7 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools for Real-Time Brand Tracking

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Media Watcher

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   Media Watcher is an AI-powered media and social listening platform that enables brands to track, analyze, and respond to online conversations in real time.

   
   

   It pulls data from a wide range of sources, including social media platforms like X, Reddit, YouTube, and Meta, as well as news outlets, blogs, podcasts, and even broadcast media.With built-in sentiment detection and AI-driven analysis, the tool ensures teams don’t just collect raw data but gain actionable insights.

   
   

   By highlighting what truly matters, it empowers organizations to stay ahead of narratives, manage reputation, and engage with audiences more effectively.

   
   

   Key Features:

   • Monitors social platforms, news, and blogs in 80+ languages across 235+ regions

   • Filters by language or keywords with dashboards for reach, engagement, and influence

   • Tracks mentions continuously with AI-powered filters to cut noise

   • Provides constant tracking of mentions, thematic/entity aware tracking, and AI filters to reduce noise

   • Narrative and trend detection to identify emerging themes before they go mainstream

   
   

Takeaway:

If you need a social monitoring tool that offers speed, context, and wide coverage, Media Watcher  is well suited. It’s not just about counting mentions. It helps you understand what’s being said, how people feel, and when to react.

For organizations focused on reputation, PR, crisis prevention, or global campaigns, it can provide actionable insights in near-real time. It may be more than what very small brands need or afford, but for teams that can leverage the depth (sentiment, narrative, entity-aware filtering), it can give a competitive edge.

4. Social Champ

Social Champ takes the lead in offering an affordable social media management and listening tool. 

Its social listening feature allows you to track mentions on five major social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and LinkedIn.  

The feature comes with an analytics report, which provides detailed data on the terms you’re listening for. You can also check the sentiments behind the mentions, including the top emojis used, top associated emotions, most popular phrases, and trending hashtags.

Besides social listening, the platform offers multitudes of other features, including scheduling, calendar view, social inbox, analytics, and competitor analysis. 

Key Features

• Track mentions on five major platforms 

• Sentiment analysis to track audience emotions and brand perception

• Publish content to 11+ platforms 

• Analyze competitors to benchmark your growth

• Leverage customizable analytics and white-labeled reports

• Bulk upload and unified calendar for easy campaign tracking

• Role-based workflows for better collaboration

• Auto-RSS integration for real-time content updates

• Chrome extension for quick content sharing and monitoring

• Hashtag suggestions based on engagement trends

• Exportable platform-specific insights in multiple formats

Takeaway

Social Champ is a great tool for brands looking for an all-in-one platform for their social media needs. It combined everything from content creation to scheduling, publishing, analytics, and monitoring.

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.

Get started with Measure Studio today.

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?

If you want to go beyond just tracking posts and begin listening to what people are saying about your brand or competitors, it’s time to bring one on board. They're especially helpful if you want to manage your reputation, respond quickly to PR issues, or keep up with industry trends and customer conversations as they happen.

How can Measure Studio help with social media monitoring?

Measure Studio combines all your paid and organic social data across major platforms into one dashboard, making it easy to get the full picture. It uses AI to analyze how algorithms will respond to your posts before you publish, so you can optimize for better reach and engagement. Plus, it simplifies reporting and teamwork, helping your whole team stay on the same page without the usual headaches.