Managing Streams and Monitoring Conversations

Hootsuite's Streams feature allows you to track mentions, comments, keywords, and activity across your connected social networks. Instead of switching between apps, you can monitor everything from a single dashboard and respond in real time.

To access Streams, open the More menu in your dashboard and select Streams. Here you can create Boards (organized workspaces for specific platforms or monitoring goals). For example, you might set up a board dedicated to "Facebook Mentions", "Instagram Engagement", or "Brand Keyword Tracking".

When you create a new board, choose the platform you want to track and select the account(s) you want to include. After the board is created, you can add various streams such as mentions, comments, timeline activity, or keyword searches. These streams update continuously and give you instant visibility into your audience's conversations.

You can rename boards, reorder streams, and pin the most important ones for quick access. If something looks outdated, simply refresh the stream to load the latest activity.

Replying to Comments and Messages

Hootsuite's Unified Inbox brings all comments, messages, and interactions from your connected social media accounts into one central location, making it easier to stay organized and respond quickly.

To access it, open your dashboard and click Inbox. Here you'll see messages and comments from all platforms, each marked with a platform-specific icon so you instantly know where the interaction came from. If you want a more focused workspace, you can create separate inboxes for specific platforms—for example, "Facebook Messages", to see only relevant conversations.

Inside each conversation, you can reply directly, add emojis, attach files or GIFs, and view user attributes on the right side. Attributes like VIP can help you prioritize responses or categorize your audience. You can also delete unwanted messages directly from the inbox.

Using Team Collaboration Tools

Hootsuite includes built-in collaboration tools that help teams stay coordinated and maintain consistent quality across all accounts.

One way to collaborate is through task assignments. Inside the Unified Inbox, you can select any message or comment and assign it to a specific team member. You can mark the task as pending, add internal notes for context, and track who is responsible for the reply.

You can also manage content approvals by creating Teams. In Social Accounts & Teams, you can create a new team, invite members, and assign which social accounts they're responsible for. Each member can have different permission levels, such as administrator, editor, or approver.
Approvers must review and approve posts before they go live, ensuring quality and consistent brand standards.

Setting Up Keyword Monitoring

Keyword monitoring helps you track what people are saying about your brand, competitors, and industry in real time. Instead of jumping between platforms or manually searching terms, Hootsuite Streams allow you to automatically collect posts that contain the keywords you want to follow.

To begin, you create a new Stream Board and choose the option "Discover New Content". After selecting a platform, like X (Twitter), you can enter the keywords or phrases you want to monitor. These may include your brand name, product names, sentiment phrases (e.g., "love it", "great service"), or industry terms.

Once the stream is created, Hootsuite continuously updates it with posts containing your chosen keywords. You can pin important streams to the top, reorder them for quick access, or add variations of commonly misspelled words to capture more mentions.

Using Analytics and AI Tools in Hootsuite

Hootsuite's Analytics dashboard gives you a complete picture of your engagement, growth, and audience behavior.
Inside the Analytics panel, you can use filters to break down results by platform or timeframe. You can also create customized reports focused on key metrics such as post performance, brand awareness, audience growth, and link clicks. These reports help you spot trends, evaluate campaign results, and make data-driven decisions.

Beyond analytics, Hootsuite offers AI-powered content creation. Using the "Content with AI" feature, you can generate platform-specific captions, repurpose older posts, or choose from ready-made templates. You can set the tone, describe the idea briefly, and instantly receive multiple caption options tailored to your message.

Optimizing Post Performance with A/B Testing

A/B testing helps you understand what type of content resonates best with the audience by comparing two versions of the same post.
In Hootsuite, this process is simple: create two posts using the same visual but different captions, tones, or calls to action. Schedule each version at similar times on different days to keep conditions fair.

After both posts go live, use Hootsuite Analytics to compare performance metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and link clicks. Tools like "Performance Highlights" make it easy to spot which version achieved stronger engagement.