Union Metrics, the San Francisco-based company that offers analytics for Tumblr and Twitter, this week rolled out free and low-cost analytics for small businesses and individual bloggers on Tumblr.
Union Metrics, the San Francisco-based company that offers analytics for Tumblr and Twitter, this week rolled out free and low-cost analytics for small businesses and individual bloggers on Tumblr. The company has added free access for individual users who want one blog analyzed, as well as a $25 a month plan for professional bloggers.
Last November, the company launched the first enterprise analytics product for Tumblr, which was focused on large brands seeking to monitor the content that they post on the platform.
“At the time, we made a promise that we would offer analytics for all different kinds of users, and now we are keeping that promise with a new set of plans targeted at bloggers and small businesses,” says Hayes Davis, chief executive of Union Metrics.
At the low end of the scale, users of the free offer from Union Metrics get one blog analyzed, which lets them track engagement as well as follower and content analytics. Currently there is a waiting list for the free service but it will eventually be opened up to anyone interested.
Subscribers to the mini plan, geared to small businesses and bloggers, pay $25 monthly for analytics of up to three blogs as well as integration with Google Analytics, a new feature that Union is offering all paying customers. That provides users one point of access for their blog’s web traffic metrics, a look at how many people are engaging with their content, as well as the ability to archive and export that data.
Another new feature being offered to all paying subscribers is the ability to track blog followers—a highly requested feature from users—so blogs can see whether they are gaining or losing followers on a daily basis.
As Tumblr’s designated preferred analytics provider, Union Metrics has access to the realtime stream of all Tumblr data, enabling fulltext searching of that “firehose.” Higher end offerings from Tumblr, geared to large brands and agencies running marketing campaigns on the platform, range in price from $199 to $999 a month and enable them to measure blog engagement and track their own and their competitor’s brand mentions on Tumblr.
The freemium model, in which some services are offered on a free basis, has worked well for Union Metrics on Twitter and should also function the same way on Tumblr, Davis says. “Many people at large agencies who do marketing on Tumblr also have a personal blog on the side. If you give individual users limited access for free, they will begin to understand what you can do with it. That’s a good business case for brands and agencies.”
But he also says the move demonstrates a belief in the Tumblr platform. “Tumblr is an amazing, unique community where a lot of people publish content not focused on commercial efforts. We want to serve the whole Tumblr community,” he says.
Asked whether the company plans to offer analytics for other platforms such as Instagram, Davis declines to give specifics but confirms that the company is considering expansion. “We are always evaluating platforms that are growing,” he notes.
