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Sprout Social is an easy way for professionals and business owners to monitor growth and encourage exposure through social media marketing. Sprout Social is designed to give the user total control in reviewing progress and monitoring their brand’s success in the social networking arena. Users can see how many new contacts are actually converting into customers as well as develop a plan to refine the company’s approach to seeking out its target customer base more successfully.

Sprout Social is currently located in Chicago, Illinois. The team includes CEO and “product guy” Justin Howard, Designer Gilbert Lara, tech guy Aaron Rankin, and developer Peter Soung. In the autumn of 2010, the site managed to raise $1 million in new funding from Lightbank. The site was originally created to present all the necessary tools for users to maintain their social media marketing and observe progress to make better marketing decisions. Today, the site still serves the same purpose, bringing users more detailed information to encourage growth and enjoy more success through the online marketplace.

Sprout Social stands out because of the way it brings together many different tools to cover just about every possible aspect of social networking a business could want to invest in. Users can manage media contacts, read over graphs and charts that display progress and customer conversion, and monitor discussions and articles that mention the user’s brand. Sprout Social brings together all these tools and more into a single place so business owners and professionals know exactly where to go to check progress and look for information that could influence their next marketing step.

Sprout Social is all business without losing its individuality. The site features an attractive dark grey, white, and green color scheme that works very well. The gray and white maintains the “professional” feel while the green helps add personality. Stylish fonts are used throughout, but in a way that looks organized and remains easy to read. Overall, a new user can easily navigate the site and find the tools they need. There are quite a few, which can be a bit overwhelming.

All new visitors are given the opportunity to try Sprout Social as a part of a thirty day free trial. Interested parties can sign up by clicking the prominent green “Start My Free Trial” button at the center of the homepage. The user must select their preferred account type (either Professional or Business) before continuing. This will direct the user to the registration page, which requests all general contact information, including a primary email, name and business name, as well as a time zone and password. Users are asked to enter their credit card information during this step in order to proceed with the free trial. Sprout Social accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

Sprout Social offers users a free trial at first, but eventually an account type must be selected and paid for. The three options include the Small Biz account ($39 a month,), Deluxe ($59 a month), and Premium ($899 a month). The Small Biz membership is intended for online, small, and local businesses. The Deluxe membership is intended for growing companies, teams, and agencies. The Premium account is for larger companies and agencies.

Social Sprout is intended for anyone that has a need to monitor their business online. The site is really not so much for personal use; most individuals would find little use of the tools offered unless they were a professional of some kind monitoring their business. The three membership options are also ideal, making Sprout Social flexible for any size business or organization. Even an individual freelancer or small start up can sign up for Sprout Social without breaking their budgets.

• Review online marketing efforts through a single, easy to use interface
• Use colorful pie charts and graphs to better monitor progress
• Monitor discussions held regarding their brand
• Narrow down targeted customers for better conversion rate
• Try Sprout Social for free for thirty days

Sprout Social video

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