Posted By: Scotty Spielman
It’s only natural to wonder what people are saying about your business. With so many social media channels and review sites available, chances are, if you’ve interacted with a customer, they have something to say about it. Just like with person-to-person conversations, these will happen whether you’re aware of them or not.
Given how quickly one negative interaction can spiral, it’s much better for you to know about them, so you can respond and turn a negative situation into a positive one, or a positive situation into something even better. Fortunately, there are tools out there to help. Here are a few of the best:
Agorapulse is slightly expensive, with plans starting at $39 monthly. It does have advantages, however, such as being able to track up to 10 social media profiles. You can listen in for conversation about your business on each social media brand. It is easy to start, too. Once you sign up and set your channels, all you have to do is open the Listen tab and start a new search. If you’re a small business owner, this might not be the app for you. But if you get multiple queries and mentions each day, it may be worth the price.
Awario is less expensive and more proactive. Starting at $29 a month, it notifies you about the conversations taking place about your business. It also contains filters that ensures you see the most important, relevant messages first, which saves you even more time. You simply create a new project to bring those conversations into your inbox. You can scroll through and pick the ones that need your response. It will also let you know where these conversations are taking place; a review that was posted halfway around the world may not be that relevant, after all.
Talkwalker alerts is an alternative to Google alerts. You can monitor your business mentions across websites, blogs, forums, and social media channels—all you need to do is set up a free alert. You will get updates in your inbox as frequently or as infrequently as you like. One advantage of Talkwalker alerts is that you can select ‘only the best results,’ so your inbox will not be flooded with irrelevant data.
Mention is the most comprehensive of all, but you get what you pay for. This app will cost you about $100 a month, so only look into it if you think you can justify the expense.
If you are curious about your competitors, Brand24 might be of interest. It’s relatively expensive, at $49 a month, but will give you a wide variety of insights into your competition is up to. You can use their names, hashtags, product names or ad campaigns. You’ll get a quick summary of activity and the option to look deeper into the data to get more information on their teach and top commenters—which you can use to tweak your own social media advertising.
No matter how you keep track of your social mentions, it’s a good idea to respond as quickly as you can. The faster your response, the more professional you will look and the less likely a bad situation will turn into a worse one. These apps will help get you off on the right foot.
What do you think? Do you use other programs? Let us know in the comments!