At media update, we’ve been using the social media tracking and reporting service amaSocial to monitor our social media activity, report on the performance of our social media strategy, and find new ideas for articles.

We’ve learnt a lot about social media tracking, and especially the applications of social media monitoring tools that services like amaSocial offers. Here we share what we’ve learnt about these tools and what they are useful for.

But first off, what do social media monitoring tools actually do? They gather data about your brand, business, or organisation. They provide information about your campaigns, marketing initiatives, and even data about your industry’s activities on social media.

It’s also important to note that social media monitoring is different from social listening. Once you start analysing your social media monitoring data and use it to make informed decisions and build better strategies, you have moved into the social listening phase.

The data you gather during the social media monitoring stage can help you:

1. Track mentions of your brand

How does it work? A service like amaSocial searches social networks for your brands’ names and product titles. These services then list the posts that mention you on an online platform and/or in reports that are emailed to you. amaSocial offers both options.

Why track mentions? Some companies have very little knowledge of what is being said about their brands on social media platforms. These businesses are missing out on information about what users think of their products, services, brand, or company – and the insights that can be gained from these opinions.

You can use reports and lists of posts mentioning your brand for basic purposes, like gauging public interest in your brand. Then, as your social media monitoring service provider collects more and more of this data, you’ll be able to use this information for more complex tasks like market research or calculating the return on investment of campaigns.

Social listening tools like amaSocial’s also help brands identify potential influencers and brand ambassadors. amaSocial’s reports indicate the social media users that mentioned your brand, product, or topic most often within a specified time frame. They also list influencers based on their following. With this information, you can reach out to those users and invite them to your influencer marketing programme.

2. Stay on top of comments and questions

How does it work? Social media monitoring tools help you keep track of mentions of your brand and/or products so you can respond to posts when necessary.

Why use this tool to keep up with comments? A comment from a social media user mentioning your brand could be an opportunity to engage and build a relationship with that person. It’s also a good opportunity to answer questions that social media users have about your products or services.

You’ll also be able to spot complaints on social media more easily and take action to address these issues as they arise – whether this involves merely communicating with the user, or taking steps internally to improve their customer experience.

3. Keep up with public conversations

How does it work? You can follow topics with social media monitoring tools. amaSocial’s Topic Tracking, for instance, lets you collect posts from across social networks mentioning a specific word or phrase. These posts are displayed in a feed or report that marketers can keep an eye on to spot growing trends within their industry or recognise popular subjects for their social media posts.

Why should you keep up with social conversations? If you need inspiration for a social media post, then monitoring a topic can show you what subjects are trending within public conversations at that moment. You can then create posts that tap into those topics of conversation.

Monitoring a topic can also keep you informed on public sentiment towards a specific subject. If social media users are reacting negatively towards that topic, you’ll know to hold off on posting about it until negative sentiment has died down.

Is it time to start your journey with social media monitoring? Read amaSocial’s advice in its blog post on why you should do so now: Measuring your Brand’s Impact on Social Media
Social media monitoring and social listening work together to form a potent marketing tool. Learn more about this dynamic duo in our article, Why social listening and media monitoring make a powerful combination.