shows conversations by individual, and not the entire thread of your most recent private conversation. 

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

• Scheduling tweets can feel tedious and time consuming because of unnecessary scrolling.
• The "Scheduled" column doesn't populate right away, which can leave me wondering what just happened. (Did I just tweet? Did the tweet actually get scheduled? Do I need to reschedule the tweet? Should I just give up on twitter and go with smoke signals?)
• Scheduled tweets are listed in chronological order, but it's hard to tell at quick glance what's going out when.
• Maybe I'm just being picky here, but Tweetdeck offers an "activity" column that basically lets me know what others on twitter are doing. For starters, I kinda don't care that The Wine Wankers followed The Little Red Tea Cup. For seconds, it makes me feel creepy! I think I just became the nosy old neighbor who lives down the street.... 

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