Recognizing that many analytics tools focus on being a one-size-fits-all solution for virtually every application across the web, Sometrics decided to concentrate on the social-networking niche -- and dig deeper.

"We added a new layer that Google Analytics was not offering, and that was demographic details," CEO/Co-Founder Ian Swanson said. "We were able to test traffic performance across user demographics, user interests, psychographics, as well as define who the influencers are in the crowd, are these influencers inviting people to use the site and the application, and what the conversion rate was from those invites."

Today, Sometrics has close to 1,500 publishers using its tool. Along with Social Analytics, it also offers Social Ad Manager, its ad-serving tool. 

"Our [ad manager] product works off the back of our analytics engine and allows people to manage their third-party ad relationships and optimize performance across user demographics," Swanson explained. He believes this one-two punch is key in differentiating Sometrics from the competition. "Where some other companies use data to power other ad networks or to feed other people, our analytics data works 100 percent with another product, our own ad manager. So there's a lot of value there. They don't have to go out and buy another product."
 
Both products are free, but Sometrics doesn't operate under the typical "freemium" model. "At this time, we're saying we have a 'freemium' model, so we may eventually charge for some premium services," Swanson said. "But any services, any features, that are coming down the pipeline right now, we don't plan on charging for."

So how does Sometrics make money? Two words: revenue sharing.

"Advertisers, such as AT&T, want to be able to reach across multiple sites," Swanson said. "We supply that reach. We then close a deal with AT&T, and, through our ad manager product, we ask our publishers if they want to accept or reject a banner ad from AT&T at, say, a dollar per CPM."

Sometrics plans to roll out additional utility products that serve the social networking world. Its newest product, tentatively slated for an October release, will focus on social gaming and will also work off of Social Analytics.