Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a Canadian-founded platform that allows marketers to manage social media campaigns across a range of popular channels including Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Youtube, and Twitter from a single dashboard. The platform provides automated campaign scheduling and boosting, a unified platform to respond to customer comments as well as analytics tools to monitor and evaluate the success of campaigns. Hootsuite also has a dedicated advertising solution for managing social media and search ad campaigns. In April 2023, the firm unveiled OwlyWriter AI, an AI-powered content creation tool, to assist customers with their content creation needs.

While Hootsuite was not the first firm to introduce social media management systems, it was an early mover in the space compared to other platforms like Buffer, Sprout Social and AgoraPulse. As a result, it has gained a significant lead in terms of customer base. 

Hootsuite has also had a string of acquisitions, including Spark Central, a customer inquiry management platform across social media channels, in January 2021. In August 2021, it also acquired Heyday AI, a customer conversational platform enhanced by conversational AI systems for retailers, purchased for CAD 60 million. In April 2024, the company acquired Talkwalker, a consumer intelligence platform, to drive revenue and business impact for brands.

Key customers and partnerships

Hootsuite is one of the best-known names in social media management with a customer base of more than 210,000 paid users (as of October 2021). 

In September 2021, joined the ranks of Twitter's official Partner Program, and in May 2022 it joined TikTok’s marketing partner program in order to integrate its solutions with popular social media platforms. 

Funding and financials

In October 2021, Hootsuite was reportedly making preparations to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) before the end of the year. However, as of May 2022, its listing is yet to take place.

As at October 2021, the firm has achieved an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of more than USD 200 million and recorded a 20% Year over Year growth in 2021.

In August 2022, the firm announces its plans to lay off 30% of its ~1,400 workforce in an attempt to refocus its business strategies while ensuring financial stability.