Union Metrics Unifies Social Suite, Adds Facebook Analytics Capabilities

Union Metrics, a provider of social media analytics tools, announced on Tuesday it was adding Facebook capabilities as well as enhancements to its Social Suite that will allow for connectivity between multiple social media channels.

Released in 2014, Social Suite was designed to help marketers keep track of activity across their brand's Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram pages. It uses trackers that are stationed across those pages to monitor activities in order to give companies a better understanding of how they are impacting audience impressions, engagement levels, and overall growth. Marketers can view the analytics to get a broad overview of trends, as well as to zoom into important activities occurring on the individual level, or to see how competitors in their industry are performing by comparison. The original was "like a suite in the true sense of the word, [resembling the model of] Microsoft Office, with separate products for each of those channels," according to Union Metrics’ CEO Hayes Davis; the updated version, he says, will bring "all those products together [on one dashboard] to give people a full view of their social media analytics across Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and Facebook.”

The added focus on Facebook comes as slight a change of direction for Union Metrics. Since its inception in 2010, the firm has been more concerned with burgeoning networks such as Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram. One of the challenges of  Facebook is  its privacy regulations; still, Union Metrics recognizes that Facebook is an important piece of the puzzle, because brands allocate between 75 and 80 percent of their digital marketing budgets to it.

"I think that Facebook, more than any other platform, is a pay-to-play platform," Davis says. Adding Facebook capabilities will provide more opportunities for customers to focus on those paid opportunities, rather than just owned or earned ones, and help complete the social media picture. Davis says that Union Metrics' analytics go a step further than those offered within Facebook by giving companies a better understanding of the timing factors associated with social media activity. He adds that the product does "a great job of really digging in at the individual influencer level and helping customers discover the individual people that are driving the conversation."

While Social Suite doesn't integrate directly with CRM systems, Hayes highlights its "robust data exports which customers use on a regular basis to do additional analysis or integrations."

Davis points out that the solution is not limited to one vertical and has brought success to companies in industries ranging from travel and hospitality to healthcare. "The range of use cases is huge," Davis says, while allowing that Union Metrics' clientele "sweet spot" is with large brands that are aiming to build sophisticated campaigns across multiple channels.

While Union Metrics is eager to tap into the larger budget of Facebook users, the company will also continue along its traditional path in looking to find the opportunities in emerging platforms, Davis says. 

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