For most businesses – particularly

small businesses – finding and

connecting with an audience is the

key to success. Effective outreach

can result in new customers and

valuable media attention.

Tip: Geo-location searching

Tap into emerging technologies like

geo-located search and check-in

games like Foursquare. Filter down

search results to include only local

updates from users who include geo-

info to find people who are literally in

your neighborhood. Additionally, you

can offer special perks to potential

customers playing geo-location

games using HootSuite mobile tools

on iPhone or Blackberry.

Case StudyAdvanced Topics

Working with URLs

Understanding how to work with URLs in a social media setting is important for a number of reasons: you can gain insights into your most popular messages and campaigns, discover how visitors are getting to your site, even custom-brand the URLs you are sharing, and more. This info sheet will help you understand the power of using URLs in the HootSuite dashboard.

Shortening URLs – Two Options

In this character-limited web, URL shorteners are of great importance — for statistics, for branding, or simply for convenience. HootSuite offers two great ways to shrink URLs, Ow.ly and Ht.ly. The Ow.ly tool measures click-through statistics for all links shortened within the dashboard. You can choose date range and view breakdowns by region, referrer, and individual message. With Ht.ly, you’ll enjoy everything the Ow.ly tool provides you, plus the added benefit of a social bar.

Custom URL Statistics & Analysis

Using HootSuite URL shorteners allows you to see what’s working with real-time click stats – view your top 10 most popular messages, or view stats broken down by individual message, region, referrer, and custom timeline. HootSuite also gives you the ability to export your data to PDF and CSV for quick visual reporting. Ow.ly and Ht.ly statistics are also available for custom-branded vanity URLs.

Understanding the power of using URLs for branding and gaining insights into your social media campaigns

HootSuite offers two convenient URL shorteners, Ow.ly and Ht.ly

The Ht.ly social bar is a favorite tool of many marketing-minded HootSuite users who enjoy the benefits of amplifying their message across networks, to increase measurable reach.

Case StudyWorking with URLs

Vanity URLs

Vanity URLs are a great way to brand your links with a custom domain name while still enjoying the click-through statistics and security of the Ow.ly and Ht.ly shorteners. Vanity URLs can reflect company branding through the use of creative domain names like many major web brands – two great examples of HootSuite users currently enjoying this feature are Mashable and PBS (see sidebar).

Custom URL Parameters

Custom URL Parameters allow analytics experts to add and track custom campaign and message-specific URLs. These very specific parameters, designed to work with Google Analytics and Omniture, allow you to granularly track sources of conversions including sign-ups, sales, or other goals.

Custom URL Parameters also provide you with the intelligence to know exactly how visitors arrived at your site and are viewable as single line items within Google Analytics or Omniture. With a social traffic overlay, you can quickly identify trends - and filter by campaign, source, medium, and agent - without switching screens.

HootSuite provides a variety of great tools for working with URLs. The Basic Plan starts you off with a few of the essential tools – upgrading to a HootSuite Pro or Enterprise Plan gives you access to all the great tools described in this info sheet, and plenty more. Sign up or upgrade today at http://hootsuite.com.

Custom-branded URLs are great for brand impressions.

MORE INFO:Pro: hootsuite.com/proEnterprise: hootsuite.com/enterpriseHelp Desk: help.hootsuite.comBlog: blog.hootsuite.comTwitter: @hootsuite @hootsuite_helpEmail: info@hootsuite.com

Custom URL Parameters are quick and easy to set up – Google Analytics is shown in this example.