Here’s a better way: Use social media monitoring tools. What is social media monitoring? Businesses engage in social media monitoring for several reasons, such as to connect with their customers, to provide customer support, to measure their social media reach, or to understand social media trends. To “listen”, businesses use social media monitoring tools to collect social mentions and track keywords, hashtags, and URLs that they are interested in. For example, some are standalone monitoring tools while others have it as a feature within a social media management tool. Here’s an overview of all the tools in this blog post: Buffer Reply Hootsuite Sprout Social Agorapulse Zoho Social Brand24 Mention Social Mention Keyhole Trackur Buzzlogix TweetDeck Iconosquare Tailwind Sendible Union Metrics HubSpot Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Prices: Starting at $50 per month and $250 per month Once you’ve researched all your options and if you think Buffer Reply might suit your needs, we would love for you to check out our webinar on engaging with your customers using Buffer Reply. Agorapulse Discover what people are really saying about your business Description: Agorapulse is also an all-in-one social media management tool, which comes with scheduling, monitoring, engagement, and analytics features. On its custom company plan, you can get in-depth insights and reports of your brand mentions. The social media management features are included in the plans starting from $200 per month.
How do you know if your customers (and potential customers) are talking about you on social media?
If they tagged your social media profile in their posts, you could check your notifications. If they didn’t, maybe you could search on each social media platform every time you want to find out. Sounds tedious? Here’s a better way:
Use social media monitoring tools.
There’s a great deal of wonderful social media tools out there. Among them are tools built specifically to help you pick out relevant conversations on social media — social media monitoring tools. Some of these tools allow you to monitor multiple social media profiles on the different social media platforms from a single place. There are even some that let you monitor social media trends and keywords.
There’s likely one that suits your needs. Let’s take a look at the 20 best ones for small and medium businesses!
What is social media monitoring?
Social media monitoring is the process of listening out for social media conversations that are relevant to your brand. Businesses engage in social media monitoring for several reasons, such as to connect with their customers, to provide customer support, to measure their social media reach, or to understand social media trends.
To “listen”, businesses use social media monitoring tools to collect social mentions and track keywords, hashtags, and URLs that they are interested in.
Social media monitoring is also sometimes known as social listening.
The 20 best social media monitoring tools for SMBs
All the social media monitoring tools listed below are not arranged in any particular order. They are all great in their own ways and will suit different social media monitoring needs.
For example, some are standalone monitoring tools while others have it as a feature within a social media management tool. Some gather individual social media mentions and messages while others analyze sets of social media content and trends.
Here’s an overview of all the tools in this blog post:
I’m sure I’m missing some great tools out there, and it’ll be great to get your help. If you have tried and love any social media monitoring tools for small and medium businesses, I would love for you to share them in the comments section below, including why you love them. Thank you!
Compare the tools easily with this spreadsheet
To make it easier for you to compare the tools, I’ve created a spreadsheet with the following information of each social media monitoring tool:
- How much do the plans cost?
- Does it have a free plan, free trial, or free demo?
- Is it a standalone monitoring tool or is it part of a social media management tool?
- What platforms are supported?
- What are the main monitoring features?
- Can I reply directly through the tool?
1. Buffer Reply
All your social engagement in one team inbox
Description: Buffer Reply organizes your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram engagement into neatly-threaded conversations in one team inbox. You will have all the information you need to know about each customer to provide personalized responses. Oh, and you can easily add emojis and GIFs.
Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram
Prices: Starting at $50 per month and $250 per month
Once you’ve researched all your options and if you think Buffer Reply might suit your needs, we would love for you to check out our webinar on engaging with your customers using Buffer Reply.
2. Hootsuite
Effectively track topics that matter—then respond quickly
Description: Hootsuite’s monitoring tool is part of its entire package of social media management tools. If you were to subscribe to one of their plans, you can also enjoy other features such as scheduling and analytics.
With Hootsuite, you can set up unlimited streams of social media content based on your mentions, selected keywords, hashtags, or locations. Furthermore, Hootsuite integrates with more than a hundred apps to help you do more from its dashboard.
Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+, blogs, forums, and more
Prices: Free, $19 per month, $99 per month, $499 per month, and enterprise pricing
3. Sprout Social
Intelligent, real-time social media monitoring with Sprout
Description: Similar to Hootsuite, Sprout Social’s monitoring and engagement tools are part of its social media management software. Sprout Social has two separate features for social monitoring and engagement.
In the Smart Inbox, you’ll get all your social media mentions and messages. With the discovery feature, you can search for particular keywords on Twitter or Instagram (for example when someone mentions your brand without tagging your social media profile).
Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+
Prices (per user): $99 per month, $149 per month, and $249 per month
4. Agorapulse
Discover what people are really saying about your business
Description: Agorapulse is also an all-in-one social media management tool, which comes with scheduling, monitoring, engagement, and analytics features.
Its inbox collects all your social media mentions while its listening feature allows you to search for keywords, URL, and handle on Twitter. Agorapulse also allows you to monitor comments on your Facebook and Instagram ads.
Platforms supported: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
Prices: $49 per month, $99 per month, $199 per month, and $299 per month
5. Zoho Social
Social media management software for growing businesses
Description: Zoho Social is a social media management dashboard where you can publish and schedule posts, monitor social…
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