Social Media Marketing Magazine | News, Tips, Insights & Thought Leadership

Top 50: Social Media Solutions

Written by Peter Devereaux | Nov 1, 2016 5:00:00 AM

Interest and investment in social media is incredibly high despite the obvious challenges marketers face within the channel - from shifting consumer expectations to dramatic platform developments, and of course, the demand to generate tangible results.

As marketers and advertisers continue to increase their social media spend, they are becoming increasingly aware they must prove a return on investment (ROI). Current levels of social media spending have witnessed a 234 percent increase over the past seven years, rising from 3.5 percent of marketing budgets in 2009 to 11.7 percent in 2016 (The CMO Survey). Despite that exceptional growth, it falls woefully short of what was predicted five years ago. Marketers spent only 11.7 percent of their budgets on social media in the past year as compared to the 17.5 percent predicted five years ago. One of the reasons may likely be because it can be difficult (some might argue impossible) to accurately prove there is an actual return from social media participation.

According to Simply Measured's "2016 State of Social Marketing" report, 61 percent of marketers identified measuring ROI as their top challenge. In order to overcome that obstacle, enterprises are adopting a range of social media solutions to enable them to gather more useful insights, optimize their participation and monetize the interactions that result. Fortunately, the social media ecosystem is filled with some of the most well-known technology companies and many of the hottest startups in the history of digital.

In this month's Website Magazine Top 50, readers will discover some of these top solutions for social media listening and monitoring, managing, marketing and influencing audiences, as well as engaging followers and analyzing results.

There are thousands of these offerings currently available for enterprises of every size and industry. Let this month's Top 50, however, serve as Web professionals' starting point as they explore the opportunities they have to maximize their use of social media.

The Future Web

Don't miss next month's Website Magazine Top 50, which spotlights solutions 'Net professionals should keep a virtual eye on in 2017 and beyond! To recommend a solution, tweet @WebsiteMagazine.

1. Salesforce.com

2. Hootsuite.com

3. SproutSocial.com

4. Buffer.com

5. Iconosquare.com

6. Klout.com

7. SocialBakers.com

8. Adobe.com

9. Zoho.com

10. SaS.com

11. Bitly.com

12. Microsoft.com

13. ShortStack.com

14. Lithium.com

15. HearsaySocial.com

16. Brandwatch.com

17. SimplyMeasured.com

18. Meltwater.com

19. Mention.com

20. Spredfast.com

21. Sysomos.com

22. Smarsh.com

23. CrimsonHexagon.com

24. AgoraPulse.com

25. OutboundEngine.com

26. SocialMention.com

27. Nuvi.com

28. TrackMaven.com

29. Cision.com

30. Audiense.com

31. Unified.com

32. Curalate.com

33. Falcon.io

34. UnionMetrics.com

35. Klear.com

36. Wayin.com

37. ReadyPulse.com

38. GetLittleBird.com

39. Quintly.com

40. Tracx.com

41. TalkWalker.com

42. Grouphigh.com

43. Synthesio.com

44. Sendible.com

45. Trackur.com

46. Digimind.com

47. Sprinklr.com

48. Infegy.com

49. BuzzSumo.com

50. RivalIQ.com