When it comes to social media management, choosing the right tool can make all the difference. Two of the most popular options in the market are Later and Hootsuite. Both tools offer a range of features to help businesses manage their social media accounts, but there are some key differences between the two.
Later is a social media scheduling tool that allows users to plan and schedule posts across multiple platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. On the other hand, Hootsuite is a social media management platform that offers a wider range of features, including social listening, analytics, and team collaboration tools.
Later: Pros and Cons
When it comes to Later, there are both pros and cons to consider. Here are a few of each:
Pros
- Usability: Later’s management software is visually pleasing and easy to use. The platform has a user-friendly interface that makes it simple to schedule and publish social media posts.
- Visual Platform: Later is a visual platform that is perfect for businesses that rely heavily on visuals to market their products or services. The platform makes it easy to upload and schedule images and videos across multiple social media networks.
- Clean Calendar Display: One of the standout features of Later is its clean and modern-looking calendar display. The calendar makes it easy to see all of your scheduled posts at a glance, which can be a huge time-saver for busy marketers.
Cons
- Limited Analytics: While Later does offer some basic analytics, the platform’s reporting capabilities are somewhat limited. If you need detailed analytics to track your social media performance, you may need to invest in a separate analytics tool.
- Limited Integrations: Later doesn’t offer as many in-app integrations as some of its competitors, which can be a drawback if you rely on a lot of different tools to manage your social media.
- Limited Collaboration Features: Later’s collaboration features are somewhat limited, which can be a drawback if you work with a team. While you can invite team members to collaborate on your account, there isn’t a lot of functionality for managing tasks or approvals.
Hootsuite: Pros and Cons
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that has been around since 2008. The platform has a lot of features that make it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Here are some of the pros and cons of using Hootsuite:
Pros
- Scheduling: Hootsuite has a scheduling feature that allows you to schedule posts across multiple social media platforms. This feature is especially useful for businesses that want to maintain an active social media presence without having to manually post content every day.
- Analytics: Hootsuite provides detailed analytics that can help you understand how your social media accounts are performing. You can track metrics like engagement, reach, and clicks, and use this information to optimize your social media strategy.
- Integrations: Hootsuite has over 140 integrations with other platforms and tools, including Google Analytics, Mailchimp, and Zendesk. This makes it easy to connect your social media accounts with other tools you use for your business.
- Collaboration: Hootsuite allows multiple users to access and manage social media accounts. This is helpful for businesses that have a social media team or want to give different employees access to different accounts.
Cons
- Price: Hootsuite can be expensive, especially for small businesses. The platform offers a free plan, but it has limited features and only allows you to manage three social media accounts.
- Learning Curve: Hootsuite has a lot of features, which can make it overwhelming for new users. It can take some time to learn how to use all the features effectively.
- Limited Features: While Hootsuite has a lot of features, it doesn’t have everything. Some users have reported that they wish the platform had more advanced features, like the ability to schedule Instagram Stories.
Overall, Hootsuite is a powerful social media management platform that has a lot of features that businesses can benefit from. However, it’s important to consider the cons as well, especially the price and learning curve.
Later vs Hootsuite: Features Comparison
When it comes to social media management, Later and Hootsuite are two of the most popular options on the market. Both platforms offer a wide range of features to help businesses manage their social media presence effectively. In this section, we will compare the features of Later and Hootsuite in four key areas: post scheduling, social media engagement, social listening, and analytics & reporting.
Post Scheduling
Both Later and Hootsuite allow users to schedule posts in advance. Later offers a simple drag-and-drop calendar interface that makes it easy to schedule posts for multiple social media platforms. Hootsuite, on the other hand, offers a more advanced scheduling system that allows users to schedule posts based on specific time zones and even automatically optimize post times for maximum engagement.
Social Media Engagement
Engaging with your audience is a crucial part of social media management, and both Later and Hootsuite offer tools to help you do so. Later allows users to monitor and respond to comments and messages across all social media platforms from a single inbox. Hootsuite offers a similar feature, but also includes the ability to create and manage social media campaigns, as well as monitor brand mentions and track hashtags.
Social Listening
Social listening is the process of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand or relevant keywords. Both Later and Hootsuite offer social listening tools, but Hootsuite’s are more advanced. Hootsuite allows users to create custom streams to monitor specific keywords, hashtags, and even competitors. Later’s social listening tools are more limited, but still allow users to monitor mentions of their brand across multiple social media platforms.
Analytics & Reporting
Analytics and reporting are essential for measuring the success of your social media strategy. Both Later and Hootsuite offer in-depth analytics and reporting tools. Later’s analytics dashboard provides insights into follower growth, engagement rates, and more. Hootsuite’s analytics dashboard is more advanced, offering detailed reports on social media performance, as well as the ability to create custom reports.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, both Later and Hootsuite have their own advantages and disadvantages. Here’s what we found:
Later
Later is known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. Its drag-and-drop calendar makes scheduling posts a breeze, and its hashtag suggestions feature can save you time and effort. Additionally, Later’s mobile app is well-designed and easy to use, allowing you to manage your social media accounts on the go.
However, some users have reported that Later’s analytics dashboard can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Additionally, while Later offers a variety of features, some users may find the platform’s layout cluttered and overwhelming.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a powerful social media management tool that offers a wide range of features and integrations. While its interface may take some time to get used to, Hootsuite’s customizable dashboard allows you to easily organize and prioritize your social media accounts.
One of Hootsuite’s biggest strengths is its team collaboration tools. With Hootsuite, you can easily delegate tasks to team members and keep track of who is responsible for what. Additionally, Hootsuite’s analytics dashboard is well-designed and easy to navigate.
However, some users have reported that Hootsuite’s scheduling tool can be difficult to use, and its mobile app is not as user-friendly as Later’s.
Pricing Comparison
When it comes to pricing, Later and Hootsuite offer different plans to cater to different needs. Here’s a breakdown of their pricing plans:
Later
Later offers four pricing plans:
- Free Plan: This plan is ideal for individuals or small businesses with limited social media needs. It allows one social profile per platform and up to 30 posts per month per profile.
- Plus Plan: This plan costs $25 per month and includes one user and one social profile per platform. It allows up to 60 posts per month per profile and includes basic analytics.
- Premium Plan: This plan costs $65 per month and includes two users and two social profiles per platform. It allows up to 150 posts per month per profile and includes advanced analytics.
- Starter Plan: This plan costs $125 per month and includes three users and up to 10 social profiles. It allows up to 250 posts per month per profile and includes advanced analytics, as well as additional features such as Instagram Stories scheduling.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite offers four pricing plans as well:
- Free Plan: This plan is ideal for individuals or small businesses with limited social media needs. It allows one user and up to three social profiles, with basic analytics.
- Professional Plan: This plan costs $49 per month and includes one user and up to 10 social profiles. It allows unlimited scheduling and basic analytics.
- Team Plan: This plan costs $129 per month and includes three users and up to 20 social profiles. It includes advanced analytics, team collaboration tools, and custom reports.
- Business Plan: This plan costs $599 per month and includes up to 10 users and up to 35 social profiles. It includes advanced analytics, team collaboration tools, custom reports, and additional features such as social listening and audience engagement tools.
Overall, Later tends to be more affordable for small businesses or individuals with limited social media needs, while Hootsuite offers more advanced features and is better suited for larger businesses with more complex social media strategies.
Customer Support
When it comes to customer support, both Later and Hootsuite offer various options to their users. However, Hootsuite seems to have an edge over Later in this regard.
Hootsuite provides excellent customer support through its support center, which includes a knowledge base, community forum, and chat option. Users can easily find answers to their queries by browsing through the articles in the knowledge base or by posting their questions on the community forum. Moreover, if users need immediate assistance, they can use the chat option to talk to a support representative.
On the other hand, Later’s customer support is limited to email only. Although they claim to respond within one business day, users may have to wait longer to get their issues resolved.
In terms of user reviews, Hootsuite has a higher rating for customer support on review sites like Capterra and G2. Users appreciate the quick response time and helpfulness of the support team.
Integration Capabilities
When it comes to integration capabilities, both Later and Hootsuite offer a range of options to connect with other apps and platforms.
Hootsuite has a wide range of integrations with over 250 apps, including popular tools like Salesforce, Google Drive, and Slack. This makes it easy to streamline your workflow and connect all your social media management tools in one place. Hootsuite also offers a range of social listening and analytics integrations, allowing you to monitor your brand’s reputation and track your performance across multiple channels.
Later, on the other hand, offers integrations with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. This makes it easy to connect your online store with your social media profiles and streamline your sales process. Later also offers integrations with Unsplash and Giphy, making it easy to find and use high-quality visuals in your social media posts.
User Reviews
When it comes to deciding between Later and Hootsuite, user reviews can be a valuable resource to help make a decision. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, and hearing from other users can provide insight into what works and what doesn’t.
According to user reviews on G2, Hootsuite has a slightly higher overall rating than Later, with 4.1/5 stars compared to Later’s 4.5/5 stars. However, it’s worth noting that Later has significantly fewer reviews than Hootsuite, with only 300 compared to Hootsuite’s 4,049.
Many users praise Hootsuite’s ability to manage multiple social media accounts in one place, as well as its scheduling capabilities. However, some users have noted that the platform can be overwhelming and difficult to navigate, particularly for new users.
On the other hand, Later is often praised for its user-friendly interface and ease of use, particularly for Instagram scheduling. However, some users have noted that the platform can be limited in its capabilities, particularly when it comes to managing multiple social media accounts.
Conclusion
Based on our research and analysis, both Later and Hootsuite are powerful social media management tools with unique features and benefits.
Hootsuite offers a clean and simple interface with integration to most major social media networks. It also provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities, making it a great choice for businesses looking to track their social media performance.
On the other hand, Later offers a user-friendly interface with a focus on visual content creation and scheduling. It also provides in-app media editing features, making it a great choice for businesses looking to streamline their media creation and scheduling process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Compared to other social media management tools, Later is focused primarily on Instagram, while Hootsuite offers more comprehensive management for multiple social media platforms. Later offers unique features such as Instagram Stories scheduling and the ability to preview your feed. However, Hootsuite offers more integrations and a wider range of social media analytics.
No, Later does not have a social inbox feature like Hootsuite. Hootsuite’s social inbox feature allows users to manage and respond to messages and comments across multiple social media platforms in one place.
Is Later a good scheduling tool compared to Hootsuite?
Yes, Later is a good scheduling tool compared to Hootsuite, especially for Instagram. Later offers unique features such as Instagram Stories scheduling and the ability to visually plan your feed. However, Hootsuite offers more comprehensive management for multiple social media platforms and a wider range of social media analytics.
