There are a growing number of companies looking to tackle the social media management and analytics arena, however Prague-based Socialbakers appears to have struck a chord with its platform, which provides competitive intelligence so companies can monitor not only their own analytics, but see what other industry leaders are doing and how they measure up. The company announced today that it has raised $6 million in a Series B round led by Index Ventures in addition to participation from previous investor Earlybird Venture Capital. To date, the company’s client list includes a number of Fortune 500 companies including McDonald’s, Nestle, and Vodafone among others.
The company will be using the funding to continue its global expansion, having only recently opened up offices in Sao Paolo, Mexico City, Dubai, and Istanbul. “We intend to use this funding to further expand our global reach. Through the creation of these new offices, and the help of this funding, not only will we be able to continue to grow worldwide, but also customize our products to fit the needs of our individual clients,” CEO Jan Rezab commented in a statement to BetaKit. “Because the world of social marketing is rapidly changing, we have committed to improve our products continuously, and to develop innovative tools for companies to maximize the effectiveness of their social marketing campaigns.”
Using Socialbakers, companies can monitor their brand activity on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+ though the company said it will continue to expand on the networks and tools it monitors. The company’s analytics platform, Analytics PRO, lets brands track metrics like how quickly they answer questions, find influencers, and see how they stack up to both industry benchmarks and their closest competitors.
Its Builder PRO tool provides a dashboard to create and manage posts while seeing real-time competitor activity side-by-side. For global companies, there is also a Markets Insights product which lets companies see their social media engagement across the globe with the ability to filter by country and customize their strategies to the unique needs of a market based on demographics like gender, age, and interests.
Socialbakers has a volume-based approach to its pricing, charging companies anywhere from $50 to $200 for its analytics product depending on the number of accounts companies need to manage, and plans ranging from $200 to $500 for its Market Insights product based on the number of countries and markets companies are looking to monitor. It also has custom and enterprise pricing for all its dashboards.
BetaKit has seen a lot of activity in the social media analytics arena, with all players trying to put their unique spin on tracking and optimizing online activity. Recently, SumAll added Instagram analytics to its dashboard for SMBs which ties their social media analytics to their online sales activity. Another startup, Vancouver-based Wishpond, also launched its all-in-one online marketing suite that lets companies create, manage, and analyze their campaigns across channels. However, according to Rezab, the company’s ability to provide quantitative comparisons and industry benchmarks is what sets Socialbakers apart.
The company will continue to focus on product development and looking to acquire customers in more global markets where it more recently set up shop. With the funding under its belt and a growing appetite for a more geographically diverse customer base, the company’s ability to build in a competitive intelligence layer on top of its platform will play well given the growing needs of brands to not only craft their own strategies but keep tabs on what others in the industry are doing.