I tested the 7 best free social media monitoring tools — here’s how they stack up If you’ve ever woken up to a trending hashtag about your brand — and not in a good way — you know how fast a small issue can become a full-blown PR crisis. Fortunately, I have not been there, done that, or got the t-shirt, but I know plenty of people who’ve been left holding the bag. With more than 5 billion people worldwide using social media — and sharing their two cents on everything from cat videos to how awesome a brand is (or isn’t) — reputation management and social media listening is only going to get more important. With that in mind, I tested seven of the most popular free social media monitoring tools so you don’t have to. Here’s what I learned. Table of Contents What is social media monitoring? Why use a social media monitoring tool? Free Social Media Monitoring Tools Using Social Inbox Streams In HubSpot What is social media monitoring? In a nutshell, social media monitoring, or social media “listening,” is about keeping your ear to the ground. It’s the ongoing process of tracking conversations, keywords, and trends on social platforms so you know what’s being said about your brand (or anything else that matters to your business). When I’m running a brand audit, I’m not just looking at who tags the company on Instagram. I’m digging into the...