10 Best Social Media Search Tools to Use in 2025

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Consider this: you just launched a new product and can’t wait to see how people respond to your brand’s big reveal. You check your social media accounts only to find crickets. There are no likes, shares, or even comments on your posts. While this may just be a sign that you need to give your audience more time to discover your new product, it could also indicate a lack of brand awareness.

Knowing how to measure brand awareness on social media can help you determine if this is true. One way to get started is by using a social media search tool to track how many users mention your brand or products, even if they don’t engage with your posts directly. This guide will introduce you to the best social media search tools in 2025 to help you identify and understand your audience to improve your brand awareness and engagement.

Brandwise's social media engagement software can help you get there faster by letting you see how many users mention your brand or products, even if they aren’t engaging directly with your posts.

Social media search tools track and analyze online conversations about your brand. They help you sift through the noise of social media to pinpoint relevant discussions about your business, uncovering valuable insights to inform your marketing strategies. For example, these tools can help you monitor conversations around your business’s name, products, and even industry keywords to discover emerging trends, identify customer pain points, and understand your audience’s preferences. Social media search tools also help you engage with users in real time, allowing you to respond to customer feedback, build relationships, and manage your brand’s reputation.

Social media generates massive amounts of data daily. By 2025, this data has become even more critical for businesses to remain competitive and relevant. Here’s why these tools are so essential:

Monitoring Brand Mentions

Social media search tools allow businesses to track when and where their brand is being mentioned, whether tagged or untagged. This is essential for maintaining brand reputation and responding to customer feedback promptly. For instance, a tool like Brandwise ensures no mention goes unnoticed, whether a customer complaint or a positive review, enabling businesses to engage effectively.

Tracking Competitors

Social media is not just about your brand; it’s also about understanding what your competitors are doing. These tools enable businesses to monitor competitor mentions, campaigns, and customer interactions to identify opportunities for differentiation or improvement.

Understanding Audience Behavior

Businesses can learn more about their audience’s preferences, needs, and pain points by analyzing social media conversations. Tools like Sprout Social provide sentiment analysis, helping brands understand customers' feelings about their products or services.

Managing Large-Scale Interactions

For brands with a significant online presence, manually managing social media interactions is impossible. Search tools automate the process, saving time and ensuring comprehensive monitoring.

As social media continues to evolve, the volume of user-generated content has reached unprecedented levels. With billions of active users globally, businesses now have access to a wealth of data—but only if they know how to find and interpret it. Social media search tools have grown in importance for several reasons:

Data Overload

The sheer amount of content generated daily makes it impractical to rely on manual searches. For example, Twitter alone generates approximately 500 million tweets per day. Social media search tools use advanced algorithms to filter and present only the most relevant information.

Cross-Platform Usage

In 2025, users will be active across multiple platforms, from TikTok to LinkedIn. Tools like Hootsuite and Brandwise provide unified dashboards that consolidate data from various sources, saving time and effort.

Real-Time Insights

The speed of social media conversations means brands must react in real-time to remain competitive. Social media search tools alert businesses to trending topics, crises, or opportunities as they happen.

AI and Machine Learning Integration

Modern tools leverage AI to enhance search capabilities. AI-powered features like sentiment analysis, visual recognition, and predictive analytics provide more profound insights than ever before.

Personalization and Targeting

Tools allow businesses to target particular demographics or interests by analyzing conversations and hashtags. For example, a fitness brand could track “#healthyhabits” discussions to engage directly with potential customers.

Social media search tools aren’t just about collecting data; they’re about turning that data into actionable strategies. Here’s how:

Improving Customer Engagement

By identifying where your brand is mentioned, you can join conversations, address complaints, and thank loyal customers, building stronger relationships.

Refining Marketing Strategies

Social media insights can guide content creation, highlight which campaigns resonate, and identify areas for improvement. For instance, monitoring hashtags can reveal trending topics that align with your brand’s mission, enabling you to craft timely campaigns.

Managing Brand Reputation

Early detection of negative mentions or potential crises allows businesses to respond quickly, mitigating reputational damage.

Optimizing Product Offerings

Businesses can identify common pain points or desires by analyzing audience discussions and guiding product development.

Enhancing Competitive Advantage

Understanding your competitors’ performance and strategies can highlight gaps in the market or areas where your brand can excel.

Brandwise is an intelligent social media management tool. At its core is an advanced AI that continuously learns and improves, automatically moderating comments on ads and posts while generating intelligent replies to comments and messages. This powerful tool streamlines workflow by consolidating social media interactions in one place and provides valuable AI-driven insights, identifying top FAQs and concerns to enhance customer engagement strategies.

For brands struggling with high-volume social media interactions, Brandwise offers an efficient solution to automatically hide negative comments, provide AI-generated responses, and gain a deeper understanding of customer engagement patterns. Try our social media engagement software for free for 7 days to grow your social media accounts rapidly!

How Does Social Media Monitoring Work

How to Find Unlinked Brand Mentions

How to Find Mentions on Instagram

Benefits of Social Media Monitoring

How to See Mentions on Facebook

How to Check Mentions on TikTok

Brandwise is an AI-powered social media management and comment moderation tool designed to help brands monitor and engage with their audience effectively. Its ability to consolidate social media interactions into one streamlined platform makes it perfect for managing high-volume accounts. Key features include tracking mentions, hashtags, and keywords across all major platforms, moderating comments automatically with advanced AI to hide negative sentiment and respond intelligently, and providing AI-driven insights into FAQs, engagement trends, and customer concerns.

Hootsuite is a comprehensive social media management platform with robust search capabilities. With Hootsuite, users can search for hashtags, mentions, and keywords across platforms, gain insights into trending content and audience engagement, and access scheduling and analytics tools. Hootsuite is ideal for businesses looking for an all-in-one tool to manage posts, track mentions, and analyze performance.

Sprout Social is a social media management tool with advanced listening and search features. Key features include real-time tracking of brand mentions and hashtags, sentiment analysis to gauge public perception, and audience insights to tailor marketing strategies. Sprout Social is perfect for brands seeking more profound customer sentiment and engagement insights.

4. Mention: Stay on Top of What People Are Saying About You

Mention is a tool that tracks brand mentions across social media and the web. Key features include real-time brand and competitor mentions alerts, sentiment analysis and keyword tracking, and integration with tools like Slack for team collaboration. Mention is focused on keeping businesses informed about their online reputation.

5. BuzzSumo: A Smart Tool for Content Marketers

BuzzSumo is a platform for content discovery and influencer tracking. Its key features include tracking trending content and social shares, identifying influencers driving conversations in your niche, and providing backlink analysis. BuzzSumo is ideal for content marketers and businesses that are focusing on influencer collaborations.

6. TweetDeck: The Best Tool for Managing Twitter

TweetDeck is a tool for managing and searching content on Twitter. Its features include real-time tracking of mentions, hashtags, and keywords, customizable columns for organizing searches, and an easy-to-use interface. TweetDeck is a must-have for businesses actively engaging on Twitter.

7. Keyhole: Monitor Hashtags Like a Pro

Keyhole is a tool for social media analytics and hashtag tracking. Its key features include tracking hashtag performance in real-time, monitoring competitor activity and audience engagement, and providing detailed reports for campaigns. Keyhole is excellent for campaigns relying heavily on hashtag engagement.

Talkwalker is a social listening tool with powerful search capabilities. Its key features include tracking mentions across social media and web platforms, offering visual listening to identify logos and images in posts, and providing in-depth campaign analytics. Talkwalker is perfect for brands focused on detailed sentiment analysis and campaign tracking.

Awario is a social media and web monitoring tool. Its key features include tracking brand mentions and conversations across platforms, providing sentiment analysis and competitive benchmarking, and an affordable price point for small businesses. Awario is an excellent tool for businesses needing robust social listening with a budget.

Buffer is a social media scheduling tool with basic search capabilities. Its features allow users to schedule and monitor posts, track engagement metrics like clicks, shares, and comments, and access team collaboration features. Buffer is simple yet effective for small businesses and content creators.

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Not all tools cover every social media platform. If your audience is active on multiple platforms, you need a tool to monitor them effectively. Missing out on a platform where your audience engages can lead to lost opportunities.

What to Look For

Comprehensive coverage across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and emerging networks.

Flexibility to expand monitoring as new platforms gain popularity.

Best Practice

Review your audience demographics regularly to identify the platforms they are most active on. Choose a tool like Brandwise, which tracks all major platforms and provides smooth integration.

Ease of Use: The Best Tools Have Intuitive Interfaces for Quick Adoption

A complex interface or steep learning curve can slow adoption and reduce productivity. Simplicity ensures that teams can quickly start using the tool effectively.

What to Look For

An intuitive dashboard with straightforward navigation.

Minimal training requirements for your team to get started.

Accessible customer support for troubleshooting.

Best Practice

Before committing, test the tool’s demo or trial version to evaluate its user interface. Ensure the workflow is intuitive for all team members, from managers to entry-level users.

Features and Functionality: Select a Tool With the Right Capabilities

Different tools offer unique features, and selecting one without the right capabilities can limit your ability to analyze data or effectively engage with your audience.

What to Look For

Advanced analytics like sentiment analysis and engagement tracking.

Real-time tracking of mentions, hashtags, and keywords.

Additional features such as AI-driven insights, comment moderation, and influencer identification.

Best Practice

Identify your primary objectives—tracking mentions, improving engagement, or running influencer campaigns—and match the tool’s features to these goals. For example, tools like Sprout Social excel in sentiment analysis, while Brandwise offers superior AI-powered comment moderation.

Integration Options: Your New Tool Needs to Work With Your Existing Tech Stack

Your social media search tool should work smoothly with your existing tech stack, including CRM systems, email marketing platforms, and project management tools. Integration saves time and ensures smooth workflows.

What to Look For

Compatibility with popular platforms like Slack, Zapier, Salesforce, or HubSpot.

Ability to export data to analytics tools for deeper analysis.

Best Practice

Prioritize tools that offer API access or direct integrations with your current tools. This ensures a unified workflow where insights from social media directly inform other business processes.

Pricing and Scalability: Look for Affordable, Flexible Plans

The cost of a social media search tool should align with your budget and offer scalability as your business grows. A tool that meets your needs today but becomes expensive or limiting tomorrow can create operational bottlenecks.

What to Look For

Transparent pricing models with scalable plans for growing businesses.

Flexible subscription options, including monthly and annual billing.

Affordable tools for startups with smaller budgets, like Awario.

Best Practice

Evaluate the ROI of the tool by comparing its cost to the time saved and insights gained. Start with a trial or free plan to test its effectiveness before committing to a paid version.

Customizability: Every Business Has Unique Needs

A tool that allows you to tailor its settings to your objectives will provide more excellent value and usability.

What to Look For

Ability to customize dashboards, reports, and alerts.

Adjustable filters to focus on relevant data (e.g., geographic, language, or sentiment filters).

Best Practice

Choose a tool that supports granular customization, enabling you to focus only on metrics that matter most to your campaigns.

Reporting and Insights: Look for Actionable Analytics to Inform Your Strategy

Actionable insights and detailed reporting help you refine your social media strategy and measure its success. Without robust reporting, your efforts might lack direction or focus.

What to Look For

Detailed visual reports, including graphs and charts.

Insights into engagement trends, audience behavior, and campaign performance.

Best Practice

Opt for tools that offer automated reporting features and deliver reports directly to your inbox at specified intervals. Brandwise, for instance, excels in delivering AI-driven insights into customer engagement and FAQs.

Customer Support: Reliable Support Minimizes Downtime

Technical issues or difficulties using the tool can disrupt your social media management. Reliable and accessible customer support minimizes downtime and frustration.

What to Look For

24/7 customer support via live chat, email, or phone.

Comprehensive knowledge bases, tutorials, and community forums.

Best Practice

Read reviews to assess the quality of the tool’s customer support. Ensure support is responsive and knowledgeable about the tool’s features.

Automation Capabilities: Automation Saves Time and Boosts Productivity

Automation saves time by handling repetitive tasks, such as monitoring mentions, moderating comments, and generating reports. This allows your team to focus on strategy and creative work.

What to Look For

Automated comment moderation and response generation.

Real-time alerts for high-priority mentions or engagement opportunities.

Scheduling and automated campaign tracking.

Best Practice

Leverage tools with built-in AI, like Brandwise, to automate repetitive tasks while maintaining quality and consistency in customer interactions.

Data Security: Choose a Tool That Protects Your Business and Customer Data

With increasing data privacy concerns, choosing a tool that protects your business and customer data is essential.

What to Look For

Strong encryption protocols and compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR or CCPA.

Transparent data usage policies.

Best Practice

Review the tool’s privacy policy and security certifications to ensure your data is safe.

Define Clear Objectives

Start by identifying what you aim to achieve with the tool, such as improving customer engagement, tracking mentions, or analyzing competitors.

Set Up Alerts and Automation

Configure alerts for specific mentions, hashtags, or keywords to stay informed without constantly monitoring manually.

Review Analytics Regularly

Use the insights provided by the tool to adjust your strategies and measure campaign success.

Involve Your Team

Train your team to use the tool effectively and integrate its insights into broader business strategies.

Continuously Optimize

Reassess your tool settings and integrations periodically to ensure you leverage all available features for maximum impact.

Brandwise is a social media management software that helps you measure and improve brand awareness on social media. At its core is an advanced artificial intelligence that improves over time and enables you to track social media engagement by automatically moderating comments on ads and posts while generating intelligent replies to comments and messages. This powerful tool streamlines workflow by consolidating social media interactions in one place. However, what sets Brandwise apart are the AI-driven insights that help you identify the top FAQs and concerns to enhance customer engagement strategies.

For brands struggling with high-volume social media interactions, Brandwise offers an efficient solution to automatically hide negative comments, provide AI-generated responses, and gain a deeper understanding of customer engagement patterns. Try Brandwise for free for 7 days and see how it can help you rapidly grow your social media accounts!