In a technology-driven age and the rise in the number of social media users it is essential for companies to be present online, active and updated at all times. In view of the current trends the company’s need to ensure that they are aware of the latest developments in social media to improve their branding and to capture suitable candidates for vacancies that may arise.

With the number of tools like Hootsuite, Bottlenose,  Facebook Insights, Google Analytics, Klout, Meltwater, Pinterest Web Analytics, etc. that crowd the Internet on regular bases, choosing a Social Media Analytic Tool to suit your needs is a difficult task. So to make things a little easier;  here are some points that you need to consider before choosing a social media analytic tool that works for you.

There are several analytic tools that serve different needs; therefore you need to choose one that fulfills all your requirements.

Browser Check

To ensure that you can install the desired tools or extensions that support your choice of the analytical tool, ensure that you have Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari as most of these tools generally work with these browsers; apart from these you also have others. These browsers most definitely support the analytical tools mentioned.

Monitoring Channels

Based on the channels that you need to monitor, you should pick your tool. The most common channels monitored and used are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest. Most analytic tools cover all of these channels but to make sure they do, you need to review the chosen social media monitoring tool.

Budget and Plan Accordingly

Based on your budget and needs you can then choose one that serves you best. Check the rates or you can also go in for a free tool, besides some have a trial period which is free so you can pick them and see if your needs are met.

Check the Stats you get

Are the stats that you receive the ones that are helping you or are they irrelevant and time-consuming? Based on these aspects you can then choose the one that gives you stats on all the activity of all your accounts and the performance of your products if that is your requirement.

Data Collected

See if the data you receive through the analytics is real-time data, complete, sufficient and up to date. Analyze the information and see if you have any improvements that will boost the traffic towards your site and verify which aspects are assisting the company’s branding.

Some examples of free analytic tools are Tweetreach is mostly good for marketing, advertising, and branding campaigns; Klout, Hootsuite and Social Mention are popular ones due to their remarkable features and real-time inputs on the activity, posts, tweets and anything related. These tools give you information about all the aspects involved in order to track the performance. Once analyzed it can give you insights into improvements for the company’s branding and even boost sourcing as an added advantage.