12 Alternatives to Social Media Analytics for Performance Tracking

In search of robust alternatives to social media analytics for performance tracking, we’ve gathered insights from a diverse group of professionals, including CEOs and digital marketers. From utilizing last-click CRM data to integrating website analytics for growth, explore the twelve distinct strategies these experts recommend for gaining deeper performance insights.

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Utilize Last-Click CRM Data

Social media analytics are great, but they should also be supported by last-click data when judging the success of your campaigns. It’s worth it for agencies to get access to client CRMs so we have the final data and can actively evaluate the impact of active campaigns. HubSpot and Salesforce, among other CRM data, can identify blind spots that publishers don’t show, including demographic insights, the amount of times someone engages before taking the final desired action, and top-converting creative that converts on first-click. There may be extra steps an agency needs to take to gain access depending on the industry, but it is absolutely worth having direct access to what the client uses for their own internal reporting and baselines.

Amber Krigbaum, Director – Paid Social, collystring

Analyze Direct Customer Feedback

One specific alternative to social media analytics is customer feedback analysis. We’ve implemented a system to gather and analyze direct feedback from our users through surveys, feedback forms, and direct communication channels. This approach provides us with qualitative insights that social media metrics often miss. 

For example, understanding customer sentiment, pain points, and feature requests directly from the source has been invaluable in refining our product and services. This method allows us to track performance based on real user experiences and satisfaction, which can often be a more reliable indicator of success than social media engagement metrics.

Dinesh Agarwal, Founder, CEO, RecurPost

Assess Customer Retention and Churn

Both customer retention and churn analysis aim to understand and improve customer loyalty, seeking to answer why people leave and how to prevent it. Both metrics aim to maximize customer lifetime value, with the retention rate being the inverse of the churn rate.

These rates collectively provide a comprehensive understanding of customer dynamics. They identify patterns and factors that lead to customer attrition and show which customer segments are more likely to leave. The metrics indicate how well a business maintains its existing customer base. Additionally, they provide insights into business financial health, as a high churn rate with a low retention rate signals revenue losses and increased costs associated with acquiring new customers.

The results of analyses allow businesses to evaluate the success and effectiveness of their product pricing or customer engagement strategies, highlight potential issues before they escalate, and, therefore, make data-driven adjustments. The knowledge further enables strategic planning, made possible by forecasting customer trends and adjusting marketing and operational strategies accordingly.

Nina Paczka, Community Manager, MyPerfectResume

Leverage CRM for Performance Insights

One effective alternative to social media analytics for performance tracking is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. While social media analytics focus on metrics like engagement, reach, and impressions, CRM systems provide a comprehensive view of customer interactions and behaviors across various touchpoints.

CRM systems track detailed information about customer interactions, sales processes, and feedback. By analyzing this data, businesses can gain insights into customer preferences, purchasing behavior, and overall satisfaction. This holistic approach helps in understanding the impact of social media efforts on customer relationships and sales outcomes.

For instance, CRM platforms can reveal how social media campaigns translate into actual sales or customer retention by linking social media interactions to CRM data. This can be especially valuable for evaluating the ROI of social media activities and making data-driven decisions.

Moreover, CRMs offer advanced reporting and analytics features that can be customized to track specific metrics relevant to a business’s goals. By integrating CRM data with social media insights, companies can achieve a more nuanced understanding of their performance and refine their strategies accordingly.

In summary, CRM systems serve as a robust alternative to traditional social media analytics, providing a broader perspective on how social media efforts influence overall business performance.

Priyanka Saini, SEO Specialist, Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence

Employ Social Listening Tools

One alternative to traditional social media analytics is social listening tools. These monitor brand mentions across platforms, offering deeper insights:

• Share of Voice (SOV)
• Share of Attributes
• Top Influencers & Fans
• Sentiment Analysis
• Competitor Analysis
• Consumer Reviews
• Trend Identification
• Crisis Management
• Customer Feedback
• Content Performance
• Audience Segmentation
• Campaign Tracking
• Demographics
• Language Analysis
• Gender Analysis
• Psychographics
• Contextual Analysis
• Platform-Specific Insights
• Hashtag Performance

These tools analyze conversations, providing a comprehensive view of brand impact. They enable data-driven decisions based on actual perceptions, beyond likes and shares.

Recommended tools: Brand24, Germin8, Synthesio.

This approach offers nuanced insights into audience sentiment, brand perception, and market positioning across various online spaces.

Priyanka Sharma, Social Media Manager, Michelin

Conduct Heatmap Analysis

One specific alternative to social media analytics for performance tracking is heatmap analysis. This provides a visual representation of how users interact with a website, highlighting areas of high and low activity. This method offers unique insights, thereby helping businesses optimize their sites for better engagement and conversions.

Moreover, in the context of website performance tracking, it shows where users click, how far they scroll, and what they look at on a webpage. This data is captured, allowing businesses to see exactly how clients engage with their site.

Furthermore, heatmaps offer a visual representation of user behavior. They also provide detailed insights into user actions, revealing patterns that might be missed by other analytics tools.

Lastly, by leveraging heatmap analysis, businesses gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with their website.

Peter Bryla, Senior Community Manager, MyPerfectCV

Examine Sales Data Trends

I’d advise getting started with sales data analysis. You may get a clear, tangible picture of how your marketing efforts are converting into actual income by looking at sales data. Through the examination of sales trends, consumer buying behaviors, and conversion rates, you can determine whether marketing tactics are actually having an effect. 

For instance, it’s a good sign that your marketing is working if you launch a campaign and soon after see a notable increase in sales. Furthermore, because sales data is directly related to your bottom line, it is frequently easier to understand than social media numbers. Instead of becoming bogged down in the plethora of likes, shares, and comments, it helps you concentrate on what’s actually generating revenue.

Kartik Ahuja, Digital Marketer, kartikahuja.com

Explore Komfo’s Social Suite

Komfo is a specific alternative to social media analytics for performance tracking. It provides a full social media marketing suite, including all the Facebook apps, and social media analytics is also part of its offerings.

With Komfo, you can conduct post analytics for an individual post. It also provides you with categorization that makes it easy for you to gain information about viral posts, spammy ones, and engaging ones.

The free version of the app even allows you to track the performance of up to 100 posts for the last 30 days. This makes it a pro app for monitoring the performance of your social media posts.

It also calculates the rate of interest on each post and displays them in graph format. It segregates the data and shows results for paid, organic, and viral traffic.

It also shows fan activity and influencer leaderboard, as well as simple and useful competitor comparison charts with proprietary scoring.

Thus, Komfo is the best alternative for performance tracking of your social media apps.

Fahad Khan, Digital Marketing Manager, Ubuy Nigeria

Track Performance with Call Metrics

Call tracking is an alternative metric I rely on heavily. By using call-tracking numbers that forward to my business, I can see how many calls come in from each marketing channel. This helps me track the effectiveness of things like social media, email marketing, and advertising. If I see a spike in calls after promoting an offer on social media, I know that campaign resonated with my audience. Conversely, if calls drop after launching a new ad, I know I need to reevaluate that strategy.

Website analytics provide another view into performance that complements social data. Things like page views, bounce rate, and time on site show how engaged people are with my content. If social referrals are up but people quickly leave my site, I need to improve the experience. Tracking goals like contact form submissions, downloads, and purchases provide hard metrics on the ROI of my efforts.

For customer service, I monitor metrics like first response time, resolution rate, and customer satisfaction scores. Speed and quality of support have a huge impact on retention, so these KPIs directly tie to the lifetime value of my customers. Strong customer service metrics, combined with marketing and sales data, provide a holistic view of how my business is performing.

Nicole Farber, CEO, ENX2 Legal Marketing

Perform Sentiment Analysis

One specific alternative to social media analytics for performance tracking that I find particularly insightful is sentiment analysis. It goes beyond merely counting likes, shares, or followers. Instead, it delves into the emotions and opinions behind the interactions, painting a bigger picture. 

What fascinates me about sentiment analysis is its ability to provide a nuanced view of public opinion. For instance, a post with many likes might seem positive initially, but sentiment analysis can reveal underlying frustrations or sarcasm in the comments. This depth of understanding helps you identify areas for improvement that you would otherwise overlook.

Moreover, sentiment analysis allows you to track changes in public opinion over time. By regularly analyzing the sentiment of customer feedback, you can see how perceptions evolve in response to your marketing efforts or product updates. This real-time insight is invaluable for making informed decisions and adjusting your strategies accordingly.

Sentiment analysis can also foster a more empathetic approach to customer interactions. Knowing how people feel about your product helps you tailor your communication to address their concerns and highlight the aspects they appreciate.

Agata Szczepanek, Career Expert & Community Manager, LiveCareer

Use Google Analytics for Web Insights

Google Analytics is a valuable tool for analyzing website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. We’ve found it to be a useful addition to measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing efforts beyond social media platforms. It provides data on the number of visitors, session duration, bounce rate, and pages per session, which can be customized to suit our specific needs. This data helps us identify trends and patterns, giving us the confidence to make decisions on optimizing our website and marketing strategies.

Daniel Kroytor, Founder and Director, Tailored Pay

Integrate Website Analytics for Growth

Social media analytics provides valuable insights into audience engagement and brand perception. However, it also has limitations when viewing overall performance. Hence, to gain a comprehensive understanding of a business’s success, I think businesses should consider website analytics.

Website analytics delves deeper into visitors’ behavior on a website, providing crucial data on traffic sources, user engagement, conversion rates, and customer journeys. By tracking metrics like bounce rates, time on site, pages per session, and goal conversions, identifying areas for improvement and optimizing the website for a better user experience becomes easier.

Website analytics also offers valuable insights into customer behavior and helps better understand customer preferences, needs, and pain points. This information can be leveraged to refine marketing strategies, product offerings, and customer support. Integrating website analytics with other data sources, such as email marketing and CRM, can provide a holistic view of the customer lifecycle and help you measure the impact of different marketing channels.

Businesses can even complement social media and website analytics to make informed decisions, optimize marketing efforts, and drive overall business growth.

Raviraj Hegde, SVP of Growth & Sales, Donorbox

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