Item: Agorapulse
Rating: 7
Author: Heather Pratt

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use Agorapulse to manage all of our social media campaigns internally. It is only used by 2 users within our company, however, we have a smaller marketing division. We do not outsource this type of work and aimed to address the time-consuming element of having 5-10 social media feeds and posting to each one individually. We also wanted to monitor our competitors feeds, and our ROI. This platform was the clear choice when it came to productivity and reporting.

Pros and Cons

Sending posts for approval to a manager/brand ambassador for review.
Assigning levels of access by the user.
Monitoring competitor brands social feeds.
Instant reporting.

Reporting is a major deterrent. Although its instant, you cannot currently customize the report. It only exports in one format, and you can only pull a full overview of one social platform at a time - rather than all in one.
The notifications are excessive, and despite turning them off in the platform - sometimes it does it anyway with no explanation.
The inbox - You can respond to all users from all platforms, however, the inbox is separated, and rather than being a one-stop-shop, you have to click from tab to tab to answer each one. That is laborious at times, I'd much rather it like an email inbox as we are all used to and respond one by one.
The app is absolutely atrocious. Glitches out every time I use it, and I wouldn't recommend using this platform on anything but a desktop. But if you don't care about it being mobile it's fine.

Users and Roles

3 - Sales Manager, HR Manager (job posting on social media), and Social Media Manager.

Return on Investment

Our ability to put a value to our time investment in social media, and track its growth.
It has focused more awareness on our social media sales funnel.
It has unburdened my time as the social media manager and allowed me to spend less than 2 hours a week managing the content. Which allows me to focus a lot more on my actual day job in operations management.

Alternatives Considered

I looked at various options, did various trials (Hootsuite, etc.), but the free trial really sold me on the use of this product. I was given an extra 30 days to try the platform out, which allowed me to play more with it. I was apprehensive about the cost, but when I started looking at the purchase options that had this "league" of capability - it wasn't a far reach from this price point. I think overall it was the easiest platform to educate others on, for use and navigation.

Other Software Used

Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe Photoshop

Likelihood to Recommend

Agora is fantastic for a smaller business. It solves the issues of cross-posting content and manages your feeds pretty effortlessly. You can build out a full months schedule and not have to worry about it for another month. It doesn't do everything its advertized to do, but overall its saved me countless hours of time. I appreciate the ability to duplicate my posts when I run out of creative steam. And there are some cool features such as hashtag grouping and "listening" feature which monitors when your brand is mentioned. I don't think it's appropriate for larger businesses such as marketing firms, as it has a difficult time keeping up with tokens and refreshing tokens. For a firm, that would be near impossible to keep up with - especially with 30 portfolios to manage.

Support Headcount Required

Honestly, with the customer support team always available by chat - a trained monkey could operate the platform.

Products Replaced

No

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Third-party Reviews

I chose this program for implementation because it was the most user friendly.

Training Types Used

no training

In-Person Training

Online Training

Ease of Agorapulse Training

It is as easy as creating a facebook account. Honestly, it couldn't be any simpler. Most of the ques are visual, so you know what to do by seeing an icon. It's a walk in the park.

Support Rating

10

I love the online chat feature, and they are quick to respond. I've never waited more than 30 minutes for an answer, and they are able to walk you through it immediately. It's like having a full time dedicated IT team to help.

Agorapulse Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Bug Resolution

No

Exceptional Examples of Agorapulse Support

I was having a difficult time getting the system to accept my method of payment when the customer support representative got on the chat line with me. She explained where I'd gone wrong in entering the address, as they didn't have a suite field, so the card was not recognized as valid. Fixed that up, and we were off to the races.

Usability

6

I think overall the computer interface is quite simple and easy, and reliable. But the mobile app is possibly the worst designed application I've ever seen for a social media management tool. It is clunky and more aesthetic than useful, with various glitches.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Cross-posting is a dream. Select the platform, customize your messages for twitter character counts, all in one simple post.
Scheduling is incredibly simple and elegant.
It's easy to use.

Difficult Tasks

Reporting.
Using the mobile app.
Having all of the social feed inboxes separated by tabs.

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes

Excellent Platform for Small Businesses

Overall Satisfaction with Agorapulse