Sprout Social: A Team-Friendly Approach to Social Media & Analytics

 

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Sprout Social is a social media integration service that integrates with Twitter, Facebook pages, Gowalla, FourSquare and LinkedIn. They have a 100% free trial, where you don’t even need to give them your credit card number to subscribe.

They have two plans that are catered to small business owners: The “Standard” package, which comes in at $39 a month, or the “Deluxe” package, which comes in at $59 a month.

Here are some of the things that Sprout Social has to offer:

  • Message scheduling. Instead of having to post your updates live, you can schedule them to be posted at a later time.
  • Google analytics integration. See your traffic stats all in one place, instead of having to log into Google separately.
  • Custom branded reports. If you need to send a client a report, it’ll have your logo on it rather than Sprout Social’s.
  • Social media integration. Integrate many different social media accounts all in one place.
  • Live support. Have a question? Sprout Social is there to answer your questions.
  • Tools for collaboration. Work with your team to get the most out of your social media campaigns.

Here’s how to use Sprout Social to integrate your social media.

Step 1: Begin Your Trial

Click “Start Your 30 Day Trial” to begin the signup process.

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Step 2: Select Your Plan

Select the plan you want to use. If you’re a small company, usually the “Standard” version is enough. You can always upgrade later.

2-Select-Plan

Step 3: Create Your Profile

Create your account. Sprout Social will tell you when your trial account is good till on the right hand side.

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Step 4: Sign In on Your Twitter Account

Click the “Sign in with Twitter” button to connect your Sprout Social account with your Twitter account.

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Authorize Sprout Social to use your Twitter account.

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Step 5: Business Details

Enter your business details.

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Once you’re done, click “Continue” and you’ll be taken to your main dashboard screen.

Step 6: Adding More Profiles

If you want to add more profiles, click on the “Add Social Profiles” button in the next pop up screen or simply go to the right hand sidebar and click “+.”

 

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Sprout Social will pop up a box allowing you to choose which social media profile you want to link up.

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Step 7: Add Team Members

To add more people to manage your account, click “Invite The Team” on the right hand side.

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Enter the name and email address of the person you want to add. You’ll need to pay extra to add team members. You can add each person as either a standard user or as an administrator.

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Step 8: The Dashboard

When you first log into Sprout Social, you’ll be presented with your dashboard. Here you can view your new Twitter followers, new Facebook fans, Interactions and so on.

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Step 9: Messages

To access your messages, click the “Messages” tab in the top navigation bar.

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Your messages will be displayed in the center. If access messages from different accounts, click the account on the right hand side. To compose a new message, click “Compose” in the upper right corner.

Step 10: Feeds

To access your feeds, click the “Feeds” button at the top. By default, you’ll see your Twitter’s feed. You can also add a LinkedIn feed or an RSS feed.

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Step 11: Scheduling

To schedule a message, click “Schedule a new message” in the “Publishing” tab.

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The scheduler will pop up. Here you can attach images, write your message and pick a time for your message to be posted.

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Step 12: Discovery

Want to discover new people to follow or get in contact with? Click the “Discovery” button along the top navigation bar.

Sprout Social will then give you a list of people that they recommend you connect with. Take a look at their profile and if it makes sense, follow them or send them an @mention.

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Step 13: Reports

Want to get more details about how your social media campaigns are working? Click “reports.” You’ll be able to view data on both your Twitter accounts and your Facebook Pages accounts.

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You can view data on your retweets, incoming messages, new followers and even compare the performance of multiple Twitter accounts.
That’s how to use Sprout Social to manage your social media. Sprout social makes it easy to manage feeds, messages, scheduling and various social media networks from one easy to use interface. They also make it very easy to involve the rest of your team in your social media plans.