Picture this: Your customers are talking about you right now. On social media, review sites, X, and Reddit sometimes tagging you & sometimes not. How could you track all these conversations happening all over the internet? As impossible as it seems, that is where social listening shines.
Today, it is no longer a ‘nice to have’ add-on, but it is a necessity – backed by multiple social media listening statistics showing how customer conversations directly impact brand perception and revenue. The best brands today don’t just post content, but they listen to what people say about their brand.
A simple search will show you a host of platforms for social listening, but which ones actually move the needle and which ones are just noise?
Let’s break down the Top 14 Social Listening Tools for Businesses in 2025 that help brands hear what truly matters and act on it before it’s too late.
What are social listening tools?
Social listening tools help businesses tune into what people are saying about their brand, competitors, and industry across the internet, whether they tag you directly or not.
These tools go beyond basic monitoring. They collect conversations from social media platforms, review sites, forums, blogs, and news outlets, then analyze that data to uncover trends, sentiment, and emerging topics, as well as potential risks and opportunities. With real-time alerts, brands can act fast during a PR crisis, viral moment, or sudden shift in customer sentiment. Knowing what social listeningtools are is only the first step. Understanding why social listening matters is what helps brands transform insights into competitive advantage.
Let’s break down the Top 14 Social Listening Tools for Businesses in 2025 that help brands hear what truly matters and act on it before it’s too late.
1. Locobuzz
Locobuzz helps brands approach social listening as a business intelligence layer. It brings together conversations from social media, reviews, news, and forums into a centralized, real-time view of brand perception, customer sentiment, and emerging risks. Locobuzz enables leaders to make faster, data-backed decisions that improve customer experience, protect brand reputation, and align CX, marketing, and operations around what customers are actually saying.
With Locobuzz, you have the most impactful understanding of what your customers want, need, and require.
Features:
- Social Listening: Locobuzz uses cutting-edge social listening technology to provide real-time insights into customers, competitors, campaigns, and influencers. This lets you stay ahead of trends and deeply understand your audience’s needs.
- Actionable Insights & Data: Capture market trends, shifts, and crucial social data that fuel effective strategies, improve brand health, and elevate your digital presence. With this information, you can make informed decisions that drive growth and innovation.
- Streamlined Workflow Management: Easy-to-use workflows boost productivity by allowing you to respond faster and engage more effectively with customers. This helps your team stay organized and ensures no customer query is missed.
- Automated Reporting & Publishing: Create versatile, DIY analytics reports, benchmarking, and comprehensive studies to build robust marketing roadmaps. Plus, schedule and manage social media communications effortlessly from one platform – automate routine tasks to focus on high-impact strategies.
Use Case/Benefits: Locobuzz allows businesses to track and respond to real-time customer sentiment across social media platforms. Companies can identify and resolve potential issues by analyzing customer feedback before they escalate. This proactive approach enhances brand reputation and drives customer loyalty.
2. NetBase
NetBase is one of the best social listening tools that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to help you focus your listening on the most critical conversations. It gathers information from millions of social media posts daily and over 100 billion historical posts across the social web.
With NetBase’s AI, you get real-time insights into customer conversations while it monitors hashtags, competitor brand conversations, social media posts, emotions, attributes, & behaviors. Processing millions of posts daily gives instant updates for any social mentions concerning your brand. NetBase also uses non-social data to analyse user experience through surveys, focus groups, ratings, and reviews, which helps in a proper competitive analysis.
Features:
- Gain deeper customer insights with advanced sentiment analysis powered by AI technology.
- Monitor and engage with real-time conversations across multiple social media platforms effortlessly.
- Stay ahead of the curve with AI social listening software that detects trends and predicts opportunities.
- Customize dashboards to track, visualise, and act on key social listening metrics seamlessly.
Use Case/Benefits: NetBase allows businesses to monitor customer conversations and analyse the competitive landscape. This tool will enable companies to stay ahead of trends and improve their strategies based on the competition’s actions, ultimately increasing their market share.
3. Brand24
Brand24 has a statistical analysis-based approach to social monitoring. As a social listening tool, it offers social monitoring through hashtag tracking and sentiment analysis. Sentiment analysis tracks categorical positive, negative, and neutral mentions through suggested keywords. They also provide the context in which your website is discussed by keyword tracking and data analysis. Brand24 is one of the top social listening tools available in the market.
Features:
- It displays the mentions feed, where you can see the opinions of others about your company and act in real-time. You can participate in discussions directly from Brand24.
- It displays a Discussion Volume Chart that visually illustrates the mentions of your brand and allows you to detect any spikes in the number of mentions for your brand and find out if there’s any issue.
- Brand24 has created its own Influencer Score to assist you in identifying your industry’s influencers so that you can start making contacts with the key people within your field.
- Social listening tools also provide sentiment analysis. Not only will you be able to discover mentions of your company, but it will also give some indications of whether those mentions were negative, positive, or neutral in their tone.
Use Case/Benefits: Brand24 allows users to quickly identify influencers or brand advocates to boost their marketing campaigns. By monitoring real-time mentions, businesses can engage with their community at the moment of need, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
4. AgoraPulse
AgoraPulse is a great 2-in-1 option, offering both scheduling and monitoring functions. It will track mentions of your accounts and comments on social media posts, as well as allow you to search for keywords of your choice across Twitter. This social listening tool can also help you find influencers in your social media followers and assign conversations to the team with just a click.
Features:
- The ability to tag and label important mentions, as well as delegate conversations to team members.
- The insights of your audience can help you discover influential people and brand ambassadors.
- An integrated CRM allows you to make lists of prospects and influencers.
AgoraPulse also segregates fans and followers into Fans-Engaged, Ambassadors, and Influencers (depending on social standing, popularity as a creator or fan, and engagement). This provides an opportunity to balance brand highlights for the maintenance of a good social outlook.
Use Case/Benefits: AgoraPulse helps businesses track what customers say about their brand on various social media platforms. This enables quick responses to negative feedback, improving customer satisfaction and brand trust.
5. Hootsuite
Unlike other social listening software, Hootsuite permits you to see and answer every one of your messages, remarks, and brand mentions across social in a single, compact dashboard, instead of logging in and out of various social platforms.
Hootsuite likewise allows you to have an eye on your industry by observing the competition and building relationships with social media influencers and potential brand advocates.
Hootsuite Features:
- Effectively screens mentions and responds directly in the platform.
- Measure accomplishment across various social stages that are viable with Hootsuite,, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
- Alter paid social media campaigns and ad groups with the Boost choic,e, which adjusts natural/organic reach and paid ads to assist with advancing your content’s engagement and ranking.
Use Case/Benefits: Hootsuite simplifies social media management by combining listening and scheduling into one platform. Its real-time insights allow businesses to track public sentiment, and its analytics ensure that campaigns align with audience expectations, driving better engagement and results.
6. Brandwatch
Brandwatch is among the most effective social listening tools when it comes to analytics, but it’s one of the more expensive ones. Beyond the monitoring feature, Brandwatch offers image recognition as well as demographic information on your followers, topics that are trending within your field, access to APIs, and dashboards that can be exported as customizable PowerPoint presentations.
Features:
- Demographic data, such as gender, interest, occupation, and the geographical location of your target audience.
- Its data visualisation platform lets you see your Brandwatch information and also add insights from several integrations (including Google Analytics, Buzzsumo, and Hootsuite).
- Image analysis lets you locate images containing your brand’s logo.
- A possibility to add preferred websites to gather mentions from, and an opportunity to find the most popular topics in your field.
This social listening tool has three sub-tools or products: Analytics, Vizia, and Audience. Brandwatch Analytics is a tool with four features. Search, Segment, Analyse & Action.
Brandwatch also has a wealth of historical information available to its users,, and it invests heavily in AI and ML capabilities. An innovative solution focusing on a specific collection of uses, Brandwatch is an excellent social listening tool for people seeking consumer intelligence and trendspotting solutions.
Use Case/Benefits: Brandwatch provides valuable sentiment analysis that helps businesses refine their customer service and marketing strategies. By identifying shifts in sentiment, companies can adjust their messaging to align with public opinion, boosting their reputation and customer satisfaction.
7. Sprout Social
Sprout Social is a comprehensive social media management platform that offers powerful solutions for social listening and analysis, as well as customer support and employee advocacy. Sprout Social is one of the best social listening platforms when it comes to discussing social media. Every tool relates to social media management and optimisation. But one thing that uplifts the status of Sprout Social is its social listening capability.
Sprout Social Features:
- One of the best features of Sprout Social is its Smart Inbox. You can do everything right, from replying to messages to reposting content,, all in one place. The social listening feature is similar to Smart Inbox because it works in the same way.
- Create a strategy for content and schedule posts using the publishing tool.
- Uncover trends in social conversations, learn about your customer base, and gain actionable insights to help you develop your marketing strategy with the integrated social listening platforms.
This social listening tool makes it easier for you to monitor every conversation related to your brand or product on multiple social media channels with ease. Every time you enter Sprout Social, it welcomes you with a dashboard that offers you the next steps you should take.
Use Case/Benefits: Sprout Social enables businesses to manage their social media presence while monitoring customer sentiment. The platform’s listening tools help identify key trends, allowing the brands to make data-driven decisions that enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.
8. Talkwalker
Talkwalker is a social listening and analytics platform that empowers businesses to gain valuable insights from social media and online discussions.
It helps brands monitor their online presence, track trends, and understand customer sentiment. With its advanced features, Talkwalker enables effective social media management and informed decision-making for enhanced customer experience.
Features:
- Advanced social media listening for brand mentions.
- Real-time sentiment analysis to measure brand health.
- Visual analytics to track brand-related images and videos.
- Competitor monitoring for industry insights.
- Customizable dashboards and reporting.
Use Case/Benefits: Talkwalker’s advanced analytics give businesses deep insights into social media trends and customer sentiments. This allows brands to adjust their strategies based on real-time customer feedback and industry changes, boosting engagement and customer loyalty.
9. Meltwater
Meltwater is a prominent brand in media intelligence and social media monitoring. They offer tools that help businesses gather insights from online media sources, track brand mentions, analyze media coverage, and monitor social media conversations.
Meltwater’s services assist organisations in understanding their online presence, audience sentiment, and competitive landscape, which in turn aids in making informed marketing and business decisions. Their platform contributes to enhancing brand visibility, reputation management, and overall customer experience.
Features:
- Comprehensive social listening across news and social platforms.
- Media monitoring for tracking press mentions.
- Sentiment analysis to understand brand perception.
- Influencer tracking to identify key industry advocates.
- Data-driven reporting for better decision-making.
Use Case/Benefits: Meltwater helps businesses monitor press and social media mentions, giving them a holistic view of their brand reputation. By identifying key influencers and tracking sentiment, brands can adjust their marketing efforts and mitigate potential PR crises.
10. Sprinklr
Sprinklr is a prominent Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform that empowers businesses to effectively manage and enhance their customer interactions across various channels.
It offers a comprehensive suite of tools that cover areas such as social media management, customer engagement, marketing, advertising, and more. Sprinklr’s approach helps companies maintain a consistent and seamless customer experience, ultimately driving brand loyalty and growth.
Features:
- Unified social media listening across platforms.
- Advanced sentiment analysis for a better understanding of public opinion.
- Real-time insights and alerts for brand mentions.
- Influencer engagement and tracking.
- Comprehensive reporting and data visualisation CX tools.
Use Case/Benefits: Sprinklr enables brands to centralise their social listening efforts, ensuring that no mention goes unnoticed. With real-time insights, businesses can act on customer feedback immediately, maintaining a positive brand image and improving customer engagement.
11. Simplify360
Simplify360 is a comprehensive social media management and customer experience platform. It’s designed to streamline your social media operations, optimise customer interactions, and elevate your brand’s online presence.
With Simplify360, you can efficiently manage social media channels, engage with customers, and gain valuable insights to enhance your marketing strategies. It’s a versatile tool that empowers businesses to deliver consistent and impactful customer experiences across various digital touchpoints.
Features
- Campaign Tracking: Track the performance of your social media campaigns, from engagement rates to lead conversions, to optimise your marketing efforts.
- Audience Insights: Understand your audience demographics, preferences, and behaviors, allowing you to create content that resonates with your target market.
- Time Savings: Automate routine tasks like content scheduling and reporting, freeing up your time to focus on strategic aspects of your marketing.
Use Case/Benefits: Simplify360 offers businesses a powerful tool for tracking brand mentions and customer sentiment. By tracking real-time feedback, companies can quickly identify opportunities for improvement and enhance their customer service and engagement efforts.
12. Sendible
Sendible is a powerful social media management platform designed to streamline your social media marketing efforts. It offers tools for content scheduling, collaboration, analytics, and engagement across various social media platforms. Sendible empowers businesses and marketers to efficiently manage multiple social media accounts, enhance audience engagement, and analyse performance to optimise their social media strategies.
Features:
- Respond to audience comments, direct messages, and mentions swiftly in a consolidated inbox so you never miss a beat.
- You can schedule a month’s worth of content in minutes and customize posts with profile tags, locations, and hashtags.
- With in-app approvals, customers may be safely onboarded into their own dashboards without disclosing passwords.
Use Case/Benefits: Sendible helps businesses manage their social media presence by providing real-time listening and monitoring. The platform also allows teams to collaborate on social media campaigns, ensuring enterprises stay on top of brand mentions and customer feedback.
13. Zoho Social
Zoho Social is a comprehensive social media management platform designed to streamline your social media marketing efforts. It offers tools to schedule posts, engage with your audience, and analyse your social media performance.
Zoho Social empowers marketers to efficiently manage multiple social media channels, create engaging content, and make data-driven decisions to optimise their social media strategies. It’s a powerful solution for enhancing your brand’s online presence and customer engagement across various digital platforms.
Features:
- Social Listening: Monitor conversations and brand mentions across social media platforms to understand customer sentiments and gather insights.
- Scheduled Publishing: Plan and schedule posts in advance, ensuring a consistent and well-timed presence on social media platforms.
- Content Calendar: Visualize your content schedule with a calendar view, making it easy to manage and organize your posts.
Use Case/Benefits: Zoho Social enables businesses to manage their brand’s social media presence while monitoring customer sentiment. The collaboration tools allow teams to work together efficiently, ensuring a seamless and timely response to customer feedback.
14. Mentionlytics
It is a strong and user-friendly online and social media monitoring tool. It gives consumer insights by detecting mentions of a firm, a product, a rival, or even a subject across all types of web and social media.
Features
- Reply to Tweets from customers and experts in real time
- Find Top Influencers and Mentioners
- Harness the power of social media monitoring and listening, and combine it with the amazing posting/scheduling capabilities of Hootsuite.
Use Case/Benefits: Mentionlytics provides businesses with actionable insights into customer sentiment, allowing them to adjust their strategies accordingly. By monitoring competitors and influencers, companies can stay ahead of trends and build more decisive marketing campaigns.
Why are social listening tools important for businesses?
Social listening tools are important for businesses because they provide valuable insights into customer sentiment, preferences, and behavior. This is why many organizations now view social listening as a critical business investment, not just a marketing expense.
These insights can inform business decisions such as
- Product development
- Marketing strategies
- Customer service.
Additionally, social listening platforms can help businesses quickly identify and respond to customer complaints or issues, which can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Furthermore, it also helps to identify potential new customers, leads, and partners for the business.
How to choose the right social listening tool?
Choosing the best social listening tool depends on weighing numerous elements to make sure it supports your company’s goals. The correct platform will offer insightful analysis and simplify efforts at consumer interaction and marketing. Here are six important factors to keep in mind so you may decide with knowledge:
- Plans for cost and price: Select adaptable pricing strategies suitable for your means. Premium tools offer sophisticated capabilities but are more costly. Cost has to be balanced with the things your company needs. Seek platforms with scalable strategies to fit expansion.
- Characteristics and Services: Monitoring mentions, reach, and interaction are among the fundamental aspects. Deeper understanding can come from advanced capabilities such as sentiment analysis and real-time monitoring. To view the visibility of your brand, the platform should also provide thorough trend analysis and rival tracking. Make sure the platform complements your particular marketing objectives.
- Customizing and scalability: Even for non-technical users, the platform ought to be simple to operate. Make sure client support and sufficient training materials are at hand. Tailoring the tool to your company’s needs depends on customizing. As your needs rise, seek a solution that grows with your company and provides scalability.
- Data Accuracy and Reporting: Reliable data is what one needs for making decisions. Look for adjustable reporting tools to view the data properly. Monitoring performance and quick strategic change depend on real-time data accuracy. Coverage of networks: Make sure the tool covers the pertinent social media networks of your audience to save time and increase output. It should help several languages and places for worldwide companies. Additionally,, tracking specialty sites where your audience might interact will be a broad-ranging technique offering a whole picture of brand mood.
Given these elements, you can select the best social listening platform fit for your company’s objectives and requirements. In the data-driven marketing scene of today, a smartly selected tool might provide you with a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Customer conversations never stop today; social listening is no longer an option, but it is a strategy that top brands use to stay ahead of the competition. The difference between brands that lead and the ones that react comes down to how quickly and intelligently they turn noise into insight. All the tools highlighted in this list help businesses understand sentiment, anticipate trends, manage reputation, and stay close to their customers at scale. When done right, social listening is a growth lever guiding everything from crisis management and product innovation to CX and brand strategy. The brands that listen well today will be the ones that customers trust and choose tomorrow.
FAQs
1. What are social listening tools?
Social listening tools are software platforms that track and analyze online conversations about your brand, competitor or industry across social media, news, blogs, forums, and review sites. They help businesses understand customer sentiment, spot trends, manage brand reputation, and respond quickly to opportunities or risks.
2. How does Social Listening Tools Work ?
The free social media listening tool simply works by collecting data and then analyzing it. The data is obtained through social networks. Hereby the tool sends out requests for all mentions related to your keyword. The social media network sends back every relevant mention.
3. Why social listening tools are important for your business?
Social listening tools can help you monitor multiple social media platforms in one place. You can easily keep track of your brand, all relevant keywords, and feedbacks through DMs. The best part about these social listening tools is that they allow you to post on social media accounts directly from your dashboard.
4. Social Listening vs. Social Media Tracking vs Monitoring – The difference
Social listening is focused on understanding customer opinions and sentiments, social media tracking emphasizes quantitative measurement of metrics, and social media monitoring combines both approaches to provide a comprehensive view of brand performance, customer perception, and industry insights.
5. Can small businesses use social listening tools?
Yes, Social listening isnt just for large enterprises. Many tools offer affordable plans and simple dashboards that help small businesses track brand mentinos, understand customer feedback, spot local trends an respond quickly to issues – making it easier to compete, build trust, and grow without large teams or budgets.
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