Social networking sites will reach 5.42 bn users in 2025, which is around 63% of the global population. The number will increase as mobile usage and internet coverage extends globally.
People on average spend 18 hours and 41 minutes per week on social media. Going by the basis that people sleep 7/8 hours per day, it’s safe to say that typical users spend a full waking day on social media.
This points to two things -
- Social media has penetrated the daily routine of individuals
- The digital chatter never stops
People are posting pictures, leaving stories, and giving updates on their lives every second. But how is this relevant to brands?
Because these posts also contain reviews, opinions, and tags, which are important insights for brands. And this is where social media listening comes in.
What social media listening does is -
- Identifies customer touch points and pain points for you
- Identify emerging trends
- Make decisions keeping in mind existing customer sentiment
Now, you are right to think that you aren’t the only business to think about leveraging brand monitoring. There are big brands doing it, some with in-house tools or some purchasing 3rd-party software.
But small businesses can acquire this power as well. Free social listening tools evens the field for you.
What Social Media Listening Does for Businesses
If you are a business, small or big, you can rely on social media listening for the following -
- Tracking customer complaints and understanding their needs
- Tracking impact of marketing campaigns
- Identifying trends and popular content
- Benchmarking performances against competitors
- Engaging actively with you audience
The best part is that with enough free social media listening tools out there, you don’t need a big budget to avail the above benefits.
Top Free Social Listening Tools for Small Businesses
Google Alerts
A simple way to get started with brand monitoring is to set up a Google Alerts account. Enter your keywords, could be your brand name, and Google Alerts will notify you every time the keyword appears on the internet.
However, it’s not real time and you don’t get access to social data. But it’s a cost-effective way to track general buzz on the internet.
HootSuite
People commonly label HootSuite as a scheduling tool, but it has a free social media search feature. You can set up streams for brand mentions, keywords, and hashtags across platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
HootSuites free plan allows you two social accounts, which is enough for small businesses trying to get started with social media listening.
Mention
You get access to free social media research in real time. With your free account, you can get 250 mentions/month. The plan covers social platforms, forums, blogs, and news portals.
Brand 24
Brand 24 is one the popular free social listening tools in the market. The con is that it doesn’t provide a free account permanently. However, its 14-day free trial is good enough for you to assess whether it meets your social media listening goals.
Plus you get insights into influencer scores, discussion volume, and sentiment analysis. That’s a pretty good deal if you want to test drive a premium tool.
Talkwalker Alerts
Talkwalker Alerts is an underrated gem with better filtering features than Google Alerts. It’s very handy when it comes to tracking PR hits, specific keywords, and competitors.
It’s a solid free social media search tool for anyone looking to break into the social media listening scene.
Followerwonk
The last one on our list of free social listening tools is TweetDeck. X, formerly known as Twitter, is one of the biggest places of opinion exchange. People are constantly ranting, whining, and debating on X.
Some might say that there’s no filter on tweets, which means raw emotions are all over the place. So, if your audience is on X, you need TweetDeck.
It’s perfect for small businesses doing brand monitoring on a budget, tracking mentions, hashtags, and even competitor accounts.
Summary Table
DeepDive: Social Media Listening in Practice
DeepDive is an AI-powered social media listening tool that uses NLP and ML to get consumer insights from a haystack of data.
Why DeepDive all of a sudden? Recently, I saw a post on DeepDive’s LinkedIn, where it talks about Unilever’s boycott situation on social media. As I was going through the post, I got more and more intrigued by the entire fiasco.
People are having conversations on social media about boycotting Unilever, one of the biggest global brands operating in Bangladesh, and Unilever trying to resolve the situation by issuing clarification statements that they have no ties to violence.
DeepDive didn’t just release a bunch of numbers regarding posts, likes, or shares. It showed how ‘Israel’s Genocide of Gaza’ shifted the narrative around Unilever. And without social listening, a brand like Unilever would be blind regarding the change in public sentiment towards its brands.
The example of DeepDive using social media listening to analyze the public sentiment towards Unilever is key to understanding how important social listening has become in the current context.
This is true for all brands, even small businesses. You can talk as much as you want about GTM, Content, or PR strategies. But the truth is, you are walking into a hit or miss situation if you aren’t listening to your audience.
So, invest in free social listening tools, conduct free social media search and see what’s happening in the market.
Free social listening tools will help you identify a crisis before it blows out of proportion. So, set up an account and start listening today!
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