Hootsuite VS Later

There are multiple social media management platforms available in the market to assist marketers in executing marketing strategies on social media more conveniently, quickly, and successfully. Two such well-known platforms are Later and Hootsuite. 

Here, we will be evaluating both Later and Hootsuite in terms of pros & cons, support for social media platforms, features, user interface, integrations, customer support, and more. 

Hootsuite vs. Later: An Overview 

Hootsuite, a comprehensive social media management platform enables its users to manage multiple social media profiles, schedule posts, curate content, engage with their audience, and analyze results. It supports a vast range of social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more. Hootsuite's key features include a unified dashboard, post-scheduling, social listening, analytics, team collaboration, and integrations with other marketing tools. 

On the other hand, Later is a social media scheduling and planning tool specifically designed for Instagram. It enables users to visually plan their Instagram feed, schedule posts, and automatically publish content. Later provides additional features like hashtag suggestions, analytics, and the ability to schedule Instagram Stories. While Hootsuite supports multiple social media platforms, Later focuses mainly on Instagram. 

Hootsuite and Later: Pros & Cons 

Some of the key differences between Hootsuite and Later are as follows: 

• Hootsuite is a comprehensive platform and provides more integrations than Later. On the other hand, Later is intuitive and user-friendly and focuses on visual content. 
• Hootsuite supports more social networks than Later. 
• The signup procedure in Hootsuite is complicated, while Later has a more straightforward process. 
• The user interface in Hootsuite is more complex, while Later has an easy-to-use interface. 

Hootsuite vs. Later: In Terms of Features 

In terms of feature comparison, Hootsuite is better in terms of Analytics, Inbox and Engagement Tools, and Team Collaboration. On the other hand, Later is better when it comes to Integrations, Calendar View, and Bio-Link. 

• Analytics: Later and Hootsuite offer advanced analytics tools to track social media performance. Later provides insights for Instagram, including post-performance and hashtag analytics. Hootsuite's Analytics feature tracks activity, post-performance, and ROI, and generates reports. 
• Integrations: Hootsuite integrates with an extensive range of third-party tools, including CRM platforms, analytics tools, content curation tools, HubSpot, Canva, Shopify, Slack, and more. Later integrates with a few select tools, such as Zapier, Canva, and Unsplash, to enhance the content creation process. 
• Inbox and Engagement Tools: Hootsuite provides robust social inbox features, allowing you to monitor and manage interactions with your audience across multiple platforms. Later primarily focus on scheduling and content creation, offering limited inbox and engagement tools. 
• Team Collaboration: Hootsuite is designed for collaboration among large teams, with features like task assignment, permission controls, and approval workflows. Later is less focused on collaboration with smaller teams, offering limited features for team members to work together on content creation and scheduling. 
• Calendar View: Hootsuite's calendar view allows users to schedule and rearrange posts week by week with drag-and-drop functionality. Later's calendar view offers the same features as Hootsuite but also allows users to view their calendar by month. 
• Bio-Link Feature: Hootsuite's "oneclick.bio" function enables users to generate a link on Instagram for linking to various landing pages. Later's "Linkin.bio" functionality provides similar features, such as customizability and the ability to link to Instagram posts. 

Hootsuite vs. Later: Social Media Platform Support 

Hootsuite supports multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and more. On the other hand, Later (initially known as an Instagram scheduling tool), has expanded its services to support other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. 

Hootsuite vs. Later: Content Creation Features 

Hootsuite provides a post composer with basic text editing capabilities but lacks advanced visual content creation tools. Later offers visual planning and content creation features specifically designed for Instagram, including drag-and-drop gallery preview and grid planning. In this case, Later is a better option. 

Hootsuite or Later: Planning and Scheduling Capabilities 

Hootsuite allows bulk post-scheduling and provides a visual planner to schedule content in a calendar-style view. Later offers a visual content calendar for scheduling posts with the ability to preview and rearrange the content. 

Hootsuite or Later: User Experience 

Hootsuite offers a comprehensive platform with a learning curve and a feature-rich interface. Later, on the other hand, is known for its user-friendly and visually appealing interface, particularly suitable for Instagram-focused businesses. 

Hootsuite or Later: Customer Support 

Hootsuite provides extensive customer support through various channels, including live chat, phone support, and a knowledge base. Whereas, Later offers customer support through email and a knowledge base, with additional support available for paid plans. Later, however, lacks a live chat feature. 

Which Is Better, Hootsuite or Later? 

Hootsuite and Later are both social media management tools, but they differ in terms of their features and pricing plans. If you require a comprehensive set of features, including scheduling, analytics, and team collaboration, Hootsuite may be the better option. However, if you primarily focus on visual content and require a simpler interface with calendar view, bio-link, etc., Later could be the more suitable choice.