Hootsuite Zapier integrationAutomate Hootsuite with Zapier.
The Hootsuite Zapier integration gives you 2 triggers and 4 actions, with no search step. Schedule posts from another tool, react when a post lands in the calendar, push content to your team. All of it runs on the free plan.
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What the Hootsuite Zapier integration actually does
It links your Hootsuite account to Zapier so that an event on one side runs a step on the other, without you copying anything by hand. Hootsuite can start an automation (a post gets scheduled, a message goes out) or receive one (a message to schedule, content to suggest). Every check on the Hootsuite side is a timed one: nothing here is instant.
Three results people usually build first. A publishing log: each time New Post Scheduled picks up a fresh post, a row lands in a spreadsheet, so the client or your manager sees the week's plan without a Hootsuite seat. A calendar fed from elsewhere: a new article in your CMS, a product added to your shop, and Schedule Message puts the post in the queue of the social profile you chose. Content handed to the team: Suggest Content to Amplify hands your colleagues a ready-to-share text, with the networks it may go out on.
What Zapier does not do here matters as much. There is no search step, so a Zap cannot look up an existing post or profile before acting. Analytics are absent too: none of the six operations reads campaign results. And the two triggers are polled, so a free-plan Zap can see an event up to 15 minutes late.
If you compare tools, the Hootsuite Make integration covers the same app on Make, and the n8n vs Zapier comparison sits next to it.
The Zapier words you need, in one minute
Eight terms come back on every line of this page. Read them once and the rest goes fast.
- Zap
- The automation you build: one starting event, then one or more steps that run each time that event happens.
- Trigger
- The event that starts the Zap. Once the Zap is switched on, Zapier waits for it and nothing else.
- Action
- What the Zap does after it starts: the step that writes, sends or schedules something for you in an app.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills. One action that completes successfully counts as one task on your monthly allowance.
- Polling trigger
- A trigger Zapier checks on a timer, asking the app for new items and keeping only the ones it has not seen.
- Instant trigger
- A trigger the app reports by itself the moment the event happens. Hootsuite has none of these on Zapier.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap carry on only when the incoming data meets your condition, and stops it otherwise.
- Connection
- Your Hootsuite account linked to Zapier once, then reused by every step of every Zap that touches Hootsuite.
What a Hootsuite Zap really costs
Short version: the trigger is free, and each action that goes through costs one task.
- Free plan100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps
- Premium appNo, Hootsuite works on the free plan
- Trigger checksFree, never billed
- Free plan limitOne trigger plus one action per Zap
Watching Hootsuite for a new scheduled post or a sent message costs nothing, however often Zapier checks. You pay only when an action succeeds, and a failed action is not counted. A Zap with three actions eats three times what a one-action Zap eats. The catch on the free plan: it builds two-step Zaps only. Add a filter, a second action or a search, and the Zap becomes multi-step, which needs a paid plan.
Connect your Hootsuite account in three steps
- 01
Open the Apps page
In Zapier, go to Apps and click + Add connection. Type Hootsuite in the dialog and pick it from the list. You need a Hootsuite account, and access to any profile you do not own yourself.
- 02
Sign in to Hootsuite
Click Add connection. A new tab opens on Hootsuite's own sign-in page. Log in with the account that holds the social profiles your Zaps will publish to, not a personal one you rarely use.
- 03
Grant access
Accept the access request so Zapier can read and write on that account. The connection then shows up in your list, and every Hootsuite step in every Zap can reuse it without asking again.
Your first Hootsuite Zap, step by step
GoalEvery time a post is scheduled in Hootsuite, log it in a shared spreadsheet, but only for one profile.
- 01
Create the Zap
Start a new Zap and pick Hootsuite as the app that starts it, with New Post Scheduled as the event. Choose your Hootsuite connection.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent scheduled posts of the account, so you map the next steps on a real post rather than on empty fields.
- 03
Add the filter
Add a Filter step from the plus icon. Pick the field to look at, the rule, and the value. This step makes the Zap multi-step, so a paid plan is needed.
- 04
Add the action
Add the spreadsheet step and map the post's text, date and profile into the columns. Test it once and open the sheet to check the row looks right.
- 05
Publish
Click Publish to switch the Zap on. From then on, every new scheduled post that passes the filter becomes a row, and posts scheduled earlier stay out.
Hootsuite triggers on Zapier
2 events start a Zap when something happens in Hootsuite. Zapier checks for them at the interval your plan allows.
Outbound Message Sent
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new message is received.”
Starts the Zap on a message coming out of your Hootsuite account, which makes it the event to watch when you care about what actually went out rather than what was planned. Its official wording speaks of a new message received, so test it on your own account before you rely on it.
New Post Scheduled
Polling triggerIn Zapier“Triggers when a new post is scheduled.”
Picks up every post that enters the Hootsuite calendar. This is the trigger for keeping an outside record of the plan: an approval sheet, a weekly digest, a ticket for the designer.
Hootsuite actions on Zapier
Hootsuite gives you 4 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Create Media Upload Job
ActionIn Zapier“Creates a new media upload job.”
Opens an upload job for a media file on the Hootsuite side and hands back its reference to the next steps. It is a building block more than a result on its own.
Get Media Upload Status
ActionIn Zapier“Gets the status of a media upload process.”
Asks Hootsuite where a media upload stands, using the job reference from the previous step. You get a status the following steps can read.
Schedule Message
ActionIn Zapier“Schedules a message to send to one or more social profiles.”
Puts a post in the queue of one or more social profiles, at the time you set or straight away if you tick Post immediately?. This is the action most Hootsuite Zaps end on.
Suggest Content to Amplify
ActionIn Zapier“Suggest content to amplify”
Hands a piece of content to your team as a suggestion to amplify, ready for colleagues to share on their own accounts. Only the text is required; the rest are switches, such as which networks it may go to, whether it is pinned and whether it can be edited.
When a Hootsuite Zap breaks
Zapier links no help article to Hootsuite, so the failures below are the ones every polled app shares.
None of them is exotic, and each one has a plain fix. If a Zap still misbehaves after these checks, the Zapier troubleshooting page goes further.
Old posts never show up
A Zap reacts only to what happens after you publish it. Posts already in the calendar stay out, and moving that backlog is a separate job.The Zap keeps firing itself
A Zap that schedules a post on the same account its New Post Scheduled trigger watches sets itself off again, and burns through tasks fast.A bulk import is held back
Schedule dozens of posts at once from a CSV and the trigger returns a huge batch. Zapier's flood protection can hold it back.A post seems skipped
Zapier remembers what it already saw on a polled trigger, so the same post never starts the Zap twice. Check the Zap history before assuming a post was lost.
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