Falcon.io has recently become part of the Brandwatch product portfolio, which means for anyone looking into the best social media marketing tools (opens in new tab), it’s just got even better. The good news is that if you’re an existing customer is easy to log into your existing Falcon products, but if you’re a new customer there’s much more scope to get stuck into.
The social media management platform comes with a full suite of tools that can be used for everyday tasks such as publishing social posts on all of the main platforms. Falcon.io can therefore be used in conjunction with the likes of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram too, with the ability to make use of an interface that is both easy to use but powerful at the same time.
While there are many other rival social media management tools out there, some of which might be a cheaper option compared to Falcon.io, it has definite potential. Even more so once you take a deep dive into its workings.
Plans and Pricing
It’s probably better to view Falcon.io as just simply part of the Brandwatch product range. Look at the pricing page and you’ll find little reference to Falcon.io itself. However, this is perhaps a good thing as it potentially opens up your business to lots of new tools for broadening your success.
Brandwatch markets three core product suites, including one for researchers and analysts, called Consumer Intelligence (opens in new tab). Meanwhile, a Social Media Management (opens in new tab) product is available for social media managers, providing a one-stop solution for teams who need to collaborate on tasks.
Rounding it all out is a Full Suite (opens in new tab) option, which as the name suggests, comes with everything required to take social media and its associated analysis to the next level. Pricing, though, is not fixed and in order to shape a package around your needs you’ll need to book a meeting with sales staff.
Thankfully, Brandwatch also offers a package aimed firmly at small business owners too. This is called Essentials (opens in new tab), and comes with the ability to schedule content, monitor it and judge the results. This currently costs from $108 per month, with the option to try it for free in order to get the ball rolling.
Basic features
Now that Falcon.io is part of the Brandwatch portfolio it has potentially more appeal for bigger businesses. This is especially so as there are tools within the collection that not only cover social media management tasks, but allow you to tackle consumer intelligence.
In terms of the core social options though, there is still much to get excited about including the ability to publish content and manage it all within one calendar. You can create automated ad campaigns and measure the subsequent performance across all social channels too.
Having the ability to benchmark content and see how it performs against competitors is a boon too, while being able to manage everything via one interface and inbox adds to the simple-but-effective nature of this package.
Essential features
Brandwatch reckons that the Essentials package will be ideally suited to one or two users, which given the pricing sounds like reasonable value. The basics are certainly all there, with the ability to pan and schedule social media posts. This allows you to have one social media content calendar, manage all your assets in one central library and carry out campaign management too.
Another important feature of Essentials is a central inbox. This lets you keep all of your connected networks and social profiles managed in one location. The centralized inbox means that it’s much easier to carry out community engagement, send out messages using a templating system and set up automated rules for the sake of simplicity.
Finally, Essentials comes with the ability to measure just how well your social media management activities have been going. This includes detailed analysis via a customisable dashboard system. It makes creating and sharing reports on how things have been doing very easy indeed.
Interface and in Use
If you’re a small business owner then the Essentials package not only comes with plenty of tools for carrying out social media management, it’s great to use too. There’s a relatively simplistic interface, which still boasts a wealth of options for getting the best from your campaigns. If you’ve ever used something like Hootsuite then there is a similar vibe going on here. Overall, the look and feel is friendly and inviting.
Support
Now that Falcon.io is part of the broader Brandwatch portfolio it has gained much more muscle in the support department. This means there are staff who are multilingual, covering English, Spanish, German and French, which allows them to help clients around the globe.
Customers can make use on online help and guidance, but there is also the provision to submit a query via the site. Brandwatch states that the response will depend on the type of package you have, although customers should get a reply within 4 to 24 hours.
The Competition
The Essentials package from Brandwatch and Falcon.io makes a lot of sense of smaller businesses, while those with a need for more substantial options are catered for too. As for the competition, there is a lot out there, including Cloud Campaign, SocialPilot, Buffer, eClincher, Sendible, Statusbrew, Loomly, Hootsuite and Zoho Social.
Final Verdict
If you’ve wanted to get your hands on the Falcon.io social media marketing toolkit and feared you may have missed your chance, think again. Now that this is part of the Brandwatch portfolio there is plenty available to help assist with those campaigns. Thankfully, it’s not all corporate and big business-targeted stuff either. Indeed, the Essentials package looks to be great value for anyone running a small business with a strong desire to take on the world of social media.
