Getting Quick'n'Dirty with Hootsuite

After a two-week break, Aaron Strout and I hit 2010 running with the first Quick'n'Dirty podcast of the year by interviewing Ryan Holmes, CEO of Invoke, the creators of social aggregator Hootsuite. It was a fun show, with me trying to get my podcast bearings after two weeks of silence (aka I couldn't speak without error), but even with that it was a fun and informative show... if we do say so ourselves.

Prior to talking with Holmes we did a little digging into Plancast, a social network that allows people to broadcast their plans (somewhat in the same way that Foursquare allows users to broadcast locations) so that they can better connect with friends, and much more easily (although passively) bring other people into their social events. I wasn't 100-percent sold on it, but admitted that comment could be taken with a grain of salt because I used to dislike Foursquare and now I love it. Aaron was a little open and more strongly committed to giving Plancast a whirl.

In our interview with Holmes we discussed some of Invoke's plans for Hootsuite, and how they are trying to take a different track than some of the other simple Twitter aggregators (i.e. CoTweet) and go for a more professional quality to its services. Hootsuite is feature-rich and the company just recently announced WordPress integration, image URL previews and other upgraded features, and according to Holmes the company will continue to innovate. You'll have to listen to the interview for more, such as how smoothly Holmes handled my comment when I told him I was a former Hootsuite loyalist who hasn't yet found her way back.

Next up we gave some love to our featured Twitter user of the week, which was eMarketer, a feed that Aaron loves and recommended to me because it provides tons of good data nuggets for marketers and social media types to use in their businesses, blog, etc.

Finally, we had our weekly not-so-bloody point/counterpoint, a segment of the show in which Aaron and I often take different sides of a pressing issue yet often end up agreeing somewhere in the middle. This time around we talked about whether or not companies should provide free content on their Web sites or put the content behind a pay wall or registration wall. Aaron contended that brand loyalty occurs more naturally and that downloaders are more willing to share details after getting the goods; I brought up issues of offerings and lead generation campaigns, specifically for B2B companies. Take a listen to hear some exceptional points that Aaron makes about these practices.

This week's show is extra special, as Aaron's company Powered announced this morning that it has acquired three other firms -- crayon, Drillteam and StepChange -- and is now launching as a full-service social media agency. Aaron will talk about this on the show on Thursday and will be joined by Joseph Jaffe (crayon), Kevin Tate (StepChange) and Jen Van Der Meer (Drillteam). Aaron will assume the role of special guest and I'll turn the interview tables on him and his new colleagues as we talk about what it means to be a full-service social media agency.

Remember, the Quick'n'Dirty podcast is on at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on Thursdays. Either listen via BlogTalkRadio and join us in chat or subscribe on iTunes by searching for "quickndirty."