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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    GRIN

    Score6.3 out of 10
    N/AGRIN is a creator management software platform that offers a creator search of over 38 million influencers that is not an opt-in influencer network. GRIN states they believe that the connection between brand and creator should not have a middle-man, and therefore we take no commission. GRIN creator management platform helps brands to connect directly with creator prospects and manage creator relationships to scale. The eCommerce integration aims to make product seeding, discount codes &…N/A

    Meltwater

    Score7.6 out of 10
    N/AMeltwater Media Intelligence platform is a set of public relations software tools for media monitoring, social media monitoring, and collecting brand insights. The four areas of functionality are Monitor, Analyze, Distribute, and Engage. (Note that this product combines features from the vendor Meltwater's former Buzz, Press, and News products.)N/A
    Pricing
    GRINMeltwater
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GRINMeltwater
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GRINMeltwater
    Considered Both Products
    GRIN
    Chose GRIN
    Cohley was limited in the number of people that we were able to work with. Influencers had to sign up on their platform to work with us, whereas influencers do not need to sign up with GRIN to work with us now. Also, Cohley makes you pay per campaign so there are a lot of …
    Incentivized
    Meltwater
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    68 Answers
    63%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    55 Answers
    62%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    69 Answers
    69%
    Happy with the feature set
    22 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    56 Answers
    63%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    15 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    57 Answers
    81%
    Implementation went as expected
    22 Answers
    Features
    GRINMeltwater
    Mobile Capabilities
    Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of GRIN and Meltwater
    Feature
    GRIN
    1.0
    1 Ratings
    0% above category average
    Meltwater
    -
    Ratings
    Responsive Design for Web Access1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Application1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile App Analytics1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Influencer Management
    Comparison of Influencer Management features of GRIN and Meltwater
    Feature
    GRIN
    1.3
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Meltwater
    -
    Ratings
    Influencer search1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Influencer tracking2.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Report generation1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign planning1.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GRINMeltwater
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Cision Communications Cloud
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Cision Communications Cloud
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GRINMeltwater
    Likelihood to Recommend
    1.8
    (71 ratings)
    7.2
    (73 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.8
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (10 ratings)
    Usability
    8.1
    (4 ratings)
    5.6
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.3
    (6 ratings)
    10.0
    (29 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.2
    (3 ratings)
    6.1
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GRINMeltwater
    Likelihood to Recommend
    GRIN
    GRIN is well suited for companies that are seeking an all-in-one solution for influencer program management and place a high value in repurposing UGC for marketing purposes. I would also say that GRIN makes sense for those who are aggressively scaling their influencer program and are planning on having at least 100-150 creators in the program. GRIN would be less appropriate for companies who may not have a large influencer program and are merely seeking to track affiliate link/coupon code performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    Meltwater is well-suited for agencies that have an engagement team who is looking to service a variety of client needs such as social media reporting, public relations outreach, and community management. If you're looking to have a platform serve just one need, you can still use Meltwater but will get more bang for your buck if you are needing a variety of tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    GRIN
    • customer service on all levels
    • streamlines resources (creator search, emails, Shopify orders, payments, etc) all on one platform
    • The amount of customization and overall tools - sometimes this feels overwhelming but I'm grateful they are there to build on as I grow my experience with the platform
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    • Media research - you can search for relevant publications and journalists to add to your media list.
    • Earned media coverage - you can search for coverage of your brand and find news stories that also include data that may be useful (how many people did the story reach for example).
    • Building media lists - if you have no current existing list, you can build and export one in Excel for example.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    GRIN
    • Creator search tool - doesn't bring up viable creator options, which means we do primarily off-platform seeding.
    • The landing page is clunky and not functional for reviewing creators - it adds a lot of time to my team's day looking through the creators with the way it's set up.
    • Email templates have funny formatting, and the typeface always seems to get messed up.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    • The dashboards are not user-friendly, customizable (color, font size, etc.), or worthy of presenting to a client. All of the insights from a dashboard get pulled from the platform and placed into a more client-friendly presentation.
    • Paywalls for certain publications connected to who-knows-what. DowJones racket limits media monitoring capabilities and results in manual searches for a growing number of publications.
    • TVeyes, the broadcast monitoring arm of the media monitoring capabilities, just needs TLC and to become more client-facing. Currently, the links produced to share clips look sketchy, and they have a relatively short shelf life.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    GRIN
    I wouldn't be able to run as high of a profitable or functioning influencer program without it. GRIN seriously is the organizational tool that propels us towards success, it is not in any way going to do the work for you, but it does make the work more efficient, easier, and WAY more organized
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    Meltwater works well for our organization and has allowed us to meet our internal goals. We are always open to new products and services that may be able to provide similar or better features; however, our experience has been that many of Meltwater's competitors are not up to the task.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    GRIN
    The user interface of the platform is very well designed and extremely intuitive. You almost don't need an onboarding process because the workflow is so straightforward. The only item I would mention as a downside is the reporting. In order to get comprehensive reports, you need to go into each individual campaign. There is no aggregated report with all conversions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    Once you get some basic training it's pretty easy to use. I would like to see training manuals, or instructional videos to help me explore features I'm not currently using.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    GRIN
    We have our own support rep who helped get us set up, and as odd one off questions have come up has continued to support us. The rep is super knowledgeably and has also helped with some creative ways to get what we need. They are also always super fast to help when anything comes up
    Incentivized
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    Meltwater
    Our account rep at Meltwater went dark for a long time. Then, a couple of weeks ago, our new account manager reached out to set up a meeting. Apparently, they had a big shakeup in the company, and there were some personnel changes. Our new account rep was great in discussing the platform's capabilities that were available to us and even offered to schedule a follow-up meeting with his technical team to introduce our new social media team members to the platform and how it could help them with their jobs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    GRIN
    No answers on this topic
    Meltwater
    Again, really in-depth and helpful for a program that is really easy to use.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    GRIN
    No answers on this topic
    Meltwater
    Walked step by step through program. Very informative on a program that doesn't require much training.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    GRIN
    I don't have any key insights here. If you have someone organized and aware of how the influencer workflow operates then it will be a very easy implementation process for you. I would just ensure you have all of your products setup in Shopify before starting the implementation with Grin.
    Incentivized
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    Meltwater
    You are only allowed 15 users, so make sure you've identified who will have access to use the tool.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    GRIN
    I was looking around at Dovetale, which connected with Shopify, and although it may be an easy connection because it's within the Shopify website, it isn't as user-friendly. It also doesn't offer the same hands-on experience from the GRIN team, 24/7 customer support, or bi-weekly calls with your direct contact. It just doesn't feel like it's worth it to me for the "convenience."
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    I was looking for a full-service option. I did some research. What really sold me was the presentation. They offered products that were helpful, and I wasn’t even aware of them. It is more expensive than the other products that are out there, but you get more. The other companies are good, but Meltwater Media Intelligence is more full service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    GRIN
    • We are just getting moving with Grin but I am excited to grow our overall program.
    • The Grin community has provided a wealth of insights that we have been able to implement.
    • The addition of EMV data has been great for tracking success.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Meltwater
    • As a PR firm, we rely on the media databases that [Meltwater Media Intelligence Platform] supplies to deliver the media exposure that they expect from us.
    • We utilize their tracking of media hits for our overall reporting to our clients.
    • Both of these are advantageous in helping us to not only keep our existing clients happy but also to gain new clients (and, in turn - revenue), as well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    GRIN Screenshots

    Screenshot of Search 36M+ CreatorsScreenshot of Identify Influential CustomersScreenshot of Activate Unlimited CampaignsScreenshot of Track Creator ContentScreenshot of Send Email Templates + SequencesScreenshot of Report on Performance