A list of top questions to ask when evaluating social media tools. I created this list to accompany my presentation on "Evaluating Social Media Tools" that I gave at Social Intelligence 2014, which can be viewed at http://www.slideshare.net/tonyobregon/evaluating-social-media-tools-that-work-for-you

1. Social Monitoring Tools
1. Which social networks are being tracked in the tool?
2. How many blogs are currently indexed?
3. Will reader comments from posts be included in results?
4. Are news sources from traditional media outlets included?
5. Can you provide a list forums that are being tracked?
6. Can we add new sources to monitor in the tool?
7. Can we delete targeted sources if we need to?
8. Does it capture conversations in multiple languages?
9. Are there language translation capabilities in the tool?
10. Do you offer automated sentiment or influencer analysis?
11. Can we access historical data for free?
12. Are we charged for every social media item analyzed?
13. Is there a limit to the number of searches or results?
14. What kind of training and customer support do you offer?
15. Can I set up email alerts to get notified in real-time?
Content Publishing Tools
16. Which social networks and channels do you support?
17. Are there any advanced scheduling or automated publishing
features?
18. Do you support any mobile devices for on-the-go access?
19. What kind of reporting and measurement do you offer?
20. Is there a way to respond to posts within the tool?
21. What kind of team workflow features are there?
Evaluating Social Media Tools that Work for You by Tony Obregon

2. Channel Measurement Tools
22. What channels and networks can I measure?
23. Can I create data collections to organize channels by region,
industry or social network?
24. Do you provide granular details on individual posts from all of
my channels?
25. What kind of metrics can I get on my fans and followers?
26. What kind of engagement metrics are there on my content?
27. Is there comparison data from previous time periods?
28. Can I measure traction on specific hashtags and keyword?
29. Will I be able to generate daily, weekly, monthly snapshots?
30. What kind of data presentation options do you offer?
31. Can I link my Bitly or Google Analytics accounts to this tool?
Influencer Identification Tools
32. What types of curated vs. original content do you analyze?
33. Can I add my own channel sources to be analyzed?
34. What type of algorithm do you use for ranking influencers?
35. What is the scope and reach of global influencers?
36. Can I manually edit influencer profiles and add my own data?
37. Will I be able to change ranking order of influencers?
38. How are lists managed and updated based on new data?
39. Do you offer any type of influencer mapping visuals?
40. Are reports customizable and can I select what I want to see?
Evaluating Social Media Tools that Work for You by Tony Obregon