Overview of Telegram Channel Analytics Services in 2022.
Telegram is undoubtedly one of the most promising platforms for marketing in the Russian market. With over 700 million active users worldwide per month, it presents a massive opportunity for businesses to expand their reach. According to the experts at TGStat, the number of subscribers to Russian channels has exceeded 1.6 billion, and the total monthly post views of Russian channels has reached an astounding 140 billion views in 2022.
Despite these impressive numbers, advertising on Telegram remains a controversial topic for many marketers, particularly those who are not familiar with the messenger’s unique features and nuances. This is especially true given that most popular social networks in Russia were blocked in 2022, making Telegram an even more attractive alternative for advertisers.
As an agency, we have encountered a significant issue where many advertisers have experienced unsuccessful advertising on Telegram. Specifically, they place ads in popular channels with a large number of subscribers, but the outcomes do not justify the invested funds. This inefficiency of ad placement in Telegram channels is often connected to insufficient analytics or sometimes, its total lack. Consequently, brands end up placing ads in Telegram channels with bot subscribers instead of a real audience.
To address this issue, we have decided to focus on advertising integrations on Telegram and, more specifically, the critical stage of preparation for it – channel analytics. In this article, we will highlight the necessary services for channel analytics and the essential indicators that should be taken into account. Our QB Agency experts have shared their experience and insights on this matter.
Common criteria to evaluate Telegram channels
To begin with, let’s explore what a channel is like as one of the types of communities on the messenger.
A channel is a platform where content is posted under the author’s name. Subscribers can read the posts, leave comments, repost them to their channels or send them to friends privately. From a marketing perspective, the advantage of this community is the high number of views and the ability to select a channel based on a specific content theme. However, it is crucial to choose channels carefully as there is a risk of subscriber fraud within the community. Unfortunately, as Telegram gains popularity, such situations are becoming increasingly common. Therefore, we recommend searching for channels through various exchanges that conduct checks for fraud.
Regardless of the service selected for channel analytics, there are fundamental indicators of its effectiveness.
The number of active users in a community is determined by the number of subscribers. Generally, for successful advertising integration, a minimum of 1,000 subscribers is recommended. However, this factor should not be the sole basis for choosing a channel. A community may have 10,000 subscribers, but if only 200 people engage with the content, suspicions arise about whether the subscribers are genuine or not.
The rate of subscribers growth indicates the relevance of the channel’s content to the audience.
Monthly post reach and post reach percentage help evaluate the interest of the community’s audience in the content published in the channel. Ideally, these indicators should be proportional. If one post is viewed by 5,000 members and another is viewed by only 250, this raises concerns about the community’s genuineness.
Engagement Rate by Reach (ERR) indicates the level of engagement and demonstrates the percentage of subscribers who regularly view the channel’s content.
The CCI (Channel Citation Index) reveals the channel’s credibility and relevance based on factors such as published content and mentions. This indicator is useful when the other parameters mentioned above are normal, and there is no evidence of cheating.
Posting frequency varies depending on the channel’s theme. Posting several times a day for a news channel is good, while publishing one piece of content per week is suitable for an expert channel.
Audience quality refers to the percentage of channel subscribers who read posts. All of the parameters listed above are interconnected, and it is impossible to judge a channel based on a single metric. Telegram channels have limited statistical capabilities, and additional services or special bots are required for their complete analysis.
Analytical bot on Telegram
Vladimir Mirolyubov, CEO of the Epicstars influence marketing platform, created @ChannelAnalyticsBot, a built-in Telegram service, to assist channel owners in gathering statistical information about their channels’ performance. The bot’s algorithm is straightforward: users can link their channels by selecting the “Connect channel” option, choosing the relevant channel, and reposting it to the bot. The bot will then provide daily statistics on the channel’s subscriber count for the specified period.
Although the bot serves only one purpose, it can still serve as a supplementary analytics tool that cross-checks data from other sources. Furthermore, it is the quickest assistant available, as it begins functioning promptly upon the user’s request.
Telegram Analytics (TGStat) and @TGstat_bot
TGStat is a user-friendly platform that offers open statistics of over 30,000 Telegram channels, and operates on a non-profit basis. It provides a wide range of features and a simple interface. Users can search for channels on TGStat based on various parameters such as themes, keywords, ratings, and more. Additionally, all channels are listed in a general directory that can be filtered based on language, theme, advertising cost, and duration.
TGStat is a platform that offers open statistics of over 30,000 Telegram channels without any profit. Its interface is user-friendly and it provides a wide range of functionalities. You can search for channels by theme, keywords, ratings, and other parameters. Additionally, channels are listed with filters based on language, theme, advertising price, and period.
The statistics of each channel include essential parameters such as the number of subscribers, growth over a specific period, daily and average reach of each post, ERR, CCI, and likes. The primary page of the channel displays crucial information, while additional tabs provide more analytics. One of the helpful features of TGStat is the overview of advertising effectiveness.
Moreover, the platform offers a list of advertising integrations displayed in the channel, starting from the publication date and ending with the number of new subscribers gained from the ad. This function allows you to track the most effective posting time in terms of views and time.
In addition to these features, the service’s developers have also created their own bot for faster access to information – @TGstat_bot. This virtual assistant generates statistics for a specific channel or post, with all reports sent directly to Telegram for convenience.
In summary, the TGStat platform and its connected bot are highly effective tools for analyzing Telegram channels. Its wide-ranging functionality allows for quick solutions to tasks such as channel search, analytics, and tracking of advertising integrations. However, the only drawback is that the statistics are updated no more than once every 24 hours. Therefore, we recommend using multiple platforms simultaneously for more accurate channel analytics.
Telega.in
This platform offers a comprehensive range of features for analyzing channels. It provides statistical data to help identify the most suitable platforms for advertising. These features include the channel’s overall rating, subscriber growth, audience engagement, user activity, browsing history, and a schedule of changes in the number of subscribers.
Telega.in stands out from other services in that it offers a direct way for advertisers to purchase ad integrations within channels. As a result, many of the platform’s features are designed to expedite this process.
To put it simply, Telega.in is a time-saving platform for advertisers looking to integrate and place ads on Telegram channels. The platform allows for analyzing channels, bots, and chats based on various vital indicators and acts as an intermediary between advertisers and channel owners. Users can filter channels based on theme, placement format, number of subscribers, audience engagement, and price. The built-in calculator helps users calculate the cost of an advertising post. However, not all channels work with Telega.in, and the analytics of advertising integrations may not be as detailed as on the TGStat platform. Using both platforms simultaneously can yield better and faster results.
The Telemetr
Since its launch in 2017, the service has undergone significant improvements, adding many useful functions such as comparing channels as part of a comprehensive analytics, identifying the optimal posting times for specific communities, and enabling content search by records. These features were added at a time when Telegram was not as widely used as it is today.
Just like other platforms, Telemetr offers a general search function that allows users to apply different filters such as the number of subscribers, audience gender, and channel type, among others. Additionally, users can delve into more detailed analysis when selecting a specific channel, which includes metrics such as advertising efficiency, growth of subscribers after advertising integrations, hourly channel growth, and placement of content on other platforms like YouTube and VKontakte. Furthermore, users can also utilize a feature that enables tracking of brand/account/keyword mentions on Telegram. The platform has been offering these functionalities since its launch in 2017, which was during a time when Telegram was not as popular as it is today.
Telemetr offers several advantages as a service for channel analytics. The platform’s data is updated every hour, and its notifications are prompt. Telemetr also has its Telegram channel, where it shares useful tips and tricks for more effective analysis.
However, there are some limitations to using Telemetr. First, registration is required to access its tools. Second, users can choose between a free demo version with limited functionality or paid full access to all tools. In the latter case, users must pay 1,500 rubles per month. We recommend using Telemetr for improving brand image by tracking mentions of it or buying advertising integration in large channels that require detailed analytics to understand the future ROI.
Popsters
It is not uncommon to see Telegram promotion campaigns run alongside other social media campaigns. In these cases, it is necessary to use a service that can analyze multiple platforms simultaneously. Fortunately, there is such a service available.
Popsters is a tool that generates reports on various communication channels, including popular Russian networks like YouTube, Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, as well as Telegram.
Despite its extensive coverage of social networks, Popsters offers a quality of service that is on par with other players in the market. With Popsters, users can analyze competitors, compare campaigns across various social networks, and evaluate each unit of advertising content in detail. The service provides metrics such as text length, content type, VR (visibility degree of posts), the number of posts, activity, and views. Reports can be exported to XLSX, PPTX, PDF, and users can also create graphs with activity statistics, among other features.
Additionally, the developers offer a free 7-day trial of the application, and even after the trial period, the cost of the service remains relatively low, starting at 499 rubles per month for one social network.
In summary, Popsters is a comprehensive tool that helps businesses optimize their social media promotion by analyzing content and selecting the optimal frequency, time, and type of posts. The platform provides detailed reports on various communication channels, including Telegram, and offers metrics such as visibility, post count, activity, and views. The service is relatively inexpensive, with a starting price of 499 rubles per month for one social network, and offers a 7-day free trial. However, it’s important to note that Popsters is most useful for businesses with their own channels and communities, while other services listed above are better suited for single integrations.
Instead of conlusion
With the growing interest of the audience in Telegram, advertisers are increasingly considering promotion on the messenger. However, there are many nuances to consider, especially when it comes to advertising in Telegram channels, where there are often controversies related to the honesty of the owners, such as subscriber cheating.
In the past, companies were not as systematic in choosing platforms for advertising on Telegram as they are now. However, this approach is fundamentally wrong and inefficient. If you are offered a channel that does not exist in any Telegram database or has very low engagement, it’s a good reason to think twice about advertising integration.
In 2022, analytics is essential for effective advertising on Telegram. Additional services are needed to achieve this task. Each service differs in the type of data it provides. Telega.in is focused on purchasing advertising, while Popsters allows analyzing competitors and content on multiple sites simultaneously. Telemetr and TGStat provide detailed reports on advertising integrations, while Epicstars’ analytical bot on Telegram allows finding out channel subscribers growth in 2 minutes.
elegram promotion is a challenging but efficient process that requires professional assistance. If you aspire to find your audience on this platform and attract new customers, seek the help of QB Agency experts. They possess vast experience in executing prosperous Telegram campaigns.