12 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools Must use in Campaigns

The world of social media is vast and ever-growing to the extent that a single individual or a team might not be enough to cover every conversation or trend. As a business, you could add value to any platform by uploading content and interacting with your followers. 

However, success on social media requires much more than just content. For example, with the help of social media monitoring tools, you can adequately understand your account’s performance on each platform. These tools give you access to a whole host of information you can use to make more data-driven decisions for your brand.

The other ways these tools can benefit a marketer are:

• Monitor user reactions to locate potential risks or PR disasters
• Save you time in analyzing data that can be redirected into other aspects of a marketing campaign 
• Offer services that could help you get an edge over your competition
• Increase sales through pinpointing user engagement opportunities
• Help you set a benchmark before and after a major marketing campaign 
• Highlighting key audience groups to target for increased leads
• Anticipate trends and shifts in social media culture 
• Assist in producing more customer-orientated content, products and services
• Network your brand to scope out influential partnerships or collabs

These advantages of social media monitoring and analysis tools could be the difference between your business going viral and successfully establishing itself or blending into the ocean of content floating around every platform. You can bet that businesses are looking into social media monitoring tools to see if their competitors are taking advantage of the observation resources.

You might also hear the terms social media monitoring (SMM) and social media listening (SML) being interchanged frequently, but they are different tools altogether. SMM refers to observing the daily data that comes in from consumer reactions and posts. It usually involves likes or comments on your content or responding to queries or complaints for consumers. 

On the other hand, SML is more of an overview of your performance that utilizes all the data collected to project it as graphs or diagrams that can be easily understood and studied to highlight patterns or trends. You can also quickly locate social media listening and monitoring tools, giving you better insight into both uses. 

Trying to manage all this information might sound easy, but the bigger you get, the more you will have to monitor. For example, Twitter has around 340 million tweets being posted every day. Assistance in managing incoming data will strengthen your social strategy to put your business on top. We will deep dive into the best social media monitoring tools anyone can have in their arsenal to give them a competitive edge. You don’t need to set up an enormous budget to access these tools, as some platforms or sites offer social media monitoring tools for free.

The top social media monitoring tools are:

1. Keyhole

Pricing

• Basic – $49/ monthly 
• Plus – $99/monthly
• Professional – $199/monthly 
• Enterprise – Custom pricing 

Description

This media monitoring/ reporting tool primarily manages your Twitter and Instagram accounts. Businesses implementing this tool in their strategies state that it is invaluable when pulling up keywords, hashtags, URLs and usernames. It also tracks results from campaigns and influencer collaboration by monitoring conversations. Their UI is easily mastered within a short period, so you can start measuring customer hotspots immediately. 

You can also research past content data, which would benefit from comparative analysis. Another nifty feature is that Keyhole gives you access to heatmaps, highlighting the parts of the world that have the most internet activity. This could make targeting high-traffic areas a lot easier.

Reputable brands like Google and Alibaba vouch for the analytical capabilities of Keyhole as they streamline the ability for businesses to see measurable data on the health of their brand. If you are in the market for a tool that analyses the customer’s mind in terms of sentiments, conversation topics and demographics, Keyhole is just what you need. 

You also could keep an eye on all your competitors simultaneously without having to hassle yourself. Keyhole has a tab that could assist you in executing content strategy with their Social Publishing feature. All the data collected is easily readable and can be understood swiftly through diagrams and visuals that the tool puts together.

2. Hootsuite

Pricing 

• Professional – $49/monthly 
• Team – $179/monthly
• Business – $739/monthly
• Enterprise – Custom pricing

Description 

Hootsuite is a free tool that offers paid services for more detailed features if you fancy it. You must have heard the marketing team name-dropping this program as it is trendy among businesses. It can monitor online activity on multiple well-known social media platforms. If you pick this tool, you will also have access to their scheduling feature, which posts your pre-decided content whenever possible. 

Like most social media monitoring tools, Hootsuite is user-friendly and can be managed effortlessly. While on the tool, you will have an overview of all your follower reactions like comments, mentions and likes. This data can be found in the Inbox section of the tool. Notifications will also pop up whenever you have activity on any of your social media channels to keep you always in the loop. 

You can also conveniently delegate any of the tasks on the program to your team members. We mentioned the program was free, but there are paid features that can be advantageous. One such feature is having saved replies which you can fill in whenever you interact with consumers on your accounts. This cuts down the response time and gives you great peace of mind.

This level of monitoring is perfect for brands that moderate traffic on their accounts. One such section on the tool is Hootsuite Insights which offers brands data on their audiences in terms of trends and tracks conversions on your websites, blogs and forums. You can also observe your competition and performance at different stages of your branding process. 

3. Meltwater

Pricing

• Between $4000 to $6000 annually

Description

If there was ever a tool that was the jack of all trades, Meltwater fits the profile perfectly. If you use this tool, you know that you have different avenues by which you can monitor social media. You can access features like social media management and listening, audience insights, analytical reports on consumer sentiments and influencer data. You can bet that any brand loves this tool since they service 30,000+ satisfied users. It is not known for its easy UI, but they also been recognized by G2 as the number 1 media monitoring platform. 

Anyone can implement this tool into their strategy. It is relatively straightforward, even with its customizable dashboard options. What you can expect from this highly functioning tool is real-time conversion tracking, consumer sentiment reports and highlighting of your most opportunistic mentions on social media. There are no limits to how much data this tool collects as it can sieve through billions of conversations from any part of the world.

Some use the influencer, audience and conversion reports to improve their KPIs while reviewing the demographical visuals the tool creates specifically for your brand. If you run into any issues, the tech support you receive on the back end of the program is spectacular. They cater to your queries 24/7 and have a host of multilingual technicians to mitigate any language barriers clients face. 

This tool is on the pricey side, but you would be thanking your stars when you witness the kind of ROI some users receive from the Meltwater AI. Content creators can also celebrate as this tool can schedule your posts and interact with consumers through a centralized inbox. 

4. Digimind 

Pricing 

• Standard package – $499/monthly

Description

The tools we mentioned included many aspects of social media monitoring, but Digimind has a specific, well-known function. This tool shows how consumers and the competition interpret your brand’s reputation. This is done by measuring keywords’ sentiments and how they affect your audience. For example, the data collected spans social media sites and numerous external publications that your followers interact with and drop brand mentions.

This tool does not assist users with content scheduling, nor does it have a centralized inbox you can use to engage with consumers. Still, Digimind makes up for it by sending you in-depth data on your audience, rivals and industry perceptions about your business. The competitive analysis you would be provided with is accompanied by eye-catching visuals highlighting your online presence. If you like keeping track of your performance on the move, Digimind also has a mobile app that will give you access to all its features. 

5. Brand24

Pricing 

• Individual – $49/monthly
• Team – $99/monthly
• Pro – $149/monthly
• Enterprise – $249/monthly

Description

If you’re a medium-sized business and you are well versed with tools like Sprout Social, Brand24 could be worth looking into. This tool is the best for daily monitoring and getting brief analyses. 

However, in-depth insights are not something this program is used for, but you can still track mentions and access a host of keywords used on all social media channels, blogs and news outlets. If you want consumer sentiment data, navigate to the Mentions and Analysis section of the tool and view influencer activity on any platform.

You can customize the delivery system of your reports by picking your report template and visuals you want to be factored into the analysis. This tool highlights your brand’s reputation and how to manage it accordingly. Tracking your conversions is also conveniently placed in the Discussion Volume Chart, which you can access whenever. Whether your impact is positive or negative, this tool will give you a rundown of your position amongst your followers and take part in influential conversations on social media. 

6. Sprout Social

Pricing 

• Standard – $89/monthly 
• Professional – $149/monthly
• Advanced – $249/monthly 

Description

You have surely heard of Sprout Social and its effectiveness as a social media monitoring tool. Along with in-depth analytics, this tool also has content publishing functionality for its users. The Social Sprout dashboard eases your workload in terms of daily social media activity, and its Smart box feature lets you collectively view your messages, mentions, and reactions from every social media platform you operate within. With a central hug at your disposal, tracking your notification becomes extremely streamlined and manageable. 

If you want additional filtering capabilities, you have the option to prioritize different kinds of notifications over others. This would be the time consumed in sieving through several notifications yourself and letting you pay attention to the most lucrative ones.

Sprout’s additional features are its social media listening functionality, allowing you to track high-volume keywords in conversations and alert you to potential brand conversions. You can access this data in the Trends Report section of the tool. Analytical insights are also available to you, which brings attention to your Twitter performance only. These reports tell you what works for your brand and what isn’t. You also would be able to view the most trending topics, hashtags and influencer activity on Twitter through Sprout. 

Your audience data like impressions, engagements and link clicks is another featured metric you can review while monitoring your brand health to enable you to make more data-driven decisions. 

7. Awario

Pricing 

• Starter – $24/monthly
• Pro – $74/monthly 
• Enterprise – $249/monthly

Description

Awario is a unique tool for one fundamental reason. It is scalable according to how your business grows. Like the other mentioned tools, this program tracks the usual social media metrics such as mentions and tags. It will also observe any influencer and competitor activity and alert you on what is gaining traction.

This tool can block unnecessary social media chatter and effectively pinpoint fruitful conversations. This would give your brand better opportunities to increase user engagement. With detailed audience insights at your fingertips, you can efficiently target the right consumers with your marketing campaigns. The search capabilities don’t stop there; you can also seek more niche conversations over trending ones for more specialized targeting.

You can access mountains of data because Awaria can monitor over 13 million pages daily, so you don’t miss anything. Not to mention a fine-tuned social media customer support service that is ready to respond to all of your customer’s queries. You can also customize these queries into priority levels to respond to the ones that would give you the best opportunities. All these features are available to you in various packages the tool provides.

8. Zoho Social

Pricing

• Standard – $10/monthly
• Professional – $30/monthly
• Premium – $48/monthly
• Agency – $238/monthly
• Agency Plus – $346/monthly

Description

Suppose you’re a social media manager needing a content scheduling assistant who will work tirelessly to publish your content on time every time. In that case, Zoho Social is just what you need. This tool can upload unlimited posts on every social media platform you operate on. Your posts’ performance indicators can be measured and located on the program’s dashboard. The easy-to-use UI makes tracking conversations gracefully. 

Zoho offers its users the option of social media listening and monitoring tools. You can find these features in the Monitor section of the program. Monitoring streams can be set up and customized to find your requirement. For example, if you focus on Twitter, you can add or retract columns designated for metrics like interactions, influencers, niche conversations and leads. 

However, you don’t need to worry about integration issues because this tool has a highly adaptable Customer Relationship Management system, making cross-team interactions less challenging. You can see this in action by going to any tool section. Whether on the Monitor, Posts or Reports tabs, you will see an ‘Add to CRM’ option. 

If you are fortunate to have the Zoho CRM tool, doubling up with the Zoho Social tool would be an advantage to your social media monitoring. This might sound like a simple tool compared to programs like Hootsuite, but if you’re a small business just starting, Zoho’s monitoring and listening tools are a good starting point.

9. Falcon.io

Pricing 

• Essentials – $108/monthly
• Full Suite – Custom pricing

Description

If you want to establish a brand presence across multiple social media platforms, look at Falcon.io. With the help of team collaboration, you can master social marketing with ease. You will find a sophisticated but easily manageable media tool that provides listening and monitoring capabilities. 

In addition, you will find content publishing, scheduling, and centralized inbox management features on the tool’s dashboard. If you are a marketing professional with several SMEs you work with, this program might be perfect for assisting you with your duties.

This tool’s analytical reports will spotlight reactions, consumer engagements and performance indicators to view and help you set a benchmark for further comparisons. It also enables you to track social media metrics like mentions, influencer activity and brand presence along all the major social media channels. Some might say this is an all-rounded tool as it assists you with creating a content calendar for your brand and can even schedule ads for your social media accounts.

Your impact on your operating space would be pretty noticeable. The audience management feature lets you tap into invaluable consumer data that you can implement in your marketing campaigns. Not to mention that all consumer sentiment analysis reports come in multiple languages to cater to international users or clients. 

You don’t have to worry about switching social media channels, as Falcon.io is compatible with Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn and Twitter. 

10. Sprinklr

Pricing 

• Directly contact the vendor for custom pricing packages

Description

If you are a well-established brand looking to venture into newer and more challenging platforms, then Sprinklr is a tool you should have in your arsenal. This tool has customer intelligence data from over 25 social networking sites. That is an infinite library of consumer data at your disposal. You can even tackle social media platforms like Weibo and Wechat, which seems complex for foreign brands to venture into.

Sprinklr’s social media listening and monitoring tools give you an array of templates to utilize in your reports, and the customizable dashboard offers you extensive analytics. These reports are ideal for building useful audience demographics and improving consumer targeting. Customizing reports, such as various visual widgets and functionality, makes interpreting data simple, and you can measure your brand’s social media presence more effectively.

Their global reach is in real-time and captures historical data on influencers or users, pinpoints conversations that are gaining traction worldwide, and factors in critical drivers in the social media market. This data is available to you all the time. Not to mention that you can also measure up with your competitors and their activities. 

Another helpful capability is that you would be able to foresee a crisis before it happens to make more data-driven decisions for your brand using the Sprinklr tool. Paid ad performance reports are accessible to you using the dashboard and would need to be viewed separately from analytical reports. This tool does have a free trial period to access its features and you can also contact them directly to inquire about their paid packages.

11. BuzzSumo

Pricing

• Pro – $99/monthly
• Plus – $179/monthly
• Large – $299/monthly

Description

BuzzSumo is one of a kind in that it seeks out the best content you have uploaded and highlights it for you to promote. It also selects your competitor’s content and picks their best for you to review and record observations you notice. 

Not to mention that this tool follows a strict functionality to discover, research, influence and monitor. You can see this first handle when you access their dashboard. Finally, the Monitoring section provides you with data concerning mentions, what’s trending and your competitor’s activities.

When you venture onto the Research section of the tool, you can view the listening and analytics features of the program. These features allow you to search for keywords, potential influencers, consumer accounts and Boolean phrases. Their data library is enormous, with around 5 billion items to sieve through and select from. 

You can also conduct a comparative analysis with your content’s new and old data from campaigns. This tool records up to 5 years of historical content for you to access. As we mentioned, you can also track market trends that could potentially be lucrative opportunities.

BuzzSumo can also assist you with consumer engagements as this tool locates product mentions and topical conversations between users to give you a heads-up, even in niche communities. This could push you to be the first to interact with influential figures on every social media platform and also find potential collaborations for marketing campaigns.

You can also look into the content discovery feature on this tool. This feature is perfect when you need an extra push for your content. This works because its AI monitors trending positive sentimental topics your audience would react to. This can be the foundation you could build for new content for your business’s social media accounts. This tool is free, but you can pay for different packages to access it for additional features.

12. Mention

Pricing 

• Solo – $29/monthly
• Pro – $99/monthly
• ProPlus – $199/monthly
• Company – Custom pricing 

Description

You can guess exactly how this tool would help you by looking at the name. If you still are figuring it out, this program tracks your brand mentions and your competitor’s mentions. This tool provides users with a social media listening and monitoring feature. 

You have the advantage of Mention’s AI going through over 1 billion sources daily to compile extensive reports for you to view on the tool’s dashboard. The data is easily understandable; this tool tracks trending news from outlets and blog sites.

Even though you will be provided with vast amounts of data, you have the option to filter the incoming information and ensure you are only getting high-priority notifications or pulse alerts through specific keyword selection. For example, if you need to put together a report for your team to review, Mention can create an in-depth analysis for you to showcase. This tool’s listening feature will provide insights into your ideal audience, depending on brand mentions. When things can’t get any better, you also can use this tool to publish and schedule your content on different social media platforms. 

In terms of monitoring conversations, Mentions hones in on languages, sources and dates to put together the best possible interactive opportunities for your business. This data can help you boost your campaigns and improve consumer interactions with the brand. The data reports can be automated, so you don’t have to worry about missing a report for your team or stakeholders of your business. This tool is free for most features, but if you need an extra push, you opt for packages.

After going through this social media monitoring tools comparison guide, you can safely say that numerous programs fit the different needs of businesses operating in the market. For example, some tools would help you when you’re starting, some might elevate you to a different level of operation on social media, and others help you maintain your efficiency. 

The primary tip to remember is to figure out your requirements. Then it would help if you implemented social media monitoring and analysis tools that will give you precisely what you need. There isn’t any point in increasing your monitoring budget if you don’t need certain features or data. You can find social media monitoring tools free from any payment package and access various features. It would be advisable to experiment with different ones and see which ones are best suited for your business.