There’s an old saying — “Who owns the information, owns the world.” Indeed, it is difficult to overestimate the role of monitoring and analytics in social media. These are important stages for successful business development and effective promotion on the web. We have collected 20 social media analytics tools that will help SMM specialists to do their job more efficiently. Our list includes services for analytics and work optimization on social networks, tools for scheduling posts and social media monitoring system.
The 20 Social Media Analytics Platforms and How They Can Help
Googling lists of tools, reading tons of reviews, and messaging support team with “what this feature made for?” is a time-consuming process. Even more, such kind of task strikes a nerve. We could say that everybody has been there (is it right to overgeneralize?), but we’ve decided to take action and make a profound analysis of tools marketers, bloggers, and media write about.
Take a look at this visual social media analytics tools comparison to know better about supported platforms, pricing and days of free trials.
PromoRepublic
This is about crafted content, support, and promotion. PromoRepublic is a social media management platform that helps agencies, freelancers and small businesses create a variety of content and automate its posting to social. Along with its measuring tools, you get the learning materials like webinars and team support. With statistics that PromoRepublic provides you with, you can check views, clicks, external links visits, and posts efficiency.
Pros
Content calendar with occasions
Library with ready-to-use 100,000+ image templates
Graphic editor
Bulk-upload images and videos
Ability to approve a content plan with the clients right in the calendar
“PromoRepublic will choose the best posting time for every post, depending on your industry and type of a post. Schedule ahead to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn pages – all in one place.”
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a social media monitoring, marketing, and analytics software that helps business customers to manage and organize their activity on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google. Per TechCrunch, their current users include such popular brands as Evernote, Adidas, West Elm and Edelman.
Pros
Multiple profile support
Providing analytics & reports
Built-in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Group, profile and post-level reporting
Cons
Expensive for teams
Lack of YouTube integration
Plans and pricing
As well as other diligent services, Sprout Social allows you to test their social media power before purchasing during a 30-day trial period. There are three plans for you to consider: Standard for $99 per month, Professional for $149 per month, and Advanced for $249 per month.
What they say: “We’ve got your back—from onboarding assistance that gets your team up and running quickly and social dashboards that enable you to effortlessly visualize your progress, to strategic counsel that can help your organization reach the next level of social maturity.”
Google Analytics
In no so far back in 2006, Google Analytics began tracking sites. It became popular because of its basic features. However, it requires more insights to understand what people are experiencing while visiting your website than Google Analytics can provide you with. At the same time, Huffington Post, WNYC, and KCRW are using Google Analytics to increase the readability of their articles, since it provides average page depth information.
Pros
It’s free
Social networking monitoring
Ability to track the behavior of mobile users
Multiple sites tracking
Ability to view types of content that drives the most traffic on your website
Cons
There are no real-time statistics
Visitors can opt-out Google Analytics of tracking their activity
Plans and pricing
Free for everyone, but in case you have high traffic and you’d like to upgrade it to Premium, the price is $150,000 which makes them unreachable for social media marketers.
What they say: “Get a deeper understanding of your customers. Google Analytics gives you the free tools you need to analyze data for your business in one place.”
AgencyAnalytics
AgencyAnalytics is a social media reporting tool which helps you build dashboards and reports out of your social media campaigns for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. You can also pair it with SEO, PPC, Google Analytics, email marketing and other data. Just drag and drop the metrics you need in the easy-to-use interface.
Pros
Over 30 integrations
Simple and intuitive to build reports/dashboards
Library of pre-built reports/dashboards
Fully white label
Cons
Cannot post from within AgencyAnalytics
No content ideas
Plans and pricing
The 14-day trial period allows you to get a sense of almost all of their features. The app will show you everything you need to know about your account. The Pro plan costs around €29 per month while the price of the Advanced plan is €59.
What they say
“With Competitor Tracking and Monitoring, understand how your performance stacks up to the rest of your industry.”
Audiense Connect
Before signing up for a free trial, you need to fill out a short form with your name, Twitter account, email, and phone number. A free account is available, but it’s so limited that you won’t get enough of it. Audiense helps Carlsberg and Puma watch what on their Twitter accounts is going on.
Pros
Monitoring Twitter users, keywords, or hashtags to follow based on the latest demographics, opinions, trends
Reports about profile performance, follower intelligence, following intelligence, and content optimization
Ability to interact with your community more effectively by creating automated actions, keeping tabs on influencers, and posting at the optimal time
Twee schedule optimization
Cons
Free trial won’t provide you with analytics
It’s a bit expensive for unlocking such important features as Data Analysis and Tweet Analytics
Plans and pricing
Audiense has a free account option for individuals, but you will have to pay to get access to more advanced features. Audiense has two different payment plans to satisfy different needs. €9 per month for the Starter plan and €89 per month for Standard.
What they say
“Increase your brand awareness, craft the best acquisition strategies and measure your impact on Twitter.”
Fanpage Karma
This is an online tool for tracking social media analytics. It helps you clearly see what’s happening on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Google+. It’s good for those who prefer being active on multiple social media channels like Honda, Ogilvy, IKEA.
Pros
Weekly reports and alerts
Monitoring engagement, audience growth, most-used content, content sources and keywords
Getting the detailed analytics of most frequently used words and hashtags in color
Ability to see your page strengths and weakness through charts and graphs
Ability to identify winners of Facebook promotions in one click
Cons
There are no date range settings for Twitter Dashboard
Plans and pricing
Despite a really large number of plans (six!), the analytics feature is included in four plans. The logic is tricky: Premium plan, which price is € 99.90 per month, excluding analytics for Instagram, Youtube, Google+ and LinkedIn, so you should Business plan, which price is €149.90 per month by default to control all your social media channels. The good news, you (or your dedicated teams) can try all the features for free for 14 days.
What they say
“Analyze engagement, best times for posting, best topics, types of posts and way more. Not just for your own page but for all competitors’ pages as well.”
Twitonomy
The name speaks for itself. Twitonomy is a Twitter analytics tool designed to help you monitor, track and optimize your life on Twitter.
Pros
It’s free
Getting metrics of tweets per day, total retweets and favorites
Ability to see hours when accounts were most active
Cons
The service doesn’t spoon-feed the data, so it won’t be detailed
Plans and pricing
Twitonomy is a free Twitter analytics tool, which, however, offers a paid premium account with additional features. Information about paid plans is available only after you sign up with your Twitter account.
What they say
“It is a free Twitter analytics tool that allows you to get detailed and visual analytics on anyone’s tweets, retweets, replies, mentions, hashtags.”
Keyhole
This tool tracks hashtags for Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook in real-time.
Spotify, Google, L’Oréal, Uber and the United Nations take care of their brand mentions and use Keyhole to understand how their people feel about their brand and competitors.
Pros
Brand mentions tracking
Measuring the impact influencers make on your brand online
AI algorithms
Gender analysis
Device recognition
Cons
It’s necessary to think of your trackers from the get-go
The free version differs from paid ones
Plans and pricing
There are several plans for you to consider. $199 for the Professional plan which unlocks your basic features and $999 for Agency plan which is useful when managing multiple clients.
What they say
“We accurately capture all posts and user-generated content about your event in real time so you don’t have to keep up with every detail while your event is running.”
SumAll
SumAll is a cross-platform marketing analytics tool combining social media, web traffic, sales metrics and other data to grow your business. It supports Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Square and Google Analytics.
Pros
Daily summary of social media activity
Priority support
Unlimited social media profiles
Tips for content improvement
Cons
No content ideas
Plans and pricing
Free for everyone
What they say
“SumAll automates connecting with customers, making your life a lot easier.”
Quintly
Quintly provides analytics for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and blogs. When you sign up to Quintly and add at least one social media profile, the tool allows you to start their tour to learn about the features. You will go through every tab and find out what they mean. Their clients are Coca Cola, Warner Brothers, Adobe and many others.
Pros
Smart reports that can be adapted to your dashboard
The ability to choose among hundreds of insightful metrics
Exporting in CSV or Excel formats and download any metrics as JPG, PNG, PDF, PPTX, or live-feed link
Tracking influencer’s presence
Cons
Language options are limited
Does not support Android devices
Plans and pricing
This tool has a free plan which gives you a 14-day test-drive. For the full set, be ready to pay at least $100 per month.
What they say
“Break up your data silos and have your social media data pushed to your data warehouse or existing business intelligence systems.”
Agora Pulse
This is a social network management platform that works with popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Their clients include such big brands as Dove and Yves Saint Laurent.
Pros
Tracking mentions and comments on Facebook
Monitoring hashtags and places on Instagram
Ability to get community management metrics
Scheduling, publishing, queueing and viewing posts via calendar
Cons
No Pinterest integration
Plans and pricing
It offers a 28-day free trial and 4 subscription plans from $49 to $299. The least expensive plan includes three social profiles, one user, a mobile app, and publishing and monitoring tools.
What they say
“At Agorapulse, we connect with our customers in a way that enables us to build human relationships, not just business relationships.”
Tailwind
At the very beginning, Tailwind was one of the few Pinterest-only social media analytics tools. Now it supports Instagram and lets you know the best time for posting.
Pros
Browser extension – schedule multiple pins from any website
Instagram synchronization
Drag-and-drop upload
Ability to create drafts
Weekly pinning schedule
Ability to check the engagement of your pins regularly
Pin inspector – analyze up to 5000 pins and see which ones are working
Domain monitoring – see what people pin from your website
Cons
Limited platform support
Plans and pricing
It offers a free trial period (100 free pins) and several plans (bloggers and small businesses start at $9.99 per month and Pro for large brands and agencies can go for $799.99 per month ).
What they say
“Simply start typing your caption and Tailwind will recommend the best hashtags to drive additional reach to your post.”
Brand 24
Brand 24 is all about analyzing your appearance in social media. It monitors social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and analyzes the web’s keywords. It has a mobile app, Slack integration, and a bunch of useful analytics features. All you need is to choose what topic you want to analyze. Brand 24 is more about what is happening around you, about what people are saying about you, and about engagement and analytics. They gained the trust of Vichy, Intel and H&M.
Pros
Discussion volume chart for you to know when something goes wrong with your brand’s image
Ability to export analytics reports in PDF or Excel and create infographics
Filtering data by social media channels
Cons
A quite big price gap between the Premium plan and the Max plans
No historical data stored within the app
Plans and pricing
The tool offers a 14-day free trial and a minimum of $49 per month for the subscription.
What they say
“Brand24 gives you the listening tools to find these leads, identify where to promote products and find customers before they find you.”
True Social Metrics
True Social Metrics is one of the best social media analytics tools due to the number of platforms it supports (10 social media from Standard pack + 3 from Premium). The app allows you to connect multiple social accounts, even those you do not own, and analyze social media platforms and compare them. MOZ, Chicago Bulls have already become their trusted clients.
Pros
Analyzing your performance like post effectiveness, best types, and segments
Ability to generate reports, fill them up with visuals, and use Tableau to build graphs
Best posting time
Boosted post detection
One year data history
Cons
No post ideas or templates
Plans and pricing
There is a 30-day free trial available. The small plan starts at $30 per month and includes only three Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts. If you want to get access to all the other social media channels, you should choose Medium plan worth $100.
What they say
“Identify the most powerful social influencers for your business and the most engaged users who can become your brand advocates. Find out the best topics and posting time for engaging them.”
Social Report
This is a special app in our list of social media analytics tools – it supports 19 social media (we bet, you can’t name them all!).
Pros
Tracking and analysis of social media profiles, blogs, websites
Competitor analysis
Weekly, daily, and custom reports
Post scheduling, targeting, geocoding
ROI measurement
Keyword search
Influencers’ identification
Hashtags, keywords, and tags monitoring
Cons
There is no opportunity to edit content to your liking
Plans and pricing
The starter plan costs $49/month. Additionally, there is a 30-day free trial available.
What they say
“With Social Report you can track the performance of everything from your Facebook pages and Twitter profiles, business reviews, website site performance, and blogs.”
Followerwonk
One of the best free social analytics tools for Twitter by Moz. Followonk lets you analyze any Twitter account, your followers, where they are located and when they tweet. It’s a way to find and connect with the top influencers within your industry.
Pros
Ability to search keywords and get profiles and audience related to your interests
Tracking your followers to understand what you tweet right and wrong
Analyzing followers by location, active time, gender, and language
Twitter bio feature
Sorting followers
Cons
Nothing but Twitter
Plans and pricing
The free plan does not include analyzing and optimizing options, so if you need them, get ready to pay at least $29 per month.
What they say
“Find influencers. Optimize your social profile. Build and engage a community. Grow a brand.”
Hootsuite
This is a social media management platform that helps you schedule and analyze your social media marketing campaigns. As your startup grows, you have the option to upgrade your account which allows integrating more accounts. Among their clients, you can find well-known Visa and PennMutual.
Pros
Powerful monitoring
Ability to post, get analytics about your content, and plan your social media strategy in one place
Scheduling in advance
Cons
Most of powerful features included in enterprise plans
There are no ready-to-use templates
Plans and pricing
The tool offers a free limited plan. A 30-day free trial Pro version is available. You can build custom reports for your social accounts with granular analytics that include growth, shares, mentions and so on. Some social media analytics report templates are available for free, others are available in Pro and Enterprise plans.
What they say
“Hootsuite makes finding, scheduling, managing, and reporting on social media content easier.”
Buffer
Buffer is a content scheduling platform that helps to manage multiple social media profiles. It’s interesting that Buffer started off as a scheduling tool for Twitter only. Now it supports such the major social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. They have many clients with big names, including Intercom, GitHub, and Microsoft.
Pros
Ability to filter your posts by clicks, likes, shares, comments, and type (image, text, link or video posts)
Building diagrams
Drag-and-drop publishing
Video and GIF uploader
Cons
There’s no library with post-ideas
No white-labeled solution
Plans and pricing
This service offers a free 7-day trial, where you can check the major analytics for your social media accounts including Twitter, Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. The Pro plan costs around $15 per month
What they say
“Buffer makes it easy for businesses and marketing teams to schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage all their accounts in one place.”
Unmetric
This data and social media analytics platform offers several options. You can install a tracking product on your Android or IOS smartphone and use it absolutely free. Simply add Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube profiles of the brands you want to follow and track every post. Their clients are such well-known names for you as Nokia, Tiffany & Co, and Volvo.
Pros
AI Powered Analytics
Historical Data
API Access
Competitors’ comparison
Ability to explore content ideas from famous brands, discover trending topics, and saving and sharing ideas
Cons
High price
There’s no feature that allows to edit or create your own posts
Plans and pricing
As is usually the case, the main difference between the plans is the purpose of usage.
Free trial for Analytics is available, but be ready to pay $1,000 per month after it finishes.
What they say
“Unmetric Analyze gives you the data that helps you figure out what to create and who to create it for.”
Socialbakers
Socialbakers is one of the best AI-powered social media marketing analytics software is designed to manage and measure everything from social media to your audience in one place. The well-known names in their list of clients are Lexus and Desigual.
Pros
Distribution, the growth of total followers and total following, the growth of total listed, summary
The number of interactions and mentions, user activity, moving averages of number of interactions per 1000 followers, etc.
Content library
Tracking keywords and hashtags
Cons
There’s no opportunity to edit images from the library
Plans and pricing
You have 14 days to try the demo version for free. The smallest plan costs $200 per month and includes 10 profiles, 5 user seats, and email support. A mobile app is also available.
What they say
“Learn who, when, where, and with what content to target. Ensure your content is personalized and always delivered to your audience personas at the right location and time.”
Which Social Media Software Should You Use?
This world has a fast tempo. Every day may come with something new. It can be a bunch of new analytics tools for social media, an update, a restriction, a trend or whatever a thing that has nothing to do with marketing. Therefore, we’ll keep this post updated with new tools for social media analytics and marketing. Good news, you won’t need all the tools from the list above.
What do you need to attract and retain your first 10 customers?
Answering this, you’ll get a clear idea about the features you need. We don’t presume to choose one of these social media analytics tools. We just tried to make your search easier and put up some traffic signs so you don’t miss a turn you might really need.