Social listening instruments are among the many most necessary for any social media marketer to grasp. Merely put, they supply an enormous quantity of real-time information about your model fame, viewers, and rivals.
Again within the day, entrepreneurs needed to dedicate substantial budgets to shopper and competitor analysis by way of surveys, focus teams, and market testing. Now, all it’s a must to do is ready up a social listening platform to observe model mentions to trace the small print that matter most to your model, and the knowledge comes on to your finger suggestions.
Right here, we break down 13 of one of the best social media listening instruments so you may select the one which most accurately fits your present wants.
However first, let’s begin by clarifying precisely what we imply when discussing social listening…
Social listening instruments are platforms that monitor conversations about your model, rivals, or business throughout social media, blogs, boards, and the net. They assist entrepreneurs analyze sentiment, determine traits, and uncover insights to enhance content material, campaigns, and buyer expertise.
These instruments search throughout a number of social platforms and compile all related social information in a single location so you may get the total image of what persons are saying in only one display screen.
The principle causes for utilizing social listening instruments are to observe model well being and marketing campaign efficiency, conduct aggressive evaluation, and acquire priceless viewers insights. Additionally, these instruments play an necessary function in disaster administration and prevention.
Paige Schmidt
Social Engagement Coordinator at Hootsuite
What’s social listening?
Social listening is the apply of utilizing social instruments to observe what persons are saying about your model on-line. It’s additionally an necessary type of competitor analysis.
Social listening works by monitoring mentions of your model (each tagged and untagged) and your rivals on-line, together with related key phrases and hashtags. You’ll be able to then entry all of this data in a single place to get actionable insights into the social media conversations round your business and model.
One of many best advantages is knowing what persons are saying and pondering in real-time. Social media listening instruments acquire that information so that you all the time have it helpful.
Psst: Need to dive deeper into this topic? We’ve obtained a complete weblog put up on what social listening is and why it issues a lot for manufacturers.
We’ve in contrast the highest 13 instruments — from free choices to enterprise platforms — so you may shortly consider options like sentiment evaluation, real-time alerts, and historic information entry.
ToolPlatforms CoveredSentiment AnalysisReal-Time AlertsHistorical DataPricing
HootsuiteAll main platforms + Bluesky✅ Enhanced, with Fast Search✅✅ 7-day Fast Search + Brandwatch integrationFrom $99/month
Talkwalker30+ social + 150M websites✅ AI-powered, multilingual✅✅ As much as 2 yearsContact for quote
Brandwatch100M+ websites, 1.7T conversations✅ NLP + visible & geo evaluation✅✅ From 2010Contact for quote
Sprout SocialMajor platforms✅ Phrase clouds + AI Help✅✅ As much as 7 days (X); varies by platformFrom $199/person/month
MeltwaterSocial, information, boards, TV, podcasts✅ Visible + emotion recognition✅✅ 15-month archiveContact for quote
Sprinklr30+ social + 1B web sites✅ GenAI-powered sentiment✅ Sensible Alerts✅ Intensive archiveContact for quote
Brand24Major social + blogs/information/boards✅ Actual-time + emotion monitoring✅❌ ~1-year storageFrom $119/month
BuzzSumoMedia + internet (restricted social)❌ (No superior sentiment)✅ (through alerts)✅ 5-year content material archiveFrom $159/month
KeyholeSocial + hashtags, mentions, influencers✅ Sentiment over time✅✅ X again to 2015 (on request); others extra limitedContact for demo/pricing
LaterInstagram solely✅ For IG solely✅ IG alerts❌ Platform-limitedEnterprise add-on solely
Google AlertsWeb solely❌✅ Electronic mail alerts❌ No historic archiveFree
Social MentionBlogs, information, restricted social✅ Fundamental sentiment❌❌Free
AnswerThePublicGoogle/TikTok/YT queries❌❌❌Free (3 searches/day)
Selecting one of the best social listening instrument will depend on your objectives.
If you happen to’re searching for an reasonably priced, easy-to-use possibility that additionally integrates with publishing and analytics, Hootsuite is a great selection. Enterprise customers needing superior sentiment fashions or huge historic information could lean towards Brandwatch or Talkwalker.
1. Your corporation dimension and objectives
Are you a solo marketer seeking to monitor mentions, or a big model managing a number of campaigns and areas?
Instruments like Hootsuite are perfect for rising groups that need flexibility, whereas platforms like Sprinklr or Brandwatch could also be higher fitted to world enterprise wants.
2. The platforms you could monitor
Some instruments (like Later) specialise in one channel, whereas others supply broad protection throughout social, boards, blogs, and information.
Be certain that your instrument helps the networks the place your viewers truly engages.
3. Actual-time vs. historic insights
If you happen to’re targeted on pattern monitoring and disaster prevention, search for real-time alerts and up to date sentiment information.
For deep analysis or long-term reporting, instruments with entry to years of historic information (like Brandwatch or Talkwalker) could also be a greater match.
4. Ease of use and technical talent
Some instruments require Boolean logic or advanced dashboard setup. Others — like Hootsuite — are constructed for entrepreneurs who need quick, actionable insights and not using a steep studying curve.
5. Your funds
Free instruments could be an effective way to start out, however they often include limitations in scope, sentiment monitoring, or information quantity.
Platforms like Hootsuite or Brand24 supply steadiness of options and affordability, whereas high-end platforms present deeper customization and information entry at a better price.
TL;DR: In order for you quick insights, straightforward setup, and room to develop, Hootsuite offers you a stable basis and integrates with superior instruments like Brandwatch and Talkwalker if you could scale later.
1. Hootsuite
Hootsuite truly affords a few completely different social listening options relying on the scale of your model and the way a lot social information you could analyze. That’s on prime of complete social media administration instruments, together with scheduling to all main social networks, straightforward social media analytics, and viewers engagement instruments.
Listening
Each Hootsuite plan consists of all the pieces you could get began with social listening.
Use Fast Search to find trending hashtags, manufacturers, and occasions wherever on this planet, or dive deeper for personalised insights in your model.
You’ll be able to monitor mentions of your model, your prime rivals, your merchandise — as much as two key phrases monitoring something at everywhere in the final seven days.
Plus, you should use Fast Search to investigate issues like:
Key metrics: Are extra individuals speaking about you this week? What’s the vibe of their posts? Hootsuite Listening doesn’t simply monitor what persons are saying — it makes use of enhanced sentiment evaluation to let you know how they actually really feel.
Prime themes: How are individuals speaking about you? What are the preferred constructive and detrimental posts about? Which different conversations are you displaying up in?
Outcomes: Able to get into specifics? The outcomes tab will present you a collection of widespread posts associated to your search phrases — you may filter by sentiment, channel, and extra.
PS: Hootsuite Listening now integrates with Bluesky! This implies which you could simply analyze insights from the most popular rising platform straight out of your Hootsuite dashboard.
Pricing: Beginning at $99/month.
Greatest for: Hootsuite is right for groups that need built-in social media administration and listening in a single intuitive dashboard. It affords user-friendly instruments and improve paths to superior insights instruments like Talkwalker.
#1 Simple Social Listening
Model mentions, trending matters, and sentiment at your fingertips. Improve your social technique with the insights that matter.
Begin free 30-day trial
Hootsuite Superior Analytics
Hootsuite Superior Analytics is primarily a instrument for monitoring the ROI of your social advertising technique and the enterprise impression of your social media posts.
Nonetheless, it additionally accommodates a aggressive evaluation part, which earns it a spot on our record of social media listening instruments.
Hootsuite Superior Analytics enables you to analyze your rivals’ viewers and content material technique on Fb, Instagram, and X (previously Twitter). Key social information sources embrace viewers stats, engagement, and hashtag use.
Pricing: Superior Analytics is on the market as an add-on to Hootsuite Enterprise plans. Pricing is on the market on request.
2. Talkwalker by Hootsuite
Talkwalker’s social listening information library covers over 30 social media platforms (together with rising platforms like Bluesky) and over 150 million web sites throughout 239 international locations and areas. With greater than 50 superior filters, you may section your social media channels and determine the suitable viewers to observe.
This highly effective social listening instrument lets you perceive the total impression of your on-line conversations by measuring engagement quantity, attain, sentiment, and extra. It incorporates Blue Silk GPT for AI evaluation.
Pricing: Pricing is on the market upon request.
Greatest for: Talkwalker is greatest fitted to world manufacturers that want multilingual sentiment evaluation, pattern monitoring, and visible content material recognition throughout huge information units.
3. Brandwatch
Brandwatch makes use of a library of 1.7 trillion historic conversations from 2010 to assist manufacturers monitor business traits on-line. Greater than 501 million new conversations are added daily.
Brandwatch gives entry to conversations from greater than 100 million websites and may combine your personal buyer information. You’ll be able to monitor key social listening metrics like model consciousness, social sentiment, and social share of voice.
For even simpler monitoring of your social listening queries, you may combine Brandwatch into your Hootsuite dashboard.
Pricing: Pricing for this enterprise-level social listening instrument is on the market upon request.
Greatest for: Brandwatch is a top-tier selection for enterprise groups targeted on deep analysis and historic evaluation, however with a steeper studying curve and heavier elevate for setup and question constructing.
4. Brand24
Brand24 is an AI-powered social listening instrument that covers the main social platforms in addition to blogs, information websites, and different on-line sources. It enables you to monitor traits in attain and model consciousness, and arrange alerts for essential notifications.
You can too acquire priceless insights into social sentiment. Plus, the affect rating enables you to determine prime influencers and creators in your area of interest.
Create reviews you may simply share throughout your workforce and with firm leaders.
Pricing: Beginning at $119/month after a 14-day free trial.
Greatest for: Brand24 is nice for small companies in search of quick, reasonably priced social listening, providing sturdy fundamentals however restricted historic depth and scalability.
5. Sprout Social
Sprout Social helps you monitor conversations about your model, perceive your viewers demographics, and determine influencers in your area of interest.
Hashtag and point out monitoring, together with sentiment evaluation, are baked into the answer. Nonetheless, unlocking extra detailed social listening is simply obtainable through an add-on.
Sprout Social’s Listening Matters mechanically retrieve historic information (as much as 7 days on X), with protection various by platform.
See how Sprout Social compares to Hootsuite.
Pricing: Beginning at $199/person/month after a 30-day free trial.
Greatest for: Sprout Social is a stable match for mid-sized groups that prioritize person expertise and light-weight listening, although it could lack the depth wanted for superior use instances.
6. Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo is a instrument that helps manufacturers monitor main media mentions. They’ll arrange alerts for mentions of their very own model or business traits to remain conscious of upcoming trending matters and adjustments.
Buzzsumo has an archive of over 8 billion articles from the previous 5 years to investigate and seek for your queries. You’ll be able to monitor model mentions and monitor alerts about your competing manufacturers, too.
Pricing: Beginning at $159/month.
Greatest for: Buzzsumo is beneficial for monitoring media mentions and content material traits, although it lacks true social listening capabilities like sentiment or influencer monitoring.
7. Keyhole
Keyhole affords a social listening instrument that tracks key phrases, mentions, and hashtags throughout a number of platforms. It graphs traits over time together with social share of voice. Keyhole even tracks the sentiment in each point out and adjustments over time.
Moreover, the instrument helps determine key influencers in your area of interest and compares the efficiency of the assorted influencers you determine.
Keyhole affords historic information for X courting again to 2015 (obtainable on request), whereas different platforms have extra restricted information.
Pricing: Pricing is on the market after reserving a demo.
Greatest for: Keyhole is a useful instrument for monitoring campaigns, hashtags, and influencers. It’s greatest for short-term or channel-specific insights slightly than ongoing technique.
8. Later
Later is one other social media administration instrument that provides quite a few options — social listening included.
Later’s social listening and monitoring instruments showcase information like mentions, prime posts, sentiment, and extra, however they’re solely obtainable for Instagram. If you happen to rely closely on Instagram, this could possibly be instrument for you, however you may need to look elsewhere when you want information from further platforms.
Pricing: Social listening is on the market as an add-on to Enterprise accounts. Pricing is on the market upon request.
Greatest for: Later affords a easy add-on for Instagram listening. It’s efficient for single-platform use, however not a full listening answer.
9. Meltwater
Meltwater permits limitless searches over a rolling 15-month archive so you may determine traits and yearly cycles. Past social and internet sources, Meltwater information consists of TV, radio, podcasts, and different media sources.
Inside Meltwater, you may construct customized dashboards, analyze sentiment, and use picture recognition instruments.
Pricing: Pricing is on the market on request.
Greatest for: Meltwater is well-suited for PR and comms groups managing each information and social media, although its breadth could overwhelm smaller groups or single-channel customers.
10. Sprinklr
Sprinklr affords a number of various kinds of instruments, from social media administration to analytics and insights. Its social listening capabilities are part of its “Insights” suite and provides customers entry to information from greater than 30 social and digital channels.
Monitor billions of buyer conversations, detect fame crises, create reviews, and evaluate your efficiency to your rivals.
Pricing: Pricing is on the market upon request.
Greatest for: Sprinklr is constructed for enterprises that want huge scale, real-time disaster detection, and AI insights. Nonetheless, its complexity and value level could also be overkill for many entrepreneurs.
If you happen to’re not able to put money into a paid answer, there are free social listening instruments that supply fundamental options like model monitoring and key phrase alerts.
These instruments are perfect for startups or solopreneurs getting began with model monitoring on-line.
The perfect free social listening instruments embrace:
Google Alerts – screens internet mentions and sends e-mail summaries.
Social Point out – tracks fundamental sentiment and model mentions throughout blogs and boards.
AnswerThePublic – surfaces trending search queries to tell your content material technique.
11. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a free and easy-to-use instrument for setting e-mail alerts for sure key phrases. If Google scans a information article or social media put up and sees your key phrase, you’ll obtain an e-mail notification with a hyperlink.
It is a nice strategy to regulate model and business updates, making certain you’re alerted instantly.
Greatest for: A light-weight, no-cost strategy to monitor mentions on the net, however far too restricted for critical model or competitor evaluation.
12. Social Point out
Social Point out, a instrument from Model Mentions, is a free social media monitoring instrument that lets you regulate model and competitor mentions on-line. Uncover conversations round your model and your services or products so you may gauge sentiment, discover buyer ache factors, and extra.
Model Mentions has a premium service beginning at $79/month with a free trial, however Social Point out itself is a free instrument.
Greatest for: A free instrument that’s straightforward to strive, however minimal in depth, protection, or reliability in comparison with fashionable platforms.
13. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a free instrument from digital advertising knowledgeable Neil Patel that lets customers seek for completely different queries throughout platforms like Google, YouTube, TikTok, and extra.
This instrument is ideal for creating content material concepts that completely reply your target market’s questions.
When you can join a premium account for extra search queries beginning at $11/month, customers additionally get three search queries a day, fully free. customers may also pay a one-time lifetime charge of $119 to get everlasting entry to the instrument and not using a subscription.
Greatest for: This instrument is nice for surfacing content material and search concepts, however not a listening instrument within the conventional sense.
Social listening isn’t nearly monitoring mentions: it’s about turning social information into actual enterprise outcomes. Whether or not you’re managing model fame, creating content material, or empowering workers, the suitable listening instruments aid you make quicker, smarter selections.
Right here’s how three Hootsuite clients are placing social listening into motion:
Disaster prevention and fame administration
Throughout a serious rebrand following a merger, Corewell Well being used Hootsuite Listening and Superior Analytics to observe how individuals have been responding throughout 21 hospitals and tons of of accounts.
The workforce recognized spikes in detrimental sentiment and shortly adjusted their messaging and media outreach.
Outcomes:
50% discount in detrimental sentiment
2.5x the business common engagement charge
3M+ impressions by way of worker advocacy utilizing Hootsuite Amplify
Viewers insights
One NBA workforce used Hootsuite with Talkwalker to investigate fan sentiment and engagement patterns throughout the low season.
They found that followers most popular genuine, behind-the-scenes content material over promotional posts and reshaped their technique accordingly.
Outcomes:
352% enhance in social video views
46% enhance in impressions
A brand new full-time content material function accredited to broaden the technique
Share of voice and employer model development
Colliers mixed Hootsuite’s publishing and listening instruments with Amplify to broaden their attain and measure the impression of worker advocacy.
By monitoring sentiment, engagement, and share of voice, they improved each model visibility and inner engagement.
Outcomes:
229% enhance in social media impressions
9.5M individuals reached in Canada by way of natural social
Acknowledged as Canada’s #1 industrial actual property web site, with social visitors taking part in a key function
Need to know how one can profit from these social listening instruments? These six suggestions may also help you collect nice shopper insights on your model.
1. Get in early on traits
If you monitor particular key phrases in your business, you’ll be one of many first to learn about rising traits.
For instance, let’s say you run a small enterprise promoting candles and monitor key phrases about “scents.” You’ll have the ability to shortly determine patterns amongst scents talked about on-line, uncover widespread new concepts for upcoming merchandise or determine scents that folks don’t like that you simply’d need to keep away from.
2. Control rivals
Monitoring mentions of your rivals offers you priceless insights into their social media presence, business traits, and buyer sentiment.
And monitoring your rivals’ model names offers you insights into data like:
Competitor media mentions
Competitor bulletins
Competitor on-line efficiency
Sentiment round your rivals
New product/service/characteristic launches
By maintaining a tally of your competitors, you may simply sustain with what they’re doing and even enhance on it.
3. Discover alternatives for engagement
Monitoring your model mentions helps you discover genuine alternatives for social media engagement.
Be sure you reply to everybody who mentions your model, whether or not you thank them or supply a helpful suggestion. You can too regulate the dialog to grasp the social communities the place individuals discuss your model.
4. Measure model sentiment
Maintaining a tally of buyer suggestions and sentiment helps you perceive how individuals really feel about your model, your product/service, and your business with out chatting with them immediately.
However extra than simply measuring sentiment, you need to do one thing concerning the insights you’re getting.
If the dialog about your model turns in direction of detrimental sentiment, you may take motion earlier than issues attain disaster degree and put your disaster administration plan into impact. If one thing goes unusually properly, you may throw some funds right into a devoted advertising marketing campaign to maintain using that wave.
5. Establish ache factors
See what clients are complaining about on-line about your business or product/service. Are you able to launch a brand new product or characteristic to resolve a few of these ache factors?
Protecting your finger on the heartbeat of buyer conversations may also help you discover much more alternatives for your small business, rising curiosity, gross sales, and a constructive buyer expertise.
6. Get accustomed to the lingo
Social listening platforms typically use technical phrases that aren’t all the time intuitive, particularly in relation to organising queries or deciphering outcomes.
Right here’s a fast glossary that can assist you navigate the commonest options and metrics.
Sentiment evaluation
The method of figuring out whether or not social media mentions are constructive, detrimental, or impartial, serving to manufacturers perceive public notion in actual time.
Share of Voice (SOV)
A metric that reveals how typically your model is talked about on-line in comparison with your rivals, usually expressed as a proportion of complete mentions.
Development detection
A characteristic that spots rising matters, hashtags, or phrases based mostly on adjustments in quantity over time — helpful for leaping on viral moments or figuring out early patterns.
Boolean search
A strategy to create advanced listening queries utilizing operators like AND, OR, and NOT. Lets you refine searches to incorporate or exclude particular phrases or phrases.
Listening matter
A gaggle of associated key phrases, hashtags, or model mentions {that a} instrument screens — typically customizable so you may deal with campaigns, rivals, or merchandise.
Actual-time alerts
Notifications triggered by sudden spikes in model mentions, detrimental sentiment, or key phrase exercise — helpful for figuring out crises or high-impact conversations as they occur.
The extra acquainted you’re with these phrases, the simpler it’ll be to customise your social listening technique (no steep studying curve required).
What are one of the best social listening instruments?
The perfect social listening instruments embrace Hootsuite, Talkwalker, Brandwatch, Sprout Social, and Meltwater. Every affords distinctive strengths, from real-time alerts to superior sentiment evaluation. The best selection will depend on your objectives, workforce dimension, and funds.
Is there a free instrument for social listening?
Sure. Free instruments like Google Alerts, Social Point out, and AnswerThePublic supply fundamental social listening options. They’re helpful for easy model monitoring or content material analysis, however lack the superior insights and automation obtainable in paid platforms.
How do social listening instruments work?
Social listening instruments monitor conversations about your model, rivals, or business throughout social media and the net. They analyze mentions, hashtags, and sentiment to uncover traits, measure model notion, and inform advertising selections.
Which social listening instrument is the simplest to make use of?
Hootsuite is likely one of the best social listening instruments to make use of, particularly for entrepreneurs already managing social posts. It affords a easy dashboard, built-in sentiment evaluation, and non-compulsory upgrades for deeper insights.
Hootsuite makes it straightforward to observe social media conversations and key phrases, so you may deal with taking motion on the insights obtainable. Attempt it free at this time.
