It’s easy to feel like you are getting a good picture of your social media audience through day-to-day interactions with customers. But some of your information might be skewed without you knowing. This is especially true if the people who regularly interact with you don’t resemble a typical customer.
In such cases, you may want hard data about your social media audience. That’s where Audiense enters the picture. It measures multiple points of data about your social media interactions, helping you figure out the best marketing strategies to follow.
Audiense: The Good and the Bad
Audiense may not be the perfect solution for every company given the price of some of its products. However, it has a lot of great upsides to keep in mind. We’ll break down the pros and cons that this subscription service offers.
What Audiense Is Good At
Impressive sets of data: Very few offerings on the market can match the total volume of data found with Audiense products. Better yet, you’re able to use any number of its tools individually or subscribe to several and let them work in tandem.
Audiense generates data based on actual customer behavior on social media, so it’s easy to build marketing campaigns that truly target the audience segment you want to hit. This data can help you:
- Discover unexpected customer behaviors
- Determine which customer groups are vital to your business
- Define the social media topics that are most important to customers
- Learn which types of social media posts engage best with followers
Because Audiense has so many different products on tap, you may want to reach out to the sales team to figure out exactly which subscriptions you need.
X- and Meta-focused research options: Audiense has different products that deliver data from X (formerly Twitter) or Meta social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
These options make it easier to collect data if your customer base primarily engages with one social media entity over another. Rather than having to subscribe to a product that gives you data on social media sites you don’t need, Audiense is more targeted.
Of course, if you need data for followers on X, Facebook, and Instagram together, you can subscribe to multiple products at the same time.
Secure data storage: Audiense handles potentially sensitive data about your customers and followers, so it’s important for the service to have safeguards in place.
Thankfully, Audiense recently achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance. This means it meets key standards for protecting data.
It uses tools like encryption, two-factor authentication (2FA), intrusion detection, and firewalls to keep your customers’ data as safe as possible. It also protects data in case of natural disasters.
Understand your audiences: Using the Audiense Insights tool is a great way to gather key information about followers and consumers who show interest in your brand.
Start by determining which segments of your customers are going to give you the biggest potential returns. You can then focus on them and gain insights that raise their customer experience, all while boosting engagement and conversions.
Rather than segmenting your audience based on age or income levels, this tool examines how your audience interacts with social media. For instance, you can segment them based on social media content that they like or who they follow. From there, you’re able to use targeted marketing that you already know interests a portion of the customer base.
Find patterns in your audiences: Through the Affinio tool, you have the ability to drill down to a specific segment of your audience even further.
You start by looking at groups of people who are already following your social media or a competitor’s account. Then you’re able to divide those segments based on shared interests and build marketing strategies aimed at them.
Affinio can also gather data about followers who aren’t active on your social media channels. It will show you how these users are interacting with your data even when they don’t post or reach out to you. This way, you can create targeted marketing that may encourage them to be more active or to continue to engage passively.
Measure demand for brands and trends: Audiense’s Demand Intelligence tool can help you make smarter marketing decisions long before you hire a new spokesperson to help with a campaign or you decide where to unveil it.
For example, you can first select potential spokespeople that you’d like to use then choose the appropriate social media platform where you want to focus your campaign. Demand Intelligence will show you the likelihood of success given your choices.
You’re able to use this data to compare spokespeople and channels, finding the perfect combination to hit a target audience. Keep in mind, this tool is still in beta testing.
Audiense’s Potential Drawbacks
Must speak to the sales team: Although Audiense offers several different products, only a few of them allow you to start using them immediately. You have to reach out to the sales team before signing up for the majority of their products.
This can be frustrating if you want to start using a tool right away. However, contacting the sales team is a good idea if you want to customize your package or bundle several offerings, as you may receive discounts.
Pricing is not publicized: Some of the products do not have a listed price on the Audiense site. You have to reach out to the sales team to learn more.
Without having at least a general idea of pricing, it’s difficult for budget-conscious brands to plan ahead.
On top of that, we found the prices for the various products in Audiense to be higher than average. They will likely appeal less to small businesses and freelancers and more to medium-sized businesses and larger enterprises.
.
Limited Free tier for Twitter Marketing: Most businesses will not be able to gather much useful information on engagements on X if you choose the Free tier’s Audience Connect product. Still, this is a free offering, so we can’t count this against them too much.
Audiense Audience Intelligence Plans and Pricing
Audiense offers two products —Audience Intelligence and Twitter Marketing—each of which has its own subproducts. If you have interest in bundling multiple products, you can contact the sales team to determine if you qualify for a reduced price.
You can choose to either pay monthly or annually for your package. The yearly subscription comes with a discount.
First, let’s discuss the Audience Intelligence product. It contains four subproducts that provide data to help your team understand your social media audiences. With each subproduct listed, you get onboarding help as well as a dedicated account manager or solutions expert.
Social Intelligence Audiense Insights
This tool lets you receive cultural insights for those who are using your product, even if you work in niche areas. It will send you information on your audience’s affinities, demographics, professions, passions, and interests.
This data can help you see what interests your target audience has in common so you can tailor your social media strategies more effectively.
You pay $1,499 per month for this subproduct on the month-to-month plan, which is $17,988 over 12 months. Annual subscribers will save more than 53% by comparison, at $8,352 per year. You can request a free trial period, too.
Social Intelligence Affinio
This tool creates graphical representations of your data, showing you patterns and relationships among your audience. You can also focus your data queries on a certain segment of users.
Audiense does not publicize the price for Affinio, but the cost is ultimately based on the number of seats you are using with it. Reach out to the sales team to learn more, or request a free trial.
Digital Intelligence Meta Insights
This subproduct gathers data on Meta products like Facebook and Instagram so you can determine the best way to reach certain segments of customers. It also lets you analyze the people who are following you on Facebook and Instagram.
Again, Audiense does not publicize the price of this offering until you contact customer service or ask for a free trial. The cost is based on the number of reports you request.
Demand Intelligence Audiense Demand
Finally, this tool provides information on different trends in your industry. From there, you’re able to build more targeted social media marketing campaigns or determine which partners may be suited to deliver a campaign to the desired audience.
You have several options to choose from for your spokesperson, whether you want to use an actor, a character, a comedian, a musician, a media outlet, or another entity.
Audiense does not publicize the price for this subproduct, so you’ll have to reach out to the sales team. The cost you’ll pay depends on the number of entities in use.
Audiense Twitter Marketing Plans and Pricing
The Twitter Marketing subproducts are useful if you are looking to improve your engagements on X. There are no free trials for these subproducts, but it does come with a Free tier.
If none of the subproducts seem quite right for you, reach out to the sales team. They may be willing to help you build a customized plan that matches your vision.
Free Audiense Connect
The Free Audiense Connect subproduct only offers basic community analytics and community search audience tracking features. You do not have to provide a credit card to use it.
Pro Audiense Connect
With Pro Audiense Connect, you gain access to a number of advanced features for tracking your user engagement on X, including:
- Advanced community analytics
- Tweet analytics
- Data exporting
- Advanced audience manager
- One X chatbot
- Broadcasting DM campaign
- X ads
The Pro tier costs $49 if you select the month-to-month subscription option, or $588 over a 12-month period. The annual subscription plan totals $468 per year, which represents a nearly 20% discount.
API Access Tweet Binder
With Tweet Binder, you receive access to user metrics and hashtag analytics as well as analytics on users and hashtags directly from X. Plus, you’ll have access to a dedicated support services agent.
Audiense does not publicize the cost for this offering. You must reach out to the sales team to learn more about your options.
Final Thoughts
Audiense gives you access to an impressive set of data on people who are already engaging with your brand through social media. It’s a great tool for connecting with potential customers more efficiently and eventually turning them into followers online.
At the same time, the price of many Audiense products could fall outside of the budget of most small businesses. But with Audiense’s bundling and customization options, you’re more certain to find a price point that works for you.
