Keeping up with the overwhelming demand for content was a major obstacle for brands in 2014. How can you produce massive amounts of engaging, authentic content while under seriously limited time constraints? One solution is to leverage existing social content from your brand and your customers.
Many brands are turning to social media aggregation platforms to collect, organize and display social, user-generated content. The end result is a well-curated social hub that looks similar to a digital magazine full of engaging content and conversations around a particular topic or brand.
Now comes the tough part…deciding which social feed curation platform to use. The number of companies that offer this type of tool or service is extensive and continues to grow. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses so I always recommend evaluating tools based on an individual basis based on the brand’s specific needs.
In this blog post, I compare three of the leading platforms for creating social hubs: RebelMouse, Tint and Chute. Additional platforms on the market include: Postano, Twine, Offerpop, Votigo and more.
Below is a chart I created for a client to compare the three social feed platforms based on general service needs and product offerings. In addition, I’ve included my own reviews and takeaways of each platform.
Platform Conclusions & Takeaways
RebelMouse: Launched in 2012, RebelMouse has always referred to itself as a ‘social front page’. It allows brands and publishers to create very well curated sites, similar to a Tumblr, centered on a topic or news vertical. Recently, RebelMouse has expanded its focus from solely being a social aggregator to being a full-fledged publishing platform with custom editorial tools, detailed analytics tools and community/contributor profiles.
Tint: This relatively new platform is self-service and does a little bit of everything when it comes to displaying social feeds. Its strength lies in curating content from a specific social feed or hashtag versus a general topic. It is also a very useful tool for event marketing or retail–just think of how interactive the content becomes when shown on a huge projector, in-store screen, or jumbotron.
Chute: Chute’s major function is gathering user-generated visual content and obtaining rights to ‘publish fan photos and videos at every customer touch point — as a mobile app, photo gallery, banner ad or even a billboard in Times Square.’ In addition to using Chute to repurpose UGC content, brands often employ this platform for specific campaigns or contests (both short-term and ongoing) because of how easy it makes it for consumers to submit photos via hashtag or just click a button directly on the microsite to upload.
***It’s important to note that my review of these platforms is not comprehensive. To get full information about each platform, it is always best to reach out to a company representative for more information about product details, new updates and pricing models. I also highly recommend signing up for a free trial or demo of the platform to get the full experience and gain perspective into usability and performance.