Best tools for social media brand monitoring
For simple brand monitoring, posting, and research (Free):
1. Hootsuite
Fully-featured free version ($20/month for pro)
Schedule posts and content across multiple social channels
Track keyword searches on social channels
Track and respond to incoming/outgoing messages from branded social channelsCreate custom reports for your social account performance
Can be connected to Google analytics to track website performance
2. Cyfe
Free up to 5 tracking widgets ($20/month for premium)
Track FB/Twitter/G+/Pinterest accounts
Track Google trends/analytics/page views, etc.
Can track simple twitter keyword searches
Multiple widgets can be added based on other applications (mailchimp, surveymonkey, constant contact, google adsense, etc.)
3. TweetDeck
Free unlimited usage
Monitor multiple Twitter streams
Track keywords and topics on Twitter
Track competitor/influencer Twitter streams
4. SocialMention and GoogleTrends
Both tools are completely free
Both tools can be used to monitor additional keywords/hashtags associated with keyword searches
Social Mention can be used to find relevant blogs/websites posting about a specific topic of interest
For more advanced social research and competitor tracking ($30-$100/month):
5. Sprout Social
$59/month for pro access
Schedule posts for and monitor multiple branded properties
Track your account performance vs competitors
Set tasks for multiple users
Discover relevant users to follow in your industry via “people search”
Similar to Hootsuite, but with more intuitive and robust search capabilities
Create custom reports detailing your social account performance and engagement
Assign tasks to team members and view response and resolution times
6. Mention
$29-$99/month for solo access
No posting or scheduling
Track brand mentions vs. competitor mentions
Find Twitter and web influencers surrounding your search topic
Alerts when your company or keywords are mentioned (w/ sentiment)
Geographic heat maps
7. BuzzSumo
$99/month for pro package
No posting or scheduling
Alerts when your company or keywords are mentioned
List of most shared links
Influencers broken down by journalists/author/etc.
For Highly advanced brand monitoring and social research ($500+/month)
8 Brandwatch
~$500/month
Advanced reporting/analytics
Advanced competitor tracking/keyword tracking
Demographics information for keyword searches
User interest tracking (based on keywords/hashtags)
Can monitor review websites for company reviews and mentions
Track “purchase intent” of consumers
Not built for responding/engaging with consumers
Not built for scheduling or posting
9. Radian6/SocialStudio
$1,000/month
Advanced reporting/analytics
Advanced keyword monitoring/tracking
Track engagement and performance of branded company profiles
Track influencers by keyword searches
Assign tasks to multiple users
Feature-rich ability to respond to consumers and tag/categorize conversations.
Advanced content scheduling/posting features
Recommendations:
For simple scheduling and posting of content, the existing Hootsuite option should suffice. However, keyword monitoring and competitor tracking options are fairly limited in Hootsuite. If you would like to do more ad-hoc keyword tracking, competitor analysis, and event monitoring then there are several options available to you.
1. Use multiple free tools
i.e. – Hootsuite for posting and branded property monitoring, and Cyfe/SocialMention/Google Trends for keyword tracking, account performance, event monitoring, and webpage views.
2. Use one robust fully-featured tool that does (most) everything exceptionally well
Brandwatch offers the arguably the best analytics and consumer/competitor tracking on this list, with the downside of not offering posting or engagement features.
Salesforce Radian6/Social Studio offers do-everything package, with strong keyword tracking, competitor tracking, posting, and consumer engagement all in one package. Radian6 may be overkill for simple marketing research, but it will offer best-in-class performance in nearly every category.
3. Use one low-priced tool that does everything adequately
i.e. – For $59/month, Sprout social allows you to do everything Hootsuite can, with the added benefit of extra competitor tracking, “people search” (for finding relevant follows), task-assignment, and trend reports. This option would be my personal recommendation for a full-featured and relatively low-cost solution.