Let Me Set The Scene…

I love blogging. But, I don’t want to spend time updating all my social media sites every time I write on my blog. I just want to focus on my blog and create awesome content. But what’s the point of great content if people don’t find my blog? Argh! The dilemma. What can I do?

Enter HootSuite and Ping.FM to the Rescue.

Ping.FM allows you to notify up to 42 social media sites about your status updates, micro blog updates or blog posts. See my previous post about how to use Ping.FM like a social media ninja!

Now, with Hootsuite integration, you can have more control over your content updates AND you can track click statistics with Hootsuite’s built in analytics.

Setting It All Up

First, log into your Ping.FM account. Then go to www.Ping.FM/key and get your Ping.FM API Key.

Now, log in to your Hootsuite account. Add a new network and select Ping.FM. Enter your Ping.FM username and API key as below:

Hootsuite-Pingfm-Add

Your Hootsuite is now linked to all the social media sites you’ve setup in Ping.FM.

Tip: I purposely do not add Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Facebook Pages in Ping.FM because I want to update these main sites directly from Hootsuite and/or Seesmic Desktop. I use both these applications interchangeably.

Connect Your Blog’s RSS Feed

Next, you want Hootsuite to send your blog posts to Ping.FM automatically every time you post. To do this, click on the RSS/Atom tab in Hootsuite.

Just add your blog’s RSS feed and select the services you want it to automatically post to. In this case, make sure you include Ping.FM.

Hootsuite-Rss-Setup

Using Hootsuite and Ping.FM

Now you can post to Ping.FM by typing in a Tweet into Hootsuite and selecting Ping.FM or just create a blog post and let the RSS feed from your blog post update all your social networks.

Either way, this is a very convenient and very powerful way of getting your content syndicated once you’ve set it all up.

But the big question is, does it work the way its deigned to work? I’ve searched high and low and nobody seems to have actually put up actual results.

So I decided to put it to the test on my social media sites. Here are the results:

Social Media Sites Updated via Hootsuite and Ping.FM

Brian Wong on Bebo: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Bebo-Yes

Brian Wong on Blogger: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Blogger-Yes

Brian Wong on BrightKite: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Brightkite-Yes

Brian Wong on Diigo: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Diigo-Yes

Brian Wong on Facebook Pages: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! But this is a direct posting from HootSuite and not part of Ping.FMs update.

Facebook-Pages

Brian Wong on Friendster: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Friendster-Yes

Brian Wong on FriendFeed: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! But this not from Ping.FM. It is updated indirectly as FriendFeed picks up my feeds from Twitter and from my blog directly. There is a delay of an hour or so for the feed to get updated.

Friendfeed-Yes

Brian Wong on HI5: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Hi5-Yes

Brian Wong on identi.ca: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Identica-Yes

Brian Wong on Jaiku: no How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesNO!

After several tests, I found that Ping.FM was not updating my Jaiku account for all the type of status updates. I’m still not sure why.

Jaiku-No

Brian Wong on Koornk: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Koornk-Yes

Brian Wong on LiveJournal: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! (But posts show up with no subjects)

Lifejournal-Yes

Brian Wong on Multiply: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! (all posts show up under “Notes”)

Multiply-Yes

Brian Wong on MySpace: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Myspace-Yes

Brian Wong on MyYearBook: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! But I am thinking of removing myself from this network. Just like Tagged, I get a lot of unsavory requests and the site looks like its for horny teenagers. I basically just turn off all email communications in my settings.

Myyearbook-Yes

Brian Wong on Ning.com: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Ning-Yes

Brian Wong on Plaxo Pulse: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! But updated via a direct connection between Plaxo and Twitter

Plaxo-Other

Brian Wong on Plurk: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Plurk-Yes

Brian Wong on Posterous: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Posterous-Yes

Brian Wong on Presently: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Presently-Yes

Brian Wong on Shout’em: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Shoutem-Yes

Brian Wong on StreetMavens.com: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Streetmaven-Yes

Brian Wong on Tagged: no How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesNO! (I suspect this site is a cest pool for perverts and adult services. Since signing up, I get a lot of unsavory requests. Am going to leave this account dormant or remove myself)

Tagged-No

Brian Wong on Tumblr: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Tumblr-Yes

Brian Wong on Twitter: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! This is a direct update from Hootsuite and not from Ping.FM

Twitter-Direct

Brian Wong on TypePad: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Typepad-Yes

Brian Wong on Utterli: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Utterli-Yes

Brian Wong on VOX: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Vox-Yes

Brian Wong on Xanga: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES! Updates appear under the “Pulse” section.

Xanga-Yes

Brian Wong on Yahoo Meme: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Yahoomeme-Yes

Brian Wong on Yahoo Profiles: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Yahooprofile-Yes

Brian Wong on Yammer: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Yammer-Yes

Brian Wong on YouAre.com: yes How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your Wordpress Blog To All Your Social Media SitesYES!

Youare-Yes

Conclusion

As you can see from my little experiment, the success rate of posting to multiple social media sites at once is pretty impressive. I definitely think that Ping.FM and Hootsuite makes a very powerful combination. I especially like the added advantage of being able to view the results of each post via the analytics provided by Hootsuite. So go ahead and register for Hootsuite and Ping.fm

Want more test results? Subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

Please ReTweet this post. I’ve made it easy with a one click-button below. The Tweet and URL links will all be inserted for you. Your followers will appreciate your willingness to share. :)

Retweet-Button2-1

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About the Author

Brian Wong is a serial entrepreneur, Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. Brian helps individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.

20 Comments

HootSuite recently released their iPhone version. This tutorial should come in handy. Thanks Brian.

AmandaNo Gravatar

24. Dec, 2009

This is a great post Brian. I am just getting my blog under way and this is going to come in handy.

Cheers

[...] je suis tombé sur cet article de Brian Wong (How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your WordPress Blog To All Your Social Media Sites) qui explique qu’il est possible (dans une certaine mesure) d’utiliser Identi.ca depuis [...]

SarahNo Gravatar

14. Jan, 2010

Wong knows his ping and hoot

Phil PowdrillNo Gravatar

31. Jan, 2010

Brian

Thanks for taking the time and effort to create this step-by-step guide.

Had to create a post sending my own readers over to see this article –
http://www.onlinebusinesscoach-phil.com/i-write...

Thanks again
Phil

Brian WongNo Gravatar

31. Jan, 2010

Your welcome. Glad you find it useful. :)

StephanieNo Gravatar

16. Apr, 2010

Why PING.fm and not Friendfeed?

Brian WongNo Gravatar

16. Apr, 2010

There are many ways to setup a syndication system. For me, Ping.FM integrates with Hootsuite and can update my Friendfeed account as well. I use Hootsuite daily to check my accounts so that’s why I use that as the source of the content.

AnthonyNo Gravatar

28. May, 2010

Hi Brian this is absolutely one of the best posts I have ever read when it comes to social bookmarking. Also you have made it so easy to follow that my 2 year daughter could do it. I have set up my site with Hootsuite and Pingfm and it really does work. My site name is http://yourautoinsurancequotes.com so if interested check it out. Hey I tried to do the same thing with Onlywire but it did not work for me. Thanks for the great post and I will be checking back soon for more posts. Thanks alot Brian.

MarcNo Gravatar

17. Jun, 2010

Brian stated “I purposely do not add Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Facebook Pages in Ping.FM because I want to update these main sites directly from Hootsuite and/or Seesmic Desktop.”

Why do you choose to do this?

Is it because you don’t want certain tweets to go to Facebook
and generate unwanted replies?

Have you written an entry about your social media workflow yet?

Thanks

Brian WongNo Gravatar

17. Jun, 2010

I classify Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as “tier-1″ social networks so I don’t want to have automated posts appearing there. Secondly I add a lot of status updates manually so I want to be in full control of my posts to the tier-1 sites.

Great idea about outlining my social media workflow. I will make a post on that.

MarcNo Gravatar

25. Jun, 2010

@Brian Wong – Thanks for the reply!
HootSuite’s website got an update last night:
HTML 5-based, 3 Themes to choose from (if you like TweetDeck’s look, you’ll love the new ‘Magnum’ theme), Default retweet is now like Twitter’s style of Retweet, Site Analytics now have Google Analytics ‘baked in,’ Enhanced Facebook and more. Simply login to your HootSuite Account and you will be presented with a new features tour window.

Still need the old style HootSuite ReTweets or to schedule ReTweets?
Click the Owl-> Settings-> Preferences-> Uncheck “Use Twitter Web retweets”

WISH LIST –

It would be nice if HootSuite added the ability to measure, count and display RETWEETS from your links within My Tweets, Retweeted.

OW.LY links still cannot be tracked when used with Facebook yet.

Earlier they had removed the troublesome iFrame problem associated with the OW.LY links entirely, but still need to expand their click-thru tracking capabilities (namely Facebook) if they want to keep folks from cut/pasting bit.ly-generated links.

Looking forward to learning more about your workflow!

[...] How To Use HootSuite & Ping.FM to Publish Your WordPress Blog To All Your Social Media Sites [...]

Paul SchlegelNo Gravatar

13. Aug, 2010

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have two very popular blogs and for some reason could not wrap my head around how to syndicate them through ping.fm – I was unaware that hootsuite could feed into ping.fm!

SachinNo Gravatar

20. Aug, 2010

Thanks nice post…
It saves my a lot times…
thx

TinaNo Gravatar

21. Aug, 2010

why do you use both hootsuite and ping? i’m still trying to get my brain wrapped around this…is there a reason for using both and not one or the other?

also, it seems you are saying that your content is posted directly at hootsuite, correct? is there a way to have content posted on a wordpress blog and have THAT feed to ping or hootsuite…i just am thinking that i prefer to post the actual content on my blog itself, and then notify people via facebook, twitter, etc, that a post has been made so they go back to my site to read it. is this not an efficient way of doing it?

i’m just learning here, so i’m trying to figure out how best to do this. its very confusing with all the options! :)

Brian WongNo Gravatar

21. Aug, 2010

Hi Tina, read this post and look at the diagram and I think it will become clearer: http://brianwong.com/blog/how-to-automate-your-blog-workflow-and-increase-your-search-engine-ranking/

TInaNo Gravatar

23. Aug, 2010

thank you brian, that is helpful! i really appreciate you spelling all this out to make it clearer to newbies like me.

there is one thing i wonder that isn’t mentioned there, and i’m not sure if you’ve mentioned it elsewhere in your site…

i find it soooo easy to post to facebook and twitter via all the links so many people provide on their web articles and such these days…easier, i think, than creating a blog post…although i plan to do a lot of blog posts, of course, as well…but for quick links to articles or retweets…is there a way to have those feed back to my wordpress (self hosted) site?

maybe i missed it somewhere…but it just seems like the reverse could also be set up to send the info back to my blog if i tweet or post to facebook…is the way to do that just via the sidebar widgets that i can install to show the twitter and facebook feeds? or is there a way to have twitter/facebook post an actual blog post to my blog?

thanks again, you are actually really helping me sort through the confusion of all this info that is so very overwhelming! i set up my hootsuite account last night and so far i’m LOVING IT! having everything in one place instead of having to log off and on all the time is REALLY handy!

JoeNo Gravatar

26. Aug, 2010

This post was exactly what I was looking for. I have 2 blogs plus multiple client blogs and I was using the shareaholic plugin to send my posts to ping.fm since I could not find a plugin to reliably send my posts to ping.fm. The shareaholic process was working but it required too many steps and time that was adding up when working with multiple blogs and posts. Thanks for taking the time to write this thorough post.

JoeNo Gravatar

01. Sep, 2010

I think I spoke to soon. I have been trying to set this up and I followed the steps exactly as described. Hootsuite says “Feeding” for the status of my RSS feed, I’ve added my ping.fm account as described pasting my ping.fm key and saving my account but hootsuite will not post my new posts (or any posts) to ping.fm.
Is anyone else having a similar problem or am I doing something wrong?
If I could get this to work, it would make life so much easier…

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