Alexis Kestler
As a social media marketing expert with over 10 years of experience driving digital growth for brands, I‘m often asked – "What‘s the best analytics software to measure our social media performance?"
It‘s a fair question. With so many tools flooding the market, it can get overwhelming to determine which one is right for you.
That‘s why I‘ve created this comprehensive guide on the top social media analytics software worth considering in 2023. I‘ll cover:
- Why social media analytics is crucial
- The key metrics you must track
- An in-depth feature comparison of the top 12 tools
- Actionable tips to accelerate growth with influencer marketing
- Plus extra insights from my decade managing social media!
So if you want to slash guesswork and make data-backed decisions to maximize your social media ROI, you‘ll find this guide invaluable.
Let‘s dive in!
Why Is Social Media Analytics Software So Vital?
With 4.65 billion social media users worldwide, platforms like Instagram and Tiktok are integral to engaging modern audiences.
But did you know less than 30% of marketers feel they effectively use social media data?
Without the right analytics tools, you end up guessing about what works rather than relying on hard data. This wastes budget on ineffective campaigns and hampers your social media outcomes.
That‘s where analytics software becomes indispensable. Here are 5 compelling benefits:
1. Optimize Content Strategy
Detailed metrics on your best-performing content types, formats and topics allows you to double down on what resonates. This directly boosts engagement and reach.
As an example, Nutribullet used Instagram analytics to determine 60 second smoothie recipe videos performed best. Aligning their content boosted engagement rate by 22%!
2. Understand Your Audience
Granular audience data – including demographics, interests, behaviors and conversations – helps you hyper-target messaging and offers.
Analytics revealed health brand Glow Bar‘s Instagram audience was 82% women. So they tailored engagement campaigns and offers towards females for a seamless brand experience.
3. Benchmark Against Competitors
Monitoring competitors sheds light on their content strategies and engagement levels. You can replicate what works well there while avoiding their mistakes.
For instance, Sprout Social discovered competitors were investing heavily in Instagram Reels. Producing more Reels videos themselves boosted traffic by 5.3x!
4. Calculate Social Media ROI
With web analytics integration, you can directly correlate social activities with leads and sales. Hard numbers proving monetary returns justify bigger budgets to management.
South Beach Diet ties Instagram promos to on-site conversions. Analytics reports led them to double their IG ad spend as the $15 ROAS proved campaigns delivered excellent ROI.
5. Identify Trends Faster
Listening tools detect rising trends, viral posts and timely conversations. Jumping on emerging opportunities early expands reach and engagement.
IT Cosmetics spotted a trending eyeliner hashtag with 12 million views and aligned a campaign, riding it to over 100,000 impressions within days!
See why actionable data is integral for success? Now let‘s explore the key metrics you need to track.
Crucial Social Media Metrics You Must Track
While each analytics tool offers an array of metrics, I recommend focusing tracking on these 7 high-level indicators for optimal insights:
Audience Metrics
- Follower Growth Rate
- Follower Demographics
- Engaged Followers
These show WHO is interested and whether your community is expanding.
Engagement Metrics
- Interactions (Likes/Comments/Shares)
- Click-Through-Rate
- Reach / Impressions
- Engagement Rate
These signal content RESONANCE and affinity.
Performance Metrics
- Conversions / Sales
- ROI
These indicate actual BUSINESS IMPACT driving revenue.
Of course, you can delve into more granular metrics once you master the above foundation. Now let‘s analyze the top tools available to track these KPIs.
Hands-On Comparison Of Top 12 Tools
Choosing the right platform isn‘t easy. So I have dissected the leading options with pros, cons and prices for you to compare what matters most:
Sprout Social
Platforms: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Metrics Highlight: Customizable dashboard, engagement forecasts, sentiment analysis, competitor benchmarks
Key Benefits
- Robust analytics and reporting
- Easy-to-use monitoring and publishing
- Advanced listening capabilities
- Audience segmentation
- Campaign tracking
Pricing: Starts from $99/month
Ideal For: Teams wanting an end-to-end platform with strong analytics
Hootsuite
Platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest
Metrics Highlight: Video analytics, historical comparisons, campaign ROI tracking
Key Benefits
- Customizable dashboards
- Campaign planning tools
- Content scheduling optimization
- Calculated metric reporting
Pricing: Pro plans start at $49/month
Best For: Social media managers desiring campaign management capabilities
HubSpot
Platforms: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter
Metrics Highlight: Lead tracking dashboard, campaign ROI reporting, goal tracking
Key Benefits
- Integrated into wider HubSpot suite
- Direct correlation of social and web activity
- Campaign planning and publishing tools
- Custom reporting builder
Pricing: Marketing Hub starts at $45/month
Best For: Usage alongside other HubSpot sales and marketing tools
Mention
Platforms: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook + discussions, blogs, news
Metrics Highlight: Volume analysis, share of voice reporting, influencer stats
Key Benefits
- Real-time monitoring of brand mentions
- Smart influencer discovery engine
- Crisis signal monitoring
- Hashtag tracking
Pricing: Starts from $29/month
Ideal For: Public relations, communications and reputation management
Keyhole
Platforms: Instagram, Twitter
Metrics Highlight: Hashtag performance, UTM campaign tracking
Key Benefits
- Track hashtag and @mention volume
- Monitor competitor branded hashtag usage
- Community conversation listening
- Location-based listening
Pricing: Starts at $99/month
Best For: Instagram and Twitter community managers
Iconosquare
Platforms: Instagram only
Metrics Highlight: Instagram stories analytics, hashtag performance
Key Benefits
- Schedule Instagram content for optimal timing
- Archive posts for easy reporting
- Discover best hashtags to utilize
- Comment tracking
Pricing: Starts at $99/month
Ideal For: Instagram-focused marketers
BuzzSumo
Platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, discussions
Metrics Highlight: Content performance benchmarks, backlink analysis
Key Benefits
- Discover trending topics and discussions
- Unearth key influencers by performance
- Track domain and author authority metrics
- Compare content formats
Pricing: Pro plans from $99/month
Best For: Ideating better performing content through data intelligence
Talkwalker
Platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram + 150+ languages
Metrics Highlight: Share of voice reporting, historical data
Key Benefits
- AI-powered sentiment analysis
- Image recognition providing visual listening
- Campaign success measurement
- Crisis monitoring with real-time alerts
Pricing: Custom quotes
Ideal For: Large global enterprises
Rival IQ
Platforms: Instagram, Twitter
Metrics Highlight: Audience demographics reporting
Key Benefits
- Track competitors across social
- Detect fast-rising opportunities early
- Benchmark performance vs. competitors
- Community conversation listening
Pricing: From $199/month
Best For: Beating competitors with actionable intelligence
Google Analytics
Platforms: Connects websites, YouTube and some social accounts
Metrics Highlight: Real-time dashboard, goal tracking
Key Benefits
- Correlate social efforts to site actions
- Calculated metrics customization flexibility
- Ecommerce tracking and segmentation
- TV and video measurement
Price: Free!
Ideal for: Website owners with complementary social presence
I handpicked these 12 platforms based on offering robust analytics capabilities, a spectrum of monitoring features and pricing options ranging from premium to free tiers.
Hopefully this guide gives you clarity in finding one aligned to your business needs and budget! Now let‘s shift gears into growth overdrive with influencer marketing…
Growth Hack: Influencer Marketing Creates Millions Of Impressions
While most tools mentioned focus solely on optimizing your owned social media accounts…
Did you know the average influencer generates a staggering 187% higher engagement than brand posts?
So collaborating with relevant influencers introduces their loyal, niche audiences to your brand and messaging!
But first – why exactly does influencer marketing accelerate growth?
The Pull Of Authenticity And Affinity
In an era of banner blindness, consumers desperately crave authentic connections over traditional advertising and self-promotion.
And influencers wield this immersive, storytelling power extremely successfully thanks to their authority in specific niches.
Their fans look up to them as subject experts or aspire to replicate their lifestyles. So if THEY endorse a product, it carries far more weight than a salesy corporate post ever could!
Data shows 92% of customers trust an influencer more than branded comms – that‘s insane levels of perceived authenticity!
Plus their tailored niche ensures hyper-targeted delivery to warm, receptive audiences likely to convert rather than spray-and-pray tactics with broad reach but poor conversion rates.
Really, influencers act as credible advocates hyping brands they LOVE to fans who admire them! This forms a strong foundation for driving conversions and sales.
Quantifiable Business Growth
Beyond vanity metrics of reach and engagement alone, influencer marketing drives serious business results:
-
One Dollar Shave Club saw 2000% sales spikes from influencer posts
-
Daniel Wellington watches notched 7 figure revenue via nano-influencers
-
Chubbies Shorts triggered a 4.6X revenue return from just 5 Instagram influencers!
With measurable impact like this, smart brands dedicate 10-20% of marketing budgets to this channel alone!
How To Identify And Recruit Ideal Influencers
But securing the RIGHT influencers is challenging with over 500k options across Instagram and TikTok alone!
You need to source creators closely aligned to your brand – then convince them to feature and recommend your products.
That‘s why leading influencer discovery platforms like Ainfluencer prove invaluable to streamline the entire process.
Effortless Influencer Discovery And Management
As the world‘s largest influencer platform, Ainfluencer empowers over 30,000 brands including Amazon, Disney and Microsoft to discover and collaborate with influencers leveraging proprietary matching algorithms.
It simplifies even the most daunting marketing tasks including:
1) Targetted Influencer Search
Using filters like niche, audience demographics, content metrics and more – quickly find relevant creators guaranteed to resonate with your customers
2) Campaign Management
Manage contractual agreements, briefings, payments and deliverable tracking across 1000s of influencers seamlessly
3) Performance Analytics
Track tangible campaign results and previous collaborations to double down on what works
4) Relationship Building
Direct messaging allows authentic partnership conversations so influencers feel valued rather than used
Thus Ainfluencer provides an end-to-end solution from discovery through execution and results tracking – making this a no-brainer growth lever to pull!
And here‘s the cherry on top…it‘s 100% free to get started today!
So tap into their network of over 500,000 influencers across Instagram, TikTok and more waiting to accelerate your brand‘s growth.
Key Takeaways And Next Steps
We‘ve covered a lot of ground exploring various facets of social media analytics including:
- Why analytics creates measurable competitive advantage
- The key metrics indicating marketing success
- In-depth comparisons of the top 12 analytics tools
- The immense power of influencer marketing for exponential growth
Here are my recommended next steps:
1) Determine Your Goals
Outline marketing objectives tied to clear KPIs for what success looks like
2) Calculate Rough Budget
Research pricing tiers to allocate budget for the analytics tool
3) Shortlist Aligned Options
Compare tools fitting key criteria like platform support, ideal metrics and pricing
4) Request Demos And Trials
Take top choices for a test drive before deciding
5) Start Tracking Key Metrics
Once selected, focus baseline reporting on core metrics highlighted earlier
6) Grow With Influencers
Consider an additional lift through Ainfluencer to expand reach
Feel free to reach out if you need any guidance in your social media analytics evaluation process! I‘m always glad to help brands maximize their digital marketing capability and outcomes.
The platforms discussed will empower you to make smart social investments guided by data not hunches. Use these cutting-edge tools to listen better, engage smarter and convert followers into happy customers!
