The Top 7 Social Monitoring Tools and How To Use Them

We live in a world where there are literally thousands of third party

monitoring tools that you can use for your social strategy.

Each of them adds something to the mix, whether it’s link tracking, or helping your fans comment more

often. Today, we explore the top 7, and how you should use them to enhance

your social media marketing campaigns.

#1: The Disqus Comment Plugin

The first time we ever saw the disqus comment plugin in action, we were blown away. It’s a really handy little

comment plugin, that allows all of your commenters to have a portable profile, that they can use on any disqus plugin. Your readers can also choose to sign in with their Facebook, Twitter or email accounts – for added social exposure.

This is a must have on your blog!

#2: Socialmention

Socialmention is one of those monitoring tools that never gets old. If you’ve been looking for a way to keep

track of who, what and where your brand is being talked about – then this

is the tool to use. Just punch in your brand name and socialmention searches the net for mentions.

You’ll also get stats based on public sentiment, like whether feedback is more positive or negative, and what

your top keywords are.

#3: Google Alerts

Google Alerts is the fastest, easiest way to be notified about certain keywords in your niche. Set up

notifications for your brand name or business, and you’ll be able to see

what is being said about your brand. To set up a notification, simply enter the keywords in the news search bar, scroll down and click ‘create an email

alert’.

#4: Radian6

in on conversations that are being had about your brand online. Then, it

shows you how you can improve your social reach. Radian6 is a paid service, and costs about $600.00 per month, but the insights are worth it, if you

know what to do with them.

#5: StepRep

StepRep is a wonderful analytics program that tracks what is being said

about your brand online. It stores details and compiles analytics for you to view, so that you can make changes to your social strategy. You can either

sign in to the StepRep site, or get email reports on your progress. Once logged

in, StepRep analyses your brand mentions, based on their analytics

algorithm. There is a usage fee.

#6: Hootsuite

We can’t have a social monitoring list without Hootsuite. The universally

popular social media dashboard is also an excellent monitoring tool. It

provides you with integrated stats based on brand alerts, and suggests

how to improve your visibility. It works best when you buy the VIP package.

#7: HowSociable

If you need a quick and easy rundown of your brand mentions, use

HowSociable. It provides you with a list of metrics that you can then use to tweak your campaigns. Once you get

the overall score, you can see who has been saying what – and the platforms

that need more interaction.

Social Media Marketing University (SMMU) is the creation of John Paul Souza, a serial entrepreneur who's held senior managerial positions at Banc America Capital Management

Group and JP Morgan Chase. Serving marketing professionals,

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