- 5 min read
Free Social Listening Tools For Your Brand in 2024
So, you've got a business and you want to know what people are saying about it...
The problem? The most popular social listening tools are expensive. Too expensive.
That's why we've compiled a list of the best free social listening tools that don't cost a dime:
Short list, right? That's because most free social listening tools are either outdated or don't work very well. These three tools are the exception.
Before we dive into each tool, let's talk about what social listening is and why it's important.
What is social listening?
Social listening is the process of monitoring the internet for mentions of your brand, products, or competitors.
It's an essential part of any brand's marketing strategy because it allows you to:
- Understand what people are saying about your brand
- Catch potential PR crises before they escalate
- Respond to customer feedback in real-time
- Keep an eye on your competitors
- Quickly jump on new trends in your industry
Almost every big company uses social listening tools to monitor their brand online. But what about small businesses and startups that can't afford to pay for expensive tools?
Free social listening tools
There aren't many free social listening tools that are actually worth using. Here are the exceptions:
1. ForumScout
ForumScout is a social listening tool that monitors forums and Twitter (X) for mentions of any phrase that you specify.
The biggest difference between ForumScout and other social listening tools is that it's designed to track mentions of anything, not just your brand name.
This makes it useful for more than just monitoring your brand, and opens up a world of possibilities for marketing and PR.
For example, if you're a coffee shop owner, you could use ForumScout to track mentions of "best coffee shop london". Then, you could jump into the conversation and recommend your own coffee shop or offer a discount to the person who posted.
ForumScout provide a free search engine that allows you to search for mentions of any phrase on forums and Twitter.
The paid version of ForumScout offers real-time monitoring and email alerts, and is free for the first 14 days.
2. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a free tool that sends you email alerts whenever your chosen keyword is mentioned on the web.
The downside of Google Alerts is that it only monitors news articles, blogs, and websites. It doesn't monitor social media.
Despite this, it's still a solid free tool for monitoring mentions of your brand name on websites indexed by Google.
Google Alerts is easy to set up and use, and is a great option for small businesses that want to dip their toes into social listening.
Many people use it for keeping track of new website backlinks, too.
3. F5Bot
F5Bot is our final free social listening tool.
It's a bit different from the others because it specifically monitors Reddit, Lobsters, and Hacker News for mentions of your chosen keyword.
If your target audience hangs out on these platforms, F5Bot is a great free tool for monitoring what they're saying about your brand.
The site is very simple to use and most interactions are done via email.
The downside is that it only monitors three platforms, so it's not as comprehensive as ForumScout or Google Alerts.
It's definitely worth checking out - there's no harm in setting up a free account and seeing if it works for you.
Conclusions
If you're not already, we highly recommend using a social listening tool to monitor mentions of your brand online.
When there's free tools like ForumScout, Google Alerts, and F5Bot available, there's no harm in at least giving them a try.
Start your 2 week free trial of ForumScout and start monitoring mentions of your brand today.
I'll happily extend your trial if you need more time to test it out. Just email me at josh@forumscout.app.