The Pros and Cons Now That HootSuite Added Instagram

Social media marketing strategists…we’re almost there. We’re so close to relieving ourselves of hours slaving over our Smartphones. A few weeks ago Hootsuite added Instagram to the platform. Around 7 am while I was looking over blogs with my coffee in hand. I saw this and nearly spit my coffee out. The initial headline was a little deceiving though. The installation of Instagram is not quite where I would like it to be.

But we’re close, and there are still benefits. So I made quick pro and con list to show the highlights…and the lowlights of the feature:

Pros:

You have the ability to SCHEDULE

If you’re a community manager, scheduling is your lifeline. The ability to schedule your content in advance allows you to focus on other things as a community manager such as engagement and planning for the following month. I like the idea that you can plan the photos you want to post for the month based on the planned content you are going to publish.

Reminder to Publish

When it’s time for the post to go live, a reminder is sent to your mobile device so you can review the post before you publish it.

Zoom In, Save Photos and Share with Ease

This may not seem like a big feature, but if your goal is to engage with your community, sharing their posts when they mention the brand can help create a strong connection. On Instagram, the benefits of doing this are even better because your product is usually in the shot. Rather than screen-shotting it. With HootSuite, you can easily share the photo, zoom in if you need to. Without accidentally liking the photo and feeling like a creep. You can easily save the photo to your mobile device. It’s not a must feature, but it’s definitely a nice to have.

CON:

You Still Have to Log into Instagram

This is actually my only con for this feature. You can schedule the photos…but you still have to log into Instagram, review the post and then publish it. In my opinion, this defeats the purpose of scheduling. If I schedule something, I’d like it to automatically publish at the time I scheduled it to go live. This is the one thing about this feature that is preventing me from using it yet. I may cave and start using it, but there’s still a lot of work involved in making the post go live. If you are managing one account, connecting your Instagram to Hootsuite it probably worth it. But if you’re a community manager of multiple accounts, this seems a little bit a nightmare.

Have you tried out the feature yet? What are your thoughts?