15 social listening tools for your brand in 2025

An effective social media strategy depends on a deep understanding of your audience. Knowing what topics interest your audience helps you craft content and messages that resonate with them. This is where the social listening comes in – the process of tracking and analyzing online conversations related to a specific brand, industry, or topic across various digital channels. It lets you tap into the conversations that your audience is engaging in.

Social listening tools are the unified platforms that allow you to monitor and analyse social media conversations. They help you understand the sentiment, context, and trends behind those discussions to gain actionable insights that will inform your marketing decisions.

Let’s break down 15 of the top social listening platforms to consider for your brand.

Best all-in-one social listening tool

Some tools provide deep listening for one specific platform. Meanwhile, some may specialize in certain functions. While one tool gives you an in-depth sentiment analysis, another may be much better at predicting trends.

To get the most out of your social listening efforts, however, you need a tool that does it all.

1. Sprout Social

Sprout Social’s social listening tools give you a comprehensive look into conversations that are relevant to your brand. Track conversations related to your brand across all major social networks and other online sources. Sprout’s tools automatically sift through millions of data points to uncover insights relevant to your brand.

You can learn about audience preferences and how they feel about specific products, campaigns or topics. This helps you stay on top of the latest industry trends and identify untapped business opportunities. Discover key influencers and thought leaders who are leading the conversation so you know whom to engage.

Brand-specific conversations give you more visibility into customer experiences and brand sentiment. Set up custom alerts to anticipate an upcoming brand crisis, giving you ample time to fix it before it gets out of hand. Plus, with powerful social media management tools built in, you can easily manage these issues all in one place.

Sprout’s AI features further streamline your social listening efforts. Summarizing with AI Assist saves you the trouble of having to read through lengthy messages. It creates a summary of Listening messages with over 800 characters, allowing you to quickly zero in on essential insights.

Meanwhile, Analyze by AI Assist takes the guesswork out of social listening. It automatically analyzes your Listening messages to find the insights that matter. This includes metrics related to words, phrases, emojis and hashtags. So you can easily forecast trends if certain topics see increased engagement.

It even helps you gauge the sentiment behind specific conversations. This simplifies how you anticipate possible brand crises or monitor how people feel about your latest campaigns.

Sprout offers a free trial so you can test out its publishing and analytics capabilities. The social listening tools are part of a custom-built plan for enterprise users.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

General social listening tools

If your brand maintains a presence across a variety of social networks, you need a tool that’s appropriate for all major platforms. Let’s look at the top social listening tools that are suitable for general use.

2. Brandwatch

Brandwatch extracts valuable conversational insights from millions of sources. It analyzes both historical and real-time conversations to identify current trends and how they change over time. This gives you a better understanding of your market and audience, so you know what’s trending and popular. You’ll be able to see the top topics they’re talking about and identify relevant brand mentions.

If you’ve tried Brandwatch before and want to explore other options not on this list, we also have a list of Brandwatch alternatives to consider.

3. Brand24

Brand24 is a powerful tool for measuring brand awareness and reach. It lets you track conversations from 25 million online sources to gather valuable consumer insights. This gives you a better understanding of what people like or dislike, especially when it comes to your brand. You can even measure brand sentiment and quickly identify reputational risks.

4. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a comprehensive listening tool that specializes in content discovery and research. The platform lets you track trending topics and popular content to inspire you. You can use the monitoring features to track mentions and trends across leading social networks. It lets you set up alerts for brands, topics and keywords to help you stay on top of the latest conversations.

5. Keyhole

Keyhole offers enterprise-grade social listening to gain a deeper understanding of your audience. It provides insights to identify who they are and get a better sense of what they like. You can use the platform to track specific hashtags and keywords as well as identify relevant influencers. The volume predictions feature lets you anticipate when your posts are going viral, allowing you to come up with a game plan.

6. Meltwater

Meltwater helps you cut through the noise and uncover the conversational insights that matter to your brand. It provides you with a full picture by capturing historical data to help you research changes in trends over time. The platform gives you a better understanding of your audience and allows you to analyze their sentiment. This helps you monitor brand mentions in real time and stay on top of upcoming crises to quell them on time.

7. YouScan

YouScan is one of the top social listening tools that comes with image recognition capabilities. It gives you access to AI-powered visual insights to gain a better understanding of your buyer persona. The platform identifies upcoming trends so you can align your marketing strategy accordingly. It tracks brand sentiment and consumer perceptions to show you how people feel about your brand. It even detects possible threats to your brand reputation in real time.

8. HubSpot Social Media Management Software

HubSpot’s social media management software lets you create custom keyword monitoring streams. This makes it easy to surface interactions that could turn critical and manage them on time. You can also set up email alerts, allowing your sales team to follow up when prospects mention specific keywords. It even provides AI-generated recommended actions to speed up your analysis.

Social listening tools for Twitter (X)

X is a place where all the trending conversations take place. It’s where people go when they want to complain about a brand or discuss a trending topic. As such, Twitter listening can uncover valuable insights into your target market.

So let’s take a look at the social media listening tools that specifically focus on X.

9. X advanced search

X’s built-in advanced search tool is highly robust for listening in on relevant conversations. You can track conversations containing specific words, phrases and hashtags. It even lets you narrow your search by excluding certain words.

To get even more specific, look for posts from one specific account to another. The tool gives you plenty of additional filters to help you narrow your search by engagement, date range and so on.

10. X Pro (formerly TweetDeck)

X Pro is a paid tool that offers the same features as the formerly free TweetDeck. Pull up hundreds of conversations across the platform and display them in several columns. This makes it easier to look out for posts around specific topics and news stories as they come in. X Pro even lets you pull up X posts from the dedicated lists you’ve created. This makes it easier to narrow down conversations from accounts that are most interesting to you.

11. Awario

Awario provides real-time insights on specific brand and keyword mentions in any language. This makes it a great social media listening software for brands that want to grow an international customer base. It even helps you identify top influencers and brand advocates leading the conversation.

Awario supports your social selling efforts with a feature that identifies hot leads. It tracks X posts and zeroes in on ones that are looking for a product similar to yours.

Social listening tools for TikTok

TikTok’s reach and influence are rapidly expanding. Now it’s the hub for all the latest social media trends and conversations. So being able to tap into the conversations happening on the platform gives you leverage to stand apart.

Let’s take a look at a couple of TikTok tools to conduct social listening on the platform.

12. Exolyt

Exolyt gives you comprehensive insights into TikTok conversations and trends. You can use the tool to monitor what people are saying about your brand and how they feel about it. It lets you track specific TikTok accounts, hashtags and videos to gather granular insights. Also, discover trending sounds, hashtags, effects and accounts to inform your content strategy.

13. All Ears

All Ears is an AI-powered social listening platform that focuses on voice and video conversations. It analyzes millions of TikTok videos to identify relevant brand or topic mentions. The platform automatically transcribes these mentions, saving you hours of time having to comb through the noise. All Ears also provides relevant metrics like reach, PR value and net sentiment to streamline your listening analytics.

Free social listening tools

If you’re not ready to invest in a paid tool just yet, there are a few free social listening tools that come with basic listening capabilities.

14. Answer the Public

Answer the Public pulls up search volumes and trends for a given topic, brand or product. It gives you a breakdown of the associated search terms. So it shows you what questions people are asking about it and what comparisons they’re making. This gives you a better understanding of their needs and pain points as well as their interests.

15. Google Alerts

Google Alerts is another free option that lets you set up alerts for conversations taking place across the web. Use it to monitor specific keywords and topics or even brand names. The tool lets you filter your results based on sources, language and region. Customize the frequency of alerts and choose to show only the best results.

The benefits of social listening tools

Social media listening software helps you track and analyze millions of social media posts. This makes it easy to narrow down the conversations that matter without hours of manual research. As a result, social media listening tools offer a number of benefits for your brand:

Spot emerging trends

Social listening platforms detect patterns in conversations around specific keywords and hashtags. This helps you see when certain topics are starting to gain traction. So you can get in on trends way ahead of your competitors.

Understand customer interests and pain points

Listening in on social media conversations helps you understand what topics people like to engage with. It also reveals their concerns and complaints to help you zero in on their pain points.

Monitor and manage brand reputation

Social listening tools keep track of every relevant brand mention, even if you’re not tagged. This helps you identify conversations that could harm your brand reputation. Then come up with an appropriate and timely response to mitigate the issue.

Identify sales opportunities

Social listening platforms help you identify conversations that seek a solution you can provide. So you can jump in with a relevant suggestion and turn them into valuable leads.

Which social media listening tool is best for your business?

The best social media listening tool depends entirely on your business’s unique budget, required features, and industry-specific goals. It’s about finding the perfect fit for your distinct needs, not a universal “best”.

So, when selecting a social media listening platform, consider the following critical factors:

Industry orientation

When selecting the best social listening tool, it’s critical to consider your industry’s unique aspects, as the most effective platform will directly address your sector’s distinct challenges and opportunities. For retail, this means a tool adept at monitoring product sentiment and consumer trends; for fintech, it necessitates robust reputation management and risk detection capabilities; and for hospitality, it requires strength in analyzing guest feedback and identifying emerging travel preferences.

Breadth of Coverage

The platform should monitor all relevant social networks, forums, blogs, news sites, and review platforms where your target audience may discuss your brand or industry.

Real-time Capabilities

Look for features that deliver instant alerts for critical mentions or significant shifts in sentiment, allowing your team to react swiftly to opportunities or challenges.

Sentiment Analysis Accuracy

Evaluate the tool’s precision in determining the emotional tone (positive, negative, neutral) of mentions, particularly across various languages, slang, or nuanced contexts.

Customization & Filtering

The ability to establish highly specific search queries and effectively filter out irrelevant data is crucial for focusing on actionable insights relevant to your business objectives.

Data Visualization & Reporting

An effective platform will present complex data in clear, digestible formats, offering customizable dashboards and comprehensive reports that can be easily shared with stakeholders.

Integration

Assess whether the platform integrates seamlessly with your existing CRM, customer service, or other marketing software to ensure a unified view of your customer interactions and data.

Careful evaluation of these points will help you select a listening platform that not only enhances your market understanding but also empowers your team to make data-driven decisions and foster stronger brand connections. Many businesses find comprehensive capabilities in platforms like Sprout Social.

Listen, learn and grow on social

Social listening tools empower you to learn what makes your audience tick. They give you actionable insights to inform what content you create and how you engage with your audience.

But the challenge lies in finding a social listening platform that meets your unique needs. If you’re looking for a well-rounded tool that does everything, Sprout’s the answer you need. Try it free for 30 days to see if it’s the right match for your brand.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

Social listening tools FAQs

What are social listening tools?

A social listening tool is a software application designed to track, analyze, and report on conversations happening across various digital channels, including social media platforms, blogs, forums, and news sites. These tools scan for mentions of specific keywords, brand names, competitors, hashtags, or industry-related terms. By doing so, they enable businesses to gather insights into public sentiment, identify emerging trends, understand consumer discussions, manage brand reputation, and uncover opportunities for engagement or strategic actions. In totality, it’s the technology that powers your ability to “listen” to the vast public dialogue occurring online.

What's the Difference Between Social Listening and Social Monitoring?

Social monitoring and social listening are distinct practices that help in understanding the social media space. Social monitoring is the act of tracking mentions of your brand, keywords, hashtags, and competitors across social media. Whereas social listening goes beyond mere data collection. It involves analyzing and interpreting the collected data to understand the underlying sentiment, trends, and reasons behind the conversations. It’s about discerning the “why” behind the “what.”

How to use a social listening tool for influencer marketing?

Social listening tools are invaluable for a strategic influencer marketing approach. They enable you to identify relevant influencers by tracking conversations around your brand, industry, and competitors, revealing who genuinely drives engagement and holds authority. Beyond discovery, these tools help monitor influencer campaign performance, assessing reach, sentiment, and audience response. This allows for data-driven optimization, ensuring you partner with individuals who resonate with your target audience and effectively amplify your brand message, maximizing your marketing ROI.

How do social listening tools work?

Social listening tools operate by continuously monitoring and collecting data from a wide range of online sources, including social media, news, forums & review platforms. These go beyond your own social media profiles and monitor and analyse the important topics across your industry.
Below is the four-step process of social listening:

• Query Building: Users define what they want to listen for by creating “queries” using keywords, phrases, hashtags, brand names (including misspellings), competitor names, and industry topics. This allows you to monitor topics that affect your business and industry.
• Data Collection/Crawling:The tool then collects data across numerous platforms and websites. This includes major social media networks (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.); news websites and blogs, forums (like Reddit & Quora, etc.), and review sites (Yelp, Google Play Store, Tripadvisor, etc.)
• Data Processing and Analysis: Once all this data is collected, the raw data undergoes sophisticated analysis, powered by AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). This data goes through various stages, starting with noise reduction, sentiment analysis, trend analysis, and tagging for topics and clusters.
• Insight Generation & Visualization: This analyzed and tagged data is finally converted into granular visual reports that let you see trends, patterns, and generate alerts.