Brandwatch review: AI-powered social media insights built for data-driven small business marketing

Many of us believe that Brandwatch is a benchmark in the field of social media management. A tool that allows us to automate tasks, extract useful information from our social media presence, and optimize our marketing strategy as a result. But… is it the ideal social listening software for your business? Next, we will discuss in detail what Brandwatch is and its applications. We will explain its strengths, weaknesses, where it can improve, and, in general, we will analyze in depth everything that this solution can offer us in the field of social media. Brandwatch is a new way to understand marketing and monitor our social networks. This software can measure thousands of conversations in real-time and, with the collected data, provide us with specific insights that we can act on.

With a score of 7.9 out of 10, Brandwatch stands out for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to perform analyses. It is also noted for its clear and concise way of presenting the information it generates.

The best of Brandwatch

With Brandwatch, we can measure sentiment and detect trends on social media, even before they gain significant relevance on the Internet. It is also possible to collect data from Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and over 100 million websites to provide us with a deep and fully tailored view for our business. Brandwatch’s use of AI, combined with the amount of data it can collect, makes it ideal for businesses of all sizes that need active and efficient monitoring of their social media. With this approach, it also perfectly fits with marketing and public relations teams, as well as agencies that need to manage multiple accounts for different brands.

The worst of Brandwatch

Its biggest disadvantage comes in the form of a somewhat steep learning curve and a higher price compared to other alternatives on the market. In this regard, the best alternative to Brandwatch is Sprinklr, which, in certain aspects, is more intuitive and has a great number of features when it comes to managing social networks.

Key Features of Brandwatch

Brandwatch stands out in several aspects that make it a highly valuable solution for gaining a clear view of how our social media marketing strategy performs. Here are the most important points:

AI-Driven Intelligence: Brandwatch uses artificial intelligence models to efficiently analyze over a billion online conversations. This is key for having a complete view of the situation and performance of our marketing strategies.
Multichannel Data Collection: It gathers information from Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and more than 100 million websites.
Fully Customizable Dashboards: These allow us to tailor data visualization to our specific needs and also to the demands of each moment during the campaign.
Access to Historical Data: Brandwatch provides us with an extensive archive of conversations to analyze long-term content trends. It is this same data that allows the current conversation to be contextualized for deeper analysis. Integration with Falcon.io, which enhances social management and monitoring capabilities.

Pros and cons of Brandwatch

If we analyze the tool in terms of pros and cons, several key points stand out. The ability to analyze tops the advantages, while the learning curve heads the disadvantages. However, there are more.

Advantages of using Brandwatch

Reliable sentiment analysis thanks to AI: Extracting sentiment from a conversation is key to the success of the analysis. Brandwatch utilizes artificial intelligence to provide us with the highest accuracy in this regard.
Extensive data tracking on social networks and also on the web: Too many social media monitoring tools focus solely on the former. Brandwatch goes further in its data collection, giving us a broader view of our situation.
Highly customizable dashboards and reports allow us to adapt the visualization of information according to our specific needs.
Seamless integration with Falcon.io: It provides greater capacity in managing and monitoring our social networks.
Comprehensive data visualization features: Given the enormous amount of data this tool can collect, its visualization features stand out. Thanks to its ability to create rules, it is possible to identify and interpret sentiments and mentions easily. This facilitates decision-making and the creation of successful campaigns with consumers always in mind.

Disadvantages of using Brandwatch

Steep learning curve: It can be a somewhat complex service for those starting in social monitoring.
High pricing structure: Its level of investment is in a premium range, something to consider in certain budgets where ROI and other variables come into play.
Limited support for micro-geolocated content: When utilizing high-precision geolocation, we may encounter some limitations.
Slower performance with large volumes of data: When working with large data sets, processing speed may decrease slightly.

Who is Brandwatch for?

Considering its capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses, we can begin to form a clear picture of the audience Brandwatch targets.

It is ideal for large companies, agencies, and corporations that have a massive presence on social media and need to conduct comprehensive tracking. It also fits well with marketing teams that need sentiment analysis, as well as any companies that want to rely on data when making decisions.

On the complementary aspect, Brandwatch does not fit all budgets, nor should it be confused with a social media post scheduling tool.

Why should my company use Brandwatch?

In our interviews with companies that have implemented the tool, we have gathered several opinions about why to use Brandwatch. The most notable reasons are as follows:

Truly advanced analytics that surpass the competition: The analysis and conversation tracking capabilities provide a significant competitive advantage over other similar platforms.
Sentiment tracking with artificial intelligence: This allows the tool to look beyond the text itself to analyze consumer responses in general terms.
Very good integration with business tools: The connection with platforms like Salesforce improves data management and facilitates integration into our current ecosystem without major changes.
Competitor analysis capability: It allows us to detect emerging trends and anticipate market movements, so we can act on opportunities before anyone else.

Why do some companies not use Brandwatch?

Although Brandwatch offers enormous advantages, certain companies may choose not to use it for various reasons. According to the information we have gathered from our interviews, the main reasons are as follows:

High price structure: Some companies may consider the necessary investment to be high, depending on how they plan their ROI.
Considerable learning curve: The complexity of the platform requires more time than other alternatives to become familiar with it.
Specific limitations: In certain cases, the tool may present certain restrictions in handling highly localized content or in very specific formats.

Brandwatch Pricing and Discounts

Although the pricing structure of Brandwatch is not publicly available, we know that it adapts at all times to the company’s needs and depends heavily on the plan we choose. These are the three plans that it offers us:

Consumer Intelligence: For researchers and analysts looking for concrete and actionable insights in large volumes of data. This plan allows us to access the largest database of customer opinions, segment audiences according to our needs, and configure dashboards to see the full extent of Brandwatch AI’s analysis.
Social Media Management: The plan for social media managers and marketing teams. It allows us to centralize all our accounts, plan organic and paid content, manage interactions with a social CRM, and offers benchmarking and competitive analysis tools.
Influencer Marketing: Designed for companies and agencies working with influencers. It facilitates the search in a database of over 30 million creators. From here, we can manage relationships and analyze the performance of different campaigns across all platforms where they are launched.

To find out which plan best fits our needs, we recommend requesting a free demonstration from their website.

Brandwatch

Implementation, training, and documentation

The implementation of Brandwatch is quite straightforward, but its immense power requires adjustments that can take some time. More than half of the companies we’ve spoken to have managed to implement the tool in less than five weeks. In some cases, the implementation is much faster, while in others it requires a specific readjustment.

Regarding training, half of the companies have not invested anything in initial training or courses. That said, companies that have decided to invest in training for key team members see, on average, a 25% improvement in the tool’s recommendations. Brandwatch’s documentation and support include a comprehensive knowledge base and onboarding resources that facilitate the transition and daily use of the tool.

Customer Support: How to contact Brandwatch?

Brandwatch’s customer support is structured across multiple channels. We can contact the platform via email, chat, and through its app (Engage). In our experience, the quality of support is varied, and the lack of telephone support may not be optimal for resolving issues instantly. The company, however, gives us access to an extensive knowledge base and training resources that help resolve incidents quickly. Response time is also varied. Just under half of the companies and users we’ve spoken with claim they are delighted with the support. Meanwhile, Brandwatch ranks 11th in customer satisfaction with support.

There are several alternatives to Brandwatch. The social media management app market is especially broad, but if we need to highlight products that can really be considered an alternative, we must stick with these three.

Sprinklr vs Brandwatch

Sprinklr is a highly valued platform for its interface, which is truly intuitive, and for a set of tools that significantly simplify the interaction and publication of content across different social networks. It offers us a truly comprehensive analysis, making it a very interesting option for companies that require total oversight. The tool also stands out for its integration with other platforms and add-ons.

Hootsuite vs Brandwatch

Another alternative that deserves our consideration is Hootsuite. This service focuses on scheduling and managing posts, so in addition to being an alternative, it can be seen as a complement. Its main attraction lies in a significantly lower price and also in the tools for collaborative management of our social networks. While Hootsuite provides certain analysis and reporting tools, they do not reach the level of detail of Brandwatch.

Finally, Sprout Social presents itself as an option that combines analysis with collaborative social media management. It excels in data visualization and reporting, and in obtaining actionable insights. Its interface is one of its strong points, making it a tool to which we can quickly get accustomed.

Brandwatch is a truly powerful and comprehensive solution for those companies and marketing teams that need to delve into the analysis of online conversations. Despite its pricing structure and the need for some investment in training, it is a platform that offers results that more than justify integration in large companies and agencies.

Brandwatch’s ability to gather data from multiple sources and transform that information into actionable insights is simply fundamental in any marketing strategy. If we are looking for a social media manager that allows us to reach new levels of analysis and understanding of our online environment, Brandwatch is the ideal option.