13 Best Social Listening Tools for your Brand in 2024

What is Social Listening Tool?

A social listening tool is a software application or service that monitors and analyses social media platforms. Social listening tools aggregate data from various sources, including major social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), blogs, forums, news websites, review sites, and more.

The comprehensive nature of these tools allows businesses to gain an overall view of online conversations. These tools make it easy for businesses to connect directly with their audience by keeping an eye on comments and feedback. Companies can set up specific keywords, phrases, or hashtags to track. This helps organizations focus on the topics most relevant to them. For instance, a company might track its brand name, product names, industry-related terms, or even campaign-specific hashtags. This helps create a more responsive and customer-focused way of interacting with people.  

By keeping an eye on what people are saying, using hashtags, and specific words on different websites, social listening tools help businesses instantly understand how the audience feels and reacts. This helps companies stay in the loop with what's happening in industry and how their competitors are performing.  

By tracking this data, companies get both quantitative data i.e. Metrics and through competitor analysis, organizations can benchmark their performance and qualitative i.e. adjust strategies to stay competitive.  

Companies can use it to see the effectiveness of social media campaign and identify potential customers, leads, reach also helps identify areas for improvement. Additionally, with customizable dashboards and detailed analytics, marketers can measure key performance indicators, track the reach and impact of their campaigns, and make data-driven decisions for future initiatives.

By using social media listening, businesses can actively talk with their audience, make people think better about their brand, and make smart choices to stay ahead in the quickly changing online world.  

Importance of Social Listening tools

The importance of social listening tools for companies cannot be more stressed in today's digital world. These tools serve as invaluable assets, offering a numerous of benefits that contribute to a company's success and growth.

- It enables companies to grasp the sentiments and opinions of their customers in real-time. By monitoring online conversations, comments, and mentions, businesses gain insights into how people feel about their brand, products, or services. This understanding is foundational for maintaining positive customer relations and addressing concerns promptly.

- Through social listening, companies can actively engage with their audience on social media platforms. By responding to comments, acknowledging feedback, and participating in discussions, businesses demonstrate a commitment to customer satisfaction. This engagement encourages a sense of connection and loyalty among customers, contributing to brand promotion.

- It helps companies stay connected to emerging opportunities and trends within their industry. By tracking conversations related to specific keywords or topics, businesses can identify new market trends, consumer preferences, and potential areas for innovation. This information is invaluable for staying competitive and adapting strategies to meet changing demands.

- It provides insights not only into a company's own online presence but also into the activities and sentiments surrounding competitors. By monitoring competitor conversations, businesses can identify strengths, weaknesses, and market gaps, informing their own strategic decisions and positioning.

- Identifying influencers and key voices within a given industry is a key benefit of social listening tools. Companies can strategically collaborate with influencers to amplify their brand messages, reach wider audiences, and build credibility within specific niches.

- It generates valuable data and analytics that contribute to informed decision-making. Companies can use these insights to refine marketing strategies, improve products or services, and allocate resources effectively. The data-driven approach facilitates precision in business operations and resource utilization.

- It assists in evaluating the impact of marketing campaigns by tracking mentions, hashtags, and sentiment during specific periods. Companies can use this info to see how well they're doing, find ways to do better, and make future campaigns work even better. That's why using social listening tools is crucial.  

- These tools help you understand what people are saying on social media and provide useful insights. You can track discussions about a specific brand or topic. After checking these conversations, you can use the information to make smart decisions for your marketing.

But remember, the quality of your insights depends a lot on the social listening tools you choose. So, picking the right tools is crucial for getting accurate and helpful information.

3 great tools to block unwanted distractions

1. Brandwatch Consumer Intelligence

2. Digimind - An Onclusive Company

3. Agorapulse

4. Iconosquare

5. YouScan

6. Sproutsocial

7. Brand24

8. BuzzSumo

9. KeyHole

10. Meltwater

11. Hootsuite

12. Talkwalker Analytics

13. NetBase

Brandwatch Consumer Intelligence

Features:

It tracks everything from your own channels to hashtags to specific phrases and keywords you want to look at.  

With a customizable query builder, it can track specific topics or even broad ones. This tool works across X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, forums, blogs, and various other sources.

You can also create your own dashboards and views and check out things like how people are feeling or what kind of people are talking about your topic. Brandwatch's Social Panel is like a smart feature that groups people who are similar in some ways. You tell the tool what you're looking for, and it finds people who match that description.  

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Goes beyond simple social listening by monitoring dozens of sources, providing a comprehensive view of online conversations. With an extensive data repository spanning over 12 years, the platform yields powerful insights into long-term trends and user behavior.
• The data visualization tools are impressive, offering a quick and easy-to-understand summary of numerical data.

Cons:

• Users should be prepared to type advanced Boolean queries from scratch, reflecting a need for a certain level of query-building proficiency.
• With the overwhelming amount of data and filtering options it gets difficult to understand and may require more than tech savvy to use the software.  

Website: https://www.brandwatch.com

Pricing on Request

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Digimind - An Onclusive Company

Features:

Digimind's tools help you see the important talks about your brand in real-time from millions of online places. This gives you super useful insights to make your marketing strategy better.

With Digimind’s Social Listening, you can:

• Keep an eye on specific terms and topics.
• Check out what people are saying about you.
• Share content and talk with your audience.
• Make reports about how well your content is doing.
• Figure out if your paid and free content is making a good impact.
• Use search data to manage your reputation.

Digimind Social Analytics lets you check and compare lots of social accounts at once.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Digimind offers multiple integration capabilities, enhancing its adaptability to various systems and tools.
• The platform ensures exhaustive data collection, providing a comprehensive range of information for analysis.
• It excels in trend tracking and competitive analysis, allowing users to stay updated on industry trends and monitor their competitors effectively.

Cons:

• A potential downside is that customer service on Digimind can be slow, potentially impacting timely issue resolution.
• Users have reported glitches with LinkedIn integration on the platform, indicating occasional technical issues.
• Some users find certain functionalities on Digimind to be confusing, which may require additional training or support for optimal usage.

Website: https://www.digimind.com

Pricing on Request

Agorapulse

Features:

You can easily set up rules to listen to what people are saying about your brand. You can make your YouTube and Twitter searches more specific by telling the tool what not to include in your searches. Use special commands to hear only what you want, and for more accuracy, you can include details like location or language in your Twitter searches.

What's even more important is that Agora Pulse helps you do things based on what you learn. You can click on something you're monitoring and like, retweet, reply, or send a private message. You can also tag, save, or give tasks to someone else on your team or a client so they know what to do.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

- This platform makes managing social media easy.  

- It's made to be simple and easy for users.

- It prevents common issues like double replies, making communication smoother.

Cons:

- However, it lacks post editing features, limiting editing options for users.

- The platform has a constraint with limited third-party integrations.

- Users may find the engagement platform challenging to use at times.

Website: https://www.agorapulse.com

Pricing: From $49

Iconosquare

Features:

One thing it does is called “Bubble Listening.” this special feature that makes it really stand out and it helps you know what people are saying about you. With Bubble Listening, you can easily keep track of hashtags and see detailed analytics on separate pages.

The tool has easy-to-read tables that show where you're doing well and where you can improve. You can even save this information for detailed analysis and future planning.

Iconosquare also lets you pick specific hashtags to see what's happening right now in your industry. This way, you stay in the loop with the latest conversations.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• The functionality of the tool is constantly evolving to meet user needs.
• It provides industry benchmarks, helping users measure their performance against standards.
• Competitive analysis features are integrated, allowing users to assess their standing compared to others.
• Automated posts let you plan and share content easily.

Cons:

• However, customer support is not as helpful as expected.
• Users might experience glitches with some features, impacting the tool's smooth operation.
• It's worth noting that the tool may not include all social media platforms in its features.

Website: https://www.iconosquare.com

Pricing: From $29

YouScan

Features:

Most interesting about YouScan is Visual Insights. It looks through images using a super smart AI engine. This can help you find out more about the people using your brand, like their demographics and interests.

YouScan is handy for finding mentions from important people and seeing who has the most engaged audience. It even has Smart Alerts to tell you when it notices negative things about your brand. You can even connect these complaints directly to your Helpdesk system.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• The tool has an excellent search function for finding mentions.
• Its interface is intuitive and easy to navigate.
• Setting up keywords is simple and straightforward.
• It easily works with other tools without any complications

Cons:

• However, it comes with higher price points, making it relatively expensive.
• The tool offers customer service in limited languages.

Website: https://youscan.io

Pricing: From $299

Sproutsocial

Features:

Sproutsocial helps with managing and improving your social media, and it has tools for customer relationships and listening to what people are saying online. If you're working with a team, it's great because it has lots of collaboration features.

One of the most user–friendly features of Sprout Social is its Smart Inbox. It's like a super organized place where you can reply to messages, retweet or repost things, and like stuff, all without leaving Sprout Social. You can organize your messages however you want and filter them using keywords and hashtags.

Sprout Social’s social listening feature works in the same way as the Smart Inbox, and you can track mentions of your brand, competitors, or selected keywords.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• The interface is easy to use, making it user-friendly.
• A user-friendly publishing calendar simplifies scheduling posts.
• The tool provides robust reporting for detailed insights.
• Competitive analysis features are integrated for a comprehensive view

Cons:

• It comes with an expensive price tag.
• Users might experience slow support response times.
• There's a lack of native support for some social networks.

Website: https://youscan.io

Pricing: From $299

Brand24

Features:

Brand24 gives you insights into what people are saying about your brand online. It provides a mentions feed where you can see what people are saying about your brand in real time and join discussions directly from Brand24.

There's a Discussion Volume Chart showing your brand's mentions graphically, making it easy to spot any increases and identify potential issues. Brand24 offers full mention analytics, helping you understand who is talking about your brand online.

They've even created an Influencer Score to help you find important people in your industry, so you can connect with key figures in your niche.

Brand24 also includes sentiment analysis. This means you not only see mentions of your brand but also know if they are positive, negative, or neutral.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• The platform is easy to use, making user-friendly experience.
• It also has a well-organized process to follow up, making management efficient.
• Real-time monitoring capabilities keep users updated promptly.
• The platform offers straightforward organization for easy navigation.

Cons:

• the mobile app could use improvements for better functionality.

Website: https://brand24.com

Pricing: From $79

BuzzSumo

Features:

Buzzsumo primarily works as a content analysis tool but also serves as a social media listening tool.

BuzzSumo provides engagement figures for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit, along with the total number of links each result has received.

The tool also offers a helpful alerts feature. It creates alerts to track brand mentions, competitor, content from a website, keyword mentions, backlinks, or an author. You can customize these alerts based on your specific needs.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• The tools provided are excellent for creating high-performing content.
• It includes a powerful content suggestion tool to enhance creativity.
• The interface is user-friendly.

Cons:

• It comes with a higher price tag.
• The interface can become confusing when additional features are added.

Website: https://buzzsumo.com

Pricing: From $159‍

KeyHole

Features:

Keyhole offers various online monitoring solutions with features varying based on the plan. All plans include hashtag and keyword trackers, account trackers, and influencer trackers, but the quantity varies by tier. Higher plans introduce additional features, such as advanced sentiment analysis (starting at Corporate), media wall and moderation (available at Agency and higher), influencer management (at Agency and higher), and more advanced analytics (Enterprise plan).

Real-time monitoring of hashtags and keywords is also a feature, aiding in social listening. Keyhole's data can be used to optimize and report on hashtag campaigns, revealing the total number of posts, engagement rate, and the overall reach and impressions generated by your hashtags.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• It offers comprehensive dashboards and reporting features for in-depth insights.
• The interface is straightforward, ensuring easy navigation.
• With multiple price points, users can choose plans based on their needs.

Cons:

• PDF exports of reports may miss certain information.
• Users might experience slower customer support response times.
• There is a lack of tracking options, limiting flexibility in monitoring.

Website: https://keyhole.co

Pricing: From $63

Meltwater

Features:

Meltwater is a tool that uses smart technology to provide insights for businesses. It's great for watching and engaging with social media. It goes beyond just social media, checking millions of posts daily from social media, blogs, and news sites. It sifts through unimportant stuff and lets you know if people are talking positively, negatively, or neutrally about you.

Using Meltwater, you can choose three keywords for each search and add filters to make your results more accurate. One can even make your own dashboards to suit what you need.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• It offers media monitoring reports in the morning and afternoon keeping them well informed about the company or competitors mentioned in the news.
• Customizable Monitoring and Automated Newsletters

Cons:

• There is difficulty in seamless integration  
• There are accounts limitation even with expensive plans  

Website: https://www.meltwater.com/en

Pricing: Four Different plans with pricing on request

Hootsuite

Features:

With Hootsuite, you can stay updated on important topics, check how well your content is doing, and see what people are saying about your brand and competitors—all through customizable social feeds called streams.

One can even schedule up to 350 posts at a time and can monitor engagement through streams. Key features are Analytics, Automated Publishing, Contact Management, Content Management, Conversion and Tracking.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Customizable feeds ensure you see only the social posts that matter to you, eliminating unnecessary content.
• The highly flexible post composer and scheduler, including a bulk option, make the most challenging tasks much simpler.
• The consolidated inbox gathers every message, comment, and mention, ensuring you never miss any important conversations.

Cons:

• Unfortunately, there is no demo- or psychographic data available for the audience.

Website: https://www.hootsuite.com/

Pricing: From $49

Talkwalker Analytics

Features:

What's interesting is that it's not just about listening—it uses proprietary visual technology to track things like hashtag performance, connecting what you do on social media to your business goals. You can also see what people are saying about your brand, check popular topics, and see how you compare to your competitors.

Key Features are -

Utilize a set of filters, including date, demographics, and location, to refine your search.

Identify leaders within your industry through the platform's capabilities.

Gain insights into how your brand is perceived online by analyzing relevant data.

Receive instant notifications whenever a specific keyword is mentioned online.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• It offers excellent visualizations for trending topics and sentiments, making data easy to understand.
• The free search feature provides quick insights without any cost.
• The platform provides comprehensive listening, covering a wide range of data sources.
• It's an all-in-one platform, consolidating various features in one place for convenience.

Cons:

• Tagging can be slow to update, affecting real-time data accuracy.
• Users may find a steep learning curve when getting started with the platform.
• It shares similarities with other tools on the market, offering familiar functionalities.
• Some users might find the user interface challenging to navigate.

Website: https://www.talkwalker.com/

Pricing: On request

NetBase Quid

Features:

It uses artificial intelligence to figure out feelings, actions, features, hashtags, people, and brands from social media posts. NetBase looks at millions of social media posts every day.

NetBase's AI can even find when your brand shows up in pictures. This helps you discover the most popular user-created content related to your brand on visual platforms like Instagram. It also helps you check if anyone is using your logo in a way you didn't want. t even checks out the latest emojis and language trends.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Give deep analysis of the data and insights to grow  
• It helps finding the right trends by correctly figuring out what trends will last in the market rather than short-lived fads, you can smartly distribute resources across your organization, making decisions based on data for long-term success.

Cons:

• Difficult to understand dashboard  
• Sentiment analysis can be improved  

Website: https://www.quid.com/

Pricing: On request

Conclusion:

In today's fast-paced business world, knowing what people are saying about your brand is not just an option but a necessity. Social listening tools, as highlighted in the examples, offer a powerful means to achieve this. They empower businesses to monitor social media channels, blogs, and websites, providing a comprehensive understanding of their online presence. If you haven't started using social listening, it's time to begin. These tools give you an advantage by providing instant insights and keeping you ahead. They also help you discover influential people who could be excellent partners for your brand. By using social listening, you're not just listening; you're actively shaping your brand's story and ensuring the best experience for your customers. It's not just a trend; it's a wise choice for any business aiming to succeed in today's digital world.