You know you need to track your social media efforts, but there are a lot of tools out there. Which ones are the best fit for you?
This infographic from the Social Media Strategies Summit comments on 25 popular social media tools from Sprout Social to Engage Sciences to Spredfast.
The infographic includes information about each of the 25 tools, including brands who are already using them, whether they are free or not, the best thing about them and their ideal user.
This infographic divides social tools into five categories: Social Listening, Social Conversation, Social Marketing, Social Analytics and Social Influencer. "In each category, there are 5 different applications or services that could impact your brand's success heavily," according to an article on BitRebels. "All you need to do is pick the one that you think is best suited for your brand and needs. It's when you start looking at the result of your social media efforts with the help of social media tools like these that you can really make changes that will progress your brand upwards instead of sideways."
Social listening software allows companies to learn about what conversations are happening about their company, their competitors and their brand keywords. Think Trendrr or Brandwatch.
Social conversation software allows companies to find and respond to customer inquiries and comments in real-time. Think Spredfast, Spinklr or Hootsuite.
Social marketing tools help create and manage campaigns across platforms. Think Shoutlet.
Social analytics software measures and helps companies understand the results of their social media efforts. Think Sprout Social.
Social influencer tools can be used to find and engage with social media users who are particularly influential on specific topics or among certain demographics. Think Klout.
Looking at the infographic, I noticed that some of tools could be in more than one of the categories. You can both listen, manage and do analytics with Sprout Social, for example. The perfect fit for you company might be one or two of these tools used together.