There has been a huge gap in Kenya when it comes to getting accurate and reliable Social Media analytics tools that are built for the African market. Some of the best tools available for the internet / Social Media analysis such as Sproutsocial, Socialbakers, ComScore and MarketingCloud are highly expensive.   A Kenyan company called IStats has identified the existing gap and has developed a tool to track brand mentions on Twitter. We asked questions to Jack Mugi the Founder of IStats and here is what he had to say about the tool.

 

• Why did you decide to develop the software?

It was the realization that very few companies had any sort of comparative data to show how they were truly performing against their peers and in comparison to players in other industries. Most reports that come from digital campaigns and other efforts mainly focus on the brand and how the specific brand/campaign performed without really checking where the brand stands in relation to others. I believe this kind of comparison is what will really give the true picture of how brands and other entities are performing online.

• Who is the ideal user of IStats?

Any person in charge of a brand online – be it at agency end or the corporate end. IStats gives a very different look in that it captures data across the board to ensure decisions are data-backed and not just based on a hunch.

• What Features does it have?

It has hashtag tracking, influencer analysis and tracking, historical data going back 14 months and soon, blog and website tracking will be added to widen the scope.

• What’s the Value for businesses?

Business intelligence. BI has become invaluable and this is what is currently what is driving big data platforms like IStats. Marketing and more so digital marketing needs to be based on actual data and solid research and that is where we step in.

 

• How much does it cost to acquire the software?

Cost for the software is heavily reliant on the end user requirements. The software can be acquired for in-house use though the cost will really depend on what kind of functionality the end user wants and if they have the capacity to run the software on their own.

For data, the cost also depends on the volume of data needed. We have over 7 million collected and analyzed posts from twitter and over 300,000 website links analyzed so volume determines that and a quote is given depending on data requirements.

Other simpler services like brand monthly reports, hashtag tracking and analysis have packages starting at KES 10,000 for a number of trackers per month to KES 75,000 depending on the needs of the user.

• How can those interested reach you?

Anyone interested can email jack(at)istats(dot)co(dot)ke or talk to us on twitter on @iStatsKE. Download the report here

By Francis Waithaka, CEO Digital4Africa, Follow him on Twitter