9 Questions to Ask Before Selecting a Social Listening Tool

It's hard enough to keep up with the latest social media platforms. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. LinkedIn. Vine. Snapchat. Periscope. Blab.If you have to actually sift through all that noise to find out what people are saying about you or your company, it can be downright daunting. The universe of tools and platforms that help with social listening grows almost by the day and every one promises to do and be everything you need.They range from free to thousands of dollars a month, and the biggest problem is figuring out which ones are good, what works for you, and where to even start.Use this guide to help you figure out which questions you need to ask, and what answers will push you in what direction.How much can I afford to spend?This isn't to say you should cheap out. But figure out what you are able to pay monthly. This will narrow the field down immediately and prevent you from falling in love with a site that is way out of your range. Be flexible -- if you find a platform that's maybe $50 per month more than you said you'd spend, but it does absolutely everything you need, it might be worth looking at anyway. But your time will be better spent looking at platforms there's a chance you can afford.How many accounts/licenses will I need — and how much will that add to the cost?Sometimes, the platform that looks like it's the most reasonable price ends up costing a heckuva lot more after you figure out that you need five accounts, or that three employees will be using it. Suddenly, instead of being in your price range, it's way out. Or the other option that was just a little out of your range makes more sense. This is the corollary to the budget question.What social media sites are monitored by this tool?If you're on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and Facebook, and the platform monitors Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus - well, that's not a good fit. Very few platforms cover all the sites, and those that do tend to be at the top end of the budget spectrum. Now, one might say that you need to be listening on all sites, whether you have a presence on them or not. Sure. That's true, to a degree. But you can use some basic, inexpensive monitoring tools for the sites you're not on.What data can you get from this tool?Does this just measure vanity metrics such as likes and retweets? Can you use the metrics measured here to map to your objectives? How is the data presented to you? Can you get historical data? You need to figure out what kind of data you need and if this tool will give it to you. This is tightly connected to the next two questions:Can you export the data?You'll probably need to present the data to someone, whether to a client, boss or co-worker. Chances are you'll need to export it and put it into some nice report format. So if you can export it, what format is it in? Is it a format you can manipulate without having someone from IT help you?Do other platforms or tools integrate with it?It's a lot easier to present data if you can pull it all together and map how it works together. For example, you probably use Google Analytics or Omniture to monitor traffic. If your social listening platform doesn't integrate with either of these tools, that's kind of a pain because you can't easily pull the data together and see how one affects the other. For reporting, it especially makes a difference, because now you have multiple spreadsheets you're trying to pull together into one.Does this platform provide benchmarks?Can you see how you're performing against your own historical data? Against competitors? Against industry standards? This tends to be available only in higher-end products, but it may be something you absolutely need. Again, you need to figure out what your needs are and find the right platforms for it.Does this platform monitor social media or allow you to manage it as well?In other words - does this tool just listen, or can you also post to your accounts on it? You may not need both. Maybe you just need listening, because you have other tools you love that allow you to manage your social media accounts. Point is, don't pay for features you don't need. Maybe you can drop the other tools you use to manage if this platform does both. Know what it does.How's the customer support?The best platform in the world ain't so great if you can't get anyone to help you when things go wrong. And even the best platform in the world has things go wrong from time to time. This will take some homework. Ask around. Read reviews. See what people say.One last note.Always do the free trial. Do you buy a car without taking it for a test drive? Of course not. Why would you start paying a monthly fee for a service if you're not sure it's going to do what you need, or if you're going to be comfortable using it?Always do the free trial.In addition - always have someone walk you through a demo. See what it does. It's a lot easier to start using a tool if someone shows you what it can do. I never read directions or manuals, but a demo? Worth its weight in gold.A version of this post was originally published on Inc.Header photo by Ky via Flickr Creative Commons.