Kenshoo platform tops Forrester list for social advertising capabilities

New report into seven social media advertising platform providers analyses their ability around campaign creation and workflow, analytics, optimisation, social network partners and more

A new Forrester report evaluating social advertising platforms has nominated Kenshoo as the leading vendor solution thanks to its broad range of search and bid management capabilities.

The Forrester Wave: Social Advertising Platform Wave, Q4, 2013scored seven companies providing proprietary platforms for managing social advertising on a host of factors ranging from offering and strategy to market presence.

Forrester defines the social advertising platforms as those that help marketers buy, manage, optimise and measure ads on public social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Kenshoo scored the highest rating of 5.0 in 25 areas including campaign creation and workflow, reach campaigns, audience targeting, keyword and topic targeting, optimisation and efficiency, social network data import and export, analytics and APIs.

The vendor was also the single ‘leader’ for social ad platforms in terms of strategy and offering. Five software vendors were noted as ‘strong performers’: Marin Software, salesforce.com, Unified, Shift and Optimal.

Forrester said Kenshoo was the “surest” option for a mainstream marketer looking to invest in social advertising, even though it has one of the smallest user bases. The vendor also gained the maximum 5 points in eight customer satisfaction questions.

“Kenshoo is the social advertising platform category leader,” the report authors stated. “Kenshoo has leveraged its leading capabilities in search and bid management to jump out ahead in social advertising as well. Kenshoo dominates thanks to its strong core platform, integrations with other tools, international capabilities and strategy.”

In comparison, salesforce.com’s Social.com was an easy to use platform with a global footprint, and its proposed integration of Buddy Media and Radian6 offerings promised to deliver strong capabilities to marketers, Forrester said. “At the same time, there is no single area in which salesforce.com has pushed its offering far past the competition,” the report stated.

Marin Software’s search advertising solutions gave it a “leg up in analytics and optimisation”, Forrester continued, and offered tight integration between newer social offerings and core search bid management features. However, its social tools had not kept up with its advertising functionality and the platform offered the least advanced keyword targeting capabilities.

Unified offers strong cross-platform social capabilities and covered the fundamentals well, the analyst group claimed, and the vendor was one of the most advanced in terms of broadening social advertising onto the next generation of social networks including LinkedIn Ads APIs. Against this, the platform proved the weakest at mobile advertising, analytics and optimisation.

Twitter opens up targeted advertising for marketers
Facebook news feeds get video ads
Instagram reveals look and feel of ads

Shift led the way for collaboration tools and partnerships, helping advertisers, social marketers and agency partners to work together to run campaigns. But it lagged in ability to optimise marketing spend and analyse results, Forrester said.

Optimal specialises in social reach across multiple platforms and in brand marketing, with the strongest capabilities around enabling campaigns across multiple different social networks. It was, however, limited to Facebook and public social networks.

Forrester considered Nanigans as a contender for specific marketer needs and noted its unparalleled optimisation on Facebook, but said the solution need to mature the platform’s ease of use and breadth of capabilities.

The Forrester report was based on vendor surveys, scenario-based product demos and customer reference calls.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO Australia conversation on LinkedIn: CMO Australia, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia

Signup to CMO’s new email newsletter to receive your weekly dose of targeted content for the modern marketing chief.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

What are Chris Riddell's qualifications to talk about technology? What are the awards that Chris Riddell has won? I cannot seem to find ...

Tareq

Digital disruption isn’t disruption anymore: Why it’s time to refocus your business

Read more

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in