It's no secret that social media is a powerful communication tool. What's not so well known is how to use it effectively to reach your target audience.
Without the right tools, you're flying blind and wasting your time on social media. You need to know what people are saying about your company, product, or service so you can respond quickly and appropriately.
The key to this is using a social listening tool. Social listening tools give you the power to see what people are saying about you online. With this information at your fingertips, you can make sure that your social media strategy is on track and reaching your target audience.
Table of Contents
What is social listening?
17 Best Social Media Monitoring Must-Haves
- Sprout Social
- Hootsuite Streams
- Google Alerts
- Mention
- BrandWatch
- BuzzSumo
- Meltwater
- Socialbakers
- Agorapulse
- Digimind Social
- TalkWalker
- Awario
- TweetDeck
- Falcon.io
- Tailwind
- Cyfe
- Brand24
What is social listening?
Social listening is the ability to track, measure, and analyze social media conversations. It provides valuable insights into what people are saying about your brand, product, individual, or industry — and more importantly, how you can improve.
It is also known as social media monitoring or social media listening.
This can be done manually, by searching for mentions and keywords on various platforms one by one. However, this can be a tedious task that takes a lot of time.
You can do this the smart way by using social media monitoring tools that do the work for you.
When done effectively, social listening can provide valuable insights into customer sentiment. By understanding what people are saying, brands can make better-informed decisions about everything from marketing and product development to customer service.
But social listening isn’t just about monitoring negative sentiment. It’s also an opportunity to build relationships with current customers and potential ones, show that you’re listening to their needs and wants, and address any concerns they may have.
In other words, social listening is an essential tool for any business that wants to understand and engage with its audience.
So how does social listening work? There are a number of different software platforms that offer social listening capabilities, but they all essentially work in the same way.
You start by creating a “search query” – which is basically a set of keywords or phrases related to your brand, product or industry. The platform will then scour social media sites (like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) for any keyword or brand mentions. Every time someone posts something that includes your keywords, it will show up in your search results.
From there, you can start analyzing the data to see what people are saying about your brand. Are they generally happy or unhappy? What are the most common topics of conversation? Are there any emerging trends that you need to be aware of?
All of this information is valuable, but it’s only useful if you know how to interpret it and use it to improve your business.
17 Best Social Media Monitoring Must-Haves
Now that you understand why social listening is necessary, it’s time to take a look at the best social media monitoring tools. Here are the top 17 social media monitoring programs that will help you take your business to the next level.
1. Sprout Social
Sprout is an all-in-one platform that offers social media management, engagement, and analytics tools. It’s designed to help businesses grow their social media presence and improve their engagement with customers.
It is a powerful social media management tool that enables brands and businesses to manage their social media presence with ease.
One of the most useful features of Sprout is its social listening capabilities. With Sprout, you can monitor keywords, hashtags, and brand mentions across all major social media sites. You can also set up alerts so you’re notified whenever there’s a new mention of your brand.
Other features of Sprout include:
- Sentiment analysis
- Twitter chat monitoring
- Competitor analysis
- Reporting and analytics
This data can be used to improve your marketing strategy and make sure that you're delivering the right message to your audience. In addition, Sprout's social listening feature can also be used to identify potential customers and prospects, and to build relationships with influencers in your industry.
Sprout is a great platform for businesses of all sizes. It offers a variety of features that are designed to help you grow your social media presence and engage with your customers.
2. Hootsuite Streams
Hootsuite is another all-in-one platform that offers social media management, engagement, and analytics tools. Like Sprout, it’s designed to help businesses grow their social media presence and improve their customer engagement.
Hootsuite Streams is a social media monitoring feature that lets users track multiple social media platforms in one place. It's perfect for businesses or individuals who want to stay on top of their social media presence without having to constantly check different sites.
With Hootsuite Streams, users can see all their social media activity in one place, organized by platform. They can also set up keywords to help filter the content they see. Plus, with Hootsuite's stream filters, you can customize your view to only show the information that's most relevant to you.
In addition, Hootsuite Streams lets users quickly respond to any mentions or messages. As a result, it's a valuable tool for anyone who wants to be more efficient and effective with their social media use.
3. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a free tool that allows you to monitor the web for mentions of your brand, product, or keywords. It’s a simple way to keep track of what people are saying about you online.
To use Google Alerts, you simply enter a list of keywords that you want to track. Google will then send you an email notification whenever it finds a new mention of your keywords.
To set up a Google Alert, simply enter the keyword or phrase you want to track, and then select the result type, source, language, and region you want to receive alerts for. You can also choose how often you want to receive alerts, and whether you want to receive them as they happen or in a daily digest.
Google Alerts is a free tool that can be an essential part of your social listening strategy. It is likewise a great option for small businesses and solopreneurs who want to monitor their online presence. It’s simple to set up and use, and it’s free!
4. Mention
Mention is a social listening tool that can be used to track online conversations about your brand, competitors, or industry. It’s a valuable tool for PR and marketing professionals who want to stay on top of the latest trends and find new opportunities for engagement. But how does Mention.com work, and what are its key features?
Mention monitors over 10 million sources of online content, including social media, news websites, and blogs. It uses machine learning algorithms to identify mentions of your chosen keyword or phrase. You can set up notifications to be alerted in real-time whenever there’s a new mention, or you can check the platform manually at your convenience.
This platform also offers valuable insights into the Sentiment, Tone, and Emotion of the online conversations it tracks. This can help you to understand how people feel about your brand, and whether the sentiment is positive or negative. Armed with this information, you can make strategic decisions about how to engage with your audience.
Not only is it one of the most comprehensive tools out there, but it's also incredibly user-friendly. You can set up keyword alerts so you're always on top of the conversation, and the platform integrates with a variety of other tools to make your life easier. Plus, the team behind Mention is always innovating and adding new features — like their recently launched influencer marketing tool.
5. BrandWatch
Brandwatch is a social listening tool that can be used to track, monitor, and analyze online conversations. The platform offers a variety of features that can be used to gain insights into your audience, including image recognition, demographic data, trending topics, and API access.
Additionally, Brandwatch provides a data visualization platform called Vizia that lets you combine your Brandwatch data with insights from other tools including HootSuite and Buzzsumo.
Brandwatch is a comprehensive social listening tool that offers a wide range of features. However, it’s also one of the most expensive options on the market. If you’re working with a limited budget, you may want to consider one of the other options on this list.
6. BuzzSumo
With BuzzSumo, you can see how often your brand is mentioned online, who is talking about you, and what they're saying. You can also use BuzzSumo to track competitor activity and see what people are saying about them.
In addition, BuzzSumo provides insights on the most popular content related to your brand or topic, so you can see what's resonating with people and adapt your content strategy accordingly.
You can use it to track down topics that are trending, identify influencers in your industry, and measure your own social media performance. In other words, BuzzSumo is the perfect tool for keeping your finger on the pulse of the internet.
Best of all, it has a free plan! So there's no excuse not to give it a try. Trust us, you'll be glad you did.
7. Meltwater
MeltWater is a cloud-based software company that provides tools for businesses to track their online reputation and social media presence. Founded in 2001, MeltWater has become a leading provider of social media intelligence, with over 30,000 customers in 100 countries.
The company's flagship gives businesses the ability to track online mentions of their brand and measure the sentiment of those mentions.
In addition to its flagship products, Meltwater also offers a range of professional services, including social media monitoring, reputation management, and brand analytics. With its comprehensive suite of products and services, Meltwater is the go-to partner for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve on all things social media.
8. Socialbakers
Founded in 2008, Socialbakers is a social media marketing platform that provides data and insights to help businesses grow on social media. Based in Prague, the company has over 200 employees and customers in more than 100 countries. In addition to its enterprise products, Socialbakers also offers a free social media analytics tool for individuals and small businesses.
Socialbakers' platform provides detailed insights into social media performance, allowing businesses to track their progress and identify areas for improvement. The platform also offers a wide range of tools for social media marketing, including content creation, campaign management, and reporting.
As the world’s leading social media marketing platform, Socialbakers is helping businesses of all sizes to grow on multiple social media channels. Whether you’re a small business owner or a large corporation, Socialbakers can help you reach your social media goals.
9. Agorapulse
Agorapulse is a social media management tool that helps businesses better manage their social media presence. The platform provides users with tools to help them post content, schedule posts, track analytics, and engage with followers.
In addition, Agorapulse also offers features to help businesses with customer service and reporting. With so many features, Agorapulse is an essential tool for any business that wants to effectively manage its social media presence.
Agorapulse's social listening feature gives businesses the ability to track Keywords across all major social networks. This includes popular networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. With Agorapulse, businesses can get real-time insights into what people are saying about their brand. They can also track competitor keywords to see what people are saying about them.
But that's not all! Agorapulse's social listening feature also allows businesses to set up alerts for specific keywords. This means that they'll be notified whenever someone mentions their keyword in a social post. This is an invaluable tool for tracking customer sentiment and identifying potential issues early on.
10. Digimind Social
Digimind Social is a powerful social media monitoring tool that can help you track your brand's online reputation, engagement levels, and more. It offers a variety of features that make it easy to collect data and insights about your social media performance.
One of the most useful features of Digimind Social is its ability to track competitor activity. With this feature, you can easily see how your competitors are performing on social media and what strategies they're using to engage with their audience. This information can be invaluable in helping you fine-tune your own social media strategy.
In addition to competitor tracking, Digimind Social also offers robust reporting capabilities. With its reports, you can quickly see how your brand is performing across various social media platforms and where there are opportunities for improvement. These reports can be customized to include the metrics that are most important to you.
Overall, Digimind Social is a powerful social media monitoring tool that offers a variety of features to help you track your brand's online reputation, engagement levels, and more. Hence, Digimind Social is definitely worth considering.
11. TalkWalker
Talkwalker is a social media analytics company that provides users with insights into how their brand is being talked about online. The company's software monitors more than 170 million online sources, including social networks, news websites, blogs, and forums.
Talkwalker's Insights Dashboard gives users real-time insights into what people are saying about their brand. The dashboard includes Sentiment Analysis, which measures the positive, negative, and neutral sentiment of online conversations. It also includes a Word Cloud, which shows the most frequently used words in online discussions about a brand.
In addition, the dashboard provides charts and graphs that show the geographic distribution of online conversations, the most active time periods for discussion, and the most popular topics of discussion.
Talkwalker's software is used by multinational companies, small businesses, and individuals who want to track and analyze online conversations about their brand. Its clientele is definitely very diverse.
12. Awario
Awario is a nifty little tool that can be used for a variety of tasks, from monitoring your brand's online presence to keeping an eye on your competition.
At its heart, Awario is a web-based search engine that allows you to track mentions of your chosen keyword or phrase across the internet. This includes social media, news websites, blogs, and forums. You can even set up alerts so that you're notified whenever your keyword is mentioned, which can be handy for keeping tabs on brand mentions or hot topics in your industry.
Aside from monitoring keywords, Awario also provides detailed insights into the sentiment of online conversations, as well as the geographical location and influence of the people talking about your chosen topic. And it's not just limited to English-language sources — Awario can track mentions in multiple languages, giving you a global view of your brand's reach.
This makes it an incredibly useful tool for understanding how people feel about your brand or product, and for identifying potential influencers who could help to spread the word about your business.
13. TweetDeck
Twitter is a social media platform with over 320 million monthly active users. With so many people using Twitter, it can be difficult to keep up with all the latest tweets. That's where TweetDeck comes in.
TweetDeck is a free Twitter application that allows users to manage multiple Twitter accounts and customize their Twitter experience.TweetDeck features include the ability to create and schedule tweets, track who's talking about you, and quickly find and follow trends.
Users can choose to watch selected Twitter lists or all tweets from people they follow. The application interface is flexible, allowing users to add, remove and rearrange columns containing tweets, @replies, direct messages, lists, and saved searches. Hashtags and @user mentions are automatically hyperlinked in tweets.
TweetDeck also makes it easy to engage with other Twitter users by retweeting, favoriting, and replying to tweets. Whether you're a power user or just getting started with Twitter, TweetDeck is a valuable tool for managing your Twitter experience.
14. Buffer
Buffer is a platform that provides users with the ability to track their social media performance, engage with their audience, and provide content ideas. It's an essential tool for businesses and individuals who want to make the most out of their social media presence.
This platform's reporting dashboard is user-friendly, providing users with insights into their social media performance that are essential for understanding what's working and what isn't.
In addition to scheduling posts, users can also use Buffer to track their analytics, monitor their audience reach, and engage with their followers. The platform also offers a variety of features designed to help users optimize their social media strategy, such as content suggestions, hashtag trending, and of course, social media listening.
Whether you're a small business or a global enterprise, Buffer can help you take your social media game to the next level. If you're looking to increase your brand awareness or simply connect with your customers on a more personal level, this one's is a good choice.
15. Tailwind
Tailwind is a social media management tool that helps you to keep track of your interactions and measure their performance. It’s great for entrepreneurs, small businesses, or anyone who wants to get the most out of their social media presence. The best part about Tailwind is its ability to monitor your social media activity and provide insights into what’s working and what’s not.
Here’s how it works: every time you interact with someone on social media, Tailwind tracks it. That means it knows when you like, comment, or share someone else’s post, as well as when someone does the same to your content. This data is then used to generate reports that show you how your interactions are performing.
For example, let’s say you want to see which of your posts are getting the most engagement. Tailwind will show you which ones are being liked and shared the most, as well as which ones are generating the most comments. This information can be invaluable in helping you to fine-tune your content strategy.
This powerful tool not only lets you schedule and publish content, but also provides useful insights into what people are saying about your brand online. With Tailwind's social listening function, you can track mentions of your brand across the web, see what people are saying about you, and respond quickly to any negative sentiment.
In addition to tracking your interactions, Tailwind also provides information about your audience. It gives you information on who is engaging with your content, as well as who is not. This can be useful in helping you to identify your most valuable followers and target your content accordingly.
16. Cyfe
Cyfe is an all-in-one business dashboard app that gives you unprecedented insights into all your social media activity. It's like a command center for your social media accounts, giving you real-time updates on what's being said about your brand across the web.
It is a social media management platform that provides users with powerful tools for social listening. With Cyfe, businesses can track mentions of their brand across all major social networks, identify influencers, and measure the sentiment of online conversations.
Cyfe also offers a wide range of features and integrations that allow businesses to customize their data analysis and reporting.
This platform is easy to use and provides users with the ability to create custom dashboards and reports. The platform is also highly scalable, making it ideal for businesses of all sizes. Overall, Cyfe is an incredibly powerful and versatile business intelligence platform that can help companies transform their data into actionable insights.
17. Brand24
Brand24 is a comprehensive online reputation management tool that gives you real-time insights into what people are saying about your brand on the web.
With Brand24, you can track mentions of your brand across the web, including social media, news sites, blogs, and forums. You can also set up alerts so that you're notified whenever someone mentions your brand online.
Brand24 offers a suite of features to help users engage with their audience, including sentiment analysis, reporting, and influencer identification.
With Brand24, you can finally get a handle on your online reputation and make sure that your brand is always one step ahead of the competition.
Final Thoughts on Social Listening
The social media landscape is always changing, and with it the tools we use to measure our success. These 17 best social listening tools are a sampling of what’s available today to help you listen to your customers and track your brand’s performance across social media.
Some are well-known and widely used, while others may be new to you. But all of them have one thing in common: they can help you get an accurate picture of how people are interacting with your brand online.
What’s more, many of these social listening tools are free or have free versions, so there’s no excuse not to start using them today!
But even with all these social media listening tools, if you don't know how to properly apply what you've learned towards your marketing strategies, everything will be for naught. If you're experiencing troubles with social media marketing, send us a message through the form below! We have a team of experts ready to jump in and save the day.
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