7 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools for Real-Time Brand Tracking
- Sweta Panigrahi
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
How many times have you heard the following?
In order to succeed in social, you need social media analytics tools, social media management tools, social media monitoring tools, social listening tools… and probably 10 other tools in between.
It can feel like a never-ending list of apps and dashboards, each promising to help you “master social” but all sounding pretty similar.
Since this article is all about social media monitoring tools, we’ll focus specifically on what they do, how they're different from other social tools, and how to know when it's the right time to bring one on board.
If you've ever found yourself wondering whether you should keep tracking performance with platform-native insights, or start listening to your audience’s conversations online, or maybe even try to manage your content calendar all in one place, then a social media monitoring tool is the one to pluck from the pile.
Typically, social media managers choose a social media monitoring tool when they want to go beyond just tracking owned content performance.
With monitoring capabilities, you’ll keep a finger on the pulse of your entire brand reputation, competitor activity, industry trends, and real-time conversations happening across social channels.
Now let’s move to the list.
Measure Studio
Measure Studio is not your average social media monitoring tool. It's a fresh take on social media monitoring, bringing together all your organic and paid data from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (Twitter), TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat in one easy-to-use dashboard.
What really sets Measure Studio apart is its ability to dig deeper with custom metrics and cross-platform analytics. The Post Content AI levels up the game by showing you how algorithms will respond to your posts before you even hit publish. Seriously.
Based on this, you can tweak your content for better engagement and reach. On top of that, Measure Studio makes reporting and collaboration simple.
Build custom, branded reports in minutes, organize content by tags or themes, and track performance against your own historical averages. The platform automatically updates your data in real time, keeping your monitoring actionable.
Key Measure Studio Features:
Centralized monitoring for organic and paid data across 7 major platforms
Custom metrics and formulas for tailored insights
Post Content AI to analyze how algorithms see your posts
Customizable, real-time dashboards with automatic benchmarking
Content organization via tags, themes, and creators
Branded, drag-and-drop report creation with automated delivery
Team collaboration with role assignments and access control
Automatic data updates to keep insights current
Takeaway:
Measure Studio is a no-fluff tool for social media monitoring to stay on top of your content’s performance and audience engagement. It’s perfect for teams wanting data with smooth collaboration.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a beast when it comes to digging deep into online conversations. This social media monitoring tool pulls data from tons of sources like social media, blogs, forums, you name it, giving you a full picture of what people are saying about your brand or competitors.
What really sets it apart is its sentiment analysis that catches emotions beyond just good or bad. You also get detailed audience profiles and influencer data to mold your strategy.
Key Brandwatch Features:
Data from 100M+ sources across social and web
Advanced AI sentiment and emotion detection
Audience demographics and influencer tracking
Boolean search for precise data filtering
Custom dashboards and in-depth reports
Historical data going back over a decade
API access for integrations
Takeaway:
Brandwatch gives you serious firepower to understand your audience and market trends. Just keep in mind, it’s best for big teams with room for learning and a healthy budget. It’s not the simplest or cheapest option out there.
Sentione
Sentione is a handy social media monitoring tool that helps you keep tabs on what people are saying about your brand across various platforms. It’s great for spotting trends, tracking sentiment, and catching any early signs of issues before they blow up.
What makes Sentione useful is its easy-to-understand dashboards and real-time alerts that keep you in the loop without drowning in data. It also offers basic competitor tracking so you can see how you stack up.
While it’s straightforward and user-friendly, Sentione may lack some of the deeper analytics and customization options that bigger brands might want. It’s a solid pick for small to mid-sized teams looking for simple, effective monitoring.
Key Sentione Features:
Real-time social listening and sentiment analysis
Custom alerts for brand mentions and trends
Competitor monitoring
User-friendly dashboards and reports
Multi-platform coverage including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Takeaway:
Sentione makes keeping an eye on your brand chatter easy without overwhelming you with data. It’s perfect if you want easy data and alerts. It might not cover all your bases if you're looking for advanced analysis or complex customization it will get the job done.
Sprinklr
Sprinklr is a social media monitoring tool for experts. It’s not just checking mentions or counting likes. It’s tracking sentiment shifts in real time, spotting logos in photos, and pulling insights from review sites, forums, and blogs.
The real deal is in how much you can customize and automate. Whether you're tracking a product launch or managing a reputation crisis, the AI kicks in fast with emotion detection, trend alerts, and anomaly spotting.
But with great scale comes great complexity. Sprinklr isn’t plug-and-play. It takes training, planning, and a decent chunk of budget to get the most out of it. For smaller teams, it might be more than necessary.
Key Sprinklr Features:
Tracks conversations across 30+ digital sources (social, blogs, forums, review sites)
Full data access from platforms like X, TikTok, Reddit, and more
Visual recognition to catch brand mentions in images and videos
Smart AI for sentiment, emotion, trend detection, and real-time alerts
Deep customization for dashboards, alerts, and role-based reporting
Competitive benchmarking, share of voice, and campaign monitoring
Built-in security and user permissions for large, distributed teams
Takeaway:
Sprinklr is a top pick for enterprises that need deep, real-time visibility into what people are saying online across channels and formats. It delivers, but only if you're ready for the learning curve and the heavy price tag.
5. Meltwater
Meltwater has been around for a while. It started with traditional media monitoring and is now flexing as a full social media intelligence platform.
It's not limited to social media but goes beyond to press mentions, social conversations, influencer tracking, and PR reporting. Meltwater is useful for global brands who want coverage that stretches from major newspapers to niche Reddit threads.
On the social side, Meltwater gives you real-time access to a huge mix of sources like blogs, forums, news, even podcasts. The dashboards are decent and their AI digs into sentiment, trends, and spikes, without you needing to manually dig.
It's great for comms teams that want fewer tools without compromising on insights, but be aware: this level of power isn’t cheap or super easy to take full advantage of. It comes with a steep learning curve.
Key Features
Monitors traditional and social media in one dashboard
Global coverage in multiple languages
Sentiment analysis, trend detection, and influencer tracking
Custom dashboards and in-depth PR reporting tools
AI-powered insights and competitive benchmarking
Social media management and press release distribution
Strong for PR, comms, and enterprise-level media intelligence
Takeaway:
Meltwater is a good-to-have for brands that need deep monitoring across media types and regions. But fair warning, it’s expensive, complex, and sometimes the “real-time” data isn’t quite so real-time. It's more suited to large teams with the time (and budget) to make the most of it.
6. Keyhole
Perfect for running hashtag-heavy campaigns, tracking brand chatter, or watching your competitors, Keyhole always keeps you in the loop.
It’s great for real-time insights from top social media platforms and excels in campaign monitoring, influencer tracking, and shareable reports. Marketers and agencies love how easy it is to use.
You get stats on reach, impressions, sentiment, audience demographics, and even top-performing posts or people. The reports are engaging, so sharing with stakeholders is a breeze.
Keyhole's QuickTrends feature is great for jumping on timely topics before they cool off. That said, it’s not the most affordable for small brands with a limited budget, and you might feel boxed in if you're looking for super granular filters or multi-platform coverage.
Keyhole's Key Features
Real-time hashtag and keyword tracking
Visual reports and ready-made exports (PDF, XLS)
Influencer identification with audience stats
Campaign performance analytics (reach, engagement, ROI)
QuickTrends tool for trending topics
Sentiment analysis and competitor tracking
Publishing and scheduling for social posts
Historical data access for trend analysis
Takeaway:
Keyhole is perfect for quick tracking of hashtags, campaigns, and influencers, making it great for marketers who want data in a hurry.
7. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a go-to monitoring tool for anyone who wants to understand what content is catching people’s attention online. It helps you spot popular posts, identify key influencers, track competitors, and keep an eye on your brand.
What you get with BuzzSumo is a detailed look into what’s trending across social media and the web, with data on influencers and journalists to help with outreach.
Real-time alerts mean you won’t miss important mentions or competitor activity. That said, BuzzSumo does not have built-in tools to schedule or publish posts, so you’ll need other apps for managing your social media accounts.
It does have some SEO-related features like backlink tracking, but it’s not a full SEO platform either. And if you're after sentiment analysis or CRM integrations, those aren’t part of the BuzzSumo deal.
Key BuzzSumo Features:
Find and analyze trending content and topics
Identify influencers and journalists with engagement data
Monitor competitors’ content and mentions
Get real-time alerts for brand and competitor activity
User-friendly dashboard with easy-to-share reports
Access historical content data for trend analysis
Takeaways:
BuzzSumo makes it easy to analyze content and influencers. However, it's far from being a full social media monitoring tool. BuzzSumo is ideal if your focus lies in research and strategy.
Wrapping up
If you're ready to understand what people are really saying about your brand (not just how many likes your posts get), or if you want to catch potential PR issues before they blow up, that’s your cue to consider a social media monitoring tool.
Measure Studio makes it super easy by grouping all your paid and organic data together in one place. It also uses AI to give you algorithmic-level breakdowns so you understand what to expect from your posts before you hit publish. Reporting is stress-free.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a social media monitoring tool?
A social media monitoring tool tracks conversations about your brand, competitors, or industry happening across social channels in real time. Unlike basic analytics that only show your own content’s performance, monitoring tools listen to the wider social web so you can catch trends, spot potential issues, and understand audience sentiment beyond just likes and shares.
When should I consider using a social media monitoring tool?
How can Measure Studio help with social media monitoring?
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