Tool Tuesday-Twitalzyer

I’ve been trying out numerous tools to assist me in analyzing and recording successful social media campaigns. I get lots of questions on tracking tools, so a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some of my favorite free tools.  The problem with free tools is that they rarely really give you the insight you need or they don’t put it in a format where the data can be reviewed and analyzed.There are some very expensive analytics options out there, some of them are even worth the money, but for small businesses or those just starting their social media engagement, a tool like Twitalyzer is a great place to start. When you find yourself asking questions that you can’t answer with a program like Twitalyzer, that’s the time to look into the larger software analytics programs that integrate numerous social media profiles and track activity and influencers in one place.

I started using Twitalyzer last year and I liked it enough that I was a fairly early adopter of Twitalyzer when they moved beyond their freemium model. Its a decent tool and one that I find myself using regularly, plus for $29.99/month its hardly a back breaker. Although it isn’t a one-stop shop for my social media programs (it doesn’t incorporate any Facebook data), I still find it valuable enough to keep my subscription active. Twitalyzer is feature heavy and I recommend you check it out for yourself, but I thought you’d like to see some highlights.

The Dashboard:

The dashboard is a 30-day rolling average of key metrics that can be tracked through Twitter’s API as well some other partners like PeerIndex and Klout. Some of the metrics they track are defined by Twitalyzer, some of it like Klout and PeerIndex are other commonly accepted Twitter monitoring tools.

What I like: Its a great, at-a-glance review of Twitter activity effectiveness. I like that Potential and Real Reaches are included as are Klout and Influence. For those who are tracking number of followers, that information is included as well. I love the fact that they out the scores into perspective with percentiles, but keep in mind, that percentile only puts you in perspective for your score vs. other Twitalyzer users.  I like that it incorporates the Peer Index, which is another measure of influence (the ability you have to get your followers to act).

What I don’t like: So much of this is essentially irrelevant to the C-suite professional. They don’t really care how many Twitter lists include the user, further, that information is part of Klout’s metrics. On the other hand, you can see the info at a glance if its something you are tracking. Further, while this information might not be relevant to the C-suite, the social media manager is likely to be very interested in much of this data as sheds light on overall Twitter activity.

Site Referrals Report:

Something the C-suite DOES care about is how effectively Twitter drives traffic to a website and a social media professional cares about who those people are. This report integrates with your Google Analytics report to put your Twitter Activity against your GA information. It helps put it into perspective.

What I like: This report can be customized by timeline AND it shows you who your influencers are. Influencer data is also available in Hootesuite, BUT, in Hootesuite, it can’t be EXPORTED. Twitalyzer allows you to export this information so you can track over time who your most active Influencers are and how influencial they really are.  Integration of your Twitter activity with GA is a hugely helpful to social media professionals. Overlaying GA information with Twitter activity is something you CAN’T do in GA. Sure, you can see how many referrals there are, but its hard to see effectiveness of a long-term program unless you integrate the Twitter data that includes influencers.

What I don’t like: I’ve found this report to be a little glitchy, but the support at Twitalyzer is outstanding so most of my problems have been resolved. You’ll also notice that several of the “influencers” aren’t tracked by Twitalyzer, so some of the more detailed information is lacking. None the less, it gives me enough information to dig a little deeper if I need or want to.

Reach Dashboard:

Reach is more important than followers. Sure, your followers will effect your Reach, but understanding what Tweets were more effective and for whom is very helpful information for the social media marketer.

What I like: Easy to read with a list of Influencers and their respective reach makes it easier to see who I should be engaging and why. As with all Twitalyzer reports, it indicates whether you are growing or declining (notice the green arrows pointing up, my reach is growing). I’m a fan of illustrating the importance of Reach, particularly because I sincerely believe that with all the noise on Twitter, we should all be focusing more on QUALITY over QUANTITY.

People & Groups:

These reports allow you to see your network in different ways.

What I like: You might want to sort your followers by impact, or perhaps even by TIME your followers are most active. There are some real tidbits of information in the People & Groups report.The Network Explorer report is a nifty visualization about your followers and what they are tweeting about. Its good information at-a-glance, but its largely anecdotal.  Retweeters can also be measured by impact and influence.

What I don’t like: These reports can’t be exported. In particular, I wish the time report could be exported, it would be great to see the trends that develop over 3-6 months and would be helpful for social media marketers to better understand their followers and customers.

Tags & Tweets:

This section digs a little deeper into things like hashags, sentiment & common topics.

What I like: Some of the information is very useful, especially sentiment. There are some really pricey programs out there tracking sentiment. Its also great to listen to common topics, I especially like to hear what followers are talking about when they AREN’T talking about a brand or their competition to find out what else they enjoy doing.  This is the kind of information that gives you better insight into your customers and can help you in developing partnerships with other companies.

What I don’t like: Some of this information is very, very anecdotal and topics can swing dramatically, you can’t go chasing every single trend. Again, this information can’t be exported so its difficult to see trends emerge.

Export Exporter:

Export data within a certain time frame and also access archived Tweets.

What I like: Easily one of my favorite features of Twitalyzer. I can manage multiple accounts from my paid subscription and I can download all of the information into a .CSV file, which makes it easier to spot trends and capture information in helpful graphs for my customers. With this report I have qualitative information that can be tracked over time.  I can also access archived Tweets (assuming I’ve turned this feature on). Twitalyzer is very generous with the information is keeps available in the .CSV formats, so take full advantage. Yes, some of the data is irrelevant, but looking at the data all at once can help you frame a better picture of your overall activity and its effectiveness. While the C-suite might not care about Klout, the social media manager should be using it as a measuring stick. Analyzing how other activity effects things like Klout can be done through careful review of these reports.

In General: Twitalyzer packs a lot of information into less than $30/month making it high value for the small or medium sized business with a social media campaign. The information Twitalyzer generates some good quantitative and qualitative information that allows me to dig a little deeper in analyzing social media effectiveness.  I like that its web-based which means it can be accessed from anywhere. I also think the customer service is outstanding and can be highly personalized; they have actual EMAIL addresses on the site! They’ve also developed a nice community which gives you a chance to provide feedback and communicate with other users.

What social media tracking tools are you using or would you like to see reviewed?