What is Social Media Monitoring?
Social media monitoring is essential for businesses to track what people are saying about their brand. With millions of posts every day, it can be hard to keep up. Social media monitoring helps businesses find and respond to mentions and trends across different platforms.
This includes monitoring posts, comments, hashtags, and keywords related to a brand, product, or industry. By using social media monitoring tools, businesses can track customer feedback, spot emerging trends, and address problems quickly.
This allows companies to understand how they are perceived online, manage their reputation, engage with their audience, and make informed business decisions. Social media monitoring tools provide valuable insights to help businesses manage their online presence effectively.
What's the Difference Between Social Media Monitoring and Social Listening?
Social Media Monitoring:
- Focuses on tracking mentions of specific keywords or topics in real-time.
- Helps businesses see who is talking about them, what is being said, and where the conversation is happening.
- Provides immediate feedback on brand mentions, trends, and customer interactions.
- Primarily used for responding quickly to customer feedback or issues.
Social Listening:
- Takes a broader approach by analyzing the collected data over time.
- Focuses on understanding underlying trends, emotions, and broader conversations.
- Helps businesses understand why something is being said and how to act on it.
- Provides deeper insights into long-term customer sentiment and market trends.
Benefits of Social Media Monitoring
Boost Brand Awareness and Engagement
By tracking mentions and responding to followers, businesses can increase visibility and foster stronger connections, leading to more engagement and shares.
Understand Audience Sentiment
Monitoring feedback helps businesses gauge whether their audience feels positively, negatively, or neutrally, allowing for adjustments to meet customer expectations.
Enhance Social Media Campaign ROI
Tracking engagement and conversions helps businesses fine-tune their campaigns for better results, ensuring a higher return on investment.
Manage and Protect Your Brand Reputation
Monitoring online mentions lets businesses address negative feedback quickly and promote positive conversations, protecting their public image.
Quickly Address Crises on Social Media
By identifying issues early, businesses can respond swiftly to prevent crises from escalating, maintaining customer trust and brand integrity.
Discover Influencers and Brand Advocates
Tracking mentions helps identify key influencers and loyal customers who can support marketing efforts and extend brand reach.
Top Social Media Monitoring Tools
Competitors App - The Best Tool for Social Media Monitoring
Competitors App is a highly effective tool designed to help businesses monitor their competitors’ online activity. It tracks mentions in real time, providing detailed insights into how competitors are performing on social media. This can be invaluable for understanding industry trends, staying ahead of market changes, and identifying areas where your brand can improve.
- Key Features:
- Tracks competitor mentions across various platforms in real time.
- Analyzes competitors’ performance on social media.
- Provides daily reports on trending topics related to your industry.
- Advantages:
- User-friendly and simple to navigate.
- Comprehensive tracking of competitors’ social media activity.
- Free plan available, making it accessible to small businesses.
- Disadvantages:
- Free trial has limited features.
Price: Starts at $19/mo. There’s a 14-day Free Trial.
Tracks competitor social media updates across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Monitors changes on competitors’ websites, such as product updates, pricing adjustments, and new messaging, providing instant alerts to help sales teams respond promptly.
Tracks digital ad campaigns across platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. It provides details on ad creatives, spending, and performance metrics, helping teams analyze successful ad strategies.
Analyzes competitors’ keyword strategies, organic rankings, and backlinks, allowing teams to refine their own SEO tactics and boost search visibility.
Tracks competitors’ email campaigns, including content, frequency, and engagement metrics, helping sales teams understand email tactics that drive engagement and conversions.
Analyzes customer reviews and ratings for competitors, providing insights into customer feedback, pain points, and product strengths, helping teams craft better sales pitches.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management platform that helps businesses with social media monitoring, engagement, publishing, and analytics. It provides detailed reports on audience sentiment, brand mentions, and overall social media performance. Sprout Social is ideal for businesses that need robust reporting and analytics to make data-driven decisions. The tool’s intuitive interface makes it easy to track mentions and trends in real-time, ensuring businesses can quickly respond to customer feedback.
Key Features:
- Real-time social media monitoring across multiple platforms
- Detailed analytics and reporting tools
- Audience sentiment analysis
- Social listening to track trends and conversations
Advantages:
- Provides in-depth analytics and insights
- Easy-to-use interface with a focus on team collaboration
- Helps improve engagement with real-time responses
- Allows scheduling and publishing of content
Disadvantages:
- Higher pricing compared to some competitors
- Some features, like advanced reporting, are available only on higher-tier plans
Pricing:
- Starts from $249/month
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a well-known social media management platform that offers tools for scheduling posts, tracking mentions, and analyzing social media performance. It is widely used by businesses to manage their social media presence from a single dashboard. With features such as content scheduling, reporting, and collaboration tools, Hootsuite simplifies social media monitoring for teams of all sizes.
Key Features:
- Social media monitoring across multiple platforms
- Content scheduling and AI-driven recommendations
- Team collaboration tools for managing roles and permissions
- Detailed analytics and reporting tools
Advantages:
- User-friendly interface and easy navigation
- Comprehensive monitoring and scheduling tools
- Real-time social media performance analytics
- Supports multiple users for team collaboration
Disadvantages:
- Pricing may be expensive for small businesses
- Some advanced features are available only on higher-tier plans
Pricing:
- Starts from $99/month
Meltwater
Meltwater is a comprehensive media intelligence platform offering tools for media monitoring, social media analytics, and consumer insights.
Key Features:
- Media Monitoring: Track and analyze media coverage across various channels.
- Social Media Analytics: Measure and manage online conversations impacting your brand and industry.
- Consumer Insights: Understand customer behaviors and preferences through data analysis.
- Media Contact Database: Access a vast database of media contacts for outreach purposes.
Advantages:
- Comprehensive Suite: Integrates multiple tools into a single platform for streamlined media management.
- Real-Time Analytics: Provides up-to-date insights to inform timely decision-making.
- Customizable Reports: Allows for tailored reporting to meet specific business needs.
Disadvantages:
- Pricing: Higher cost compared to some competitors, which may be a consideration for smaller businesses.
- Complexity: The extensive features may require a learning curve for new users.
Pricing:
- Available upon request.
Agorapulse
Agorapulse is a comprehensive social media management platform designed to streamline content scheduling, monitoring, and engagement across multiple social networks.
Key Features:
- Unified Social Inbox: Manage all messages, comments, and reviews from various platforms in one place.
- Content Scheduling: Plan and schedule posts across multiple social media channels.
- Social Listening: Monitor brand mentions, industry trends, and competitor activities.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access detailed reports to measure social media performance and ROI.
- Team Collaboration: Assign tasks, set permissions, and collaborate efficiently within your team.
Advantages:
- User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive design simplifies social media management tasks.
- Comprehensive Monitoring: Tracks mentions, hashtags, and keywords across multiple platforms.
- Robust Analytics: Provides in-depth insights to inform strategy adjustments.
- Affordable Pricing: Offers competitive pricing compared to similar tools.
Disadvantages:
- Learning Curve: Some users may require time to familiarize themselves with all features.
- Limited Integrations: May not integrate with all third-party applications.
Pricing:
- Starts from $79/month
Brand24
Brand24 is a social listening platform that enables businesses to monitor online conversations and mentions across various digital platforms, including social media, blogs, forums, and news websites. It provides real-time alerts and detailed analytics to help companies respond promptly to customer feedback, engage with their audience, and adapt strategies based on actionable data.
Key Features:
- Social Listening: Monitor brand mentions and discussions across multiple online channels.
- Sentiment Analysis: Assess the tone of mentions to gauge public perception.
- Influencer Scoring: Identify and evaluate potential brand advocates.
- Real-Time Alerts: Receive immediate notifications of new mentions.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access comprehensive data to inform decision-making.
Advantages:
- Real-Time Alerts: Instant notifications help businesses respond to customer feedback quickly.
- Sentiment Analysis: Helps understand public perception, enabling better brand management.
- Influencer Scoring: Identifying key influencers allows businesses to engage advocates and expand their reach.
Disadvantages:
- Limited Social Media Platforms: May not offer as comprehensive monitoring across all social media platforms.
- Higher Pricing: The cost may be higher for smaller businesses with limited budgets.
Pricing:
Starts from $149/month
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a content research and social listening tool that helps businesses discover trending topics, analyze content performance, and identify key influencers within their industry. It is particularly useful for content marketers aiming to create engaging content strategies based on current trends and audience interests.
Key Features:
- Content Discovery: Identify popular content and trending topics in your industry.
- Influencer Identification: Find and connect with industry influencers to amplify your content.
- Content Analysis: Evaluate the performance of your content and that of competitors.
- Alerts: Set up notifications for specific keywords or topics to stay updated.
- Social Monitoring: Track brand mentions and discussions across social media platforms.
Advantages:
- Content Discovery: Helps businesses find trending topics to inform content creation.
- Influencer Identification: Enables brands to collaborate with influencers to boost their reach.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Provides in-depth analysis of content performance and engagement.
Disadvantages:
- Expensive: BuzzSumo’s pricing may not be affordable for small businesses or individual users.
- Limited Social Media Tracking: Primarily focuses on content rather than full-scale social media monitoring.
Pricing:
- Starts from $199/month
Mention
Mention
Mention is a real-time media monitoring and social listening platform that enables businesses to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and analyze industry trends across various online channels. It provides comprehensive insights into public perception, allowing companies to respond promptly to customer feedback and engage with their audience effectively.
Key Features:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Track brand mentions and keywords across social media, news sites, forums, and blogs.
- Sentiment Analysis: Assess the tone of mentions to gauge public perception.
- Social Media Scheduling: Plan and publish content across multiple platforms.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access detailed reports to inform decision-making.
Advantages:
- Real-Time Alerts: Helps businesses stay informed with instant updates.
- Ease of Use: User-friendly interface makes it easy to monitor brand activity.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Detailed reports help track performance and adjust strategies.
Disadvantages:
- Basic Features on Lower Tiers: Some key features are only available on higher-tier plans.
- Can Be Expensive for Larger Teams: As business needs grow, the cost can become prohibitive.
Pricing:
Starts from $49/month
Keyhole
Keyhole is a social media analytics and monitoring tool that specializes in real-time tracking of hashtags, keywords, and accounts across platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It offers valuable insights into campaign performance, influencer impact, and audience engagement, making it ideal for businesses aiming to optimize their social media strategies.
Key Features:
- Hashtag Tracking: Monitor the performance of specific hashtags in real-time.
- Keyword Tracking: Track mentions of specific keywords across social media platforms.
- Influencer Tracking: Identify and analyze the impact of influencers on your brand.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access comprehensive data to measure campaign effectiveness.
Advantages:
- Real-Time Tracking: Offers immediate insights into hashtag and keyword performance.
- Influencer Analysis: Identifies influencers who impact your brand’s performance.
- Comprehensive Reports: Detailed analytics to optimize campaigns and improve engagement.
Disadvantages:
- Custom Pricing: The lack of clear pricing can be a barrier for businesses that need a transparent cost structure.
- Limited Social Media Platforms: Keyhole may not cover as many platforms as other monitoring tools.
Pricing:
- Available upon request.
Awario
Awario is a social media listening and monitoring tool designed to help businesses track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and analyze social media conversations. It provides real-time alerts and comprehensive insights to help businesses stay on top of public perception, manage their online reputation, and discover trends that can drive their marketing strategies.
Key Features:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Track mentions of your brand, products, or industry across various platforms.
- Sentiment Analysis: Assess the tone of mentions to understand audience sentiment.
- Competitor Analysis: Monitor competitor activity and analyze their social media performance.
- Influencer Identification: Find key influencers who can help amplify your brand’s reach.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access detailed reports to measure your social media performance.
Advantages:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Provides immediate insights into mentions and social media discussions.
- Comprehensive Analytics: In-depth reports help inform strategy adjustments and decision-making.
- Affordable Pricing: Compared to other tools, Awario offers competitive pricing for small businesses.
- Influencer and Competitor Insights: Helps you discover influencers and benchmark against competitors.
Disadvantages:
- Limited Integrations: May not integrate with all third-party applications.
- Platform Limitations: Some users report that the tool doesn’t cover all social platforms equally.
Pricing:
Starts from $49/month
Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a social media analytics and monitoring platform that offers deep insights into social media conversations, brand performance, and consumer sentiment. It provides advanced tools for tracking brand mentions, measuring campaign effectiveness, and understanding audience reactions across social platforms, blogs, news sites, and forums.
Key Features:
- Social Media Monitoring: Track mentions, discussions, and trends across social media platforms.
- Sentiment Analysis: Analyze the tone of online conversations and understand public perception.
- Trend Analysis: Identify emerging trends and popular topics related to your brand or industry.
- Image Recognition: Track brand logos and images in social media content.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access in-depth analytics to evaluate social media performance and ROI.
Advantages:
- Advanced Analytics: Offers detailed insights into social media performance and audience sentiment.
- Image Recognition: Allows tracking of logos and images, providing deeper insights into brand visibility.
- Wide Coverage: Monitors social media, blogs, news sites, and forums for a holistic view of your brand.
- Highly Customizable: Users can tailor alerts and reports to fit specific business needs.
Disadvantages:
- Pricing: Talkwalker’s pricing can be on the higher end, making it less accessible for small businesses.
- Learning Curve: Some users report that the platform can be complex to navigate initially.
Pricing:
Starts from $9,600/year (pricing for monthly subscription is available upon request)
Zoho Social
Zoho Social is a social media management platform that helps businesses manage their social media presence, track brand mentions, and engage with their audience in real-time. It offers features to schedule posts, monitor social media conversations, and analyze performance across multiple platforms, all from a single dashboard.
Key Features:
- Social Media Monitoring: Track brand mentions and keywords across multiple platforms.
- Social Media Scheduling: Plan and schedule posts across social media channels.
- Analytics and Reporting: Measure social media performance and analyze audience engagement.
- Team Collaboration: Share social media management tasks with your team.
- Automation: Automate tasks like publishing posts and responding to messages.
Advantages:
- User-Friendly Interface: Simple and intuitive design, making it easy for users to navigate the platform.
- Affordable Pricing: Zoho Social offers a variety of affordable pricing plans suitable for businesses of all sizes.
- Team Collaboration: Allows seamless team collaboration for businesses with multiple social media managers.
- Comprehensive Analytics: Provides in-depth insights into social media performance, helping businesses optimize strategies.
Disadvantages:
- Limited Features on Lower Tiers: Some advanced features are only available on higher-tier plans.
- Integration Limitations: May not support as many third-party integrations as other platforms.
Pricing:
- Starts from $15/month
Statusbrew
Statusbrew is a social media management and monitoring tool designed to help businesses manage their social media profiles, track mentions, and engage with their audience. It offers features for scheduling posts, monitoring conversations, and analyzing performance across various platforms, making it ideal for businesses that need a comprehensive tool for managing their online presence.
Key Features:
- Social Media Monitoring: Track mentions of your brand, products, or keywords across social media platforms.
- Social Media Scheduling: Plan and schedule posts across multiple platforms.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access detailed reports to analyze engagement, performance, and ROI.
- Team Collaboration: Collaborate with your team by assigning tasks and monitoring social media interactions.
- Engagement: Respond to comments and messages directly from the platform.
Advantages:
- Comprehensive Dashboard: Offers a unified view of all your social media activities, making it easy to manage and track performance.
- User-Friendly Interface: The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, even for beginners.
- Affordable Plans: Statusbrew offers competitive pricing, making it accessible for small businesses.
- Team Collaboration: Allows multiple team members to manage social media accounts, improving workflow efficiency.
Disadvantages:
- Limited Integrations: The platform may not support all third-party applications, which can limit its flexibility.
- Advanced Features on Higher Plans: Some advanced features like detailed reporting and automation are only available on higher-tier plans.
Pricing:
Starts from $89/month
Tips for Choosing the Best Social Media Monitoring Tools
Evaluate Tool Features Based on Your Needs
Before selecting a social media monitoring tool, it’s important to assess your business’s specific needs. Are you primarily focused on tracking brand mentions, or do you need to monitor competitors and track social media trends as well? Some tools specialize in sentiment analysis, while others may focus more on competitor analysis or influencer tracking. Make sure to choose a tool that offers the features that align with your business objectives and marketing strategy.
Look for Customizable Alerts and Reporting
Customizable alerts and reporting are key features to look for in a social media monitoring tool. Alerts allow you to track mentions and trends in real-time, so you can respond to important conversations quickly. Custom reports enable you to analyze data in a way that is most relevant to your business, allowing you to measure the impact of your social media efforts and adjust your strategy as needed.
Ensure the Tool Covers All Relevant Platforms
It’s crucial to choose a tool that covers all the social media platforms that are relevant to your business. Popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are essential for most brands, but some businesses may also need coverage on platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, or TikTok. Ensure the tool you select can monitor the platforms where your audience is most active.
Consider Pricing and Scalability for Your Business
Pricing is a significant factor when selecting a social media monitoring tool, especially for small businesses with limited budgets. Make sure the pricing is in line with your budget, and look for tools that offer scalability as your business grows. Many tools offer tiered pricing plans based on the number of social profiles or users, so choose one that will accommodate your business’s future needs.
Best Practices for Social Media Monitoring
Monitor Across All Major Social Media Platforms
To get a complete picture of your brand’s online presence, it’s important to monitor all the major social media platforms where your audience is active. This includes not just Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but also other platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok. Comprehensive monitoring ensures you don’t miss any conversations that could impact your brand and helps you respond to your audience in a timely manner.
Focus on Customer Sentiment Analysis
Tracking customer sentiment is one of the most important aspects of social media monitoring. Sentiment analysis can help you understand whether your audience feels positively, negatively, or neutrally about your brand. By paying attention to this data, you can address issues before they escalate, celebrate positive feedback, and tailor your strategies to align with customer expectations. Sentiment analysis helps you manage your brand’s reputation effectively.
Engage With Your Audience Through Timely Responses
Timely responses are crucial when it comes to engaging with your audience. Whether a customer leaves a positive review or raises a concern, responding quickly shows that you care about their feedback. Social media monitoring tools can help you keep track of mentions in real-time, allowing you to interact with your audience promptly. Engaging with your followers helps build trust, encourages loyalty, and boosts customer satisfaction.
Leverage Social Media Analytics to Drive Improvements
Social media monitoring tools provide valuable data that can be used to improve your strategies. By analyzing performance metrics, such as engagement rates, reach, and conversions, you can assess the effectiveness of your campaigns and adjust your approach accordingly. Use this data to refine your content, optimize posting times, and better understand your audience’s preferences, ultimately driving more successful campaigns.
Monitor Industry-Specific Keywords and Hashtags
To stay ahead of trends and understand what’s happening in your industry, it’s important to track industry-specific keywords and hashtags. This allows you to spot emerging trends, identify popular topics, and engage in relevant conversations that matter to your target audience. Monitoring these keywords and hashtags can also help you keep tabs on your competitors and gauge public sentiment on key industry issues.
Automate Your Monitoring Process for Efficiency
As your business grows, manually monitoring social media channels can become time-consuming. Automating the monitoring process with the right tools helps save time and ensures you never miss a crucial mention or trend. Social media monitoring tools allow you to set up automated alerts for keywords, mentions, and trends, making it easier to stay on top of conversations without constant manual effort.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Should I Monitor My Social Media Accounts?
The frequency of social media monitoring depends on the size of your brand and the level of engagement on your platforms. For most businesses, monitoring should be done at least once a day to stay on top of customer feedback, mentions, and industry trends. However, for larger brands or during active campaigns, more frequent monitoring (even in real-time) may be necessary to respond promptly to customer inquiries or negative mentions. Setting up alerts for important keywords and brand mentions can help streamline the process and ensure you don’t miss anything critical.
Can I Monitor Social Media Without a Tool?
While it’s possible to monitor social media manually, using a monitoring tool is far more efficient. Without a tool, you would need to manually search through each platform for mentions of your brand, competitors, or relevant keywords, which can be time-consuming. Social media monitoring tools help automate this process, providing real-time alerts and reports so that you can respond quickly to customer feedback and stay ahead of trends. These tools also offer advanced features like sentiment analysis, competitor tracking, and in-depth reporting, which would be nearly impossible to achieve manually.
What Are the Best Tools for Monitoring Multiple Platforms?
The best tools for monitoring multiple platforms are those that support a wide range of social media networks and offer centralized dashboards for managing all accounts. Some of the most popular tools for this purpose include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Zoho Social, Mention, and Competitors App. These tools provide the ability to monitor and engage with multiple social profiles from a single dashboard, streamlining the process and making it easier to stay on top of conversations across different platforms. Competitors App stands out for its ability to track competitor activity alongside your brand, offering valuable insights into market trends and helping you stay competitive.
How Can I Measure the Success of My Monitoring Efforts?
To measure the success of your social media monitoring efforts, it’s important to track key performance metrics, such as engagement rates, sentiment analysis, response time, and overall brand mentions. Most social media monitoring tools provide detailed analytics and reporting, allowing you to measure how well your brand is performing in terms of online conversations. Tracking customer sentiment and monitoring competitor activity can also provide valuable insights into how your brand compares to others in your industry. By regularly reviewing these metrics, you can refine your strategy and improve your social media presence.
