4 of the Best Social Media Analytics Tools Out There for 2019

Social media platforms have made the world a bit less lonely, enabling you to access your loved ones at a button’s click. At least half, 53% to be precise, of the world’s population is on social media. That’s a whopping 4.02 billion users! That’s why we compiled our list of the best social media analytics tools out there (hint — you might need more than one). If you are serious about tracking your data to improve your traffic growth, then you need to read this article!

Now, extrapolate this to business, and social media’s importance to marketing quickly becomes a top priority. With other forms of advertising including print and radio on a slow decline, social media is quickly taking over.

People now go to Twitter to discover what’s trending while Facebook has tons of users looking to engage with your brand. A hefty 17% of people globally now make their purchases online. An effective social media strategy has never been more critical if you are looking for a positive impact on sales or on brand awareness.

Why do you need a social media analytics tool?

A good social media strategy should rise above the noise and crowd that social media is so that it can be effective. Social media analytics tools will examine all the data in that clamor and pinpoint your best performing strategy.

These handy tools will help you uncover the truth behind the shares and the likes, showing you why your engagement is as is.  Social media analytics will give a business a glimpse into their customer’s exact sentiments towards your services and products and what drives them to purchase from you.

These tools can also assist you to gauge just how well your customer service is doing. Below are some of the best cutting-edge tools that delve into tons of data to come up with what works for your social media platforms.

Sprout Social

Social media platforms: Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Google+

Sprout has the complete package for analytics and social media management. Its aim according to its Senior Sales Manager, Greg Carollo, is to simplify and streamline social media analytics across networks to save time while providing better information for decisions.

It also has other useful features including web mentions monitors, smart inboxes, collaboration, and publishing services. Through Sprout, you can schedule your posts and track performance at a go. With it, you will have the right tools at your fingertips to help you run and maintain your social media community, through an easy initiation of conversations.

This will ensure that your relationships with your clients are better since you can respond to them faster and efficiently. This tool is especially helpful for handling multiple social media platforms, helping you gauge all their performance simultaneously. This ensures that none of your accounts is abandoned in the cold when there is too much activity going on.

Pros

• Has a post scheduling option with an inbuilt calendar tool
• Its attractive and detailed presentation-ready graphs and reports for Facebook and Twitter are out of this world gorgeous.
• It has a smart inbox feature that highlights texts and new notifications across platforms.
• Has a beautifully designed and organized dashboard with all key tabs and analytics at hand for a quick response.

Cons

• It has no YouTube or Pinterest reports
• Is a pricey premium analytics tool

Google Analytics

Platforms: All

It is awkward having Google Analytics sit here with the rest of the pure social media analytics tools, but it’s with good reason. While in itself it is primarily a web analytics tool, it has its own inbuilt silver bullet as far as social media analytics is concerned.

If you want to track social media campaigns that are supposed to direct traffic to your website and know which of your social sites lays the golden egg, Google Analytics is your best bet. If you are using analytics to get to your actual conversion rate, then GA is the best of the best for that purpose.

On its acquisition page, there is a social media tab that shows where most of your traffic is sourced from and with such information you can take steps either to vamp your efforts on a losing social media platform or let it go all together and refocus your energy on what works. If a particular platform is doing particularly well, then you can also direct more of your efforts and expenses towards it.

Pros

• It’s free
• Shows traffic sources from all your social media platforms
• Gives you the ability to assign goals as well as analyze them once done

Cons

• It is more optimized for web analytics rather than social analytics

Snaplytics

Platform: Snapchat, Instagram

Snapchat’s growth has been astronomical, and its huge fan base, especially amongst the Millenials and Generation Z, is enough to make any marketer’s mouth water. The platform itself hasn’t been super friendly to brands, making it almost impossible to upload content easily or even schedule it.

Worse is the lack of stats detailed enough to activate any decision making unless you are big enough of an influencer to access Snapchat Discover. Not until Snaplytics stepped in and now you can obtain statistics on the average number of screenshots per content uploaded, as well as the average duration of each story. These statistics can assist you to create engaging campaigns as well as pinpoint your target audience.

Pros

• Has an elegant and intuitive interface
• Takes regular shots of your fast-moving Snapchat account for insights
• Has a 14-day trial use

Cons

• Not free

Crowdbabble

Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin,

Crowdbabble’s goal is to assist you in increasing your growth percentages fast through increased engagement. It pinpoints content that’s worth reposts and has charts available for download right at your fingertips for that big presentation.

Besides tracking your user engagement rate, Crowdbabble can also assist you to optimize the content that works for your audience  

Pros

• Has fantastic customer support
• A very customizable reporting tool
• Offers a tremendous engagement tool for your social media platforms

Cons

• Not free

Feature comparison of four of the best social media analytics tools

	Social media platforms:	Costs
Sprout Social	Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Google+	Has premium features
Google Analytics	All	Free
Snaplytics	Snapchat, Instagram	Has premium features
Crowdbabble	Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin,	Has premium features

Tips for selecting the perfect social media analytics tool

• Your chosen tool of trade should integrate easily with the platforms you are on because social media networks are very protective of their APIs.
• Look for vendors who have curated historical data on you and on your competitors to assist in trend analysis.
• Where possible, look for an integrated suite that monitors, publishes and analyzes your social media platforms.
• If you have paid campaigns, ensure that your selected social media analytics tool reports both on paid and organic social media activity on one dashboard.
• There are multitudes of free analytics apps, some that are also cross-platform in design. Others may have a free version with limited features but with purchase can offer more options.

It is of vital importance to plan first and understand how each tool works so that you can keep within your budget and expectations. When properly used, these social media analytics tools can help boost your bottom line.