An Interview with Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite on Mobile, the Cloud, and Promoted Tweets
By: Hillel Fuld
We have all heard about the ridiculous amount of apps available in the Apple App Store. Combine that with 200,000 Android apps, as well as all the apps available for BlackBerry, Nokia, Java-based devices, and other platforms, and we are talking about millions upon millions of mobile applications.
In that sea of apps, some categories stand out from the rest, the main one being games. Another app category that is overflowing with options is what I like to call “social apps” and specifically apps that support the micro blogging site, Twitter.
There are so many Twitter apps to choose from on the various platforms, a new user might feel very overwhelmed. Apps like the official Twitter, Tweetdeck, Echofon, UberTwitter, and hundreds more. Once again, there are few Twitter apps that manage to stand out and HootSuite is one such app. When it comes to cloud-based Twitter apps, as opposed to downloaded software, HootSuite is the indisputable leader and many will claim that the same is true for managing multiple social profiles.
I had the opportunity to interview Ryan Holmes, the CEO of HootSuite/Founder of Invoke and to ask him some of the most pressing questions about Twitter, social media, and the future of mobile. Hope you enjoy Ryan’s answers as much as I did.
1. Please tell us a little bit of your background, both personal and professional. Who is Ryan Holmes?
I won an Apple II in an elementary school programming contest, and I suppose that’s where my interest in tech began. I have always had a creative drive, and my entrepreneurial endeavors have been widespread, from a high school founded paintball field which then evolved into the top paintball equipment supplier in Canada to building a pizza restaurant chain in university.
In 2000, I founded Invoke Media, the agency that created HootSuite. Invoke also developed early CMS and e-commerce web apps as well as the Memelabs contesting platform.
Whenever I get some free time I like to get out and enjoy the outdoors…surfing, paragliding, rock climbing. I’m also an avid yoga enthusiast and have an incredible dog that I love and who comes with me everywhere.
2. What is the history of Hootsuite and what is its future? Where will it be two years down the road?
Invoke launched HootSuite in December 2008 to solve the problem we had in managing social media for multiple clients and accounts. Rapid growth led to the spin-out and founding of HootSuite in December 2009. We recently announced that we’ve exceeded 1 million users, and have just moved into the Alexa 200 in the US and Alexa 400 globally.
We are continually expanding our product offering with business-specific social media tools and recent integrations with brands such as Constant Contact, Salesforce, Zendesk and more. We are constantly monitoring what users seek, and what technology allows, and we respond to the market accordingly.
Where do I see HootSuite two years from now? That’s a tough one… So much has happened in the last two years! Moving forward, our focus is on integration opportunities and building out our App Directory with more tools and partnerships.
We’ll also continue to spread HootSuite to more countries through localizations – our growth in Japan is a great example of our international outreach efforts.
3. The million dollar question surrounding Twitter and social media in general is monetization. What do you think the best strategy should be?
It’s tough to define the “best” strategy, but certainly many companies will be trying a variety of different methods to create revenue streams from social media services and tools. Keep in mind, what’s right for one company may not be the right approach for another, and opportunities are popping up all the time which simply didn’t exist even the day before.
Our approach is to strategically analyze opportunities and determine which ones are the best fit for where we are heading — we always want to keep the the needs of HootSuite users at the forefront. Recently we launched the “freemium” plan with paid plans for Pro and Enterprise customers as well as a feature-loaded free plan.
Further, HootSuite was the first 3rd-party to display Promoted Tweets and Trends from Twitter, and we are continuing to work with them to fine-tune this offering.
We also have a subscription-based learning program, called HootSuite University, and will be launching an App Directory in the very near future which will include a premium and revenue-share component.
4. Hootsuite was the first client to include promoted tweets in the Twitter stream. Is this a new trend we can expect to see more of?
I can’t speak to what the team at Twitter has planned, but I do think you can expect to see Promoted Tweets in more 3rd-party Twitter tools. I also expect that companies will get more creative with their messaging in Promoted Tweets, including more unique offers and geo-specific targeting.
Ryan with Pete Cashmore of Mashable
5. How do you think Hootsuite stands out from the rest of the crowded Twitter app industry?
For one, we iterate rapidly and avoid getting caught up in the status quo by constantly innovating and improving the products that HootSuite offers. And while we are always adding new tools, we keep focused on our core concept: Having multiple networks and contributors who are able to perform a multitude of social media tasks, all from one streamlined dashboard.
In terms of the product itself, the fact that HootSuite is completely cloud-based is a huge advantage over downloaded apps — no updates to install or permission required from office sysadmins. HootSuite is designed to be useful for marketers, agencies, and companies, unlike other tools which are tailored to tech-savvy power-users only.
We also focus on building relationships with developers and networks. This not only allows us to provide more value to the user in the form of more social networks, apps, etc., but also allows us to evolve our business model. User feedback is extremely important to us and plays a key role in our road-map planning.
6. Let’s talk about mobile for a second. What mobile device do you use and why?
I have an iPhone, and I’m partial to it because it allows me to use wi-fi and there is an app for just about anything I want to do. That being said, I do experiment with other platforms, especially to try out the HootSuite versions for them.
7. When it comes to mobile, do you think native apps or Web apps are the future?
It’s tough to say. Native apps are currently the standard when it comes to mobile. Companies are building great APIs, which makes building native apps for the various devices that much easier. As a result, the usability is also much higher with native apps at this time.
8. Hootsuite has mobile apps on various platforms. From a developer’s perspective (what have you heard from your team?), can you compare the experience of developing on iOS to others such as BlackBerry and Android?
A lot of it comes down to developer support. iOS and Android are way ahead in terms of support for developers. BlackBerry has some cool hardware but is a bit behind when it comes to tools or support for the developer community. We’re also launching a version for the Japanese “keitai” feature phones, which in itself has been an entirely different development process.
9. What are some key tips you can give to other mobile development companies in terms of separating themselves from their competition?
Pay attention to the market needs and manage your resources wisely.
10. Both mobile and social media are buzzing right now, which one of those two industries will die (or at least slow down) first and why?
Both are growing rapidly right now — and it doesn’t seem like either is going to slow down for quite a while – so it isn’t so much that either of these will die or slow down, it is more a question of how each will evolve.
If you look at how social media has evolved over the last few years, you will notice a trend — brevity. It used to be that blog posts were acceptable if they were 750 words long. Now, 500 is considered too long. Micro-blogging is an example of this evolution. And while email is still the primary medium in which business conversation occurs, you are starting to see more and more meetings being scheduled over Twitter.
Additionally, as more people use social media tools to consume and create “news,” the lines between amateur and pro will continue to blur. Furthermore, consumers now expect a seamless experience from desktop to mobile, and the distinction between these platforms will continue to fade as we keep moving towards a lifestyle that is “always online.”
Just a quick thank you to Ryan for this interview, you can follow him on Twitter here and as always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave em in the comments below or reach out to me on Twitter here.
TechProfiles: Invoke Media from Carlson Media on Vimeo.
