HootSuite, perhaps the best-known tech company out of Vancouver these days, is a success story for many reasons. Though its valuation remains undisclosed, there’s a good chance the social media firm is worth north of $1 billion now, an exceptionally rare feat for any tech company (let alone a Canadian one). It also attracted $165 million in funding last summer, a record for a Canadian software company; and if we’re to believe CEO Ryan Holmes, HootSuite’s revenue grew 300% in 2013.
But one of the biggest reasons to be bullish on HootSuite has nothing to do with cash flow. Rather, it’s simple brand recognition. And in this category, HootSuite absolutely demolishes the competition. Anecdotally, I suspected this was already true, but Marketing Land today published a survey that backs my theory up with cold, hard data. According to the Marketing Land 2014 Marketing Technology Survey, HootSuite is by far the most recognized social media management firm on the planet. For 50.6% of readers, it was the first company of its kind that came to mind. For perspective, Google won the analytics category with 50.4% of votes.
“HootSuite crushed all comers handily with more than 50 percent brand recognition,” wrote Marketing Land editor-in-chief Matt McGee. “Salesforce.com/Buddy Media and Google/Wildfire were a very distant second and third place, respectively.”
In other words, there isn’t even a strong second-place contender. That’s a good position for any company to be in—especially one as financially fit as HootSuite. Not that it doesn’t face hurdles; its product is prone to technical hiccups, in part because of the ever-changing nature of the social media websites it works with.
This story originally appeared in Canadian Business.
