Navigating social media management can be quite challenging for businesses and influencers today. As of April 2024, the most popular channels, in descending order, comprise Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Whatsapp, TikTok, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Snapchat.
As the number of social media channels grows, businesses need to optimize the management of multiple channels simultaneously. Otherwise, teams will spend all their time managing social media rather than growing the business.
This is where adopting an automated, data-driven social media management platform comes handy. But how can you determine which platform is superior: ‘Later’ or ‘Hootsuite’? In this blog post, we aim to delve into the specifics of both options and provide a comprehensive comparison of Later vs Hootsuite.
In our modern digital era, having an effective social media management tool is crucial for both businesses and influencers. Two popular options, Later and Hootsuite, have gained loyal followings. However, the question remains: Later vs. Hootsuite: which is best for social media management?
In this detailed analysis, we explore which one excels in the world of social media scheduling and management. We will deconstruct the essential factors that are most important to you: ease of use, scheduling features, analytics, pricing, and other relevant aspects.
Whether you’re an experienced social media user or new to the digital landscape, continue reading to find out which platform will assist you in mastering the world of social media effortlessly.
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What is Later?
If you have a brand and are using social media to market or raise awareness, the social media management tool Later can be incredibly valuable. With Later, you can easily schedule your posts or stories on popular social networking apps.
Users of this social media management tool can also publish directly from the Later mobile app. It provides easy drag-and-drop publishing, a helpful hashtag suggestion tool, and performance reports for both posts and stories.
Later offers a range of social media integrations, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, and TikTok. However, its main focus is on Instagram marketing. It provides robust analytics tools specifically designed for Instagram, as well as a convenient Stories scheduling feature and a helpful Hashtag Analyzer. Additionally, the tool suggests optimal publishing times to help you maximize your reach, engagement, and brand visibility across various social media platforms.
What is Hootsuite?
Hootsuite is a social media management tool that allows you to keep track of and manage all of your social networking apps from a single platform. Hootsuite assists with social media strategy, scheduling, and data collection. Your social media team can also monitor the activity and connect with people.
You can quickly manage your messages, and comments, and schedule posts for any social media account. You don’t have to waste time logging in to several platforms with this tool. It simplifies your working life in an era where your brand and business are all about the digital world.
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest are all integrated into Hootsuite. You can integrate it with messengers such as WhatsApp and manage live chat for more scalable client service. You can also schedule emails and compare the mentioned volume standards to learn more about how social media users perceive you.
Later: Advantages and Disadvantages
If you’re in need of a social media management tool, many individuals and businesses favor Later for its reliable features. This platform can assist you with scheduling and posting on social media, making the process more efficient.
However, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before making a decision about any platform.
Advantage #1: Usability
Later stands out for its user-friendly interface. Its intuitive design allows users to effortlessly schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage their social media content. This is especially advantageous for individuals who may not have strong technical skills but still desire to maintain a dynamic online presence.
Advantage #2: Great for Instagram
Later is an excellent tool for managing Instagram accounts. It provides specific features that cater to the unique requirements of Instagram users, including visual content planning and hashtag suggestions. This targeted focus on Instagram makes Later a popular choice for influencers, brands, and businesses that prioritize this platform.
Disadvantage #1: Limited features on the free plan
Although Later does offer a free plan, some users have highlighted certain limitations associated with it. These restricted features may not be ideal for small businesses or individuals seeking a comprehensive solution without incurring excessive costs.
Disadvantage #2: Poor functioning of Integrations
Later has faced criticism regarding its integrations. Users have expressed the desire for smoother integration with other platforms and tools, particularly for businesses that rely on multiple tools and require them to work together seamlessly. For instance, a business may need to be integrated with an eCommerce platform or a graphic design tool for comprehensive functioning.
Disadvantage #3: Not Great for Other Social Platforms
While Later is a wonderful tool for managing Instagram, it does not do justice to all other accounts.
For instance, every post starts with the need to use an image, which is most relevant for Instagram. Those businesses looking to capitalize on the natural characteristics of all social platforms may need to seek an alternative social management platform.
Hootsuite: Advantages and Disadvantages
When considering social media management tools, Hootsuite has consistently been recognized as a strong competitor. Offering a wide range of features for individuals, businesses, and agencies, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools. However, it’s important to carefully evaluate both the benefits and drawbacks before deciding to use Hootsuite.
Advantage #1: Scheduling
A standout feature of Hootsuite is its scheduling capability, allowing users to plan and automate their social media posts across multiple platforms. This ensures consistent engagement without requiring constant online presence. This feature is especially beneficial for businesses that operate in different time zones or want to target their audience during peak times.
Advantage #2: Manage multiple social media accounts
With Hootsuite, you can conveniently handle multiple social media accounts all in one place. No more need to log into different platforms separately. This centralized approach streamlines the process of monitoring, posting, and engaging with your audience. Plus, the integrated view gives you a comprehensive picture of online interactions, enabling you to make better-informed decisions.
Disadvantage #1: Free trial will be available only after sharing payment details.
Many users have expressed frustration with Hootsuite’s free trial, as it requires payment information upfront. This requirement can deter those who simply want to test the platform without any commitment. Additionally, some users have reported unexpected charges after the trial period, highlighting the importance of Hootsuite improving their communication and transparency about billing processes.
Disadvantage #2: Bugs and errors
Although Hootsuite provides a wide range of features, it does have some technical issues. Users have reported occasional bugs and errors that can disrupt the smooth functioning of social media campaigns. These issues include connection errors with specific platforms and challenges in updating scheduled posts. Such glitches can be frustrating for users who rely on the platform for timely and consistent social media management.
Disadvantage #3: High pricing
Hootsuite’s pricing plans are divided into three buckets: Professional (for one user), Team (for three users), and Enterprise (for over five users). The price is relatively higher, especially for small businesses, as every new user comes at an additional cost.
Later vs Hootsuite: Key Features Comparison
The key difference between Later and Hootsuite is that Hootsuite is a sophisticated social media management tool, however, you can manage all of your social media from a single dashboard. On the other hand, Later can be used if you want something simple yet efficient.
Hootsuite and Later both include a number of crucial capabilities that are essential for any social media marketing campaign.
Besides the ability to post and track content performance, Hootsuite and Later both include a number of crucial value-added capabilities that are essential for the success of any social media marketing campaign. From the point of view of additional functionalities, this checklist also helps answer the question: Later vs. Hootsuite: which is best for social media management?
Later vs Hootsuite #1. Social media monitoring
Hootsuite was one of the first platforms to develop social media monitoring tools. While there are other social media applications particularly created for social media monitoring, Hootsuite’s technology is quite sophisticated.
It’s called “Streams,” and it lets you choose exactly what you want to monitor from a menu of alternatives. You can, for example, construct a stream that searches for any mention of your brand or terms linked to your brand.
You can also track certain hashtags and comments, but the functionality allows for much more. It also allows you to monitor communications across many platforms, examine planned postings in a linear way (rather than through the calendar), and do other things.
Streams can be set up for all social media accounts, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X, to keep track of related content.
Unfortunately, unlike Hootsuite, Later lacks a sophisticated social media monitoring capability. However, as previously said, you can see Instagram comments and posts in which you have been referenced. Later also allows you to search for and explore other Instagram profiles, as well as find posts by searching for hashtags. This is an excellent method to obtain ideas for future topics.
Later vs Hootsuite #2. Posting and scheduling
Hootsuite offers one of the finest methods of publishing and scheduling on social media, which is not surprising considering the amount of time they’ve had to perfect the service.
To get started, simply click the Start button in the sidebar. You have the option of creating a social media post across several networks, a pin, or an Instagram story. It also lets you utilize its heritage post creator if that’s what you’re more comfortable with.
When you submit the post, you have many alternatives. You have the option of scheduling your post on a single platform or several platforms. You can include your content/hashtags/links, as well as media, either your own or from Pixabay (once you agree to the terms and services).
Later’s approach is probably simpler than Hootsuite’s, making it slightly easier to use, but it is less robust for platforms other than Instagram.
Its setup is slightly better than Hootsuite’s because of these Instagram capabilities. But it’s a little difficult to figure out how it works at first. You must begin by clicking on your image, and then you will be given the choice to put the post together.
Other services, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, allow you to produce text-only posts, however, using photos is obviously more successful at increasing post engagement.
Later vs Hootsuite #3. User interaction
Interaction management across multiple platforms can be a time-consuming yet necessary process. Well, the good news is that you can now manage all your interactions from one platform.
Hootsuite handles interaction management effectively and is quite robust. It offers an “Inbox” feature where you can see all of your messages and comments from various platforms.
However, it’s unclear how effectively this works for Instagram, so if you rely significantly on that channel for promotion, you might want to consider another approach.
Later offers a similar feature called “Conversations” that allows you to respond directly to Instagram comments and messages. In comparison to Hootsuite, Later makes it significantly easier to handle these Instagram conversations.
However, it falls short when it comes to other social media networks, so if you want to handle comments across many platforms, Hootsuite is a better option.
Later vs Hootsuite #4. User Interface
Hootsuite offers a lot of features, yet the dashboard is still quite user-friendly. They’ve had plenty of time to fine-tune the user experience over the years, and it shows.
First and foremost, the dashboard is lovely and spotless. It looks fantastic regardless of which features you use.
Second, whether you’re using the reporting and advertising features or the calendar or stream functions, the sidebar makes it easy to discover the sub-functions you’re searching for. You won’t have any trouble figuring out the platform, and if you do, there’s a terrific onboarding wizard to lead you through all of the stages of utilizing each tool.
Later’s interface and user experience are equally sleek and straightforward. You have a simple sidebar with only a few options. Also, when you dig down, you either have a single function or a new menu appears at the top.
In any situation, it’s obvious how to accomplish all you desire. There are no hidden features.
Later vs Hootsuite #5. Reports and Analytics
The analytics tab on Hootsuite provides a lot of capabilities, which makes sense considering that the platform is geared toward users who handle a large number of social media profiles for a variety of people.
You have access to a variety of metrics, ranging from the performance of individual posts to recommendations on the ideal times to publish depending on the performance of your posts over time, to brand awareness data, post engagement rate, and more.
You can check how frequently your links are visited and how your inbound engagement is progressing in a number of statistics. Hootsuite is arguably the most comprehensive analytics platform available. So if you’re truly focused on reporting, this is the option for you.
Similarly, Laters’ analytics dashboard is quite detailed. You can examine the performance of individual posts to gain a high-level picture of your total performance. It also includes a really helpful demographics tab. So if you’re interested in those kinds of statistics, you’ll get a decent notion of what’s available.
However, it is mostly for Instagram and Pinterest. So if you want analytics from other sites, you’ll need to utilize another social media management tool.
Later vs Hootsuite #6. Managing teams
Social media management platforms deliver important functionality, such as automating team coordination, to facilitate collaboration and avoid repetitions, oversights, and duplication of work.
Hootsuite features a sophisticated team management capability, which is to be anticipated from a platform utilized by many agencies throughout the world.
You can simply check what social media tasks have been allocated to you, your overall projects, and what you’ve previously addressed. You can also look at multiple teams to see all of the tasks for a certain team, as well as individual team member tasks.
Later, too, has a strong team management system. Users can be assigned to many social media profiles. You may put notes on your calendar for your team to examine. It also allows you to provide varying degrees of access to different individuals. This feature brings more security and accountability to team management.
Later vs Hootsuite #7. Calendar view
The primary purpose of social media marketing tools is to schedule posts across numerous social media platforms. Having said that, a calendar view that indicates the days and times when posts are scheduled to be published is a feature that almost all social media management tools provide. It’s very crucial to be able to swiftly and easily move posts on the calendar.
Hootsuite was one of the best platforms in the market, and its calendar view has always been available. All of your posts are simply visible week by week, and you can rearrange them around with a simple drag and drop.
However, you cannot view a complete month at a time. This is a huge disadvantage given that most other social media marketing tools do.
Later lets you view your calendar by week or month. You can drag and drop your posts from day to day, just as in Hootsuite, and you can quickly adjust the timings that the posts will publish.
Later and Hootsuite are extremely similar in terms of the simplicity of use of the calendar scheduling feature. However, in terms of aesthetics, one might argue that Later’s calendar display is slightly cleaner and more modern-looking.
Later vs Hootsuite #8. Bio-Link feature
Today, many businesses want to create link trees and make them accessible from their social media accounts for easy information access.
Hootsuite’s “oneclick.bio” function lets you build a link tree from your dashboard.
You can construct a landing page on Instagram that links to landing pages on your website, goods on your store, or other links on your website. You can use Instagram pictures and create an endless number of personalized pages.
Later’s equivalent functionality is named “Linkin.bio,” and it allows you to perform much the same thing. It’s customizable, and features connections to Instagram posts, buttons, and so on.
Later vs Hootsuite #9. Pricing
Hootsuite isn’t cheap, and it’s simple to see why: it boasts a plethora of features. The team option will be necessary for the majority of businesses (if you want to have more than one user). This raises the monthly fee to $129, which is rather high for social media management software.
If you want 5 users, you’ll have to pay $599 each month. This is something only an enterprise or a firm that runs social media for other businesses will require. It’s quite expensive in that regard, so you’ll need to have a compelling need for it to justify such a large outlay.
Later is far less costly, but it also makes sense because it is essentially an Instagram scheduling tool with a few other features. You’re looking at roughly $25 per month for more than one user and 150 posts per month for each social page, which most businesses are unlikely to exceed.
If you require additional users, the price is a mere $40/month for 6 people, which blows Hootsuite out of the water in this regard. It’s simply a more cheap program.
Later vs Hootsuite #10. Customer Support
When it comes to customer service, Hootsuite excels. You can easily visit their support center. But most people would want to skip this and talk to someone. You can do it directly on the platform if you choose the chat option.
You can also tweet at support for assistance, but what’s really cool about this option is that it allows you to construct the tweet from the app and even auto-fill portions of the content.
Later is more difficult to locate. They also offer a help center, which is of little use, but there is no chat feature. So the only method to seek help is to write an email and hope for a timely response. This can be a setback in the digital era, where social media marketing is a 24/7 activity.
Later vs Hootsuite #11. Available integrations
Hootsuite provides a variety of connectors that allow you to connect to a variety of apps, including many free ones. If you’re prepared to spend the money, it also includes access to premium applications in some of the more costly plans. If necessary, you may also add some compliance software.
Although Later offers fewer interfaces, it nevertheless allows you to integrate with automation programs such as Zapier. Because it’s primarily for Instagram, you don’t have to worry about integrations as much as you would with Hootsuite.
Supported social media channels
Hootsuite and Later both support the same social networks. Each platform includes coverage of the major social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
To sum it up side by side:
| Social Media Platforms | Later | Hootsuite |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Snapchat | No | No |
| Tiktok | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube | Yes | Yes |
Final Thoughts
If you’re still wondering – Later vs Hootsuite: which is best for social media management? then here are some final words to help you make up your mind.
The decision between Hootsuite and Later should be based on the size of your team and the social media networks you wish to focus on the most.
Because of Hootsuite’s cost, you’ll want to consider thinking twice before investing in the platform. It’s the way to go if you’re serious about social networking and don’t mind spending money.
If you own a social media marketing firm, or simply a marketing agency in general, Hootsuite is likely your best option because it supports so many various social media platforms and has outstanding statistics that allow you to quickly demonstrate to your customers how their investment is paying off.
If you own a business and are leveraging multiple social channels (not just Instagram) to grow its digital presence, then again, Hootsuite may be a better option.
However, if you’re primarily interested in growing your Instagram presence and engagement you’ll want to go with Later. It’s simply better for Instagram. If you’re serious about using any of the other social networking networks, bear in mind that Later doesn’t function well for them.
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