These days, it’s not enough to have social media for your business. Whether you’re a small independent startup or a large national corporation, you need to be invested in social media analytics so that you can see what’s working for your marketing strategy and what isn’t. You need to determine which social media efforts are helping you reach your ultimate goals and which ones aren’t contributing at all. Knowing how engaged your audience is with your brand or business via social media can make or break you in today’s marketplace. Keeping up with it all requires using the right tools.

But with so many tools available, how do you know which one is the right one for you? This list will help break the top options down so that you can determine what your brand needs for social media success.

1. Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo works best for brands and businesses that distribute content such as blog posts and web content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram. While it doesn’t necessarily analyze your actual performance on social media, it does analyze the reach of that blog post you tweeted or that video you posted. All you have to do is plug in a URL, and it gives you all the info you need, even breaking it down by type of media, date, length, and other factors. Almost everyone in the industry considers it a top social media analytics tool, though the price may be a little high.

2. Google Analytics

Most people don’t think of Google Analytics as a good tool for keeping up with social media, but it can actually be one of the best out there. It’s free to use, and there’s a good chance you’re already using it on your website. Take advantage of it to see which social outlets are sending the most traffic to your site and even keep up with specific campaigns.

3. Rival IQ

If you’re trying to keep up with the competition, Rival IQ may be your best bet. It works with all platforms, and while it can be a little pricey, the information it provides is invaluable. Use it in real time or go back through a competing company’s history to see which of their campaigns, events, announcements, and content pieces are growing and shrinking their social audiences.

4. Keyhole

Depending on how you use us it, Keyhole can cost you under $100 a month up to several thousand, but if you’re on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, it can be an important tool. Its intuitive dashboard gives you a real-time glimpse at analytics for hashtags, keywords, and social media campaigns. It’s also an excellent tool for finding influencers on those platforms that perform well within your field of interest.

5. ShortStack

Every good digital marketer knows that running a contest or giveaway is an excellent way to attract followers and push engagement, especially on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If you’ve made contests and giveaways a part of your social media presence, you want to get on board with ShortStack. Essentially, this tool analyzes those events and lets you know if they’re working or if you’re just wasting time and products or services. The tool is free at its most basic levels, though even if you choose to pay for more features, the monthly price is pretty reasonable.

6. Hootsuite

One of the best things about HootSuite is that it’s free to use, though you can pay for upgrades. The second-best thing about HootSuite is that it doesn’t just analyze your social media presence, it helps you manage it, as well. Schedule your posts while measuring your engagement with those same posts. You can even use it to measure your customer service response time when a follower reaches out with a question or issue.

7. Brandwatch Analytics

Brandwatch works with all major social media platforms, and it provides plenty of valuable information. For example, if you’re looking for demographic info on a particular market, it will break it down for you by categories like occupation. It also gives you an idea of what people are saying about you on social media in real time — the good, bad, and the ugly — and can be an excellent tool for crisis management. Prices for Brandwatch vary, as the company will tailor a package to your individual business needs. Though it can be on the expensive side, many businesses will find that it’s well worth it.

8. Brand24

Brand24 often receives rave reviews from experts and is popular with both small and medium businesses and larger corporations. SMBs love it because of the reasonable pricing, though tiered rates are available. It offers a comprehensive look at your mentions and your overall engagement, as well as great insight into who the influencers in your niche are. Best of all, it has an easy-to-use interface.

9. Quintly

Have you ever wondered how your social media platforms stack up against your competitors? Quintly can help you figure that out and much more. It covers Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, though it’s especially popular with Facebook users. The tool offers a customizable dashboard with various widgets you can add and remove, and it puts together graphs featuring the specific metrics you want to compare. Quintly is a must if your goals focus on beating your competition. It’s free for some Facebook basics with more complicated paid plans available.

10. SumAll

Social media is here to stay for a while, so you need to have a long-term plan in place. SumAll can help you put it all together. It tracks your major social media platforms and creates charts for you to compare and contrast your performance across them. If you’re just into the basics, the tool will send you a daily email digest with your metrics, but you can visit the platform for a more in-depth look. After an initial free trial, you’ll pay a monthly fee for SumAll.

11. Social Mention

Social Mention is totally free, which makes it one of the most appealing tools on the list. It also works across over 100 social media platforms, including the big ones like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Something of a search engine, you type in your brand name and other keywords, and Social Mention brings up a list of content created by various social media users. Keep up with mentions, hashtags, and keywords, as well as influence.

12. Klout

Klout doesn’t just provide you with social media analytics — it grades you on your performance. You’ll learn just how influential you are across the major platforms, as well as how well you engage your followers and whether or not your posts are pushing your followers to take action. Once you receive your feedback, you’ll also get tips on how to improve your social media presence.