Sprout Social | Reviews by SmallBizGenius

At a time when a growing number of businesses are embracing social media as a vital part of their strategy, Sprout Social is offering an all-in-one management platform that helps companies create, publish, and analyze content on everything from Facebook to Twitter. Sprout Social reviews only serve to confirm that this social media listening and analytics company is capable of transforming every facet of your business by using market-leading tools for establishing and managing communication with clients.

Founded in 2010, Sprout Social has grown exponentially in recent years. In 2014, the company raised $18 million in Series B funding and another $40.5 million in Series D funding in 2018. Today, it has more than 700 employees worldwide. The company also has offices in over 25 cities, including Seattle and Dublin, in addition to its Sprout Social headquarters in Chicago.

The pace of the company’s expansion is fueled partly by the fact that its services are effective at transforming clients into better marketers while helping to advance brands. By incorporating different tools for social media management and analytics, Sprout also helps businesses uncover trends and improve their decision-making process. Its list of clients includes industry-leading companies and organizations, such as the Chicago Bulls, Gymshark, Kettler, Glassdoor, and the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. Overall, more than 25,000 businesses all around the world use this software, and in our Sprout Social review, we’ll show you why.

Sprout Social Features and Tools

Sprout Social is capable of accommodating businesses from a broad range of industries thanks to its impressive list of products and features, including analytics, customer relationship management functionality, and team collaboration tools.

These tools have two key functions: to help businesses streamline daily tasks, like content creation and publishing, and to provide performance reports. As such, the software is beneficial for different departments and teams, including social media managers, social analysts, and strategists, as well as social customer care agents.

Publishing and scheduling tools 

The Sprout software scheduling and publishing tools are designed to speed up the delivery of social content. The focus here is on producing concrete results. By streamlining the content creation process, this product allows your team to concentrate on creating social media marketing strategies and building customer relationships.

With Sprout Social, you don’t need to post social media content on each account manually. Simply log in to your Sprout account and post content on different accounts from one central platform.

To simplify the process further, you can plan your publishing strategy from the Sprout Social dashboard. For businesses running multiple campaigns, the tool is especially useful. In addition to organizing dozens of posts simultaneously and preparing them for different social media profiles, you also get access to a content calendar that helps you improve visibility and plan a long-term strategy. Moreover, there’s an asset library where you can create, organize, and publish visually engaging posts from a central location.

Engagement tools

One of our favorite components of this software is its ability to help clients connect with their customers quickly and effectively. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of video Sprout reviews online echo that sentiment.

That’s because Sprout Social’s engagement tools are easy to use and allow you to take control.  You can track and manage all messages and posts regarding your business through a central dashboard without having to log in to each account separately. Instead of checking Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, you can unify all networks into a single smart inbox and monitor incoming messages from there.

In addition, you can receive alerts about spikes in message volumes or urgent situations, as well as sort messages in order to access those related to specific marketing strategies or workflows.  These are just some of the ways in which Sprout Social can help you connect with your customers quicker by enabling you to track and monitor all their messages and posts and find out what they need.

Listening tools

Sprout Social really shins when it comes to social listening tools. These allow brands to get actionable insights from conversations in the digital space. All messages, posts, reports, or retweets you get are not only collected in one place but are analyzed to get a sense of how your clients feel about your brand.

After selecting specific topics relevant to your product or service, the Sprout Social listening tools start collecting information from your clients’ posts and messages and analyzing them to determine their preferences. This data is invaluable for enhancing marketing strategies and business planning.

More importantly, the tools identify influencers and thought leaders who you can engage as brand advocates. And by tracking customer behavior, the software also keeps you up to date with emerging trends in your industry while providing demographics data, such as age, gender, and the location of your audience.

Sprout Social analytics

Analytics tools are designed to pave the way for more strategic business decisions. Sprout Social collects and analyzes the data quickly so that businesses can focus on performance indicators and return on investment. Thanks to social media analytics, you see the results of your campaign and its impact on your audience.

You’ll get reports that deliver a high-level overview of performance across all connected profiles. But you can also evaluate performance at the post-level to see how it’s resonating with your audience.

Sprout analytics will show you how many new followers you have after the campaign, the number of paid/organic likes, as well as track the performance of your competitors. If you use Sprout alongside CRM tools, you may rest assured that you’ll get valuable insights into all relevant metrics for your business.

Integration and collaboration 

Sprout Social integrates seamlessly with dozens of social media networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can create as many accounts as you want and track the social activity on each of them from one central platform. The software also integrates with Google+, Google Analytics, Zendesk, HubSpot, UserVoice, Feedly, and many other software products.

Sprout Social functionality and design

Online Sprout Social reviews have probably helped the company get a better sense of what clients expect. That could explain why the software is functional and really easy to use. It’s suitable for all types of small and medium-sized businesses, but big corporations can also benefit from its long list of tools. The software is widely used across different industries, including travel and hospitality, software development, retail, and education. You can try it out for free for an entire month, which is enough time to decide whether you want to upgrade to a paid version.

The team behind Sprout Social created the software that’s friendly for beginners. Unlike many Sprout Social competitors, this software has a clean and simple design with all features and tools clearly displayed. On the top of the screen, you’ll find the Product section that houses the most important tools. By clicking on any of them, you’ll get further details about the available features. For example, the Reports feature shows analytics for all your accounts.

Meanwhile, Sprout Social collaboration tools enable you to invite team members to participate in various projects and assign them different tasks. Everything is transparent, meaning that you can see who is working on which account or a group of accounts at any time. Another great thing is that the dashboard is available in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Sprout Social app for iOS and Android 

Sprout Social is also accessible through iOS and Android devices. It enables you to publish posts, track your business performances and read reports even if you are not in the office. The mobile app comes with all the functionalities that you get with the desktop version, including collaboration and scheduling tools.

You can use the mobile app for free once you subscribe to one of the paid plans. It’s available on official app stores – Google Play and Apple Store.

Sprout Social Pricing Sprout Social offers three pricing plans: Standard, Professional, and Advanced. All plans include both an annual and a monthly subscription. We recommend the annual subscription because you can get the software at a lower price. For example, the Standard plan costs $99 per user per month, while an annual subscription is $89/user/month. The plan is suitable for those who have up to five social media profiles to manage and don’t need advanced reporting tools. The Professional plan allows you to manage ten accounts and includes competitive reports for Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as trend analysis for Twitter hashtags. The price is $149/user/month with the annual plan. Sprout Social will cost you $249 per month per user if you choose the Advanced annual plan. It’s not the most affordable solution on the market, but this plan comes with advanced tools like automated link tracking, digital asset management, and chatbots. If you’re running serious marketing campaigns, this option is worth it.

How does Sprout Social compare to other products

Although we’re satisfied with Sprout Social’s selection of tools and features, it’s important to compare the software with some of the other options currently available on the market.  The two main competitors are Hootsuite and Buffer.

Sprout vs Hootsuite

Both social media dashboards are really easy to install, set up, and use. Regardless of which one you choose, you can rest assured that you’ll get a decent set of tools to cover almost all aspects of social media management.

But unlike Sprout, Hootsuite has a free version of the software, which is just fine if you need basic tools for a social manager role. Hootsuite can connect with over 150 apps, which is an impressive number. The software is available in over 50 languages, while the Sprout dashboard only supports three languages.

However, Hootsuite’s listening tools can’t compete with those offered by Sprout. For users who want to get more delicate reports about their audiences’ opinions, Sprout is definitely a better choice.

Sprout Social vs Buffer

When it comes to Buffer, it’s a good solution if you want to create, manage, and publish social media posts on different apps. However, there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to its reporting tools. Buffer reports are related only to your social media profiles and don’t include a broader analysis of social media trends. If you need a special media dashboard with advanced reporting tools, Sprout is a better option.

But Sprout falls short when it comes to the variety of available apps for collaboration. Unlike Sprout, Buffer integrates with a wide range of apps and tools, including website creators, calendars, and content platforms.

Sprout Support

Sprout Social’s customer service team is widely regarded as reliable and efficient, especially during the onboarding process. Once you purchase the software, you’ll get a dedicated agent to help you set up the software and learn how to use it.

The customer support agents are accessible through multiple channels. You can call the company, send an email, or get in touch through their Twitter account if you’re looking for a quick answer. In addition, the site has an extensive poll of resources, guides, articles, and blogs that will help you to learn how to use Sprout Social.

Final Thoughts

In our review of the Sprout Social platform, we highlighted the software’s most important features. We are especially impressed with the advanced listening tools along with the extensive and visually appealing reports. The feature-packed software also has an easy-to-use dashboard and a modern interface suitable for all users – from beginners to experienced social media managers.

The software is equipped with advanced tools for scheduling and publishing posts on multiple channels at the same time. And although there are only three pricing plans, you can customize them by purchasing additional profiles and getting addons that you actually need. However, the Sprout Social price for the most advanced plan is a bit steep, especially if you just entered the market.

Nevertheless, Sprout social is an impressive social media software product. Thanks to its advanced set of tools, Sprout is a suitable solution for businesses of all sizes.