15 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools

When it comes to the presence in the social media context, monitoring tools are almost essential for brands that need to be relevant online. These complex tools allow organizations to monitor, assess, and engage with social media discussions in real time, which are essential tools for contemporary marketers. With the advances in the social media area, these specific types of social media monitoring tools have also advanced by including artificial intelligence, and machine learning into it.

Choosing and implementing proper social media monitoring tools that can help your company as a small enterprise owner or as a member of a large company’s marketing department is always critical. Additionally, using storyboarding software for marketers can enhance the process of planning and visualizing marketing strategies, helping to align campaigns with your monitoring and engagement efforts.

What Are Social Media Monitoring?

Social media monitoring tools are innovative solutions for tracking, collecting, and analyzing conversations and trends in social media spaces for businesses. It is worth stressing that these tools do not only focus on pure tracking of mentions and engagement figures – these are sophisticated tools that offer insights into brand awareness, competitor benchmarking, and trends. Integrating a social media scheduling tool with your social media can streamline your content planning and posting process, allowing businesses to stay organized and ensure consistent, timely engagement with their audience. 

Notably, contemporary SMCM tools use powerful routines to index very large volumes of content and to deliver elegant real-time analysis and usable intelligence. They assist organizations in finding out more about their target market, analyzing how a campaign is performing, detecting possible risks and challenges, and lastly learning where the audience might be active in other areas. 

These platforms act as the brains and heart of brands where they constantly interact with your target market as well as monitor market trends.

Benefits of Social Media Monitoring Tools

• Enhanced Brand Awareness: A tool to spy and keep track of brand identities in several channels, useful for the business to get acquainted with its online reputation.
• Improved Customer Service: Improve the rate of customer satisfaction by responding to complaints and questions faster than competitors.
• Competitive Intelligence: Monitor your competitors, their activities, strategies, and their customer’s feedback to get important market intelligence information.
• Crisis Management: Application of PR policies in decision-making processes and conflicts arise when problems that may cause bad publicity are detected early.
• Content Strategy Optimization: Who engaged your audience and what kind of content works better – identify these trends to produce materials with better results.

Comparison Table 

Top 15 Social Media Monitoring Tools

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the most popular web social networks, successfully used for its versatility and as a multi-platform monitoring and posting tool. This means that the users are able to monitor social media performance in real-time, and they are able to have detailed figures of the performance in a given social network. That is why Hootsuite has been appreciated most of all for the scheduling tools that allow us to organize content posting effectively. 

Key Features:

• Audience analysis across various social networking sites
• The state-of-the-art scheduling and content calendar
• Communication and documentation applications

Pros:

• Platform coverage in detail
• It also has very good features of teamwork.
• Strong analytical tools and clear reporting

Cons:

• Grossing up for better amenities
• The learning curve for new users
• Few options are available in free service.

Ideal For: 

• Both small and large enterprises and agencies

Pricing: 

• Professional: ₹1,915 per month/mo
• Team: ₹7,540 per month/mo*
• Enterprise: Custom Pricing

Website: https://www.hootsuite.com/ 

Rating: 4.5/5

2. Sprout Social

Sprout Social has all the routes and routers for social media management, communication, and reporting. It doesn’t require any introduction as this is one of the most powerful and all-encompassing social monitoring and reporting tools out there. Overall Sprout Social is good for getting valuable information and the tools it offers, for instance, Smart Inbox that centralizes messages across all platforms, and its rich analytics that give comprehensive data about the audience and its activities. 

Key Features:

• Accounts for single and consolidated messaging
• Higher level of listening and surveillance
• Automated reporting tools

Pros:

• Intuitive user interface
• Comprehensive analytics
• Strong customer support

Cons:

• Premium pricing structure
• Limited custom report options
• No free plan is available

Ideal For: 

• Mid-sized to large businesses

Pricing:

• Standard: $199/mo
• Professional: $299/mo
• Advanced: $399/mo
• Enterprise: Custom Pricing

Website: https://sproutsocial.com/ 

Rating: 4.7/5

3. Brandwatch

Brandwatch is an advanced-level of social media monitoring tool which is used to involve comprehensive analytical features. Competitive analysis and consumer sentiment data are what the service offers businesses. Two features set Brandwatch apart: Digital identification which makes it possible to monitor customers’ opinions and trends in real-time backed by Artificial Intelligence.

Key Features:

• Advanced social listening
• AI-powered analytics tool
• Custom query builder

Pros:

• Powerful data analysis
• Extensive coverage
• Detailed reporting

Cons:

• High price point
• Complex interface
• Steep learning curve

Ideal For: 

• Big companies and advertising companies

Pricing: 

• Custom pricing (Enterprise)

Website: https://www.brandwatch.com/ 

Rating: 4.8/5

4. Mention

Mention specializes in real-time brand monitoring for brand mentions in social media and the whole web. The competition analysis options let businesses keep abreast of their competition to enable them to change their tactics. Mention provides rich sentiment analysis features enabling the client to know how the public perceives his or her brand or products.

Key Features:

• Real-time monitoring
• Sentiment analysis
• Competitive tracking

Pros:

• Easy to set up
• Good value for money
• Comprehensive monitoring

Cons:

• Limited historical data
• Basic reporting features
• API limitations

Ideal For: 

• Small to medium businesses

Pricing: 

• Solo: $41/month
• Pro: $83/month
• Pro Plus: $149/month
• Company: Custom Pricing

Website: https://mention.com/en/

Rating: 4.3/5

5. Agorapulse

Agorapulse is a social media management tool that is particularly optimized for social listening and teamwork. It offers a single topic-centric view of messages, mentions, and comments which makes it easy for a user to fully manage his social presence. Automation of Agorapulse’s moderation and team collaboration features also make it easy for a business to review and approve content promptly. 

Key Features:

• Unified social inbox
• Automated moderation
• Team workflow tools

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Good team features
• Excellent support

Cons:

• Limited custom reports
• Higher-tier pricing
• Basic listening features

Ideal For: 

• Marketing agencies and teams

Pricing: 

• Standard: $79/month
• Professional: $79/month
• Advanced: $79/month

Website: https://www.agorapulse.com/ 

Rating: 4.4/5

6. Buffer

Buffer is a widely known social media management software that is easy to use for every user and the most inexpensive. That allows its users to schedule posts, monitor hash-tagged engagement, as well as measure the performance of a social outlet. Buffer’s clean design is also excellent for small business owners or even the one-man band who simply want to easily schedule and monitor their social media accounts. While it may not offer complicated analytics which are available on popular advanced tools, it has simple data on content efficiency, which can help businesses to fine-tune the approaches. 

Key Features:

• Post scheduling
• Analytics dashboard
• Engagement tracking

Pros:

• Simple interface
• Affordable pricing
• Good basic features

Cons:

• Limited monitoring depth
• Basic analytics
• Limited customization

Ideal For: 

• Small Business and One Person Business.

Pricing: 

• Free: $0
• Essential: $5/month
• Team: $10/month

Website: https://buffer.com/ 

Rating: 4.2/5

7. Keyhole

An innovative tool traveling mostly around hashtag implementation and monitoring your company’s social media campaign, Keyhole is highly relevant to businesses that are engaged in or focused on a particular campaign or influencer marketing. Because of such constant update, it provides relevant information about the performance of hashtags suitable for business people as they help in evaluating the success of the campaign. Its identification of influencers also helps the brands to determine and find influencers they require for the promotion and enhance social media engagement.

Key Features:

• Hashtag analytics
• Real-time tracking
• Influencer identification

Pros:

• Strong hashtag monitoring
• Good visualization
• Real-time data

Cons:

• Limited platform integration
• That is why small businesses incur high costs to they hire services of such a type.
• Basic reporting features

Ideal For: 

• Campaign-focused businesses

Pricing: 

• Contact For Pricing

Website: https://keyhole.co/ 

Rating: 4.3/5

8. eClincher

eClincher is a social media management tool which hence provides a strong component of automation. Users can be able to plan for their posts, assess their performance, and also communicate with their followers through an AI-instigated interface.

Key Features:

• AI intelligent queues that auto-post the contents.
• Social media analytics
• Influencer discovery tools

Pros:

• Excellent automation features
• Easy-to-use interface
• A lot of help for image repositories

Cons:

• Some specifics that one might find in free plans are missing
• Some support for video scheduling
• Complex for beginners

Ideal For: 

• Social media managers marketers and business owners with an inclination toward automation

Pricing: 

• Paid plans start at $59/month

Rating: 4.3/5

Website: https://eclincher.com 

9. Sendible

This we discovered when looking at Sendible, which is one of the most extensive Social Media Management tools out there, built specifically for marketing agencies. It is a tool that covers the features of monitoring, scheduling, and reporting and provides precise statistics on social networks. The content suggestion function allows the users to find content that they can share with their feeds, whereas the smart schedule makes recommendations on the best time to post. 

Key Features:

• Content suggestion engine
• Smart scheduling
• Custom reporting

Pros:

• Good value for money
• Strong content features
• Multiple integrations

Cons:

• Complex interface
• Limited listening features
• Slow customer support

Ideal For: 

• Marketing agencies

Pricing: 

• Premium: ₹566.67/ month
• Premium+: ₹1,133.33/ month

Website: https://resources.dfuob.com/resource/tweetdeck/ 

Rating: 4.2/5

10. Talkwalker

Talkwalker is one of the best social media monitoring tools, an enterprise-level social listening and analytics tool that is reputed to provide powerful features augmented with artificial intelligence. It provides extensive social media analysis and distinguishes images so that users can detect their brand even in pictures. With the help of the features that Talkwalker offers for crisis monitoring, a business will be well-prepared for the potential PR problem and emerging trends that signal negative sentiment in the market. As a comprehensive social media analytics tool, Talkwalker allows businesses to gain deep insights into their social media performance, audience behavior, and market trends, empowering them to make data-driven decisions.

Key Features:

• AI-powered analytics
• Image recognition
• Crisis monitoring

Pros:

• Comprehensive coverage
• Advanced features
• Strong analytics

Cons:

• High pricing
• Complex setup
• Steep learning curve

Ideal For: 

• Large enterprises

Pricing: 

• Custom pricing 

Website: https://www.talkwalker.com/ 

Rating: 4.6/5

11. Emplifi

Emplifi is an Artificial Intelligence integrated social media marketing solutions provider with robust monitoring features. Competitive analysis, audience targeting, and performance insights make up what it provides for businesses on social media. Thus, Emplifi offers predictive analysis and content suggestions based on artificial intelligence to assist businesses in being trend-savvy.

The platform also features benchmarking tools which may be used to make comparisons with other firms. By utilizing social media marketing tools like Emplifi, businesses can gain a comprehensive understanding of their social media performance, optimize their strategies, and stay ahead of trends in their industry.

Key Features:

• AI content insights
• Competitive analysis
• Performance reporting

Pros:

• Strong AI features
• Good benchmarking
• Detailed analytics

Cons:

• Premium pricing
• Complex interface
• Limited integration

Ideal For: 

• Mid to large businesses

Pricing: 

• Contact For Pricing

Website: https://emplifi.io/ 

Rating: 4.4/5

12. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is primarily a content searching and analysis tool, which enables users to find content and monitor sharing activity in social networks. The first feature of this type is in identifying key influencers within a given industry that a business operates in, with another feature being alerting users of trending topics. BuzzSumo can be uniquely useful when it comes to the discovery of content since it will allow content marketers to take the steps needed to generate competitive content that is shareable.

Key Features:

• Content discovery
• Influencer identification
• Trending content alerts

Pros:

• Strong content insights
• Good influencer features
• Easy to use

Cons:

• Limited social monitoring
• Expensive for small teams
• Basic reporting

Ideal For: 

• Content marketers

Pricing: 

• Content Creation: $199/mo
• PR & Comms: $299 /mo
• Suite: $499 /mo
• Enterprise: $999 /mo

Website: https://buzzsumo.com/ 

Rating: 4.3/5

13. CoSchedule

CoSchedule was created for marketing departments and authors. Another peculiar option of the service is ReQueue, which employs Artificial Intelligence to repost your most popular content when you don’t have fresh content.

Key Features:

• Free marketing calendar
• ReQueue feature that provides the right social media engagement time.
• Team collaboration tools

Pros:

• Great for content marketers
• Automatic rosters depending on the performance
• Team collaboration made easy

Cons:

• Higher likelihood of having a pin (as limited in the free version)
• As a result, many of these devices may be slightly more expensive to provide customers with more of the advanced features they may desire.
• May not apply to the small business.

Ideal For: 

• Content marketers and teams always seeking to improve the scheduling of social media posts

Pricing: 

• Free: $0
• Social Calendar: $19
• Agency Calendar: $49
• Content Calendar: Contact For Pricing
• Marketing Suite: Contact For Pricing

Website: https://coschedule.com                                                   

Rating: 4.4/5

14. HubSpot

HubSpot is a comprehensive fully integrated inbound marketing system that includes a highly effective social media management tool. Businesses can use it to plan and immediately publish posts to social networks while gaining valuable data on the efficiency of social media marketing activities.

Key Features:

• Social media management tools
• All-in-one marketing platform
• Interconnects social networks, email marketing, and search engine optimization together with client relationship management.

Pros:

• A perfect instrument for inbound marketing
• Compatibility with HubSpot’s CRM and other marketing platforms
• Able analytical as well as reporting tools

Cons:

• Costly to a small business outfit
• Some social media platform integration functionalities
• Can be very confusing for those that are new to the field

Ideal For: 

• Businesses, which would require an all-encompassing marketing plan that incorporates social media together with other forms of inbound marketing.

Pricing: 

• Starter: US$15/mo
• Customer Platform: US$15/mo
• Hub Professional: US$15/mo
• Enterprise:  US$15/mo

Website: https://www.hubspot.com/

Rating: 4.8/5

15. Brand24

Brand24 is a tool designed to monitor social media with two features that indeed stand out: mention tracking and sentiment analysis. You get notified anytime your brand or products are out there in the social networks so businesses can track what customers are saying about them. The track mention and discussion volume that is provided by this tool prompt business awareness about their social networking and concerning trends. 

Key Features:

• Mention tracking
• Sentiment analysis
• Discussion volume tracking

Pros:

• Good value
• Easy to use
• Strong monitoring

Cons:

• Limited historical data
• Basic reporting
• Limited integrations

Ideal For: 

• Small to medium businesses

Pricing: 

• Individual: $119/month
• Team: $159/month
• Pro: $239/month
• Enterprise: $399/month

Website: https://brand24.com/ 

Rating: 4.3/5

Conclusion

With the adoption of social media fast becoming the norm for businesses to create an online face, and interact with the consumer, social media monitoring tools have emerged as critical business assets. With the progressive development of technology, these tools also become more complex in delivering tracking, analysis, and optimization of social media systems. Based on the analysis of the current trends, businesses can protect themselves from their competitors and strengthen the bond with their readers using suitable tools and techniques of social media monitoring.

FAQs

1. What are social media monitoring tools based on artificial intelligence? 

Automated Intelligent tools depend on artificial intelligence to build up and enhance duties such as content-providing planning, and performance review.

2. What top AI social media tool is most beneficial for small businesses? 

Small businesses can benefit from Buffer and Hootsuite since the two applications are cheap, easy to use, and quite powerful.

3. Can we leverage AI tools in Social Media Engagement? 

Yes, there are so many advantages such as helping to monitor and answer some comments, checking engagement rates, and adapting content to the audience’s activity.

4. Are these tools appropriate for the large agencies? 

Oh yes, tools such as Sprout Social, Sendible, and Agorapulse are usually designed for large social media management which makes it perfect for agencies.

5. In what way does the use of AI-powered tools reduce time consumption? 

These tools help to schedule, post, and even analyze social media content on autopilot, therefore, saving much time for other marketing activities.