What are Social Media Analytics Tools?
Social media analytics tools help marketers track, analyze and improve the performance of their social media activities. The goal is often to determine the ROI of social activities, justify spend, or optimize performance.
Common uses of social media analytics tools include:
Audience profile
Audience size
Competitive benchmarking
Sentiment analysis
Reach & engagement
Content optimization
Marketing attribution
There are a variety of point solutions focused on social media analytics. Analytics is also a key capability of social media management suites. Social media monitoring tools focus on listening for your brand or other relevant terms on social media and analyzing the sentiment.
Many companies use more than one tool for social media analytics.
Features & Capabilities
Social media analytics tools can be defined by the metrics with which it can help you track. Key metrics that any social media analytics tool should cover include:
- Engagement
- Google Analytics integration (page views, time spent on content, etc.)
- Hashtag & campaign tracking
- Influencer marketing performance analysis
- Image recognition
- Multi-channel content tracking (including mentions & impressions)
- Sentiment analysis
- Share of voice
In addition to the above metrics, social media analytics tools should help you with market research initiatives, content strategy, competitive intelligence, and customer satisfaction. Most importantly, social media analytics tools help marketers connect the dots between the performance of their content to better suit their audience and respond to market changes faster.
Social Media Analytics Tools Comparison
When on the market for a social media analytics tool, consider the following factors when comparing products:
Consider your social network
Social networks are notoriously protective of their APIs. Make sure the tool you select has integrations to the social media sites that matter to you. If you are focused on a single social network, consider the 1st-party analytics tools offered by the network itself before you buy something.
Check historical data
Historical data about you and your competitors is vital for trend analysis. If you’re a first-time buyer, ask what data the vendor has been tracking. It’s possible they already have some historical data you can use.
SMMS suites vs. point solutions
Social media management platforms combine publishing, monitoring and analytics capabilities. There are benefits to an integrated suite. On the other hand, dedicated analytics tools may have more innovative ways to visualize data.
Ask about paid campaign tracking
Some social media analytics tools focus on tracking earned or organic social activities. Not all paid campaign tracking. If you want to report on paid and organic social media, try to select a tool that can do this in the same dashboard.
Start a Social Media Analytics tools comparison
Pricing Information
There are a variety of popular free social media analytics tools. Some focus on a single social network. Others are cross-platform.
Many social media analytics vendors offer basic free versions of the tool, as well as paid options with more features. Pricing for point solutions seems to range from $19/month up to hundreds per month for more sophisticated capabilities.
