Sprout Social has been around for a while and as a result, it has become one of the best software options for anyone in need of social media management or SEO tools. The package consists of an intoxicating mix of social tools and combines them with a powerful analytic advantage, making a great all-round package for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
Anyone looking to use social media channels for the first time or increase their level of participation will find that Sprout Social has plenty to offer to get bogged down in. There’s a neat dashboard-style management setup, which makes for easy coordination of social affairs, while the ability to grant multiple users access means it’s attractive to larger organizations too.
Although Sprout Social comes with a powerful yet easy-to-use suite of social media management tools, it is still an affordable and cost-effective option. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it is still a hit with many entrepreneurs who may not necessarily be hot for something like the comparable Hootsuite.
Subscriptions and Prices
You can try Sprout Social for free with the option of a 30-day trial, with no credit card information required, if you just want to explore its interface and feature set. As an extension of that, Sprout Social comes in three different packages. This starts with the Standard edition, which currently costs $89 per user/per month and is billed annually. Alternatively, you can choose to pay for the standard package on a monthly basis of $99.
Moving on to the next package, the Professional edition of Sprout Social is the most popular plan and it currently costs $149 per user/per month and again this is billed annually. There is also the option to pay $169 month-to-month with this one.
Meanwhile, an Advanced edition of the Social Sprout package can be purchased for $249 per user/per month, again billed annually. This has the option to pay $279 month-to-month if desired. If you’re concerned about whether or not there will be enough benefits from the more expensive packages, it’s also possible to request a demo, where a member of the Sprout Social team can walk you through the various features and functions .
Basic features
As you would expect from a standard package, the entry-level version of Sprout Social is more of a slimline edition of the software. Nevertheless, this edition comes with a decent set of tools aimed at users with less need for social media management than larger companies.
So the Standard edition bundles in 5 social profiles, an all-in-one social inbox, which allows you to publish, schedule, compose and queue posts and features a calendar of social content. You can also perform review management, monitor profiles, keywords and locations, and deploy social CRM tools. Reporting offers group, profile and post level options, plus the ability to provide paid promotional tools to boost Facebook posts.
Professional Features
You really want to invest in the popular Professional edition of Sprout Social to take advantage of more power tools. That comes at an extra cost, but the range of features does cover a lot of bases. Look forward to more social profiles, 10 in total, plus everything included in the Standard edition.
In addition, there is competitive reporting for Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, tagging of the content of inbound and outbound messages, and custom workflows for multiple approvers. More economically, there is scheduling for optimal dispatch times and the benefit of response rates and time analysis reports.
Crucially, professional users get trend analysis for Twitter keywords and hashtags and the benefit of paid social reporting for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Also useful for larger companies are the helpdesk, CRM and Social Commerce integration options on offer.
Advanced Features
Of course, larger companies often need even more power tools and extra functionality. This can often be an unnecessary requirement for smaller businesses and of course incurs additional costs.
Nevertheless, Social Sprout’s Advanced package features add a lot more power to the software, especially for businesses with a lot of pressure on their social media management needs. The Advanced package comes with everything in the Professional edition, offers 10 social profiles and then adds like Message Spike Alerts for increased email message activity and push notifications when traffic is high.
There is also a digital asset and content library and chatbots with automation tools. Advanced users can also work with saved and suggested answers, use an inbox rule builder for automated actions, and enjoy automated link tracking. Twitter surveys to define CSAT or NPS are bundled together for good measure.
Analysis and reporting
Likewise, the reporting aspect of Sprout Social is as impressive as ever. Users can create granular insights into social media campaigns, get to grips with what’s working and what’s not, and produce shareable information that should be a party in the boardroom. Of course, it is easy to export said reports in popular file formats, including CSV and PDF, meaning the distribution of data is universal.
Sprout Social has always been handy with its robust analytics tools and this is one aspect that has grown stronger in recent years. The more expensive bundles include a lot of advanced features to combine analytics with lead generation and the like, adding value. In fact, sales and marketing teams should find it invaluable, while a feature like the ChatBot tool should also help improve efficiency by allowing administrators to build an assistant to meet customer needs.
Interface and in use
Sprout Social has been around for a while and as a result has become a great on-the-go tool for anyone who needs to manage their social media in the field. This can be done using the iOS and Android mobile apps, both of which are well produced and provide more than enough functionality for most needs, even on the base edition. Given its impressive feature set, Sprout Social is still fairly easy to set up and configure.
Even in its desktop version, you’ll find Sport Social quite logical with its layout, especially considering all the tools it contains. There are menu options for quick access to commonly used tools such as Messages, Tasks, Feeds, and Publish. Likewise, you can also get to those essential reporting tools with relative ease. There are also practical considerations, with a settings area that allows you to configure language settings and the like for users in other geographies.
support
Anyone new to Sprout Social will find a slew of great content in the online help center. There are tips, tricks, and tutorials covering every aspect of the software, along with more advanced tools for getting the most out of Sprout Social. If you would like to get in touch, there is a phone number for telephone support, the option to submit a request online or you can easily get in touch via social media.
The competition
Social media management tools are quite numerous and if you are on a tight or nonexistent budget, some of them can be used for free. Small business owners may struggle to justify the cost implications of the heftier editions of Sprout Social. With that in mind, go for something like the basic edition of Hootsuite, but there are also Buffer, Hubspot, Zoho Social, and Agorapulse to think about.
Final verdict
If you have advanced social media management needs, Sprout Social has a lot of appeal. There is the opportunity to ramp up your efforts even more with the additional premium solutions offered by the software company. However, all those extra features and functions add to the price tag, so that a Professional package can quickly seem like a hefty investment for smaller companies.
Nevertheless, if you have a serious inclination to grow your foothold in social media circles and enjoy the data produced by Sprout Social, you’ll find that this is a package that rarely disappoints. Even the Standard edition offers a surprisingly powerful dashboard of delights, through an interface that is a joy to use, especially if you use the app edition in full.
