Social media monitoring has become indispensable for modern brands. Listening to conversations happening about your company online provides invaluable consumer intelligence that can directly inform strategy.
With 92% of people trusting recommendations from others over branded content, monitoring tools allow you to tap into user-generated content as a vital feedback loop.
But with new platforms launching all the time in this rapidly evolving landscape, it can be challenging to keep up.
To help, I‘ve compiled this comprehensive comparison of the top 12 social media monitoring tools for 2024 across a range of capabilities and budgets.
What is Social Media Monitoring?
Social media monitoring refers to the practice of tracking mentions of your brand, products, services, competitors, industry, and other relevant keywords across social platforms and the wider web.
Advanced listening tools empower you to:
- See what people are saying about your company in real-time
- Analyze brand sentiment
- Identify influencers and brand advocates
- Benchmark performance against competitors
- Uncover market trends and opportunities
- Manage crises before they spiral
- And much more…
With so much conversation happening online every second, monitoring tools help cut through the noise to deliver actionable insights.
Key Social Media Monitoring Features
When evaluating monitoring tools, here are some key features to look for:
Listening and Alerts: The core function – how does the tool track mentions across the web? What sources can it monitor? Does it offer real-time alerts?
Sentiment Analysis: Automated analysis of whether brand mentions are positive, negative or neutral. Critical for reputation management.
Analytics and Reporting: Metrics focused on volume, reach, influencers, trends over time, and more. Visual data is key.
Competitor Benchmarking: How does tool stack up monitoring performance of competitors for comparison?
CRM Integration: Can monitoring workflow integrate with existing CRM platform to enhance lead generation capabilities?
Publishing and Engagement: Any built-in scheduling or engagement features to save time managing profiles?
I kept these criteria in mind when selecting the 12 best platforms highlighted below ordered by capability.
1. Brand24 – Best Overall Social Media Monitoring
Brand24 is my choice for best overall social media monitoring thanks to an unrivaled feature set covering all key capabilities.
While their entry-level plan monitoring is limited to 2,000 mentions per month, it’s an ideal option for solopreneurs and small business owners. The tool tracks brand mentions across social media, news sites, blogs, forums, and more – delivering alerts in real-time or via scheduled digests.
Powerful Boolean search lets you fine tune keywords for tracking. And the sophisticated analytics dashboards allow you to quickly benchmark performance and analyze sentiment trends. One of Brand24’s most unique offerings is its AI-powered advertising value equivalence metric, calculating the paid advertising value of earned media mentions.
With its balance of intuitive workflow plus enterprise-level functionality, Brand24 is a sound investment for most marketing teams.
Key Features:
- Boolean Keyword Targeting
- Sentiment Analysis
- Advertising Value Equivalence
- Real-Time Alerts
- Custom Reporting
Pricing: Starts at $99 per month
2. Social Status – Best Social Media Performance Analytics
While Social Status doesn’t offer social listening capabilities, it is hands down the most powerful social media analytics platform available – making it easy to benchmark performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Compatible with Meta’s key properties (Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Ads Manager) in addition to YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn and more, Social Status compiles an exhaustive index of engagement metrics from all your connected profiles. Drilling down, you can analyze historical post performance as well as follower demographics.
Standout features include the ability to monitor competitors’ profiles for side-by-side benchmarking and an influencer toolkit to help optimize partnerships. If analytics is your top priority, Social Status is a must-have.
Key Features:
- Extended Meta Integration
- Competitor Benchmarking
- Historical Post Analysis
- Audience Demographics
- Influencer Management
Pricing: Starts at $11 per month
3. Awario – Best for Social Selling
Awario takes social listening to the next level for savvy sales teams by automatically detecting new leads in online conversations.
The platform tracks mentions of your brand, products and competitors across social media, news sites, forums, blogs and more – with the ability to instantly jump into any conversation one-click. Awario then goes the extra mile by identifying disgruntled customers, support inquiries, and buyers interested in alternatives prime for outreach.
This process seamlessly surfaces promising new business opportunities from everyday chatter that would otherwise go untouched. For its seamless lead gen power, Awario is ideal for social selling.
Key Features:
- Lead Detection
- One-Click Conversation Entry
- Source Variety
- Alert Digest Options
Pricing: Starts at $49 per month
4. Sprout Social – Best for Large Enterprises
Sprout Social is the Cadillac of social media management stacked with advanced functionality for large enterprises.
Their sophisticated social listening provides expansive options for monitoring keywords across the social web paired with AI-enriched analytics for streamlined reporting. Compelling features include historical data analysis, predictive volume forecasts and an innovative Smart Inbox consolidating messaging, mentions and comments for ease of engagement.
Robust publishing and scheduling features make it possible for large teams to coordinate complex omnichannel campaigns seamlessly. With white glove support and APIs allowing deeper integration, Sprout is geared for the biggest brands balancing multiple stakeholders, regions and objectives.
Key Features:
- Historical Data Analysis
- Predictive Volume Forecasting
- Smart Unified Inbox
- Robust Publishing & Scheduling
- Enterprise Support Resources
Pricing: Starts at $999 per month
5. BuzzSumo – Best for Viral Content Discovery
While BuzzSumo doesn’t offer social listening capabilities, its expansive content discovery toolkit is invaluable for creating high-performing social content optimized for sharing.
Analyzing billions of web pages and social media posts, BuzzSumo makes it easy to uncover the most engaging content by topic or competitor – revealing valuable signals about audience interests and viral tendencies.
Standout features include backlink analysis to assess domain authority levels that correspond with traffic lift and an innovative Related Content module serving up complementary articles ideal for social cross-promotion. For sharable content inspiration, no tool compares to BuzzSumo.
Key Features:
- Viral Content Discovery
- Competitor Research
- Backlink Analysis
- Related Content Recommendations
- Publisher Prospecting
Pricing: Starts at $99 per month
6. Keyhole – Best Beginner-Friendly Option
Catering to small business owners and solopreneurs, Keyhole makes social listening approachable for total beginners without sacrificing functionality.
Their easy-to-use platform tracks mentions across leading social networks plus news and blogs – compiling key metrics into digestible dashboards and push notifications when volume spikes. Sentiment analysis and historical reporting reveal perception trends.
I especially appreciate Keyhole’s simplified influencer analytics making it a breeze to discover and evaluate potential partners. For anyone looking to get off the ground with monitoring without the learning curve, Keyhole hits the mark.
Key Features:
- Beginner-Friendly Interface
- Broad Channel Monitoring
- Historical Reporting
- Influencer Discovery & Analysis
- Push Notifications
Pricing: Starts at $99 per month
7. Talkwalker – Best for In-Depth Competitive Analysis
Talkwalker stands out for facilitating an unparalleled depth of competitive benchmarking spanning brand health, share of voice, audience segmentation and more.
Sophisticated listening settings allow you to dial into precise keyword groupings across a expansive range of platforms. Automated sentiment analysis is enriched by conversation clusters providing contextual understanding. Impressive image recognition builds out a visual listening feed.
Generous analytics offer multidimensional insight into comparative performance to inform everything from messaging to partnerships. For its ability to expose key strategic advantages, Talkwalker leads the pack.
Key Features:
- Granular Competitive Tracking
- Image Recognition
- Conversation Clustering
- Sentiment & Demographic Analysis
- Share of Voice Benchmarking
Pricing: Custom Quotes
8. Sprinklr – Best for Unified CX Management
Sprinklr offers one of the most unified social media management platforms optimal for omnichannel customer experience.
Alongside robust social listening and analytics, their solution seamlessly integrates adjacent capabilities like cross-channel care, employee advocacy, paid advertising and more. This allows brands to bring crucial CX workflows into alignment under one roof.
With top-notch business intelligence enable by AI, Sprinklr empowers informed decision making across key functions. For end-to-end customer-centricity, no suite is more comprehensive.
Key Features:
- Unified CX Infrastructure
- Cross-Department Alignment
- Advertising Management
- Smart Workflow Automation
- Enterprise Integration Support
Pricing: Custom Quotes
9. Digimind – Most Configurable Platform
Digimind is a flexible social intelligence solution making it possible to customize package components aligned with internal infrastructure needs.
Alongside their well-rounded monitoring and analytics offering, I’m particularly impressed by Digimind Fusion – an innovation module allowing you to fuse social data feeds with internal data sources like CRM, survey and sales systems centralizing access to a holistic business intelligence foundation.
For technology and research teams interested in leveraging social analytics across the organization, Digimind’s API-based integrations enable profound possibilities.
Key Features:
- Highly Customizable
- CRM & Database Integration
- International Scope
- Image Monitoring & Analysis
- Predictive Modeling Functionality
Pricing: Custom Quotes
10. Nuvi – Best for Humanizing Brand Understanding
Forward-thinking Nuvi enhances monitoring and analytics with listening capabilities tapping further into humanizing unstructured data for deeper consumer empathy.
Expanding beyond keywords and hashtags, Nuvi offers innovative emotional analysis detecting subtext cues within open-ended conversations on social media. Combining machine learning with human intelligence, these insights add invaluable texture to brand tracking.
A highlight is expedited analysis including exploratory dashboard views immediately upon launch saving hours waiting for algorithms. For elevating human connections, Nuvi leads strategically.
Key Features:
- Emotional Analysis
- Rapid Reporting
- Expert Analysis Blend
- Location-Based Tracking
- Historical Conversation Audit
Pricing: Custom Quotes
11. Socialinsider – Best Budget Friendly Option
Making robust monitoring practical for bootstrapped brands on a budget, Socialinsider impresses with value.
Covering major networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with options to mix-and-match channel bundles to needs, Socialinsider compiles key engagement metrics into intuitive reports and competitive benchmarking snapshots.
I especially appreciate out-of-the-box templates like the SEO Social Report assessing opportunities between sites. Approachable pricing makes it realistic for most small businesses.
Key Features:
- Channel Bundles
- Competitive Benchmarking
- Easy Reporting
- Budget Friendly
- SEO Social Analysis
Pricing: Starts at $25 per month
12. Zoho Social – Best Free Entry Point
Zoho Social makes it possible to get started with social media monitoring without any financial investment, offering a forever free version.
While functionality is limited, the free tool tracks mentions of selected keywords across leading platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – compiling volume and sentiment metrics into accessible reports.
For solopreneurs and microbusinesses not yet ready to commit budget testing the waters first, Zoho Social is an ideal entry point.
Key Features:
- 100% Free Access
- Sentiment Tracking
- Channel Limitations
- Entry-Level Reporting
Pricing: Free
How to Select the Right Social Media Monitoring Tool
Withso many options on the market, selecting the right social media monitoring tool for your needs deserves careful consideration:
Set Clear Goals: Get aligned on your purpose for monitoring and translate needs into defined requirements. Is competitive tracking a priority? Analytics granularity? Catching leads? Real-time alerts? Build out key criteria.
Audit Internal Workflows: How could improved monitoring integrate with your tech stack? Do you need CRM syncing? White labeling? Walker meetings? Understanding cross-functional implications in essential.
Compare Packages: Balance feature needs against budget realities – but also consider room for growth. While startups should avoid overbuying, established players need headroom.
Leverage Free Trials: Take advantage of trial offers to experience software firsthand. Importing actual data assets often clarifies strengths vs limitations accurately gauging fit.
As online conversation volume continues exponential growth, listening in via sophisticated monitoring technology has become indispensable brand infrastructure now well within reach for businesses of all sizes and specialties. Paying attention pays dividends.
