Social listening is a common phrase in social media but, few understand what it actually means. At its core, social listening refers to the process of monitoring online conversations to understand what people are saying about your brand, products, services and business. That is why mastering it can be a game changer in your social media strategy.
According to the State of Social Listening report, more than 61% of businesses today have social listening tools in place for monitoring keyword mentions. Besides, more than 82% of businesses view social listening is a critical element in planning. Most businesses use social listening to track and analyse sentiment analysis, boost brand awareness and keep up with industry trends.
This post will take a deep dive into social listening, exploring its definition, key benefits and strategic implementation. It provides actionable insights to enable you achieve real results.
What is Social Listening?
Social listening is the process of tracking and analysing online conversations about your brand, niche and competitors to uncover actionable insights. Unlike social media monitoring that focuses on immediate engagement, social listening goes deeper to enable you understand customer sentiment, predict social media trends and discover opportunities for growth.
Social listening occurs in two parts. The first part entails monitoring social media channels to find mentions about your brand, products, services, competitors and keywords related to your business. The second part involves analysing the collected mentions to draw actionable conclusions that will help with achieving your business goals.
Thanks to technology, some social listening tools have AI-powered tools that automatically draw conclusions and actionable insights.
Benefits of Social Listening
Social listening can be instrumental in translating social conversations into better content and increased revenue.
Imagine working as the creative director for a company like Netflix. There are higher chances that you have access to tons of data to inspire the direction of your next film. That includes viewership rates, popular genres and most watched actors. Now, imagine you do not have access to that data or you are missing details from creating a suitable storyline that would make your series a success. That is when you can turn to social listening to fill in the gaps.
Here are the key benefits of effective social listening;
Brand health
Paying a keen attention to positive and negative sentiments about your brand is crucial. It can give you clues into what people love about your brand and where you need to make improvements. Listening data also challenges how you view your brand.
Social listening paints the real picture and speaks the truth right from the mouths of your target audience. Embracing those insights can help with fine tuning your messaging, product strategy and other essential elements for success.
Social listening can answer the following questions about your brand health;
- How do customers feel about your brand or product?
- Is public perception trending up or down?
- Which types of content do people share about your brand?
- Does your social audience resonate with other channels?
Consistent social listening offers a pulse on common customer questions, comments and complaints, demographics and general sentiment about your brand.
Industry trends and insights
Social listening can also help you to identify industry trends before they even become trends. It can sort through the noise of industry or niche hashtags and discussions, so, you can listen closely to the right conversations. That can help you to change your plans or stay ahead of industry trends.
Social listening can also affect your messaging and content strategy, helping to adapt to the changing customer needs and giving you a strong competitive advantage. Here are tips on how to use social listening to gain industry insights;
- Watch out for disruptions to your space such as new technologies, legislations or competitors.
- Track political and social issues to weigh in on whether they are relevant to your brand.
- Find gaps in the industry that a new product, solution or workflow could solve.
- Look for frequently asked questions to craft content that resonates with your audience.
Competitive analysis
Competition is fierce on social media and that is why using social listening for competitive analysis can be a huge game changer.
Whether its new consumer markets and competition, or keeping up with your direct competitors, social listening enables you to track conversations that matter to your brand. That includes;
- Determining your share of voice such as volume of mentions and messages
- Understanding the weaknesses or shortcomings of your competitors
- Finding competitive content that outshines your own.
- Identifying new products and solutions quickly.
Crisis management
Social media is a fast-paced frontier where it is very easy to provoke cancel culture. Thus, brands must be aware of the market and audience feelings to handle crises effectively. Social listening can help you to do that strategically through the early detection of issues. Besides, listening to people online also helps you to understand how they think about a situation, thereby managing crisis response effectively.
Listening to online conversations can also enable you to identify key influencers shaping trending discussions. As a result, it can also help with simplifying the entire process of influencer marketing. Social listening also helps with tracking how the crisis affects your business and people and, how your plan is working to resolve it.
Social Listening Tools 2025
There are various social listening tools and platforms that can help you with monitoring and analysing online conversations. The following are the top 3 social listening tools for 2025 and, their standout features:
Sprinklr is one of the most popular social listening tools and platforms that supports more than 30 social media channels. It is compatible with various web sources including news, blogs, websites, forums, Reddit, videos, podcasts, reviews, classified and WordPress. The platform also supports traditional channels like print, TV and radio.
Sprinklr’s AI-powered insights help you to make sense of vast data, pinpointing trends and sentiments.
Key features
The main features that make sprinklr to stand out include;
- Widest channel coverage, ensuring comprehensive conversation monitoring.
- Handling 10 billion predictions daily, showcasing scalability and performance.
- Custom dashboards for personalized analytics and data visualization
- Accuracy of over 80%, ensuring reliable insights.
- Topic library for efficient management and organization of key themes and discussions.
Sprinklr is an all-in-one tool that goes beyond social listening to actively managing customer experiences. It is best suited to larger organizations looking to keep a tab on their global presence.
Hootsuite is also a renowned social media management platform that also boasts great social listening capabilities. It provides real-time updates and sentiment analysis across various platforms.
Hootsuite’sseamless integration with social media management platform enables you to track mentions, respond to comments and even schedule social posts from a single dashboard.
This platform is an ideal pick if you are looking for a tool that allows you to listen to online conversations and engage with your audience immediately. It is mainly suitable for smaller businesses and brands with budget limitations.
Brandwatch is another good pick when it comes to social data. Its advanced analytics, image recognition and trend spotting provides users with a granular look at online conversations. The real strength of Brandwatch lies in the depth of analysis that it offers. This tool can dissect conversations and provide insights about the volume of mentions, context and sentiments behind them.
Brandwatch is ideal for those who love digging deeper into the nitty gritty of data and emerging trends. It offers the detailed analysis that you desire. This tool is great for brands that focus solely on understanding the audience and market dynamics.
How to Implement a Social Listening Strategy
Selecting the right channels for social listening is just as important as choosing the social listening tool. Conversations about your brand do not all happen in the same places, so, knowing where to focus your efforts can be of great significance. The following are the key elements to consider to determine the channels that matter most to your brand;
Audience
Begin by mapping out where your target audience spends most of their time online. Different demographics have preferences for different platforms. For example, younger audiences often gravitate towards TikTok and Instagram while professionals are usually active on X and LinkedIn.
Past engagements
Check out the historical data of your brand to see where you get the most social media engagement. Conduct proper research to identify platforms that garner the most mentions, comments or shares. That is where you should concentrate your efforts.
Industry
Some industries have niche channels where specific conversations take place. For instance, tech discussions might thrive on Reddit while fashion brands may find valuable insights on Pinterest and Instagram.
Competitors
Keep a tab on where your competitors are most active and where they receive the most engagement. That can provide insights on where industry-relevant conversations are taking place.
Resources
You probably cannot keep an eye on every single platform out there even with the help of a team. So, focus on the platforms where the real action is happening. Start with a few important channels then, spread out from there based on your budget.
Social Listening Best Practices
Creating the most effective social listening requires you to know what to listen for, where and how to listen as well as learning from your competitors. Here are essential best practices to abide by in your journey.
Know the words and topics to listen to
Choose the most relevant keywords that people use when mentioning your brand and niche. Some of the most important keywords and topics to track include;
- The name, social media handles and slogan of your brand
- Your products’ names
- Words related to your competitors such as product names, social handles and slogans
- Popular words related to the industry
- Popular hashtags related to your brand, competitors and industry
- Names of the key leaders in your company including CEO, COO
Know where to listen
Conversations about your brand or industry can vary from one channel to another. For instance, the things people talk about on Instagram may not be the same as on LinkedIn. You may also see your brand popping up a lot on TikTok but, hardly on Facebook.
Get the scoop on where your brand and competitors are getting the buzz and how the talk varies from one platform to another. That can give you clues on where to focus your resources.
Narrow your results
Once you have determined the terms to track and where to find them, you should use advanced search to narrow your results. The leaner your search, the more likely you are to find your ideal target audience. For instance, if your business operates primarily in Kenya, you should focus on conversations happening there. Tailoring your social listening to specific areas will ensure that you are collecting actionable insights, directly applicable to your business context.
Set up alerts
You should proactively set up alerts to enhance your social listening. Those alerts acts as early warning signals, allowing you to detect potential issues before they escalate.
The Bottom Line
Social listening is important because it helps you to understand and engage with your audience, stay ahead of trends and make informed business decisions. Strategically choosing the right social media platforms and focusing on where your audience industry and competitors are most active can enable you to maximize the impact of your social listening efforts.