Later Social vs. Meltwater

Later is great for not only small and large businesses, but also for influencers who want a curated feed that they can easily auto-publish. If you need to tag your Instagram photos on a consistent basis, that might be a struggle, but in general, for the minimal cost and features, Later is well worth the cost. Additionally, their technical support takes 24-28 hours to respond to via chat, but it's within the software so it's very simple.

Incentivized

If you practice media relations in your role, Meltwater is helpful. You can do research to find relevant publications and journalists, build media lists, export them to share with a team or client and you can also keep notes on your campaigns. I like using it for research, although I do research outside the platform, as well, to be sure to be thorough (and some of the info in the database is outdated). I would say if you don't practice media relations, it's probably not as useful. There are other tools that do a better job if you want to search for media or social media mentions, for example. If you are looking for an all-in-one media relations tool that's relatively easy to use, Meltwater is probably a good fit.

Incentivized

• Allows you to schedule Instagram Stories Content. No other tool that I have tried allows this feature.
• Great analytics available for Instagram - something that lacks on many other platforms.
• The LinkIn.Bio feature allows you to drive traffic to multiple sources, which is helpful for accounts without a swipe-up link.
• It's easy to switch between accounts if you are managing multiple brands and platforms.

Incentivized

• Up to date contact information. It is actually relevant and active info, not always the case with others.
• The user interface is better than most tools. While not perfect, it's pretty easy to figure out how to get what you want.
• Their support is excellent. Anytime I've needed help I can call, but better than this, they proactively call and assist.

Incentivized

• Would be wonderful if there was a way to copy posts easily.
• Would be nice to view posts without opening like you plan to edit them. Just want to preview them like an email.
• Would be nice to be able to schedule posts to Facebook Groups.

Incentivized

• Their tracking system for media mentions isn't perfect - we have stumbled across several posts mentioning our company/product that were not picked up by the platform. While frustrating, we send these URLs to our rep and their tech team ensures that that website will be monitored moving forward.

Incentivized

We have had great success with Meltwater Buzz the past 2 years. The reporting has been great for our board reports, seeing the conversations going on between our followers helps us to learn who our audience is and what we can do better on our social media. The analytics we see on Meltwater Buzz we could not get anywhere else

Incentivized

The desktop site is almost perfect, I love it. I love that I can drag and drop, I love that I can easily and quickly switch to analytics and switching profiles... love the ease of link in bio. so great!

Incentivized

Once you get some basic training it's pretty easy to use. I would like to see training manuals, or instructional videos to help me explore features I'm not currently using.

Later are not just a software tool, they also provide marketing advice, tips, and tutorials via their blog. I’ve only had to reach out to them for help a few times and have found them to respond much faster than other tools in their category. I receive weekly emails with updates, marketing tips and invites to online events. I look forward to their emails as I’ve learned a lot of things that I’ve been able to actually implement.

Incentivized

Our account rep at Meltwater went dark for a long time. Then, a couple of weeks ago, our new account manager reached out to set up a meeting. Apparently, they had a big shakeup in the company, and there were some personnel changes. Our new account rep was great in discussing the platform's capabilities that were available to us and even offered to schedule a follow-up meeting with his technical team to introduce our new social media team members to the platform and how it could help them with their jobs.

Incentivized

Again, really in-depth and helpful for a program that is really easy to use.

Walked step by step through program. Very informative on a program that doesn't require much training.

You are only allowed 15 users, so make sure you've identified who will have access to use the tool.

It's superior. Simply put. Later has better features and stronger functionalities, many of which none of these other tools have. When I used any of the previous tools there was always something missing so I had no choice but to work with two or three tools at the same time. Later replaced all of those tools and now I can manage everything from one single tool.

Incentivized

Meltwater serves as an all-in-one platform, so it has benefitted us greatly in being able to service a variety of needs in one place. Having a streamlined platform is important to our team since it can feel counterproductive to visit a variety of products to service one client's needs. So, Meltwater has been essential in ensuring our needs are met through one destination.

Incentivized

• Later has at least made me accountable for my content calendar. It helps me schedule posts in advance and allows me to see what my page will look like so I can visually plan out content.
• Later has helped me post a few times with the auto-post feature. It's been great for my static images, but I just wish I could do it for everything!

Incentivized

• Improved PR reporting, for sure.
• Competitor analysis for clients and ourselves.
• A great ability to track the news and understand particular news drivers for certain industries, allowing us to get our client in front of the media at or before the perfect moment.

Incentivized