Best Social Media Analytics Software Shortlist
Here is my selection of the best social media analytics software and their ideal use cases.
- Keyhole - Best for real-time tracking and analysis
- Brand24 - Best for social listening
- Brandwatch - Best for market research
- Sprout Social - Best for audience insights
- Agorapulse - Best for measuring ROI
- Hootsuite - Best for mid-market and enterprise companies
- Rival IQ - Best for competitor analysis
- Sendible - Best for enterprise brands and agencies
- Buffer - Best for getting started
- Talkwalker - Best for measuring cross-channel performance
- Cyfe - Best for customizable dashboards
- IZEA Flex - Best for influencer marketing
What Is Social Media Analytics Software?
Social media analytics software is a tool that analyzes and measures social media performance. It collects data from your various social media platforms and can provide metrics and insight into why some of your posts are going viral, or why some of your posts aren’t getting the attention you thought they would.
In order to grow your presence on social media platforms, a keen understanding of your target audience and platform-specific strategies is essential. A social media analytics tool that'll help you gauge whether your efforts are bearing fruit can help you do exactly that.
Overviews of the 10 Best Social Media Analytics Software
Here’s a brief description of each social media analytics software that showcases each tool’s best use case, its noteworthy features, and some pros and cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface.
1. Keyhole - Best for real-time tracking and analysis
Why I picked Keyhole: Things change fast in social media, which is why you need a tool that delivers real-time tracking and insights. Keyhole does that and more. You can also monitor what your audiences are saying in real-time through social listening, spy on your competitors, discover top influencers, and create PDF reports.
Keyhole Standout Features and Integrations
Features include hashtags and keywords trackers, influencer tracking, competitor tracking, automated reporting, live stream, sentiment analysis, and demographic analysis.
Integrations include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter. You can also create your own integrations using Keyhole’s Social Media Analytics and Media Monitoring API.
Price: From $99 per user, per month
Free Trial: 7-day free trial
Pros
- Comprehensive range of real-time metrics
- Easy to use
- Excellent social listening
Cons
- Data limits on tracking
- Scheduling functionality could be better
2. Brand24 - Best for social listening
Brand 24 is the world’s premier social listening tool and the best way to understand what your audience really thinks.
Why I picked Brand24: Brand24’s social listening capabilities are incredibly impressive. Use the platform to monitor mentions across 25 million online sources, have sentiments analyzed automatically, and get insights delivered in easy-to-understand reports.
Brand24 even works for enterprise and global brands with audiences in multiple countries. AI sentiment analysis supports over 108 languages.
Brand24 Standout Features and Integrations
Features include discussion volume charts, mention analytics, influencer scores, sentiment analysis, filtering, and data exporting.
Integrations include all major social channels, Slack, Spotify, Telegram, Reddit, and TripAdvisor.
Price: $79 per user, per month
Free Trial: 14-day free trial
Pros
- Exceptionally user-friendly
- Social listening works across almost every platform.
- Analytics covers blogs and forums as well as social platforms
Cons
- Sentiment analysis could be more accurate
- Support isn't instantaneous
3. Brandwatch - Best for market research
Brandwatch is a comprehensive social media marketing suite of tools with an emphasis on understanding your audience.
Why I picked Brandwatch: Unlike other social media tools, Brandwatch doesn’t rely on mentions or sentiment analysis to help users understand their audience. It combines audience analytics and survey social panels to give you qualitative insights into your audience in a matter of minutes.
It also claims to have the largest archive of consumer opinions to help you spot upcoming trends, and tops everything off with automated tracking to help you monitor your brand health and share of voice.
Brandwatch Standout Features and Integrations
Features include access to the world’s largest pool of online consumer discussion, competitive benchmarking, seven years of competitive channel analytics, smart social inbox, and custom dashboards.
Integrations include all major social media networks, BuzzSumo, Tumblr, Hootsuite, Percolate, LexisNexis, Kinetiq, Storystream, and Conversocial.
Price: Customized pricing upon request
Free Trial: Personalized demo
Pros
- Unrivaled audience research capabilities
- Intuitive UI
- Customizable dashboards
Cons
- Not as accessible for smaller businesses
- Influencer monitoring could be stronger
4. Sprout Social - Best for audience insights
Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media platform that features advanced analytics and social listening. It makes it easy to learn everything you need to know about your audience to improve your campaigns.
Why I picked Sprout Social: Sprout Social may be an all-in-one platform, but that doesn’t mean its analytics features are subpar. In fact, it features some of the most in-depth reporting and listening tools on the market.
Best of all, it does much of the heavy lifting for you. AI and machine learning technology sift through millions of data points to automatically generate audience insights like trending topics and hashtags. Reports even show how your audience feels about your competitors, and how to differentiate your business.
Sprout Social Standout Features and Integrations
Features include audience analysis, consumer research, influencer recognition, sentiment analysis, trend identification, and performance reports for specific channels and posts.
Integrations include every major social media network, WhatsApp, Google Business Messages, Canva, Bitly, Dropbox, Google Analytics, Hubspot and more.
Price: $249 per month, each additional user costs $199 per month
Free Trial: 30-day free trial
Pros
- Incredibly robsifteports
- User-friendly interface
- Great social listening capabilities
Cons
- Pricing may be prohibitive
- Support can be slow to respond
5. Agorapulse - Best for measuring ROI
Agorapulse is an all-in-one social media tool that integrates with Google Analytics so you can calculate the true impact of your campaigns.
Why I picked Agorapulse: By helping users to prove the ROI of their social media campaigns, Agorapulse offers a truly all-in-one social media analytics platform. The platform offers all of the analysis features you expect, such as in-depth reports, social listening, and trend insights.
Take things further by connecting Agorapulse to Google Analytics and other platforms to calculate revenue generated by each of your campaigns in an intuitive dashboard that leverages historical data to show how your ROI changes over time.
Agorapulse Standout Features and Integrations
Features include automated ROI reporting, social media response time analysis, trend insights, custom reports, CSV exports, and a mobile app.
Integrations include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Price: $59 per user, per month
Free Trial: 30-day free trial, no credit card required
Pros
- Unrivaled ROI reporting
- In-depth reports
- User-friendly layout
Cons
- Difficulty scheduling and planning content with the platform
- Doesn’t support every platform (like Pinterest)
6. Hootsuite - Best for mid-market and enterprise companies
A comprehensive all-in-one platform, Hootsuite provides no shortage of insights for companies looking to track performance and grow their presence.
Why I picked Hootsuite: The platform has all of the tools large companies need to manage, monitor and grow their social media presence in one place. As well as some of the best publishing functionality on the market, Hootsuite also has seriously in-depth reporting.
Real-time analysis helps you identify top-performing posts and stay ahead of the competition. Social listening features with sentiment analysis help you understand what your audience really thinks. And customizable, in-depth reports let you showcase your results to stakeholders.
Hootsuite Standout Features and Integrations
Features include real-time analysis, customizable reports, competitor analysis, automated alerts, social listening, and customizable dashboards.
Integrations include every major social media network, Google My Business, MailChimp, HubSpot, Canva, Brandwatch, and dozens more.
Price: $99 per user, per month
Free Trial: 30-day free trial. You can skip the trial and get 20% off the monthly price.
Pros
- In-depth analytics of every platform
- Competitive intel
- All-in-one platform
Cons
- May be overwhelming for smaller businesses or beginner marketers
- Can be expensive
7. Rival IQ - Best for competitor analysis
Rival IQ provides in-depth analysis of every major social channel, with a particular focus on competitive benchmarking. Automated competitor analysis significantly cuts research time.
Why I picked Rival IQ: Rival IQ is the tool for any brand that wants to leverage its rivals’ audiences and benchmark its success. On top of the standard social media reporting features you’d expect, the platform offers extensive competitor analysis so you can track exactly what your competitors are doing.
This includes automated monitoring of your rivals’ presence that helps you identify new opportunities and topics to increase engagement.
Rival IQ Standout Features and Integrations
Features include automated benchmarking and analysis, boosted post detection, position comparison, proactive alerts, in-depth post analysis, and comprehensive social media audits.
Integrations include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok. You can also use the Rival IQ API to integrate the platform’s data into other tools.
Price: $239 per month, additional users cost $10 per month.
Free Trial: 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Pros
- Unrivaled competitor analysis
- Customizable reporting formats, including slideshows
- Real-time insights
Cons
- Lack of historical data
- Lacks social listening
8. Sendible - Best for for enterprise brands and agencies
Sendible is a social media analytics platform that lets you manage and monitor your online presence at scale, making it the perfect choice for enterprise brands and agencies.
Why I picked Sendible: Sendible is packed with features directly targeted at agency owners. That includes dedicated client dashboards, automated reporting and enhanced security features like non-password-based connections.
When you’re managing dozens of clients, you don’t want to waste time creating reports. Sendible makes it easy to build in-depth reports in an instant, customizing them with the metrics that matter most to each client.
It also provides the insights agencies need to grow their clients’ followings, like best time to post and most engaged followers.
Sendible Standout Features and Integrations
Features include white label plans, individual dashboards, automated reporting, customized reports, hashtag and keyword monitoring, and engagement reports.
Integrations include every major social media network, YouTube, Google Business Profiles, WordPress, Canva, Dropbox, Google Drive, and GIPHY.
Price: $29 per month
Free Trial: 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Pros
- Reporting hub
- Individual dashboard for each client
- Easy to find influencers
Cons
- Real-time monitoring could be better
- Can’t manage Pinterest
9. Buffer - Best for getting started
Buffer is an all-in-one social media platform with tools to help you build, manage and track your social presence. Simplicity and value are key differentiators for Buffer. And while other tools may overwhelm you with analysis, Buffer helps you get a broad understanding of your social media performance in a single dashboard.
Why I picked Buffer: If you’re just getting started with social media analysis, Buffer gives you all of the insights you need in an intuitive and easy-to-use tool. Track your performance across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Compare paid and organic campaigns, create white label reports, and find answers to your most burning questions.
Buffer also boasts an insight-backed blog and content library that offers guidance on how to use their tool and become a better marketer.
Buffer Standout Features and Integrations
Features include easy-to-use dashboards, audience demographics, stories and post analytics, white label reports, daily updates, and alerts.
Integrations include every major social media platform, Canva, Zapier, IFTTT, Make, WordPress, Microsoft, Pixlee, SocialBee and more.
Price: $6 per channel, per month.
Free Trial: There's a freemium version of the tool and a 14-day free trial for premium accounts.
Pros
- Great UI
- East to connect social accounts
- Lets you schedule posts as well as analyze them
Cons
- Lacks more advanced analytic options
- Limited integration with some social networks
10. Talkwalker - Best for measuring cross-channel performance
Talkwalker’s Social Intelligence platform provides an enterprise social listening platform that’s the best way for agencies and advertisers to monitor and measure cross-channel conversations.
Why I picked Talkwalker: The company's Social Intelligence platform is aimed at enterprise brands and agencies who want to take social listening to the next level. On top of the major social media platforms, Talkwalker tracks conversations across blogs, forums and news websites to give users access to billions of conversations.
It also goes beyond text-based conversations, tracking brand logos and objects in images and videos. So it doesn’t matter how people are talking about your brand’s latest advert or your team’s latest match, Talkwalker lets you analyze those conversations.
Talkwalker Standout Features and Integrations
Features include online conversation monitoring across thousands of web properties, five years worth of historical data, AI-powered sentiment analysis, image and video analysis, and automated alerts.
Integrations include Facebook, Twitter, Google Analytics, Audiense, Hootsuite, Tableau, and more.
Price: Customized pricing upon request
Free Trial: Personalized demo available upon request
Pros
- Powerful sentiment analysis
- Strong data visualization capabilities
- Real-time monitoring
Cons
- Lacks LinkedIn tracking
- A lack of coverage in non-English-speaking markets
11. Cyfe - Best for customizable dashboards
Cyfe is a social media-focused dashboard platform that offers users exceptional visualization capabilities and a single solution when it comes to monitoring and reporting social media performance.
Why I picked Cyfe: Cyfe is the go-to platform for businesses that want to aggregate all of their data (social media and otherwise) in a single dashboard. Collecting and visualizing that much data in one space may sound complicated, but Cyfe is incredibly easy to use.
There are multiple pre-built dashboard templates that you can use to get started, and it only takes a couple of minutes to start pulling in data from your accounts. For those that want to customize the experience, Cyfe lets you customize colors and logos, create branded reports, and launch custom URLs that clients or stakeholders can access without logging in.
Cyfe Standout Features and Integrations
Features include pre-built widgets and starter dashboards, automated reporting and alerts, historical data, custom URLs, and embedded analytics.
Integrations include all major social media platforms, Google Analytics, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Moz, HubSpot, YouTube, Shopify and dozens more.
Price: From $19 per month
Free Trial: 14-day free trial
Pros
- Integrates with over 250 data sources
- Easy to get started
- Completely customizable
Cons
- Can’t manage social media channels
- No mobile app
12. IZEA Flex - Best for influencer marketing
Flex by IZEA is a dedicated influencer marketing platform with data-backed analysis at its heart.
Why I picked IZEA Flex: For some brands, social media marketing is synonymous with influencer marketing. And while many of the platforms I’ve discussed so far have influencer capabilities, none are dedicated to this marketing strategy in the way that IZEA Flex is. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools that help brands find influencers, build campaigns and, crucially, analyze their efforts.
If rich influencer data (reach, audience demographics, etc.) wasn’t enough, IZEA Flex also lets you create tracking links from inside the platform, allowing you to track conversions in real time.
IZEA Flex Standout Features and Integrations
Features include in-depth influencer profiles, influencer discovery, multi-platform monitoring, aggregated campaign performance data, and tracking links.
Integrations include all major social platforms, Shopify, and Google Analytics.
Price: $165 per month, $79 per additional user
Free Trial: 10-day free trial
Pros
- Unmatched influencer data
- Easy to track campaign ROI
- All-in-one influence platform
Cons
- Limited capabilities outside of influencer marketing
- Lack of a freemium version
Other Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best social media analytics software list:
- SocialPilot - Best for creating downloadable reports
- Social Status - Best for analyzing paid social media campaigns
- Mention - Best for automatic alerts
- Whatagraph - Best for analyzing social media campaigns as part of the wider customer journey
- HubSpot Social Media Management Software - Best for companies already using the HubSport suite of tools
- Meltwater - Best for analyzing other web 2.0 properties including blogs and forums
- Synthesio - Best for blue-chip brands
- Emplifi - Best for e-commerce brands
- Awario - Best for identifying influencers in your audience
How I Selected the Best Social Media Analytics Software
The number of social media users is continuing to grow and there are now 4.76 billion social media users in the world — just under 60% of the world’s population. Because of its increasing growth, social media analytics software have skyrocketed, with hundreds of options to choose from. Finding the best one out of hundreds is no small task. That’s why I’ve endeavored to make your search easier by shortlisting ten of the best solutions.
How'd I create this shortlist?
I started by evaluating and comparing a broad range of social media analytics software with positive user ratings. I then used the selection criteria below to narrow the options. I selected these criteria based on the experience of The CMO’s parent company, Black & White Zebra, which has over a decade’s worth of experience reviewing thousands of different tools. Experience has taught us that these are the criteria that most people care about, regardless of use case. I also drew on my personal decade’s worth of experience when creating the shortlist.
If you have general questions about how social media analytics software works, or how to pick the best option for your organization, take a look at my Frequently Asked Questions section below. Or, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries, if that's what you need the most.
Selection criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best social media analytics software for this article:
User interface
Even experienced practitioners can find the amount of data displayed by social media analytics software overwhelming. That’s why I’ve judged the following platforms on their ability to display information in an intuitive manner and the ease with which you can navigate the platform. If you can’t find what you need in a few clicks, you can be sure I’ll let you know.
Usability
You shouldn’t have to devote hours or days to learning how to use your social media analytics software. Like the social media platforms themselves, your tool should be designed in an engaging and intuitive way. If it needs a product tour, it should provide one.
Data visualization
You’re going to be dealing with a lot of facts and figures when using these tools, so it's imperative that they take data visualization seriously. From dashboard to reports, social media platforms should make it easy to understand, analyze and share data.
Software integrations
Social media integrations are a given for this platform. But what about the rest of the MarTech stack? I’ll identify the extent to which these tools integrate with your CRM, email platform, cloud storage software, and other business solutions.
Pricing
You’ll find a range of pricing plans. Where prices are higher or lower, I made sure that platforms offered enough value to warrant their price tag.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions about finding the best social media analytics software? My frequently asked questions section below may help.
Which Is the Best Tool for Analyzing Social Media?
How Much Does a Social Media Analytics Tool Cost?
Do I Need to Buy Another Tool for Social Media?
What Other Marketing Software Should I Use?
Learn More About Social Media Marketing
Don’t leave your social media strategy to chance. Use one of the above platforms to analyze the impact of your campaigns in real-time, boost your business’ reach on social and improve your ROI.
If you want more insights into effective social media marketing strategies or trends to grow your business, try one of the following articles:
- How To Refine Your Social Media Marketing Strategy In 2023
- 12 Social Media Marketing Trends to Kick Off 2023
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