What are the main types of social media analytics tools?
There are many social media analytics tools available in the market, but they can be broadly categorized into three main types: native, third-party, and integrated.
Native tools are the ones that are built into each social media platform, such as Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Instagram Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, and YouTube Analytics. They can provide you with basic data and metrics on your own profile, page, or channel, such as followers, impressions, clicks, likes, comments, shares, views, and watch time. They are usually free and easy to access, but they have some limitations, such as limited historical data, limited cross-platform comparison, and limited customization.
Third-party tools are the ones that are developed by external vendors, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, Socialbakers, and Brandwatch. They can provide you with more advanced data and metrics on your own and your competitors' social media performance, such as sentiment analysis, influencer identification, content optimization, campaign management, and reporting. They can also integrate data from multiple social media platforms, as well as other sources, such as web analytics, CRM, and email marketing. They are usually paid and require a subscription, but they offer more features, flexibility, and scalability.
Integrated tools are the ones that are designed specifically for SEM, such as Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Ads Manager, and Bing Ads. They can provide you with data and metrics on your paid ads performance on search and social media, such as impressions, clicks, conversions, cost, and ROI. They can also help you create, manage, and optimize your ads campaigns, as well as track and attribute your conversions across different channels and devices. They are usually free or pay-per-click, but they require a learning curve and technical setup.