Social monitoring or even a social media audit template is simply being aware and paying attention to what people are saying online. Going a little deeper, companies are using social monitoring tools to help keep an eye on these conversations because there are SO many of them happening every single day. The truth is, it would be impossible for an individual to keep up with everything without the help of a trusted social media monitoring tool.
Once you pick the right tool to meet your needs and reach your goals, the key is to act upon what you’re seeing. But first, let’s get to the tools!
Awario
Awario is a fairly new social media monitoring tool that offers an affordable price, but comes with enterprise-level capabilities. You can tell Awario to keep an eye out for mentions of your brand and even your competition, but go a level deeper and monitor queries that your customers may be using.
Awario is compatible with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, and anything online. There is also a built-in social selling feature called Leads that will help you build more qualified leads and generate sales. Another cool thing about Awario is that you can try it out for free to see if it’s the social media monitoring tool for you!
Agorapulse
If you don’t have a social media scheduling tool already, or are looking for something that offers a little more bang for your buck, Agorapulse may be the tool for you. Not only does it provide social media listening, but it also can schedule all of your social media posts for you. You can also use Agorapulse to assign certain social conversations to members of your team. Enjoy its built-in CRM to keep track of prospects, as well.
Keep track of all of your tagged mentions, along with the keywords of your choice. It’s only compatible with social media platforms (including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube), so you can’t use it to monitor blogs, but this is where you’ll have to refer back to your goals and needs and decide what features you absolutely need in a tool. Agorapule is a good tool if you’re looking to find influences and listen to social media conversations.
Brandwatch
If you’re focused on analytics, Brandwatch is a beast, and the price reflects that. Brandwatch has the capability to monitor just about anything you can think of and then create reports that you can turn into a PowerPoint presentation. If you use other tools such as Hootsuite or Google Analytics, Brandwatch has the capability to pull in data from these sources (and others) as well. You can use this tool to monitor social media networks (including Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, among others) along with blogs, news sites, and anything that lives online. The robust analytics provides demographic data and up to 30-days of historical numbers.
Keyhole
Keyhole is similar to Agorapulse in that it is a social media monitoring tool and also allows you to schedule your social media posts. You can track hashtags and keywords in Instagram and Twitter. You can also listen to conversations happening on blogs and news sites. It offers analytics, including mention maps so you can visually see where in the world people are that are talking about your business.
Mention
Mention is a social media monitoring tool that really focuses on what’s happening right now. It easily shows you what has been said in the last 24 hours, and while older information is available, you have to request it. Because of this, mention would be a great tool if you’re looking to really focus on responding to customers in real-time to improve your online reputation and customer service. Mention works with social media networks, along with blogs, news sites, and anything online.
NetBase
NetBase applies next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) across all social media networks and the web to make it easier for you to engage with your current and potential customers. With NetBase, you’ll be able to see:
? Consumer preferences
? Competitive insights
? Brand passion and sentiment
? Sentiment drivers
? Trending topics
? Consumer behavior
Use this tool to instantly see how your owned, earned, and partnered media is affecting social conversations anywhere online. This way, you can adjust your strategy in real-time by identifying the most engaging content and responding to it. Plus, you can finally see how your partnerships are contributing to your brand perception and what requires additional attention from you.
Because NetBase uses AI, it is the most accurate understanding of the human language at scale, which can detect emotions, behaviors, attributes, hashtags, people, and brands. Gain a deep understanding of customer preferences, passions, and behaviors to drive your customer experience initiatives and make smarter, faster business decisions.
TweetDeck
If you’re looking to focus on Twitter, TweetDeck may be your social media monitoring tool of choice. TweetDeck can monitor multiple Twitter accounts at once, tracking mentions, searches, and keywords of your choice. The best thing about TweetDeck is that it’s completely free, so you could always use it with other tools as well.
Of course, there are many other social media monitoring tools out there and one of them make work best for you — we just picked a few of our favorites. Be sure to choose a tool that’s truly going to work for you. A social media monitoring tool is an investment, and if you pick the right one and take full advantage of it, it will pay for itself before you know it. The key is to do your research, use the tool if possible (say yes to free trials), and see if it’s really going to help you or be a tool that doesn’t get used. The choice is yours!
