You’re already paying attention to how people talk about your brand online.
Positive, negative, or neutral, you know that online conversations can shape purchasing behavior and customer loyalty.
But now you want to operationalize things; scrolling through social media feeds and taking notes simply isn’t cutting it anymore.
That’s where social listening tools come in.
Taking an active part in social listening is a critical part of your overall strategy, but it’s difficult to do manually.
With the right tool, you can set up triggers and continuous monitoring to translate listening insights into value-adds for your business.
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#2: Meltwater
Meltwater is a social media monitoring and intelligence platform built for PR-focused marketing teams who want to understand their online impact.
However, this complex tool can have a steep learning curve, making it harder to hit the ground running with social listening.
Features:
Brand monitoring features to track mentions, comments, and conversations
Research tools to help with customer understanding and segmentation
Automated reporting where you pick the frequency
#4: Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a social media marketing and reporting tool built to help large-scale businesses better understand their reach, impressions, and following.
Currently, their social listening features aren’t as robust as some of their competitors.
Features:
Trend finder feature that highlights which hashtags or topics are gathering steam online
Brand monitoring features that note when people are mentioning your organization on social media
#5: HubSpot
HubSpot is a marketing and CRM platform with add-on features for social media management, listening, and analytics. HubSpot’s simple social listening tools are a good place to start for users already using their CRM.
Features:
Email marketing, forms, and live chat options included in every plan
Keyword monitoring features that help you track what people are saying online
Manage conversations online with DM and reply features across social media platforms
#6: Keyhole
Keyhole is a social media insights and reporting platform that helps brands understand data to generate future campaigns.
Keyhole excels in tracking hashtags and keywords but doesn’t allow for the same comprehensive analysis tools as Later Social provides.
Features:
Set up automatic searches for industry keywords or times your brand is mentioned online to keep track of conversations
Sentiment analyzer so you can understand if things said are positive or negative
Monitor multiple campaigns simultaneously so you can see how conversations are evolving
Schedule and post features across social media platforms
#7: BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a public relations and media platform with additional content discovery, research, and monitoring features. This social listening platform is a good choice for media professionals.
Features:
Public relations features including a database of journalists
Content research technology that helps you track the competition
Monitor brand mentions and other industry topics you care about
Filtering tools for influencers based on things like how much they share
#8: Google Alerts
Google Alerts helps brands track mentions and monitor for any word or phrase for pages indexed in Google’s search engine.
However, Google Alerts are just that: Alerts, without further insights. For brands that want to dig deeper, a more immersive tool is essential.
Features:
Completely customized — you can create an alert for any word or phrase you’d like
Pick your preferred time of day to receive any alerts, optimizing for your schedule
Set unlimited alerts for any keywords or phrases you need
Choose to receive individual alerts or a single digest email to keep your inbox tidy