Best Social Media Analytics Software in 2021

What is Social Media Analytics Software?
Why Use Social Media Analytics Software?
Who Uses Social Media Analytics Software?
Social Media Analytics Software Features
Software and Services Related to Social Media Analytics Software

Learn More About Social Media Analytics Software

Who Uses Social Media Analytics Software?

What was once a very niche user base has expanded greatly, as the need for analytics and the growth of social media marketing efforts for businesses has increased exponentially in recent years. The employees most commonly utilizing social media analytics are social media managers. Many businesses, particularly mid-market and enterprise companies, have dedicated social media managers on their marketing teams to run all social accounts. Social media analytics tools are an excellent way for social media managers to track their goals and metrics. These products also help inform the decisions and strategies of social media managers. Marketing managers, marketing directors, or chief marketing officers may choose to use social media analytics products to track how well their social media manager is growing their presence on different outlets. It is also an easy way to ensure they are hitting goals and driving leads and traffic.

For small businesses that might not have the resources to hire a social media manager, social media management might be allocated to a general marketer who wears many hats. Therefore, social media analytics software can be an easy, fast, and straightforward way of tracking social media campaigns for marketers who do not have the time to deep dive into performance. Because social media analytics tools have digestible visualizations, it is very simple for marketers to track metrics.

Additionally, brand influencers and industry thought leaders may use social media analytics tools to track their interactions and engagements. Influencers are always trying to grow their followings; social media analytics solutions enable this through performance tracking and utilizing social media best practices. Brand advocates may also put out sponsored content for companies; justifying and defending their tactics to those companies is much easier with the help of social media analytics software.

A customer service manager is another role that might take advantage of social media analytics. More and more customers are connecting with companies on social media when they are having issues with products or services. Oftentimes, it can be faster to tweet or direct message a company and explain the problems you are experiencing than it is to phone a call center and wait for a representative to assist you. Customer service teams can track complaints that come in through social media and ensure that issues are taken care of promptly.

Social Media Analytics Software Features

Analytics tools are meant to make the understanding and analysis of data easier; social media analytics software has the same purpose, but with features that are specific to measuring social media data. These features include:

Competitor analysis — Many social media analytics products allow users to track the performance of not only their own social media campaigns, but of their competitors’ social media accounts as well. This is beneficial for social media managers who want to increase followers or interactions in relation to competitors, or use rivals as a benchmark for overall performance. It may be advantageous to tap into a competitors’ audience to grow followers and engagement.

Follower analysis — The ability to glean insights into how your followers interact with your posts is important, but social media analytics software also provides insights into followers’ demographics and location. This can be valuable for understanding how certain demographics interact with specific pieces of content or posts. By having a better knowledge of followers, social media managers can target and personalize content for higher levels of engagement.

Content engagement analysis — Similar to follower analysis, knowing who engages with certain pieces of content is valuable because it helps inform content marketing teams. Social media analytics solutions can offer insights into which headlines attract the most followers, likes, or engagements. Personalization is a major aspect of social media strategies, so pinpointing how content performs allows for a more targeted approach to audience engagement. This is also important for paid social ads to determine what is worth spending money on to grow followers and audience.

Influencer identification — Some social media analytics offerings may provide the ability to identify which followers have the largest networks. Once these followers are identified, marketers, social media managers, or even C-level employees can target these influencers as potential brand advocates to promote company content or posts. Tapping into followers’ networks is an efficient way to increase one's own following and audience.

Attribution — Marketers are constantly utilizing attribution solutions to ensure they are properly tracking lead generation. Social media analytics tools provide attribution capabilities to make sure social media managers or other marketers are tracking which customers were converted from social channels. Understanding the click path of users that eventually converted into customers enables repeat strategies or campaigns to hopefully replicate the end result.

Reporting — Reporting is always a challenge, but analytics tools help improve the reporting process by providing a dedicated reporting tool instead of using spreadsheets. Social media data is easily organized and exported from social media analytics software so that it can be presented in a clean and easily understandable fashion. This is particularly useful when showing key metrics from social media data to higher-level employees.