Numerous social-networking monitoring sites are out there by now: Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Klout, Tinker… As programmers develop new tools, and social platforms like Facebook or (even!) MySpace evolve, the staff at a nonprofit can feel overwhelmed with the changes. What is important to remember in this fast-changing communications environment is that you are looking for tools that are beneficial to you and your organization − not (necessarily) the latest platform that is getting some buzz. One of the newer sites meant to aggregate metrics from your social networks is Crowdbooster, and we do believe it is worth a look because it helps your busy staff consider the near future of its social-media outreach as well as lay out the past trends.
True to the market (and in line with almost all its competitors), Crowdbooster offers a free personal account that is as easy to sign up as signing in via Twitter and/or Facebook. If your organization has only one account at each service, you are good-to-go and it costs you nothing! If you want to monitor up to 10 Twitter and Facebook accounts (in any combination), or if you want phone and online support not only for the technology of Crowdbooster but also for assistance in using it to target your messages and audiences, then you can get a Professional Account for $39 a month. Business accounts take 30 accounts for $99/month.
At first glance, it offers what you would expect: “Analyze the performance of your individual tweets and posts with an interactive graph and table to quickly understand what’s working. Customize the date range to understand the impact of your campaign. Drill down to view engagement and reach metrics on Facebook and Twitter.” That said, the graphical interface and interactivity to get to that information is wonderfully user-friendly. What tweet or post the really captured people’s interests is only a mouseover away, as you can see in the screen grab to the right.
But the best part is that the platform uses your metrics to suggest future plans-of-action. Has a certain hashtag taken off? Do posts at 7:00pm really die on the vine? Crowdbooster will tell you so, and even suggest ways to build on what works. “Our analytics and recommendations show you how you can better reach important influencers, create content that resonates with your audience, and send content at the most effective times.” Not quite a flesh-and-blood social-networking expert, but a fabulous tool to improve what your nonprofit is doing anyway.
Finally, we want to wish you and yours a joyous and safe Thanksgiving holiday! Travel safely, eat exhaustively, and give thanks prodigiously!
rickyyean says
March 28, 2013 at 16:22Thank you so much Chris for writing about us. Hope you were able to check out the new interface. We made some changes to our business model recently, so we’re no longer free, but I’m still extremely grateful for your blog article.
– Ricky
CEO, Crowdbooster.com
Christopher Gardner, PhD says
April 11, 2013 at 11:24We were glad to discover your platform, and wish you all success! I’ll update a note about the new bronze, silver, & gold memberships in an upcoming article. If you’d be interested in talking with me about Crowdbooster & the near future of social networking, please let me know!