Do you need help in managing your social media accounts to get more engagement from people and boost sales to your handmade business? Or are looking for another social media management tool aside from HootSuite and Sendible?
So, before I rush headlong into this review of the social media marketing features that Sprout Social offers, let’s first have a very brief look at the background of the company.
Sprout Social first began in 2009 when the current CEO (Justyn Howard) became frustrated by the very limited number of social tools that were available, that would let him connect with his customers – especially those that were focused mostly towards brands and businesses. The following year Justyn and current CTO Aaron Rankin founded Sprout Social together with Gilbert Lara (Creative Director) and Peter Soung (director of web/mobile). They’re a privately held company and had over $11 million in investment since their founding. They are based in Chicago in the US.
So what is Sprout Social?
Sprout Social is a leading management platform which provides publishing, engagement, analytics and collaboration tools for any sized team. It is one of the very few social media management tools to provide customer relationship management (CRM) features.
CRM is very similar to social media management but allows the user to have a complete profile of their customer which in turn helps to build a stronger and more profitable relationship.
Sprout Social’s suite is well designed and very user-friendly, offering all the necessary tools for small business owners or social media managers. The platform also supports all of the major social networks and includes Google Analytics which is integrated into its report line-up. It incorporates a range of social media tools, all in an easy to use platform, which allows a whole bunch of social activities to be handled within one area – it really is a must-have for handmade businesses owners.
Pros:
- It is affordable, and Sprout Social offers a 30-day free professional or business account trial.
- Beautiful and easy reports are created which also incorporate company logos.
- Competitor comparison – this will display the number of daily mentions and show engagement percentage.
- Conversation history – allows users to check back on their past customer conversations.
- Search feature – allows users to search based on country or location.
- Customizable inbox – allows users to only show what they want to, in their inbox
- Displays influential users
- Location Manager – allows users to find out who has checked in at their locations.
Cons:
- Slow features – not all but certain ones are extremely slow.
- Influencer user search – there is no feature available to search for influential users using keywords.
- No Facebook Search – again another feature that isn’t available.
- No mobile App – At the moment there is for mobile app (disappointing as most others I have reviewed have one).
Effectiveness
A promising contender for being the ‘one-stop-shop’ social media management tool.
Price
The great thing with Sprout Social is that included with ALL plans is a Free 30Day Trial! Sprout Social’s pricing is definitely more expensive than others, having recently dropped their annual commitment discount.
Usability
Great clean interface, making it very easy to use and understand.
Support
Great range of support options available and always receive a prompt response.
So, now that I have outlined the Pros and Cons that Sprout Social has to offer, the real question is – Who is it suited to?
Small Business Owners
I have to be honest; for those on a budget, Sprout Social is not the tool for you. Although it is packed full of features, they do come at a price, and there are several other alternatives out there that provide similar features but for a quarter of the price.
Newbies
For those starting out albeit as an artist, crafter, marketer, publisher, author, instructor or social media enthusiast, then Sprout Social is a good choice. Sprout Social offers amazing social media automation and integration, which will, in turn, drive more traffic and result in more followers, all while still interacting from one central inbox.
High-Level Marketers
For those who are part of a large organization such as a marketing agency, then Sprout Social is the perfect tool. It offers robust collaboration features together with support features which means that your social media marketing efforts can collaborate across teams and there is even the option to directly integrate the helpdesk directly with Sprout.
You can see a glimpse of how Social Sprout works here:
My Thoughts
So, I won’t beat around the bush, if the price weren’t an issue, I’d definitely recommend Sprout Social to all those who were looking for an engagement platform with all-in-one social management.
But, unfortunately, in reality, price does have to feature in the equation.
First off, you need to consider whether all of Sprouts features will be used. For those not working on a team and who already have in place options to schedule content, then possibly you may not be forced to part with $60-$100 per month.
For those who don’t mind investing and are looking for the best, then Sprout Social certainly won’t disappoint. They offer a 30-day free trial, give it a go and let me know how you got on.
Now, over to you…..
Now I’d love to hear from you:
Are you going to purchase Social Sprout or are you already using it? Do you think handmade business owners need this?
They offer a 30-day free trial, give it a go and let me know how you got on.
Feel free to leave a comment below and we can see if I can help.
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