These days, social media has a great impact on businesses.
Business decisions have always relied on the target audience’s perception, and social media now represents a major method of deducing it.

And it’s not just businesses.
It is a significant part of decision-making for consumers too.

And on the flip side.

I could go on with more stats, but I’m sure you get the point by now — your brand is missing out on huge business opportunities if you’re not listening to your target audience on social.
The way to bridge the gap is social listening.
Social listening is simply monitoring social media platforms for relevant marketing insights.
It helps businesses with a wide range of business research and brand management. That includes reputation management, audience analysis, competitors’ analysis, lead generation, product research, customer support, influencer marketing, etc.
Yes, it may sound pretty overwhelming or impossible, and that’s where social media listening tools come in.
These software will do the heavy lifting and present valuable data in no time.
Read on to find an in-depth analysis of the best social listening tools.
| Tool | Pricing (starts from) | Free plan/trial? | Recommended For | Lead Generation | Content Marketing | Influencer Marketing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awario | $24/month | ✅ | Overall Social Listening | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Brandwatch | $108/month | ✅ | Consumer Intelligence | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Brand24 | $49/month | ✅ | Sentiment Analysis | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Sprout Social | $89/month | ✅ | Appealing reports | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| BuzzSumo | $79/month | ✅ | Content Marketing | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
1. Awario (Overall Best For Social Listening)

Awario is a fantastic social media listening tool for obtaining all sorts of competitive advantages from all over the web. If there is a conversation about your brand, Awario is the go-to software for finding it.

This social listening tool monitors brand mentions on blogs, forums, news websites, or social media channels so that you can respond promptly and appropriately.
In addition, Awario works like prospecting tools assists businesses with lead generation through Awario Leads. This works by monitoring posts where users may want product recommendations or have issues with competitors.

Its powerful artificial intelligence can spot leads in multiple languages, from any location, and across the internet. However, it is also intelligent to detect only relevant mentions so you do not waste resources. There’s also the freedom to input specific terms and keywords to include or exclude from the search.

Other notable features
Powerful analytics. Powered by sentiment analysis, you can track a number of factors about a brand, including the reach, mentions, etc., and get important analytics and reports. It also comes as an exportable file with a link for easy sharing.