Memo: Social media monitoring

Introduction

Social media monitoring is best described as gathering of e-sources such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. Analysing that information and then utilizing it to benefit either the consumer or the seller in a business environment. This report will compare six different social media monitoring software’s/tools to identify a favorite. The six tools will be divided in to groups of two and then compared. The three groups are as followed: Sprout Social vs SDL SM2, HootSuit vs Socialoomph, Traackr vs SocMetrics. This report will emphasize the significance of these tools based on features and cost. The format of the report will consist of the body which will determine the favorable tools to use out of each group then the conclusion to determine the most successful usage of the three favorable tools. These monitoring tools were developed for businesses to improve their performance. These tools track and analyse trends and important data and align those metrics with business goals. ( Meyer, 2014, pg474)

Sprout Social vs SDL SM2
Sprout Social is a social media management software that can help users to grow their social media presence. It can help users to find new customers and can ensure faster and smarter social communications with its collaborative environment. This software can help users to give replies to their customers promptly. Social is perfect for midsize and large companies. People who are looking for a way to reach their audience across various networks smartly and efficiently can try this software. Nokia, Yahoo! And AMD are some of the clients of Sprout Social. Sprout Social is available in three different pricing plans for users: Deluxe, Premium and Enterprise. The Deluxe plan is available for $59 per user per month, the Premium pricing plan is available for $99 per user per month and the Enterprise plan is available for $1500 per month. All the plans offer a free trial for users.(SproutSocial, 2014)

Pros and Cons respectively:
Sprout Social offers real-time brand monitoring feature unlike other similar social media tools. They also offer social CRM tools for users unlike other similar social media tools. The customer support of Sprout Social offers phone and online support for users. They also have mobile dedicated app for iOS and Android users. All the pricing plan of this social media tool offers free personal accounts for paid team members. They also have clean and smooth interface.

Sprout Social doesn’t offer a wide range of social platform support like other similar tools. They also doesn’t offer any plan with unlimited social profile support for users.(SproutSocial, 2014)

SDL SM2 is a social media monitoring tool that can help users to learn what the consumers are thinking about their products and what they think about their competition. This solution works more than just a brand reputation management tool and help users to learn what’s changing their industry and the words people use when talking about their services and products. SDL SM2 is available in two different pricing plans for users starting from $400 per month.(SDL-SM2, 2014)

SDL, the company behind SM2, has been helping companies to collect data from social media sites since 2007. SDL SM2 is suitable for small and midsize businesses, creative agencies that are selling services and products to multiple clients. Ideapark and Fathom are some of the clients of SDL SM2. SDL SM2 comes with real-time dashboard, social media sites analyzing, online social conversion managing, social media intelligence reports, brand monitoring, competition analyzing and crisis controlling/preventing features. Custom sources and filters feature of can help users to monitor their most important and preferred channels more closely.(SDL-SM2, 2014)

Pros and Cons respectively:
SDL SM2 offers two flexible pricing plans and doesn’t require any commitment. SDL SM2 supports storing simultaneous results up to 100,000 unlike other similar tools. The customer support of this social media monitoring software offers telephone and email support for users.(SDL-SM2, 2014) SDL SM2’s Gold and Silver pricing plans only supports 2 user accounts which can be a problem for some users. SDL SM2 doesn’t offer anonymous data gathering option like other similar tools.(SDL-SM2, 2014)

Both of these tools are highly recommended for businesses looking to increase their online traffic and prove feedback. Looking over the features of each tool Sprout Social stands out solely because of the fact that they have on OS based app. Today’s modern society prefers hands on tool that’s can be accessed anytime from anywhere. Social Sprout in also cost effective with plans starting from just $59 a month. For successful companies such as Nokia and Yahoo to get involved with Social Sprout is a big plus. Based on the data provide Social Sprout is a cost effective choice.(SDL-SM2, 2014)

HootSuit vs Social Umph
Hootsuite is perfect for companies of all shapes and sizes. Companies that are looking for a way to manage multiple social networks in one place can try this software. Customers include NHL, Sony Music Entertainment, Adidas AG, eBay Inc., AstraZeneca US, Orange, Australia Post, and one of the top three companies in the North American insurance vertical. Hootsuite comes with brand mention tracking, social media traffic analyzing, tweet and message scheduling, and multiple social network management support features. Users can assign response of messages to a specific contributor or the entire department, organize people by project, team or department and receive notification when a task is done using this software. The social media collaboration features can help users to keep their team organized with notifications and assignment creating features.(HootSuit, 2015)

The social media analytics feature can help users to get intuitive visual reports and real-time insights. This way, users can present big data quickly and easily. System administrators can set profile based access and give limited permissions to specific team members for keeping all of your data secure. The software also offers a mobile platform with the Hootsuite mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android, for providing social media management on the go. Other notable features of Hootsuite are: app integrations, message archiving, geo-targeting and custom invoicing. Freemium model: Free, Pro (starting from $14.99/month), Enterprise (starting from $1000/month)(HotSuit, 2015)

Pros and Cons:
Easy to set up and takes only few minutes, ease of use and manageable. You can add in more social media accounts. Scheduling and Analytics features make Hootsuite distinctly different.(HootSuit, 2015)

Limited number of activities in your social media accounts. Additional payment is required for integration with third party apps.(HootSuit, 2015)

Social Oomph started out as a service that just focused on helping Twitter users become more productive and they soon expanded to include other social platforms such as; Facebook and Linkedin. As a business marketer, it becomes important for businesses to maintain their brand better on social media. To ensure that businesses have enough traffic moving towards their brand, SocialOomph can be the ideal choice. Its automated technology will give boost to the businesses social media marketing productivity. To maintain a strong footing in the market, SocialOomph helps users to manage their brand very easily. It offers its most incredible features to enterprises of all kinds. As a start-up organisation, if users want to keep their cost low and manage social media, SocialOomph can be the best choice as businesses can use it for free for a stipulated time. And as they expand, users can always upgrade themselves on SocialOomph. Plans for SocialOomp start from $14 a month. They also have free trials.(SocialOomph, 2015)

SocialOomph is a good choice only if users are looking for brand management on Facebook or Twitter. On Twitter, SocialOomph helps you in bringing new followers to your brand activity. It allows businesses to create an extended profile on Twitter where they can provide more information about their brand, product and else. They can also delete your tweets without facing any loss in thier followers. They can see information about thier followers on SocialOomph like the ratio of accounts that they follow in comparison to their own and the amount of status that they update among others. It allows you to manage multiple twitter accounts and helps you to find the right people to follow on twitter with its advanced search tools. The keyword search feature can be very handy for you. With their recent integration with Facebook, you can schedule updates at date and time of your choice. Additionally, you can also manage facebook pages and schedule wall posts. However, Facebook integration is available only to SocialOomph professional users.(SocialOomph, 2015)

Pros and Cons respectively:

Auto-follow feature is time saving, multiple twitter account management. (TweetCockPit), management of DM’s of all twitter accounts, auto- follow and Manual Un-follow are few of the interesting features and scheduling of posts on multiple accounts and platforms is SocialOomph’s speciality.(SocialOomph, 2015)

SocialOomph does not support smartphone app and the most useful features available only on paid plans. (SocialOomph Professional).(SocialOomph, 2015)

Both of these tools are ideal for small and growing businesses. They both offer support with Facebook and Twitter, and both have a start-up fee of $14 a month. The issue the arises is having an OS based app which SocialOomph currently does not offer. The importance of having a source of accessing information on the go is a must as mentioned before. Not only based on the fact that HootSuit has an app but because HootSuit goes even further with analytics to access live data has that made this software so effective and reliable. Based on the information proved from the two tools HootSuit is highly recommended.

Traackr vs SocMetrics
SocMetrics is a service that helps agencies and brands find influencers on media sites using a topic based approach. Some of the tools this platform uses are filtering, sorting, targeting, monitor and engage relevant influencers. This monitoring service platform is structured by topics across Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, You Tube and lots of other networking platforms. SocMetrics platform is used to help target the most relevant influencers; one really cool feature is the reduction of time it takes to identify whats the users or businesses favorable influencer is. The price is completely dependent on the number of clients or brands being used on the platform. It’s pricing starts at $400 per month for the whole data base. For that price you can track a list of up to 25 people. Tracking more scales your price upward. You can do scans and export data without tracking, though, so with some manual labor, you can get lots of use out of the system without having to pay more. Socmetrics doesn’t limit your ability to search the database or the number of seat licenses that can use your account. But if they have to store more data, they charge for that. Pros and Cons respectively:

Some other key features of SocMetrics are: Their topics are each prefilled with tens of thousands of influencers. Custom topical influence scoring based on peers, topicality and ability to drive action. Detailed profiles are provided for every influencer citing their influential topics, social media accounts with reach and engagement, most shared content and other metrics. Influencer lists can be refined based on keywords, location, platform and other filters. Custom target lists may be saved and recalled Traackr is a powerful influencer analytics suite that supports successful influencer marketing strategies by giving users the knowledge needed to craft smart strategies and effective plans. They help users understand their audience and focus their attention on the most important people and content on the social web.

There is a big drawback to Traackr. You’ve got to be serious if purchashing. A single search to yield one top-25 list will run users $499 per month. There’s also a one-time, $2,500 setup, training and lifetime support fee. Influencer identification is a very small part of an overall marketing or public relations effort. Businesses are looking at $8,500 per year or so just to walk in the door with this tool. That alone means one thing: Big brands or big budgets only. (Traackr, 2015)

Over 140 enterprises and 40% of the top communications agencies use Traackr’s people discovery engine and influencer tools to drive their marketing and communications strategies. Their customers are forward-thinking organizations and include EMC, Marketo, JP Morgan Chase, Orange, SAP, Zendesk, and more. (Traackr, 2015) Pros and Cons respectively:

Influencer Network Analysis: See how information flows to and from certain influencers. Find out who influences the influencers and figure out how specific people drive behaviors the client wants. (Traackr, 2015) Share of Voice Reporting: Automatically monitor how often your influencers are mention you, your products and your competition in their content. (Traackr, 2015) Geotargeting: Find influencers based on specific geographic locations, including by US states and at the country level for the Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and more. (Traackr, 2015) Langauge Search: Find influential people who publish content in languages other than English. Traackr can search for influencers in French and German. (Traackr, 2015) Both of these tools preform the same function but SocMetrics takes the lead just because of the range of tools you have at your disposal. SocMetrics also offers up to 25 users for only $400 as Traackr has the same listed for $499. Both tools determine influencers and have similar features but only SocMetrics has the advantage of time. SocMetrics is highly recommended. (Traackr, 2015) Conclusion

Out of the 3 tools discussed HootSuit is considered to be of top in this situation. Because users can get intuitive visual reports and real-time insights on the go. Their OS app is very user friendly and rated 5 starts. HootSuit basically has the best of all the 6 tools brought forth. This is one of the only app that can be integrated with third party apps. For businesses such as Adidas and eBay to use this tool says a lot about their success. The cost is this tool is relatively cheaper than the rest, for $14.99/month this is the best social monitoring tool and the most bang for your buck.

References

Traackr. (2015). Traackr. Retrieved on January 29, 2015, from https://www.linkedin.com/company/traackr

SocialOomph. (2014) SocialOomph. Retrieved on January 29, 2015, from http://www.itqlick.com/socialoomph

SDL-SM2. (2014). SDL-SM2. Retrieved on January 29, 2015, from http://www.itqlick.com/sdl-sm2

HootSuit. (2015). HootSuit. Retrieved on January 29, 2015, from http://www.itqlick.com/hootsuite

Meyer: C.M. (2013). Measuring Social Media Performance. Third Edition Communications for Result, Third edition, pg474. Canada, Oxford University press.

Sprout Social. (2014). Sprout Social. Retrieved on January 29, 2015, from http://www.itqlick.com/sprout-social.