January 26, 2016
Sprout Social Review: "Entry Level Solution"
Likelihood to Renew
5
TrustRadius
https://media.trustradius.com/product-logos/Sh/i0/UB2ZWQ2XJ8XW.PNGSprout SocialEntry Level Solution2016-01-26T17:59:27.843ZSprout Social is used within our marketing department and customer care department. We schedule content, and reply and engage with customers via Sprout Social.,Sprout Social is pretty intuitive, so it makes it an easy to understand tool for teams outside of our social team to understand and adapt to.
Lately, Sprout Social has been adding more features, especially for reporting and specifically Instagram as a channel.,Sprout Social could be adopting to trends faster.
Mobile app is clunky for on the go publishing, monitoring and reporting.,6,4,Better Customer Care.
Ease of work for marketing team: scheduling content, proficient in day to day.,,5Shauna GallagherAn Honest Review About Sprout Social's Effectiveness2016-01-22T17:37:00.457ZThe organization I previously worked for used Sprout Social to do a variety of things. The social tool was used to schedule and manage social posting. We used the social listening tool it has, and the analytic reports Sprout Social allows you to export as PDF files. All of this was done to help manage our clients' social media accounts, and help track their social progress.,Sprout Social has an easy to use interface that allows non-tech savvy people to easily maneuver their way around the tool.
Sprout Social allows team collaboration, task management, and progress tracking for your social teams.
Sprout Social combines social listening, engagement, and management all into one platform.,For the features and functionality Sprout Social offers, the platform is a bit pricey.
While Sprout Social tries act as a one-stop shop social media management tool, it doesn't excel in two of its key features: social listening and social analytics.
Sprout Social is a great tool is you're not tech savvy or social savvy. It's easier for you to manage, but that's about it. Creating the value is up to you.,5,,Sprout Social helped contribute to our clients' social followings, but you don't need a social management tool to do that.
If you need an easy-to-use social media management tool, then pick Sprout Social. If you need to track ROI metrics, I suggest you do some research.
If tracking your social media team's efforts are a business objective, then pick Sprout Social.,Hootsuite Pro, Buffer, Bitly, Spider and TweetDeck,Buffer, TweetDeck,1Fernando RamirezA must use tool for social media success!!!2013-10-29T18:45:41.673ZCurrently Sprout Social is used as our Social Media Scheduling Tool and we also use it for compiling some organic metrics.,Very easy to schedule posts for several different social media properties at once
Love the ability to view website traffic from Google Analytics within the interface
Very clean interface and slick interface!
Awesome reporting
Very easy to reply to mentions and view who retweeted your content,Can't export scheduled posts from calendar view into excel
Wish there was an export to view all your Twitter followers,10,2,Increase employee efficiency
We have been able to triple our conversion rate by scheduling more branded content at highly engaged times.,Sysomos and Percolate,Simply Measured, Google Analytics, Sysomos Heartbeat,8,8,9Michelle LynnSprout Social - Grow your customer engagement using Social media2015-12-11T22:46:51.845ZSprout Social is used to manage various social profiles across the social platforms. Different teams for different departments use Sprout Social to enhance customer engagement and run campaigns. Once integrated with the CRM solution, tickets can be generated for customer concerns on social media and assigned to relevant teams. It also enables scheduling the content to various social networks from a single console and keeping track of what is being discussed about the business across all social media.,Sprout Social comes with a built in CRM which helps agents in more personalized responses to clients in line with their past conversations
Sprout Social has a Viral Post feature which has some sophisticated machine learning algorithms at the back end to decide the best time to post content on different mediums so as to get the maximum customer engagement
Sprout Social enables to post the content to the correct target segment like a specific organization, geography,industry or a particular institution. The content makes more sense to the relevant people and builds a strong perception among the target audience.
Sprout Social also supports bit.ly URL shortener, which makes it easy to post links on Twitter and make your posts look uncluttered. Further, you can track from within Sprout Social that how many people clicked on the link or forwarded the link.,A lot of social networks have been left unsupported by Sprout Social like Youtube and Pinterest. I believe it needs to support every medium to become a comprehensive social media management solution.
The ability to schedule content to various social mediums is limited in functionality. It does not let me chose a different time for each day when the content is supposed to be posted.
It is not very intuitive to figure out what all messages have already been catered and responded to.,8,Our social media management team size has reduced and customer response turnaround time has reduced
We are always aware about the various discussions involving our brand and can pitch in if some clarification is required. This helps in creating the right brand perception and a higher conversion of prospects into customers.
Earlier we used to broadcast the content which was not relevant to a lot of people. This was harming our reputation in eyes of customers for which the content was totally irrelevant. Now we can post the content to the right customer groups.,AgoraPulse, Hootsuite Pro,7Tapan JainWhy YOU should check out Sprout Social!2013-10-26T21:09:59.932ZI absolutely love the Sprout Social's customer service - it's phenomenal! You can always reach a person 24/7 and get a speedy response via email, chat support, phone or even by tweeting to them. I feel pretty sure that at one point, Carolyn (one of their AWESOME customer service reps - she also wears other hats!) was pretty familiar with my name!
The dashboard is extremely user-friendly and makes the product extremely easy to use. Although it's rare I have a question about using the dashboard, customer service is always there immediately if I do!
Sprout Social is constantly improving their product. I love using their services because I know that this isn't as good as it's going to get (although pretty awesome) - but that they will always continue to one-up themselves! They grasp that social is constantly changing - and they want to provide the best services for their customers as possible.
Another awesome thing about Sprout is their app! It's also very user-friendly and comes quite in handy when I'm live-tweeting events for the university. It's definitely extremely helpful in keeping up with our multiple social accounts when I'm traveling, which is frequently.,One of the big things that Sprout Social is lacking is better Twitter analytics. While they do provide great information for my analytics reports, I still feel that they could be pulling in additional data that would be extremely beneficial to users.
I really wish that Sprout Social gave users the ability to manage additional social platforms, such as LinkedIn and Pinterest. This would be immensely helpful!
Sometimes when I archive messages in my inbox (and I typically average 100-150 a day, if not more), these messages will pop back up in my inbox either later that afternoon or weeks from when the original message was archived. I opened up my inbox this summer and found messages from February that had been previously archived!,9,3,My Sprout Social inbox is never closed, so when I hear a notification I check it immediately. Working in higher education, I'm managing multiple top-level accounts for the university, and Sprout makes it possible for all of that information to come to one place and helps me to quickly respond to people as soon as I receive notification!
Sprout Social definitely contributes to my efficiency. Being able to manage, schedule and respond all from one place instead of logging into multiple social accounts is extremely helpful and saves time.,8,1,10,Yes,One time my analytics reports were not reading accurately, so I called and Carolyn responded and began to help me address the issue. After thorough explanation of my problem, she let me know that they were looking at my account and would be in touch shortly about this issue as soon as they looked at the specific problem. I received an email in 15 minutes, saying that the problem has now been fixed, and they asked if I could please check on my analytics reports to make sure the problem was resolved. I did indeed check, the problem was resolved, and I emailed them back to let them know. I told Carolyn to have a great weekend in my email, and although she did not have any further information concerning my account, I received another email from her to wish me a good weekend, too! I appreciated the kind gesture.,Scheduling posts with Sprout Social is extremely easy! I'm also happy that I have the ability to schedule a post to Google+, if necessary.
I love the analytics reports - the colors used make it easy on the eyes to read, while still being aesthetically pleasing.,Archiving messages in the inbox can be difficult at times. I receive a large volume almost daily, and sometimes after archiving and clearing my inbox, those same messages will pop up in my inbox later that day. I've also had a situation where I checked my inbox this past summer and had messaged from February that had been previously archived!,Yes,9Olivia Ann HurstWhat is the best Social Media management solution?2014-04-12T19:49:36.389ZI began searching for a Social Media Management and Monitoring tool when I realized that I was finding it increasingly difficult to create the content, manage the outgoing messages and also monitor our social media venues effectively. It came down to Sprout Social. It is being used by the Marketing Department, specifically the Social Media group.,Simple to understand visual reports: the kind you can just SEND to managers, without the need to EXPLAIN what they mean :)
A robust scheduling platform so you can arrange the content for the week according to your publishing topics and still be allowed to manually intervene when/if needed
Being cloud-based and also available for smartphones and tablets allows for reliability: you'll always have some form of access to your material and venues, no matter where you are.
When we first started using SproutSocial they were still showing the "posted via" signature on Facebook, now it is gone. So the experience users see and live is made to look like it just came from a human, not by a scheduled machine, which is a great personal touch.
With LinkedIn Pages support in the building, they'll surely add another important platform to their portfolio.,Add YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr
Offer a freemium model,10,1,Cut down budget for having multiple persons on specific digital venues
Better employer branding as we manage all of our job offers through Facebook too
Allows for a proper corporate presence on social media, making sure that each (supported) venue is covered,,10,1,live feed from our events (Twitter, Facebook)
managing our daily social media feeds
nline contests: we are able to calculate the time-stamp of any message, based on the publish time we set in SproutSocial for each,I still remember the face of our Marketing Director when I showed him the smart inbox and all those mentions of us :)
I was also surprised by the multiple use of the word "iQuest" out there. So many websites and digital venues were using it and Sprout Social discovered them :),add teams and allocate specialists: one person for Twitter, one for Facebook etc. They can all work in the same app but on specific venues they are best at using.,No,Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Third-party Reviews,Would not chnage anything,Implemented in-house,No,Change management was minimal,nothing significant,10,Online training,10,10,Yes,Yes, it was 1-2AM, I was preparing for a meeting the next day where I had to present the past 6 months for all digital venues. I remember planning the design of the reports and then it hit me: I could just easily use the amazing designed PDF reports Sprout Social was producing and show them those. Great choice! Went back to sleep and nailed it the next day in the meeting room.,reporting
smart inbox,keywords (would rather have a drop-down where I can select my own variations/combinations, then write things like "keyword -from @username etc),Yes,10,8,10,10,10,Method of payment,Try to be honest and true about your business and objectives. They will not try to upsell crap to you, so the more you open in an initial approach and let them know your needs, th ebetter your profile will be matched against a solution that vest fits your needs.Valentin VesaSprout Social is a top-notch SMMS2013-10-29T15:01:27.150ZSprout has an excellent support system. When we submit a ticket, a representative responds typically within an hour. They're even reachable by phone.
Sprout's analytics are easy to understand for newbies to social media metrics. It strikes a great balance between advanced users and beginners.
The RSS reader and bitly integration is fantastic and convenient!,It would be great to see additional platform support, like Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. I know Sprout is limited by each platform's API though.,9,Sprout gives its customers a true look at their social performance. Instead of pulling numbers from organic searches and within each platform, Sprout compiles the data into digestible percentages.
The teams and task functions allow for easy management of other users, which is wonderful from a social media team standpoint.,9,8,No,Yes! Just the other day, a colleague was having problems with connecting to Sprout. Within twenty minutes a Sprout rep had fixed the issue. Great experience.,8Ryan CollinsSprout Social Review2014-01-03T18:00:11.764ZI love the UI and UX design of Sprout. It is so easy to use and visually pleasing.
Sprout creates visually pleasing reports that wow my executive team.
Also, all the data is available via CSV files, so I can upload it to Anametrix via the Anametrix Excel Plugin. This is great because even though sprout does not have a connector to Anametrix, it does not prevent me from accessing the power of Anametrix web analytics,There is no much I dislike about sprout, but there are a few things that would make it better. Instagram and Pinterest connectors would be a great addition.
I would love to see the addition of a connector to a Linkedin company page.
Overall the Analytics could be more comprehensive and include connector to the ad networks from Facebook, Twitter, Adwords, and Linkedin.,10,Sprout saves me about 2 hrs a week and allows to me to monitor Twitter extremely well, but if it connected to more social networks it could save me even more time.,9,7Ryan MontanoSeeded in Metrics, Sprout Social Grows Your Strategic Marketing2013-10-26T21:18:48.542ZIntegrates well with major social media channels twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ to post consistent messaging across channels.
Great metrics to help understand who is following on what channel and how well a message does in that channel.
Only aggregate that gets some data from Google+.
Very easy to learn, program for delivery delays and to integrate into messaging strategy.
Smart Inbox is great for seeing responses quickly and being able to respond to them in with a single contact point.
Great for team work and managing team messaging strategy, workflow and tasks in digital communications.,You shouldn't have to pay $20 more a month just to get Google Analytics integration when you can get Google Analytics for free.
Metrics can be skewed if your organization is required to be 8-5, Monday-Friday – especially in the response time. Should be a way to adjust for operational hours.
LinkedIn only grabs my personal account and not our City page, so while it works with LinkedIn, it isn't very helpful for the organization.
Would like to see more for Google+ data.,Positive impact – Great way to keep track of ROI with easy metrics that even non-tech and non-marketing people understand when you present it to them.
Positive impact – Great tool for planning messaging strategy by getting the right content to the right audience on the right medium.
Positive impact – Has helped justify the importance of time spent on digital communications to organizational administrators.,9,5,8Shonda RansonSprout Social: Easy to Navigate for a Novice User2014-10-21T21:38:23.618ZWhen I was actively utilizing Sprout Social, it was on a daily basis for a small magazine and coinciding website. Daily, I would post news stories/articles on the website as requested by the company's owner. In addition, I was required to also post these stories to Twitter and Facebook as a means to direct traffic to the story on the company's website. Multiple news stories/articles were posted on the website daily, therefore it was essential to schedule the tweets and posts to Facebook so that our followers would not be bombarded with information all at once. In a company with employees from all around the world, Sprout Social was an essential and effective tool that each employee could use despite the varying time zone differences. Our tweets and Facebook posts were all scheduled to post via EST, thus making for great organizational tool for all employees.,Superb Organizational Tool: As an editor, I was able to easily schedule the company's website content (i.e. articles and news stories) via Sprout Social to publish on Twitter and Facebook at a specific time so that readers and social media followers would not be bombarded with stories all at once.
Simple and Effective Marketing Tool: The use of hashtags via Twitter and Facebook allowed me to direct our content to specific people in specific locations. Also, being able to schedule content, via Sprout Social, from the website to post on Twitter and Facebook helped to drive readers to the company's website.
Adaptable for all types of users with different backgrounds: As an editor with a writing background, I was unfamiliar with social media and marketing when I first began working for the company in which I was employed. However, Sprout Social is simple to navigate and it provides users with helpful tips and instructional elements to better understand how it works.,As a basic user, I did not delve into any of the perhaps "complexities" of Sprout Social. However, there were times when I would schedule content to publish on Facebook or Twitter and it would indeed not publish. Therefore, immediate notification of error would be helpful.
When I first began using Sprout Social, I did find it difficult to understand how to incorporate an image to post to Facebook. While I did teach myself how to do it, the steps were a bit confusing upon first use. Therefore I would recommend simple image uploading to improve Sprout Social use for beginners.,When I was working for the company in which I utilized Sprout Social, I did see immediate feedback when sending tweets to specific users, as I was able to schedule tweets to go out to those people when I knew they'd be "awake" despite differences in time zones.
Sprout Social helped the company grow in regards to gaining followers on Twitter (as we were able to schedule our tweets for go out at specific times), and schedule posts for Facebook did drive our followers to the company's website to see the original content.,8,,8,9,,10,Scheduling posts to publish on Twitter
Scheduling posts to publish on Facebook
Implementing hashtags to reach target audiences,Uploading images to publish to Facebook,8Jennifer WagnerSprout is Okay, But Not Great for Us.2013-10-27T13:45:58.554ZPlatform is great for engaging users on Twitter.
Platform makes it easy to collaborate with other team members to assign tasks and communicate internally.
The platform is very user-friendly and well-designed.
I love that they integrate scheduling for Google +. This is not available on many other platforms and is a big draw for us.
The Twitter comparisons are helpful - they allow you to compare your brand on Twitter to your competitors in a very broad overview.,While Sprout is very easy to schedule, there are some deficiencies. For instance, tagging Facebook users is not possible through their platform. This is very inhibiting. Also the scheduled posts only can appear as a feed and not as a monthly or weekly overview, which would be helpful.
I find the reporting to be pretty lacking. It doesn't allow any customization and the data it reports is similar to what you could see through Facebook or Twitter analytics. It doesn't offer any time-over-time comparisons, sentiment analysis, keyword analysis, or any overall brand analysis. This is largely the reason for my negative feelings about the platform.,Increased employee efficiency through scheduling.
Lack of reporting data has created decreased employee efficiency because manual reports are needed weekly to supplement Sprout reporting.
We do not use the platform as much for engagement due to brand restrictions, so some of Sprouts shining achievements are not beneficial to us in particular.,7,4Stephanie SpearHaley's 2 Cents on Sprout2013-10-27T14:11:16.798ZSchedule content, but only Twitter.
Reporting! Reporting is by far my favorite tool of Sprout Social. It is easy to create custom reports for my clients using Sprout Social reporting. Exporting PDF and CSV make it so easy.
Discovery, it really helps my clean up my following on Twitter. I also can discover many people through searches and creating lists within Sprout.
Managing multiple content writers and community managers permissions and track what they have done.,I don't know if the clicks on Twitter are most accurate and I also wish it could pull in tweets.
I schedule all of my Facebook and Google+ posts on those social platforms, because it doesn't allow proper Facebook tags and the Google+ hashtags don't always show up.
I wish there was a Pinterest integration.,Increased employee efficiency, with creating content and scheduling content.
Customer Service: It makes keeping track of a follower/customers history very easy to keep track of.
The reporting has helped us internally figure out the ROI,7,8Haley HoltSleek, easy to use, provides premium data2013-11-12T16:45:39.182ZSprout Social was maybe like the second platform to come along to streamline social media management, but I love the ease of navigation within the SS platform, & it provides far better [& detailed] analytics.
Ease of social engagement is the easiest, I think, of all of the social media cross-platform management systems.
SS is more sleek & appealing, aesthetically.
Appreciate the flexibility of choosing which data is relevant in managing analytic reporting.,Maybe this is a FB issue, but I sure would appreciate being allowed to manage my FB Business page directly from SS. [Always get that obnoxious "you are currently posting as (business page login) & you must post as (personal log-in) to continue" message.] Can only access my personal FB pg which is a direct portal to my business page, which leaves my FB business posting at manual status currently.,Improved | increased engagement.
Faster lead conversion.
Improved handle on data.,10,2,1,Increase engagement.
Ramp-up conversions.
Extend brand messaging.,Sharing commentary via Twitter chats across LI & FB platforms to increase audience.
Share commentary via FB posts to drag audience from other platforms there.
Engage with quality data handlers of other brands to help me with managing my own data.,Brainstorming over that with my business coach. I'll let you know.,10Annesa L LaceyVery Happy With Sprout Social to Manage Our Social Media Accounts2014-10-17T16:03:44.545ZWe use Sprout Social to manage the social media accounts for our company as well as our clients. The tools allow us to stay on top on social trends and they have excellent reporting tools for us to share with our clients. The main reason we made the switch to Sprout Social was the reporting.,Their reporting is excellent.
It's easy to use for multiple accounts.
It's not free but it is reasonably priced.
They have excellent customer service.,The platform layout isn't that exciting.
No freemium model can make it a tough sell to clients.,Sprout has easily allowed us to demonstrate the value of social media to our clients.
They make it easy for us to manage many accounts in one place.,9,,3,10Mike WolfeGrowing a social garden one sprout at a time.2014-10-19T20:05:23.743ZIn my consulting business, I recommended and implement social tools for small businesses and non-profit organizations. The strength of this product is in its ease of set up and reporting. We like it because it saves time and increases efficiency. The reporting is simple yet powerful.,The set-up and organization of social profiles, properties and networks makes it easy to manage and organize.
Publishing and monitoring for Facebook Twitter Linkedin Google+
Easy to set up and report on social metrics.
Google analytic integration.,Training on the product to build understanding, depth and breath of social reports and coverage.
Increase application integration with the ability to publish and monitor beyond its current capacity, i.e., LinkedIn business pages, business blog, and other social sites.
Limited reports and support.,Based on the monthly fee and the traction received from using the tool, did not see a direct return on investment.
Increased knowledge and understanding of social tools and how they function.
Social can help guide organizations to develop business objectives which are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.,5,,5,4,HootSuite Pro,HootSuite Enterprise,HootSuite Free,5,,Looking to Increase brand awareness and influence.
Seeking to Identify influencers to connect and engage.
Understanding the value of campaign metrics and reporting.,Saving lots of time finding and scheduling content.
Easy to connect with other like-minded individuals and business owners.,As a business grows Sprout Social will expand with the needs of that growth.Doreen NicastroAll You Need is Sprout Social2014-10-15T19:41:58.332ZSprout Social allows me to link all my clients profiles in one place and keep track of who is talking about them and when. The ease of scheduling posts and tracking results makes Sprout Social my first choice above all other social media distribution platforms.,Ease of scheduling posts.
Easy to read analytical reports.
Tracking conversations,Needs to be able to post to LinkedIn business pages
Forces you to put text above an image. Some images do not need text.
LinkedIn and Google+ analytics missing from reports.,My clients love the easy to read analytical reports and it is a big selling point.
I have a lot of clients, so the investment in Sprout Social is small compared to the ROI.,10,,10,10,HootSuite Pro,Buffer,10Pilcher, MBA LauraSproutSocial - Easy to use and effective. Save yourself some time and utilize Sprout.2014-06-02T16:19:42.929ZSproutSocial is used by every employee within the organization. We use it primarily to program content for clients' social media outlets. We focus primarily within the 'Publishing' section versus any other section. It allows us to manage our social content in a quick and easy way.,SproutSocial allows you to see the entire month when you look at what's scheduled. You are able to see exactly what days already have content. This makes it easier to program and allows you to make sure you don't double-program.
The 'Reports' page is easy to read. Some analytics tools can be overwhelming or very confusing. SproutSocial makes it easy to see the analytics for each outlet that your organization controls. It's also easy to export all the data - this is especially helpful when printing off analytics for clients.,You cannot schedule content for LinkedIn through SproutSocial. Some of our clients want to post to LinkedIn so it makes it harder. It would be easier to be able to use SproutSocial for everything.
Only one employee at a time can be logged into SproutSocial. This is very difficult when several employees need to program for different clients. If another employee signs on while someone else is in the program, the first person on will be kicked off without warning. This often causes whatever project the employee was working on to be lost.,8,There has been an increase in employee efficiency by using this product. We are able to get on and plan quickly and easily. It takes less time than actually going onto the outlet and posting through the real site. This way, we are able to plan weeks, even months, ahead of time and that allows us to spend our time doing other things that are needed.
Our clients have been able to see their social media results through SproutSocial Analytics. It's been a great tool to have and the clients really appreciate it. The analytics truly are in-depth and easy to read -- even for those who don't really have a huge grasp on the world of social media.,,9Mckenzie MastersSprout Social Review2014-09-16T22:00:35.100ZWe tested Sprout Social for 2 months after reviewing a slew of social media marketing tools. The detailed analysis across all social channels and the amount and type of data that was available was very helpful. We utilized the software for our own social media marketing as well as clients social media marketing. It helped us keep a central dashboard to manage many social media accounts for many different users.,Social Media Analytics
Cross channel analysis for performance of social media campaigns
Management of multiple social media accounts for multiple organizations,The pricing is cost prohibitive for resale to small to medium businesses,4,Increased Employee Efficiency
Better follow up with leads,HootSuite Pro,Buffer,1Steve KaplanSprout social is a must have for social media masters!2013-10-28T21:50:50.343ZI love how easy this tool is to use, it has really taken our social media efforts to the next level.
The Publisher feature is helpful in posting simultaneously to LinkedIn and Twitter.
The Reporting feature has be completely essential in tracking efforts in social media with gorgeous graphs and fantastic metric information. I would recommend Sprout to EVERYONE!,I haven't gotten in the habit of using tools other than the Reports and Publisher. Perhaps it's the feed that we have, but the other tools haven't been as useful.,We have been able to present the efforts of the Communications team easily to our Board, supporting the endeavor and leading to their understanding of this medium's importance.
We have been able to better connect with our audience and have increased our understanding of followers.,10,2,10Rebecca HellwigMisses the Mark for analytics2014-05-08T23:21:16.782ZWe use sprout social to monitor our Facebook and Twitter profiles, ensuring all inquiries from customers are reviewed and answered in a timely manner.,Easy to learn
Nice visual breakdown
Easy to assign different users and assign tasks,Analytics reports are often wrong, not able to reliably use them. Demographic data for followers/fans usually differs from other sources
Wish they supported more modules like LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.
Difficult to separate out comments from Twitter and LinkedIn
Wish it had more benchmarking data with others in the industry.,Better customer service
Easy to get a quick overview of general conversation surrounding our brand.
Easy to schedule posts for both Twitter and Facebook with built-in link shortening.,4,,2,2,4Rachel JensenSprout Social Dominates This Space2014-03-21T18:10:04.952ZWe're still in our free trial period of the premium version, but no doubt we'll be signing up to use it going forward. Right now it will be used by my marketing team at corporate to collect analytics from all of our 26 properties' social sites. It allows us to see who is posting the stories with the most engagement and understand what could be done company wide to increase social engagement.,Reporting - the detail and ease of use is SOOO amazing!
UI - of all the products I've reviewed this is by far the cleanest and easiest UI. I've shared access with a few others on my team (some that aren't as tech savvy) and they find it very easy to use.
Social engagement - they make it very easy to reply to comments, posts and tweets!,I'd like to have a report that breaks down the separate Facebook and Twitter metrics for each property. I can do this by going to each group separately, but it'd be ideal to do it from one master group.
It'd be nice to be able to share the interactive report with someone through a URL link.,10,Nothing yet, since we just started using it.
Social metrics is a big push this year for our broadcast and newspaper groups so being able to easily pull these into simple reports is going to be amazing.
For new businesses we're starting it will be a great way to track what is resonating with people and what isn't.,Hootsuite Enterprise,Engagor,9Jeff Cowens, MBASprout Social Has Plenty of Room for Growth2013-10-26T22:40:11.198ZSprout allows me to schedule all of my Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google+ posts (including photos) from the Messaging module.
Sprout also allows me to use an RSS Feed to push blog posts to my Twitter account automatically.
With the discovery tool, Sprout allows me to search for new customers with keywords or phrases.
"Cleanup" allows me to see which Twitter users are inactive and who isn't following back so I can prioritize who to engage with.
The Twitter Comparison tool allows me to compare my twitter account to competitor accounts, allowing me to keep an eye on what kind of content engages our market the most.,Sprout might see a vast increase in their number of clients if they implemented the ability to link a Pinterest account. Also, (and I know I'm reaching really far with this one), if Sprout paired up with Pinterest and implemented a batch upload tool for Pins in their scheduling module-I would do so much happy dancing. SO MUCH DANCING.
Facebook Reports: Vague. For example, on my current facebook report I see "Facebook Impressions" and beneath that, the word "Check-In" and the number 2.2k. What is a Facebook Check-In? How does that information help me? Perhaps developers could take a look at implementing the new Facebook Insights into the SS reports. Here's what I want to know when I see my report--Who shares and likes our content the most? Who should I reach out to? Let me link Facebook contests so I can get a specific report on how the contest is doing and how many fans we're engaging.
Twitter Reports: Also vague. I want to see who shares our content the most. I see how many mentions and retweets I received, but that just strokes my ego. What I want to know is--who should I keep reaching out to and engaging with and who am I annoying? ;)
Google Analytics: Doesn't show correct information. Mine doesn't allow me to plug in a date past March 13, 2013 for report purposes. It also continues to tell me that it "doesn't have any data for me yet." Could be a glitch on my end though so I can't say fairly either way.
LinkedIn and Google+: I don't personally use LinkedIn or Google+ very much, but it makes sense to me that if you're offering reports for Facebook and Twitter, perhaps reports should be included for those two platforms as well.
It'd be great to add Facebook and Linkedin to the Discovery section so we're not just limited to finding new Twitter users. Also, it would be amazing if, when new people were suggested as connections for us, their Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Pinterest accounts were all available as options to follow/like/connect with in just a few clicks. That might be a little too creepy to implement, but it would be soooo nice. ;)
Currently, the RSS Feed can only push my blog content to Twitter and it would be really great if I had the option to push it to Facebook and/or to Google+ and LinkedIn as well. (And Pinterest. Am I pushing too much? Pin-ter-est. Pin-ter-est. Pin-ter-est!) *Really though, Pinterest drives five times the traffic of all other social media platforms to our website. It just makes sense to get in on it!)
Why is there no Facebook comparison tool?,5,1,Ultimately, I only use SS to push my blog posts to my twitter account. I stay on with them because I like the design and user-friendliness of SS the most. I'm also very interested to see if and how they keep growing. I have high hopes for them.,,7,1,Scheduling posts across multiple social media platforms ahead of time.
Pushing blog posts to Twitter.
Finding new connections on Twitter.,Pushing our blog posts to Twitter.,If Sprout Social implements any ideas from my review, there will be a HUGE number of ways that I will be able to ue Sprout Social. (pssssst, PINTEREST!!!!),Yes,Price
Product Features
Product Usability,I wouldn't. The only way that I can get a feel for any product is to sit down and use it for a while, so I'm happy with the process.,Implemented in-house,No,Change management was minimal,No issues at all. I purchased it and started using it right away. Linking my accounts was super simple and I was able to start scheduling posts immediately.,10,No,10,No,When I first thought about signing up, I had questions about the different types of accounts offered. I called and spoke with one of their support members, who walked me through the different types and worked with to figure out which would be best from what I needed. She was super helpful and patient and I felt better about moving forward with my purchase after that conversation.,All of the functions are very easy to use.,None,Yes, but I don't use it,10Michelle HebertSprout Social as a Social Care Tool2013-10-28T23:08:45.669ZSprout Social provides almost real time access to our customer comments and posts across Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other online searches.
Our entire Social Care team is able to use Sprout globally to respond to customers and assign tasks to other users. We are also able to segment our fans into lists, identify customers and more.
The Analytics section in Sprout does an amazing job of providing the proper KPI's for our company. Whether you need to know the efficiency of our Engagement, speed to response, popular posts or channel growth the reports are all there.
We have had a very good relationship with our account manager. They are sensitive to our unique use cases and work with us to find solutions. We are also very excited for the Enterprise version of Sprout to be released.
Sprout's easy to use Inbox makes it easy for us to respond to comments, archive them and categorize responses.,We would really like Sprout to add Sentiment to the listening portion.
It would also be nice if Sprout had labels so we could further categorize the social comments and posts.
Due to the Facebook API we don't believe that the Engagement score shown by our Care Team is always accurate.,9,We are able to provide better customer service on our social channels due to the fact that we are able to receive the majority of our social mentions quickly and efficiently.
We are also able to tag and track our Influencers.
Sprout is a cheaper solution than a lot of the enterprise products in the market although it lacks some of the listening and analytics tools the more robust platforms have.,9Jencey KeetonGreat for covering the basics.2013-10-25T22:55:19.247ZAnalytics on interactions.
Scheduling posts.
Shows interaction history.,Would like to see if they can get Pinterest/Instagram.
Would be interested to see if they could manage ads within the system.
The mobile app isn't fluid. Much easier to use Facebook's Page Manager and Twitter's app to manage multiple accounts from mobile.
Would like to see if they can get more analytics on followers and fans (what things they are talking about, other Facebook pages they like, etc). Maybe more integration tools with a company's website API.,Increases my efficiency. I am able to see the previous conversations my company has had with certain individuals and am able to help them quicker.
The analytics I do have has enabled me to decide what kind of posts work and what don't as much.
Scheduling posts in advance on multiple accounts is great. Set it and forget it.
The reporting tools enable me to show my managers my progress in a efficient manner.,8,8Wayne PuaClean, concise and reliable - Sprout Social is where it's at2013-10-25T18:51:20.053ZOne of the first things I noticed about Sprout was its extremely reliable publishing module. It never faltered in the 18+ months that I've used, and is easy to navigate to for updating already scheduled tweets (for example).
The reporting module is beautiful. Very clear findings on the exact items I look to report on - plus the export to pdf function is really cool.
I actually really like Sprout Social's blog and social messaging. Not salesy and provides value to my research and trend watching. Whoever is managing their community does a great job at coming across as authentic, vs. just trying to get people to sign up for their webinar.,I've always hoped to have a better friend/follower function on Sprout. I like being able to see who's not following back, or who is idle, but in more of a batch setting vs. the long scrolling list they have now. Just the ability to clean house a little better
Sometimes swithcing between users/accounts is tricky - it isn't always obvious to me what data i'm looking at for which client so that can sometimes be a little nerve wracking. Maybe just a clearer client/user toggle than the small area in the top right.,Improved customer service for sure. It's definitely a good homebase for all channels, and keeps everything much more organized which means more efficiency.
A couple of my clients noticed immediate uptick in ROI, I credit this to our kickoff of their social media programs, of which Sprout is a huge tool to make it happen with. So yes, it has definitely reached many business objectives,8,10,2,1,Editorial calendaring is so important, so being able to look at all of our content at a glance is a huge need that Sprout fills
Customer support. I'll say it again, Sprout has great customer support. If something happens they're right there, even during "off" hours (which there aren't really any of those anymore).,A great tool for event activation, the tool is extremely organized so even if you're not you'll have your ducks lined up with a little help from Sprout friends.,I hope to use Sprout to eventually do heavier outreach with writers. I'm hoping some sort of feature will come out with a facet associated with this.,Yes,,Price
Product Features
Product Usability,I wouldn't do it over, and I'm sure just like many others I still use other tools along side Sprout. I don't feel that i spent too much time shopping around - things are always changing anyway so by this time next year it may be Sprout, it may be someone else - but I'm very loyal so I'm rooting for them. :),Vendor implemented
Implemented in-house,No,Change management was minimal,8,Yes,10,Yes,Yes. When first establishing the account for a non profit I worked with last year, I was told we would receive a discounted rate because of a certain promotion. The next month saw our invoice and that particular promo had not been applied to the total amount, I called to inform and not only was the discount immediately taken off they also included their non profit discount which made a huge impact on the cost of the product year over year.,Reporting: great pdf export w/ client logo add on.
Ggreat social messaging scheduler.
Customer support is pretty instantaneous.,Just toggling between accounts/users. Sometimes it isn't super obvious what data I'm reviewing (if I've left and come back) and have todouble check using the drop down in the top right.,Yes,10Lisa Kribs-LaPierre
Unspecified
Sprout Social
279 Ratings
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