The top 10 social listening tools
Where are your products and/or services being mentioned online? Which keywords perform best in your sector and the countries where you sell? Who is talking about your brand and what are they saying? To answer these questions, you can use one of the top social listening tools below. But before we get to them, here is what social listening aims to achieve!
What does social listening aim to achieve?
Social listening means keeping up with what’s new and any changes in your business sector.
But that’s not all!
Here’s what social listening is about.
Find out the latest news from your business sector
Effective social listening shows you the trends in your sector and what your competitors are doing. In fields where standards and regulations frequently change, social listening is key.
Discover what people are saying about your products/business
Social listening (or social monitoring) allows you to collect client feedback about:
- Your products
- Your services
- Your customer service
- Your website UX
- Delivery solutions available on your e-commerce site (if suitable), etc.
Tracking online mentions of your business allows you to be responsive and proactive. For example, if a user mentions a bug, your daily social listening will enable you to fix it fast.
Read and respond to client reviews
Your clients can leave you reviews on various platforms (such as Google, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, TripAdvisor, etc.). Social listening helps you gather these in one place and respond quickly. Reviews will show you what your clients want. And even if they’re negative, you can still get something from them.
Improve your online reputation and boost your sales
The points above (being proactive and responding to all reviews and/or scores) will allow you to improve your online reputation. And this is useful: 66.7% of buying decisions are influenced by online consumer reviews. If you respond to every comment, your prospects will know you’re doing all you can to improve.
How does social listening work?
To “listen” effectively, you need to:
- Schedule time for it daily or weekly as required
- Create alerts for relevant keywords
- Select and sort your sources based on their importance, sector and/or your social listening goals
- Create an end-of-month summary with the key information
- Use a social listening tool to optimise the whole process
Your monthly summary will help you remember the key info and reuse it effectively. For example, if your clients are concerned about how your products are made, you can post on Instagram to reassure them. Or you could write a blog post or add a page to your website.
✍️
Comparisons, reports, infographics, statistics, images… All content can have a positive or negative impact on your brand image.
Which social listening tools are best?
Now you know about the context and good practice, here are the best social listening tools.
1. Meltwater
Meltwater goes through the international press and social media looking for data to reveal your target’s fundamental needs. Nothing escapes it, from blog posts to press releases and forum discussions. The Meltwater Media Intelligence suite allows you to:
- Track an unlimited number of keywords
- Receive real-time alerts so you can seize commercial opportunities and manage crises quickly
- Create detailed dashboards about your media monitoring and share them with your team
The price for this social listening tool is only available on request.
2. Talkwalker
Talkwalker Alerts is a free online alerts service that gathers all your social media mentions in one place and sends them to you via e-mail. As well as blogs, news sites and forums, Talkwalker analyses social media content.
It’s simple to use: you select the terms, keywords, phrases and brands you want to track and how often you’d like to receive results. If, for example, you want one email a week, that’s what you select!
3. Synthesio
Synthesio uses AI technology. It combs through data from social media, blogs and forums across 195 countries and over 80 languages.
This is handy if you want to expand your international activity, particularly at the market research stage.
Synthesio’s price is also available on request. You can request a free trial if you want to test it out.
4. Mention
The Mention social listening tool helps you track your online reputation and the digital strategies your competitors are using.
Another helpful feature of this tool is that you can manage your posts across social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram) and schedule them using a digital editorial calendar. You can also respond to mentions on Facebook and Twitter from the tool itself.
Mention’s pricing is as follows:
- €41/month (solo)
- €83/month (pro)
- €149/month (pro plus)
5. BuzzSumo
Has someone recommended BuzzSumo to you?
If you have an online store, this tool may be very useful.
With BuzzSumo, you can easily find:
- Viral content by country
- Ideals for articles you could post about topics of your choice
- Questions asked on forums/Amazon about a product
- Influencers to contact to improve your brand image
- Your latest (positive and negative) client reviews
This social listening tool has over 50 features in total. And this versatility naturally affects the price. Monthly BuzzSumo subscriptions range from $119 per month for the Basic package to $999 per month for the business package.
6. Awario
A more affordable option (available from €29 per month), Awario monitors every corner of the internet to help you track what’s being said. Using this software, you’ll be first to read conversations that could affect your business.
Awario helps you monitor how many mentions you’re getting and their impact. You can sort positive, neutral and negative comments for more clarity when it comes to your monthly assessment.
7. Zoho Social
It’s easy to track all posts relevant to your business with Zoho Social!
You can monitor the buzz around your brand with @mentions and keyword search columns. If you want, you can also receive alerts whenever someone mentions you or likes your posts.
With this tool, you can respond to users from your computer or one of the Zoho Social apps available on Android and iOS.
8. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is one of the best social listening tools. And, what’s more, it’s free.
This tool automatically sends you email notifications when a term is used on the internet. For example, you could create an alert for “trending wallpaper”. Choose the frequency, source types, language and country, and the email address for notifications. You can set it up for as many terms as you like.
9. Flipboard
Flipboard brings together news, popular articles and conversations about your particular interest or passion. Available on smartphone, tablet and PC, Flipboard creates a personalised magazine using various sources.
N.B. This one isn’t about monitoring your competition or improving your online reputation. Instead, the idea behind Flipboard is to keep you updated about trends and news in the sectors of your choice.
10. Inoreader
Along the same lines as Flipboard, Inoreader shows you information as soon as it’s available. You have a custom feed with posts from the people, brands and companies you’re interested in.
You can also track brands and content creators on Facebook, Reddit, Mastodon and Telegram. All this means you will discover emerging trends and key future events for your sector.
Inoreader’s standard package is free, just like its competitor Flipboard!
Recap of the top social listening tools
Here is a summary of the top social listening tools:
- Meltwater
- Walktalker
- Synthesio
- Mention
- BuzzSumo
- Awario
- Zoho Social
- Google Alerts
- Inoreader
We suggest you choose your social listening tool according to your budget, goals and the features on offer.
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