You might publish great social media content and create great marketing campaigns–but if you want to know exactly how well you’re performing on social media you need analytics tools. But what does social media analytics really mean? To answer this, I’ll use the Wikipedia definition: ”Social media analytics is the process of gathering data from stakeholder conversations on digital media and processing into structured insights leading to more information-driven business decisions and increased customer centrality for brands and businesses.”
The number of analytics tools available right now can make your head spin, and new tools are coming out all the time. However, you need to choose the best tool for your brand. So, let us help you make the right decision! Currently, these are some of the best tools for social media analytics:
Sprout Social
Networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google plus
Price: Starting at $99 per user per month
Sprout Social integrates with most of the major social networks, and its solutions are tailored for different business types: enterprises, agencies, and small businesses. You can use the platform for both social media management and analytics. This means you can plan and deliver content, engage with followers, and track your performance–all from the same dashboard.
Brandwatch
Networks: All
Price: Not available
Brandwatch is a great analytics tool that takes data from social media and the web. It’s a leading tool for social listening, which means you can monitor your customers’ conversations about your brand and industry. Additionally, Brandwatch gives you the ability to conduct competitive analysis and get key customer insights, which can help you make better-informed decisions about your social media activities.
BuzzSumo
Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google plus
Price: Starting at $79 per month
BuzzSumo is a powerful tool for analyzing the performance of content from your website and social media. It lets you know which content and which social networks produced the most shares, it helps you find out which topics are trending in your industry by entering a keyword, and it helps you determine which content length and content format to use. BuzzSumo can also help you decide which influencers to target and to find out where your competitor’s backlinks are coming from.
Google Analytics
Networks: All
Price: Free
Although Google Analytics (GA) is essentially a web analytics tool, it can also help you get important social media information. For instance, you can see which social networks are driving traffic to your website and how many social media users convert into leads or customers. Likewise, you can measure your social media ROI and use UTM parameters to track social media campaigns.
Simply measured
Networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
Price: Not available
Simply Measured offers three different products for social media marketers: social listening, social analytics, and social media management. You can see competitive social analytics and measure the performance of five social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Other social media analytics tools that are worth mentioning:
Tailwind – A tool utilized for Instagram and Pinterest, with a price of $9.99 per account per month.
Iconosquare – This is the best tool for Instagram analytics, with a starting price of $9 per month.
Tweet reach – A social media analytics tool specifically for Twitter, with a starting price of $29 per month.
