Learning About Social Listening
Millions of people are using social media tools today to keep track of how others are responding to their communications online. There is a big difference between reading what others are saying on your local Facebook page and doing a complete tracking across the entire internet to gain full access to your brand. Being able to dig deep into listening socially, you may need to subscribe to a listening service. Social listening subscription services range from free to $800 or more. Before going out and paying for an expensive social listening subscription tool, it will be useful to learn about a couple and how they can increase your ability to monitor what others are saying about you and your brand. This article will cover three to four listening tools to consider and one extra as a bonus to give you an understanding of what is possible for heavy-hitters.
Mention
Although Mention began in 2012, it has made great strides in helping over 120K users keep track in real-time what mentions are being made of their brand. Mention is available through an online or phone app. Presently Mention can track your data and mentions in 42 languages and allows you to tune out what you do not want to follow and to tune into the people you consider influencers and advocates of your brand. Lastly, Mention has a free version. In advanced or “team” mode, everyone on your “team” can pitch in and work to address a critical need. Mention can be used to track your mentions on Twitter, Buffer, Instagram, and Facebook. Mention has its competition in Google Alerts, Talkwalker, and Trackur.
HubSpot
As a social media tool, HubSpot has been developing since 2006 and has tools needed for large companies as big as 1000 members. Not only can you post content, but also keep track of what each media stream you are connected in real-time. Real-time data is recorded to your account and can be searched for posting better responses to your brand’s followers, shakers, and influencers. HubSpot comes with a hefty subscription of $800 per month. A company reaching out to an influencer could probably expect a greater engagement in spreading the word about the brand for the influencer.
NetBase
NetBase can be compared to the Ferrari or Cadillac version of Social Listening Platforms. NetBase allows large companies like TacoBell, Coca-Cola, Arby’s, and many others to track real-time media in conjunction with AI. NetBase and its integrated AI algorithms can obtain from customers and clients what are their sentiments towards a brand, how they are presently rating a product and expectations; lastly, customer purchase intent. Large corporations have used the analytics from NetBase, like Taco Bell, to change product delivery in real-time with customers across a continent or a part of their supply chain.NetBase, in short, can help to curtail a marketing plan from disaster because they can “listen” to what the customer wants. NetBase base subscriptions begin around $1840 per month. Their excellent subscription prices are not available on their website.
Awario
Awario began in 2015 and crawled the web to the tune of 13B pages a day. In five short years, they already have over 5K happy customers. Awario takes social listening to a different level. It is a great social listening program for those who want to develop an international fan base for their brand. It searches the web through hundreds of countries and social media platforms to collect information on companies, persons, etc. and makes that available to those who subscribe to their services. Their entry-level subscription begins at $24 per month. As mentioned earlier Awario tracks data in real-time, and it can do this for individuals like artists or corporations. The advantage for businesses is to track how customers are receiving a marketing campaign and respond to this customer reception.
