In a Social Listening universe that is as fluid as it is fragmented, the Martech Challenges analyzed the performances of seven software solutions for several months. SAAS Advisor and The Metrics Factory made the results public in order to reconcile publishers, advertisers and consultants.
In summary:
- Seven social listening software programs were studied by a jury composed of eight digital professionals. The aim is to give a clear vision of their strengths and weaknesses.
- No “winner takes all” among the tools panel. Neither in terms of a dominant position on the market, nor in terms of performance: players differ in terms of their functionalities and their interpretations of the CGU defining access to data.
- While attempts to integrate more artificial intelligence (image/logo recognition, sentiment analysis) are obvious, they still need human intervention to derive the best insights.
- When a brand has an international presence, it is difficult to be satisfied with a single tool to compare different scopes. As an advertiser, do not hesitate to challenge publishers on the corpus collected and the nature of their partnerships with social networks.
- It is therefore not necessary to stop at the volumes of data captured. Also, be sure to clearly define your needs and capacities internally.
A market in search of maturity
Almost as old as the social web, social listening tools have had to adapt to its evolution and to user practices: from static pages to social networks. Their development logically had to take into account more and more missions: audience mapping, consideration of various languages, feeling analysis and, more recently, image recognition.
Between 2011 and 2018, the number of technological solutions dedicated to Marketing increased by 4700%. Martech remains the main source of expenditure for marketing teams. While this development is impressive, it is not at the level of expectations born at the beginning of the present decade. It was then estimated that the social listening market would be around 10 billion dollars in 2020. In 2018, it was estimated at 2 billion dollars.
https://twitter.com/GuillaumeBaley/status/1189098286201872385
The fault is due to various elements such as the challenges inherent in data collection and certain recent turbulences (RGPD, Cambridge Analytica, mergers of actors, API closures). Faced with the need to reconcile the market, advertisers and consultants, the Martech Challenges was an opportunity to offer a clear understanding of the tools and the market.
Seven software programs screened
https://twitter.com/tracksandfacts/status/1189098569656987649
Seven software programs screened:
- Brandwatch
- Digimind
- Linkfluence
- Netbase
- Synthesio
- Talkwalker
- Youscan
A test protocol in three briefs spread over two months:
- Local brand: a brand (WWF) on a single market (the United States)
- Global brand: two brands (Liverpool FC and the Golden States Warriors) on a global market
- Advanced queries: comparison of the results of complex queries
Each member of the jury had to evaluate the software on quantitative and qualitative criteria (Analytics, Supports, Front, Back, Services, Suite). No criteria were weighted and business models were not taken into account.
No software solution is required by “winnertakes all”. Each brings its strengths according to its functionalities and the needs of the user.
So while Linkfluence stands out for its influencer analysis and its treatment of earned/owned media, Talkwalker wins with its ease of use, its reporting options and its pre-built models.
https://www.slideshare.net/metricsfactory/wake-up-your-audience-6-rsultats-martech-challenge
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