Facebook began as a dorm-room startup, and now the social platform dominates our culture. Few could have predicted that Facebook would become such a fixture of our personal lives and a legitimate marketing channel.
Facebook was the catalyst for the social media marketing wave. As a new marketing discipline, the most important Facebook metrics used to be the number of fans, likes, and post engagement like comments.
Today, Facebook marketing in 2019 has become sophisticated. It requires social media strategy, high-quality content creation, and consistent brand interaction. Even for small businesses, startups, and influencers, Facebook marketing demands a level of strategy.
Now that Facebook marketing has leveled-up, businesses need the ability to track progress, like any other marketing channel. Stakeholders want to know how effective marketing campaigns are.
To meet the growing demands of social media marketing, many startups and applications have been launched. In this roundup we’ve identified the best tools for Facebook analytics and insights. These tools bring together social media marketing and a need for data and insights.
We’ve compiled a list of the top eight Facebook social media analytics tools.
This list includes:
Note: Tools are listed with starting price according to the company’s website. User reviews were collected from G2.com
1. Agorapulse
All-Around Powerful Analytics
Agorapulse provides a comprehensive overview of your Facebook activity.
One of the tool’s best features is that it challenges a business to compete against itself. It reports how a business’s profile progress stacks up against its average. This can be motivating for a small business just starting out on Facebook. Comparing metrics against huge competitors is overwhelming, but comparing progress against oneself can be inspiring.
With the Agorapulse main suite, you can do even more. Users can view a breakdown of reach, separated by paid, organic, and viral content. The tool easily tracks engagement and which metrics need priority attention.
Agorapulse also tracks a brand’s response time, which is key for businesses that provide customer service on social media. Finally, the tool can identify top influencers on your pages.
One of our favorite features is the ROI calculator which is a data-driven way to analyze social media marketing.
What users say: With a 4.5 star rating and over 400 reviews, Agorapulse is a crowd favorite. Users love that it’s an all-in-one tool that’s easy to use.
Summary: When it comes to Facebook analytics tools, Agorapulse is among the best. It’s designed to make Facebook marketing as easy and seamless as possible. Some features are free. There’s also a free 28-day trial (no credit card required) and paid plans start at $39 monthly.
2. Facebook Insights
Simple, Intuitive and Beginner-Friendly
When a Facebook page reaches 30 fans, an organization gets full access to Facebook Insights, which is the platform’s native analytics offering.
Thanks to its integration with Facebook, it maintains simplicity. Facebook Insights provides metrics on content and engagement in an easy to understand format, great for newer marketers and business owners.
The insights dashboard also gives an overview of engagement at the individual post and page levels. Users can easily assess where a profile’s likes come from and whether they were sourced from paid or organic reach.
What users say: Simplicity is the key benefit of Facebook Insights. It provides clear and basic metrics. Users see it as a great entry-level tool to start measuring Facebook success with.
Summary: Facebook Insights is a free-to-use analytics tool directly integrated with Facebook. Facebook Insights provides basic but useful information about the demographics and location of audience members, helping businesses target audiences better. Free.
3. Panoply
Next-Level Insights
Panoply is a cloud data warehouse that brings unlimited data sources together without complicated technology or coding. Panoply offers a native Facebook integration so teams can connect their Facebook insights in minutes.
When using a data warehouse, marketers and analysts get an unprecedented view of their KPI’s. Teams can mix and match their data, compare metrics like never before, and see the full customer journey from Facebook all the way to a conversion.
What Users Say: A powerful social media analysis tool that advanced marketers and analysts love.
Summary: We’re certain the future of social media marketing involves a data warehouse. For companies that are data-driven, a data warehouse like Panoply is a future-focused choice. See all pricing options; a free trial is available.
4. Quintly
Solid ROI Tracking
Quintly can be used on multiple platforms but it’s most notable for its Facebook Analytics.
The social media marketing platform offers a customized dashboard and enables multiple dashboards for multiple clients, making it an agency favorite. Quintly users also have the option to monitor competitors with comparative metrics.
The platform reports on fan demographics like when they became a fan and their location. Quintly also identifies the best times to post content.
Most importantly for marketers, the tool has features designed to report ROI of Facebook ads. This data enables the improvement and optimization of ads, which ultimately increases revenue.
What users say: Social media marketers are in love with the great customer support they receive from Quintly. Users also like having everything centralized with the customized dashboard features.
Summary: Quintly provides powerful metrics for ROI tracking of Facebook ads. The platform offers extensive reporting to understand ads distribution and reach, among other important metrics. After a 14 day free trial, plans start at $300 per month.
5. Iconosquare
The Analytics Tool for Knowing Your Fans
Iconosquare provides deep metrics for understanding a business’s fan demographics and locations. It even studies their language to give you insight into what exactly your clients are looking for.
Measure engagement like “Likes”, comments, reactions, views and more. Keep an eye on your competitors and compare performance. Transfer your analytics into multiple report formats. Altogether, you’ll be able to optimize your posting schedule and plan
What users say: What Iconosquare provides is easy to learn and provides deep insights into who your fans are. The ability to compare posts’ impact is a special favorite.
Summary: Along with content management and scheduling tools, Iconosquare lets you dig deep into who your fans are. Iconosquare offers free tools like a Facebook Audit. For the main suite, you get a 14-day free trial before choosing a plan that starts at $29 per month.
6. Amplifr
Robust Reporting
Amplifr has the ability to take your metrics data and turn it into an extensive, easy-to-understand report for you and your clients.
You’ll easily be able to switch between multiple social media pages. On each, Amplifr monitors your content, along with its engagement and revenue.
Amplifr measures each post by inserting a custom URL tag, built to measure group conversion and traffic stats. It then gives you the option to automate the creation and delivery of reports.
What users say: Users like how easy it is to schedule posts. The tool also makes it easy to set up automation for a report so you can keep an eye on everything.
Summary: If the reports generated by your analytics tools are important to you, Amplifr may be the answer. You can turn all the data you collect into a weekly digest for you and your clients. Amplifr plans start at $30 per month, following a free two-week trial.
7. Rival IQ
A Microscope on Competition
Rival IQ has several advanced marketing and analytics features. The platform provides an ads feature that identifies your best - and worst - performing ads. With this information, you can optimize the overall impact of your ads, while minimizing ad spend.
Using the customized dashboard, organizations can monitor audience demographics, influencers, sentiment, engagement, and more. Marketers can even get instant alerts of changes to competitors’ popular posts.
For companies that use an extended team for their social media needs, Rival IQ provides team members a unique login and password.
What users say: Rival IQ makes it easy to keep an eye on your competitors. Users especially like the ability to receive alerts about their competitor’s actions.
Summary: With analytics dedicated to diving deep into your ads, Rival IQ is a marketer’s dream. Much like the name suggests, Rival IQ also helps you keep a close eye on any competitors’ ads and bios. There is a free head-to-head snapshot offered. After a free 14 day trial, plans start at $169 per month.
8. Grytics
Facebook Group Superstar
One downside to some of the tools we’ve mentioned is that they don’t apply metrics to Facebook groups. Grytics addresses this with applications geared directly to monitoring groups.
It will allow your business to efficiently manage multiple group pages all in one place. Users can gauge group engagement and activity of a group as a whole. The tool even enables ranking group posts and users based on the engagement they create.
Grytics is known for its ability to provide a detailed understanding of works well in a Facebook group and when a group is most active.
What users say: Grytics is a powerful tool for groups because it shows both the strengths and weaknesses of a Facebook group.
Summary: As Facebook groups grow in popularity, this has become a great tool for social media marketers and especially community managers. Grytics easily addresses the group analytics gap left by some other analytics tools. Plans start at $15 per month after a 14-day free trial.
9. Brandwatch
Marketing Metrics
Brandwatch provides an “impact score” to its users so a business can understand who is engaging with posts the most and what content is driving conversations.
With this platform, businesses can see metrics like fan data, reach, and likes. This data can be reviewed over time to see brand and visibility progress. For marketers reporting to stakeholders, the ability to see this growth is key.
With all this data coming in, it’s important to be able to decipher it. Luckily, Brandwatch has you covered. The tool provides categories, tags, rules and more.
What users say: Versatility and flexibility are key points for Brandwatch users. Though listed as a little more complicated to use, the benefit from the metrics is substantial.
Summary: For an all-encompassing metrics tool, Brandwatch is one of the best. With multiple social media analytics available, you can get a complete look at how your page measures up. Contact Brandwatch for an exact estimate of price, but references quote $800 per month for the main suite.
Final Thoughts
If your organization is exploring social media tools, be certain that you’re choosing a platform with the robust data you need. The data-driven revolution and social media marketing are quickly merging. Businesses that find ways to amplify their social visibility with the help of analytics will win.
Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite Facebook Analytics tools? Did we leave any top tools off the list?
