W5.2 Social Media Monitoring Tools
Social Media Monitoring Tools
Many companies provide software and apps to monitor multiple social media channels. Each of you will have your own reasons for using a social media monitoring (or marketing) tool, so it's important to think about what features you are looking for and do a careful evaluation of the possibilities before choosing a tool.
| As an activity, I want you to think about what you're looking for in a social media management tool and create a table like the one below (doesn't have to be fancy, you can do it on old-fashioned paper if you want). Then choose at least four services and investigate which features they provide. You can count the free version and the paid version as separate services in your chart. Leave some blank rows in your chart, because you will surely find some features you hadn't thought of that you suddenly want! |
| Feature |
HootSuite Free |
HootSuite $10/mo |
Crowdbooster Bronze $9/mo |
SproutSocial Standard $39/mo |
| Manage multiple Twitter Accounts | ||||
| Manage multiple Facebook Pages | ||||
| Post to Google+ | ||||
| Post to multiple services with one update | ||||
| Scheduled updates/tweets | ||||
| URL Shortening | ||||
| Quickly share an article I'm reading | ||||
Here are two lists of apps that you might check out in this activity. I'm not going to list pricing or features with any of these, because the only constant here is that both are always changing.
Social Media Monitoring Tools
These are tools that help you manage, post, and measure your engagement in social media.
- Hootsuite Links to an external site.
- Crowdbooster Links to an external site.
- SproutSocial Links to an external site.
- MediaFunnel Links to an external site.
- Postling Links to an external site.
Social Marketing Tools
This category of software is designed more for an all-in-one marketing tool. Not only is social media in the package, but also marketing campaigns, blogging, and international platforms. Very few of these contain pricing information online.
- Awareness Networks Links to an external site.
- Hubspot Links to an external site.
- Shoutlet Links to an external site.
- Spredfast Links to an external site.
- Crowd Factory Links to an external site.
- Wildfireapp Links to an external site.
Are there other tools? Of course there are. Hundreds of them. If you find another one that looks right for you, add it to your chart and tell us about it on Twitter!