How to Add Your Twitter Account to Hootsuite (Plus Mentions, Direct Messages, and Pending Tweets)

Happy Thursday! I shared a light-hearted post yesterday for "Be Inspired Wednesday". Just wanted to share in case you missed it (it was posted around 8:30 pm).  Today we're going to explore Hootsuite for Twitter.  I've talked about Hootsuite on several occasions here in this space.  At the end of this post I'll link to those previous posts in case you're just getting started.

Many of you have already added your Twitter account to Hootsuite, but may not realize that you can add direct messages, mentions, pending tweets, sent items, and even "lists" to your Hootsuite tab as streams.  Adding features such as these will make your Twitter experience on Hootsuite very similar to Twitter.com itself.  Not to mention, the scheduling feature for future tweets is icing on the cake, and a super-helpful tool!  I'm going to walk through "How to add your Twitter account to Hootsuite" and then "How to add Direct Messages/Mentions/Pending Tweets to Your Twitter tab on Hootsuite".

How to Add Your Twitter Account to Hootsuite

1. Login to your Hootsuite Account
2. Click on the owl icon on the top left-hand side of the page.  Scroll down to “settings” and scroll over to “social networks”.

   

   Streams > Social Networks

3. Click on “Social Networks” and click on “add social network” along the top.

   

   "Add Social Network"

4. A pop-up window will appear.  Twitter should be selected on the left-hand side of the pop-up window by default.  Click on the “connect with Twitter” button.
   

   

   Connect with Twitter

5. A Twitter window will appear requesting that you “allow” access for Hootsuite.  Click on “allow”. If you aren’t already logged into Twitter, it may ask you to login and then allow access. 

   

   Allow access from Hootsuite to Twitter

6. Click “submit” and a new tab will automatically be added to your Hootsuite dashboard for your Twitter account.

By Default, the only “stream” that appears for your Twitter account in Hootsuite is your news feed.  I would recommend you add a few streams to your Twitter tab in Hootsuite to give your Twitter Hootsuite experience more of the features you’re used to using in twitter (such as mentions, direct messages, etc.).  A short tutorial below on how to do this!

How to Add “Streams” (such as Mentions, Direct Messages, etc.) to Your Twitter Tab in Hootsuite

1. Login to Hootsuite (if you haven’t already)
2. Click on your Twitter tab in your dashboard
3. Your “home feed” from Twitter will appear.  Just above the “home feed”, look for the “add stream” button. 

4. Click on “add stream”.

   

   Click on "add stream" at the top

5. A window will appear to help you select which streams you’d like to add. Be sure Twitter is highlighted on the left (it should be, by default).  Next, select your Twitter profile icon from just above the drop-down.

   

   Various "stream" options you may wish
   to add to your Twitter tab in Hootsuite

6. Click on the drop down to select “Mentions” and click on the “Create Stream” button.

   

   "Mentions" selected as a stream
   to add to your Twitter tab on Hootsuite

7. Repeat steps 4-6 to add “direct message inbox”, “direct message outbox”, “pending tweets”, and any other desired Twitter streams that are available via Hootsuite.    

   

   Example of your Hootsuite Twitter tab with "mentions" added.

Next week I'll cover "How to add Twitter Lists to Hootsuite".

Other Helpful Hoostuite Posts:

How to Create a Hootsuite Account

How to add Your personal and BUSINESS Facebook Accounts to Hootsuite

How to Schedule with Hootsuite (this tutorial is for Twitter, but the same can apply for Facebook accounts in Hootsuite)

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.