To keep an eye of what consumers say about your brand online, keep your audience engaged, check keywords, hashtags, and mentions relevant to your niche, you will need to invest in an efficient social media monitoring tool. There are plenty of choices in the market, but through careful examination, you likely be drawn to specific tools more than others. Before you spend your valuable company resources on a social media monitoring tool, here are some factors you should consider.
Outline your Objectives
There are many reasons to get a social media monitoring tool, and some are more equipped for specific purposes than others; therefore, examining your needs helps you pick the right one. The correct tool will help you uncover critical factors about your industry, like the major influencers, the most effective marketing tools, and the people’s sentiments concerning your niche. Additionally, you can use it to find efficient ways your brand should adopt to increase its participation and influence. Your goal may lie in monitoring your social media platforms to track customer feedback and ultimately improve your products, services, and reputation or discover excellent opportunities. You may also be looking at your market position or perform competitor social media analysis.
Once you define your objectives, you can easily find tools that will serve all your needs. NetbaseQuid platform uses artificial intelligence to gain real-time insight into the behaviors, people, brands, emotions, attributes, and hashtags by sorting through millions of social media posts daily. You can use NebaseQuid to monitor consumer conversations from 199 languages and the newest emoji in more than 99 countries.
Specifics for Handling Monitoring
You can choose to hire a team to handle your social media tools, or if you feel up to the task, you can do it yourself. However, to arrive at the right decision, you have to consider the size of your company. For example, large brands deal with numerous online conversations daily that are not humanly possible to handle without the correct tools and a competent team or an agency.
It is essential to determine the level of control you need over your tools, the frequency of checking filters and creating reports, the ease of making changes, and the accessibility of the dashboard. It is also best to pick between a tool that offers real-time information, weekly/ monthly notifications, or both and choose the level of social media monitoring that your company requires.
Price and Contract
Social media monitoring tools have varying prices, so before you start shopping, create a budget to prevent you from spending too much company resources. Make sure to weigh the tool’s price against its features and expectations; do your research to determine the packages offered by various providers.
Once you decide on the tool, make sure you read the contract carefully for clarity on the payment policies (annually, monthly, or quarterly) and pricing model (free, SaaS, or open-source). Be careful not to be tied in along contract that will make you miss out on better opportunities and tools and a chance to adapt to changes effectively.
Customer Support
To measure your return on investment effectively, you have to know how to use the tool and utilize every feature. Therefore, it is best to work with a social media monitoring tools provider with an excellent support team.
Ensure that the company offers set-up services, maintains continuous communication with its clients, and responds to concerns and issues quickly. You can find the information about a company’s customer service through online reviews.
Since new technologies emerge frequently, it is best to be flexible and willing to give a chance to various tools. Use free trials and demos to your advantage and gain valuable insight.
