View Larger ImageHootSuite 2.0 launch campaign 
By HootSuite
With the advent of 140 character communication, there has been much speculation about how Twitter can further the success of business and organizations. It’s fair to say that the potential for Twitter as a business tool is widely recognized; what’s now needed is an accumulation of case studies proving its worth. Our experience launching HootSuite 2.0 provides a case study for how this social technology can help businesses and organizations achieve marketing goals.
With the release of our HootSuite 2.0 upgrade, our objective was straightforward: to become a trending topic on Twitter. Visitor conversion rate on HootSuite.com is high–our primary challenge has been to promote awareness of the product. With the upgrade to HootSuite 2.0, our campaign aimed to harness the power of Twitter as a promotional agent to drive awareness of HootSuite. To accomplish this, we employed a three-pronged approach.
1. The upgrade tweet: The upgrading process we built was easy and optional: we invited folks to send out a formulated upgrade tweet. As soon as they did so, they were automatically upgraded to HootSuite 2.0. This way, we were able to connect not only with the HootSuite userbase, but with an entirely new group that may never have been aware of our upgrade, or even HootSuite.
2. #hootlove hashtag campaign: We asked folks to tweet their favourite feature of HootSuite 2.0 and attach the hashtag #hootlove. We incentivized the #hootlove campaign by retweeting our favourite responses from our Twitter account, @hootsuite, which has thousands of followers, many of them major influencers. By retweeting responses, we were educating our followers about the new features, prompting more #hootlove submissions, and encouraging positive branding through customer feedback - and hey, who doesn’t love a little love?
3. Blogger outreach: We added another dimension to our campaign by sending press releases to key online publications and blogs, which directly resulted in HootSuite 2.0 coverage in several top tier tech blogs. Once some influencers published our news, numerous other online publications picked up the thread. We’ve counted approximately 90 stories about HootSuite’s upgrade to 2.0, and more are being written everyday. The extensive coverage encouraged discussion as well as debate, and ultimately got people buzzing about the HootSuite launch.
Results
We achieved our main objective. HootSuite became a trending topic at approximately 5pm on the date of the launch, garnering our Twitter client millions of eyeballs and attesting to the success of our buzz campaign. We also went to #1 on hashtags.org, and were in top 3 for majority of launch day. This was a result of the approximately 25K #hootsuite hashtags that were sent over Twitter the day of the release. Moreover, we gained 4332 new member signups, with 6738 new Twitter profiles, and experienced about 2 million page views in one day.
Review
The HootSuite 2.0 launch campaign effectively used social technologies to accomplish its primary objective of trending on Twitter. While the strategies we implemented were intended to optimize promotion through Twitter, the most pivotal piece of the campaign’s successful use of social technology was our flexibility when it came time to adjust our strategy.
Halfway through the day of the launch, we began to receive some pushback about our formulated tweet. Despite the fact that the upgrade was optional, and our first version of HootSuite was still functioning fine, some people felt they had been forced to endorse our product in order to get the new and improved version. As the first few negative comments rolled in, we initially embraced the controversy and responded from our customer service client @hootsuite_help. However, when more than a handful of people expressed they wanted a change to the upgrade process, we delivered. Thanks to our crack team of developers, we were able to swiftly alter our optional upgrade tweet so that people keen to get HootSuite 2.0 were able to customize their upgrade tweet. The open-ended optional upgrade tweet now read: “I updated to #HootSuite 2.0 because…” By inviting people to fill in the end of the sentence, we let them explain why they upgraded in their own words. While some comments were negative, the overwhelming majority were positive. The hashtagged upgrade tweets poured in, as did extra tweets, about our flexibility in the midst of a marketing initiative. These additional tweets, combined with the upgrade tweets, the #hootlove tweets, and the tweets generated from coverage on tech blogs like Venturebeat, worked together to help us achieve our goal.
Social technologies are conduits for social activity. When using them for business objectives, the only effective way to do so is to respond to feedback - and to do so at the drop of a dime. This is why the HootSuite 2.0 launch was so successful.
July 30, 2009 to present
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I recommend it to all of my Twitter...
Reviewed September 10, 2009 by LOVE IT!
I recommend it to all of my Twitter followers. Easy to use, full feature set, the values go on and on and on...
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Love it, love it, love it. Was...
Reviewed September 10, 2009 by @tartanangel
Love it, love it, love it. Was lucky enough to stumble upon hootsuite early on and can genuinely say that without it I'd be totally lost.
Report Inappropriate Review I think it's difficult that *any*...
Reviewed September 10, 2009 by Victor Quiros Vargas
I think it's difficult that *any* similar application could *ever* beat HootSuite. Great job!
Report Inappropriate Review super easy to use, love it
Reviewed September 8, 2009 by Lori Brienesse-Frank
super easy to use, love it
Report Inappropriate Review Great, great job...
Reviewed September 7, 2009 by @jnetasia
Great, great job...
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Love it. Easy, friendly, run anywhere...my...
Reviewed September 7, 2009 by @bitpakkit
Love it. Easy, friendly, run anywhere...my power-user 101 tip is to use Firefox/Prism to create a desktop application for it. Keep at it!
Report Inappropriate Review Simple, beautiful, useful and very...
Reviewed September 6, 2009 by Gustavo Veloso
Simple, beautiful, useful and very powerful. Hootsuite is the most complete Twitter client in the whole world.
Report Inappropriate Review What's not 2 love ...stats, future...
Reviewed September 6, 2009 by Noxhanti
What's not 2 love ...stats, future tweeting, access 2 networks tweets + search, flexibility of layout, multiple accounts/multiple editor facility...No downsides!!
Report Inappropriate Review I use Hootsuite for both personal...
Reviewed September 4, 2009 by CMarzi84
I use Hootsuite for both personal account and work accounts - it makes my day infinitely easier to be able to pop into all the accounts I use for business while having my personal account tabbed too. I also love the metrics, it creates legitimacy to socia
Report Inappropriate Review Love the functionality...a few...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Teri
Love the functionality...a few more tweaks and it'll be perfect!
Report Inappropriate Review Love HootSuite's simplicity and...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Debbi
Love HootSuite's simplicity and clean interface. Would love to see the followers/following box in future upgrades ;o)
Report Inappropriate Review The ability to see stats via the...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by sophiasian
The ability to see stats via the ow.ly shortener makes hootsuite invaluable for working on marketing campaigns
Report Inappropriate Review I love HootSuite and heard about...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Danielle
I love HootSuite and heard about it during the 2.0 launch. I use it to manage 8 twitter accounts daily, and it makes things so simple. I can't say enough good!
Report Inappropriate Review i have used it couple of times...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by DforDollar
i have used it couple of times and its good will always use it and recommend others too
Report Inappropriate Review I currently use Hootsuite to manage...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Chris McGuire
I currently use Hootsuite to manage 7 twitter accounts and it is hands down the most useful twitter tool available.
Report Inappropriate Review I love hootsuite so much. I use...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Kristina
I love hootsuite so much. I use a variety of twitter apps, but I always come back to hootsuite. It's just more functional than the rest of them.
Report Inappropriate Review I use HootSuite ever single day...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by Mari Smith
I use HootSuite ever single day and recommend to all my social media clients and students. It's one of the few MUST-HAVE apps for Twitter, Facebook & all other SM sites via the Ping.fm integration!! woohoo! Love it.
Report Inappropriate Review I just LOVE hootsuite! My two favorite...
Reviewed September 3, 2009 by ddeseta
I just LOVE hootsuite! My two favorite features is the hootlet and the ability to manage multiple accounts from one interface.
Report Inappropriate Review I LOve my Hootsuite 2.0- Great...
Reviewed September 2, 2009 by TimBaileyGR
I LOve my Hootsuite 2.0- Great layout, flexibility and good analytics.
Report Inappropriate Review Clean, simple and effective. An...
Reviewed September 2, 2009 by AdulteBookShop
Clean, simple and effective. An excellent tool.
Report Inappropriate Review I really like the interface and...
Reviewed September 2, 2009 by Sohail K
I really like the interface and features. The only thing I wish it also had was the ability to see the list of followers or following. Right now I have to remember the @names to add them to the custom columns or have twitter website also open. Not a big i
Report Inappropriate Review lets work for 3.0 productivity...
Reviewed September 2, 2009 by DrHartmutFeucht
lets work for 3.0 productivity good luck
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