May 18, 2018
The only way for a modern marketing department to demonstrate their success is through social data. The more the merrier. The problem, however, is that many people still aren’t sure exactly what social data is or how to collect it.
There are hundreds of tools and thousands of ways you can amass social data, so how do you know where to begin? Before we dive into the list of the best tools, it’s good to know what social data is in the first place.
The number of social media users is expected to reach 3.02 billion by the year 2021. Wow! That’s a lot of information passing through the web. It’s the prime arena for you to get to know your customers better. Basically, social data is any and all information collected from social networks that demonstrates user behavior. This can include actions such as:
It’s easy to understand how tracking all this stuff can get confusing, but it’s simpler than you think when you have the right tools at hand. The bottom line is that collecting this type of data will tell you the efficacy of all your social strategies and digital marketing campaigns. So, without further ado, here are some sites to think about when starting your social data journey:
The idea behind social monitoring and listening is that you’re essentially putting your ears to the rails. This is the best first step to getting acquainted with your audience by start tracking social data. Here are a few of the top tools for monitoring people:
If you’re going to start somewhere, why not start with the best search engine in the world? If you know how to use email, you’ll know how to use Google Alerts. The program lets you monitor the web for any mention of your brand/company, keywords, competitors, or any other relevant topic. It’s the best web crawler there is!
It’s simple. Go to the Google Alerts page and type in a keyword. You’ll need a Gmail account if you don’t already have one, but that’s it. Any mention of the word you entered (you should probably start with your brand name) will be sent to your email inbox. Now all you have to do is check that inbox daily to have a fresh set of social data.
Awario boasts to be the best social listening tool on the market because they crawl over 13 billion web pages daily. While most other programs choose a single third-party provider, Awario goes all over town. The tools will consistently track mentions of your brand and your competitors across the entire web. You can also engage with customers and even find new leads, all within the program.
This program is slightly different in the sense that they aggregate your social presence into one score. Working with your profiles and all your pages across social channels, Klout scores you on a scale of 0-100, with the average score being about 40, and 50 considered high. Unlike the other sites, Klout will also suggest content, which you can share through your business page to improve your score.
Once you’ve collected your social data, you need a means to analyze it, or else it is useless. This is typically where a good analytics tool comes in. It will allow you to break down and examine the data, so you can better understand it. Here are some of the better tools on the market:
Like it’s search engine brother, Google Analytics can find and analyze almost anything. In addition to metrics on product sales, guide downloads, and other financials, Google Analytics will also investigate social data like:
Keep in mind, Google Analytics is only tracking the social behavior to your website. Each social media platform has their own separate means of gathering social data.
Although Google Analytics can give you a lot of insight into what a brand is doing right and wrong with their digital presence, social media analytics can give you an even deeper focus into human behavior.
The father of social media for business, LinkedIn offers its own platform for metrics and social data. LinkedIn Analytics is accessed through your company page and you can collect social data like:
Engagement simply means the total amount of interactions divided by impressions. LinkedIn Analytics is a superb place to find all your metrics needs for that platform.
Facebook’s analytics page is called “Insights” and it’s a great place to analyze your KPI’s within the social network. There’s a ton of information there but don’t forget the important metrics like:
Have fun with this tool, just remember to stay focused. You can get lost in tallying the wrong metrics and make poor decisions.
Perhaps the most extensive analytics tool for the three big ones, Twitter Analytics is a separate site from Twitter itself. It probably has to be with everything going on. On the site, they give you a 28-day dashboard that summarizes your key twitter data and content. Some metrics to keep your thumb on for Twitter include:
Retweeting and impressions are particularly strong metrics because they show you not only the vast amount of people seeing your stuff, but also who is intrigued enough to share.
Another means of gathering social data is to do it in a much broader sense. If you are not sure who your audience will be, you can always listen like a fly on the wall. Some social data tools are intended for just that.
To show you what everyone is talking about, not just people in your circle. This will inevitably lead to you producing stellar content. Check out these tools that will get you there:
Unlike most other social media tools, Buzzsumo looks at how your channels are performing overall—specifically content. Instead of looking at your individual social performance, it focuses more on the bigger picture. For example, if you wanted to see how your latest blog post performed on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, Buzzsumo would be the place to go.
It’s critical that you understand which type of content is resonating with your audience, so you can rinse and repeat. Buzzsumo not only gives you numbers, it gives you insight into which content is accomplishing the most on each channel based on things like publish date, length, time, etc…
Is another content discovery tool much like Buzzsumo. From the company Epictions, you can use it to discover things like top performing content, trends, and popular concepts. These are the types of tools to provide you with the focused social data you need to produce crafty and authentic content.
Although it started as a tool solely for SEO, they have now added a feature called “Content Explorer” specifically designed for gathering social data from popular content. All you do is type in a keyword and Ahrefs will display the most shared content on the topic. You can then use this as insight to create more.
Most business owners are a tad overwhelmed when confronting things like social data and analytics but think of it as a way to show your customers you are motivated to understand them better. Study what type of metrics are important for your business and start settings some key performance indicators (KPIs).
A KPI is simply a measurable goal you can use to propel your business forward. These metrics will likely factor into your social ROI and will be the most important ones you collect. It differs from every business, but the metrics above are a good start.
Always remember that each platform is different and with that comes a unique audience. Social data is literally everywhere on the internet, so you have to start with a good monitoring tool. Once you have the info in hand, consider a robust analytics platform to get the job done. When you have an idea of where to market, use a content discovery platform to inspire you on topics.
Everything is connected and the more social data you collect, the more you will understand who cares about your brand. Then you can focus your business on what matters. Who knows, maybe you’ll even have time now for a margarita!
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