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Influencer marketing is evolving, and so is the way brands measure success. That’s why Meltwater is proud to announce a new partnership with YouTube, integrating YouTube’s Creator Partnerships API directly into our Influencer Marketing platform.

Introducing Verified YouTube Data in Meltwater Influencer Marketing

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Influencer marketing feels like it appeared out of nowhere. The reality is, it grew because social media completely changed how we discover and buy products.

What started as everyday people sharing opinions online has turned into a $250 billion economy. It works because it feels real. Influencers put brands in front of their audiences, helping to build instant trust. 23% of online video content is made by influencers (2026 Global Digital Report). They’ve built relationships with their followers over months and years, so followers actually care about what influencers recommend.

We don’t make buying decisions in a vacuum. We’re influenced by the people we admire, and that’s why influencer marketing deserves a spot in your marketing strategy. 

What Is Influencer Marketing and How Does It Work?

What Are the Main Types of Influencer Marketing?

How Can Influencer Marketing Benefit My Brand?

How Can I Get Started with Influencer Marketing?

What Should I Look For in an Influencer Marketing Tool?

What is influencer marketing? It’s a form of social media marketing where brands partner with creators to reach targeted audiences and build trust.

Influencers connect brands to highly engaged communities. Brands use them for a wide range of goals, including awareness, engagement, and conversions.

Influencer marketing is no longer just a fringe strategy; it has become a core marketing tactic for many consumer-facing brands. It builds meaningful connections between you and your audience through authentic brand promotion. 

Tip: With new social platforms popping up all the time, it's important to stay on top. Look at the top beauty influencers, the top South African beauty influencers, the top beauty influencers in Indonesia, the best global food influencers, the top 5 gaming influencers, the top food influencers in Malaysia, the top business influencers, the top sports & fitness influencers, the top Instagram Influencers, the top Finnish influencers, the biggest Swedish influencers, the top Instagram couple influencers, the top influencers in the UK, the top Irish influencers, the top Instagram influencers in Malaysia, the top TikTok influencers in Malaysia, the top Malaysian YouTubers, the top Indonesian Instagram influencers, the top Indonesian YouTube influencers, the top Instagram Influencers in Hong Kong, the top Instagram influencers in Singapore, the top Facebook influencers, the top South African Instagram influencers, the top South African TikTokers, the top TikTok influencers in the Philippines, the top beauty influencers in the Philippines, the top Australian TikTokers, the biggest Australian YouTubers, the top female influencers from Ukraine, and the top Australian (Instagram) influencers.

Influencer marketing works because it feels less like advertising and more like a recommendation from someone you trust. Creators spend years building real relationships with their audiences. So when they talk about a brand, it comes across as genuine.

About 86% of marketers say they’re using influencers, showing a steady climb from previous years. And it's not just marketers who are invested in the influencer sphere - PR professionals are too. In fact, 36% of PR pros surveyed in Meltwater's 2026 State of PR report said they take ownership of influencer marketing, yet only 2.3% ranked this as one of the three main functions of their role.

The average ROI from influencer marketing is around $5.78 for every $1 spent, making it one of the most powerful forms of communication. Top campaigns can reach an $11-$18 ROI per dollar.

Most importantly, over 80% of marketers say influencers are effective. Many are planning to keep or grow their influencer budgets.

Reading tip: How To Promote Branded Influencer Content As Ads

Brands benefit from different types of partnerships depending on their goals. It might be building awareness, driving sales, or establishing long-term credibility, for example. Below are the most common influencer marketing approaches and how they work.

<table>
  <caption>Main Types of Influencer Marketing</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Campaign Type</th>
      <th>Goal</th>
      <th>Best Platforms</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Social Media Collaborations</td>
      <td>Increase brand visibility in authentic, in-feed content</td>
      <td>Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Product Reviews and Tutorials</td>
      <td>Build confidence by showing how a product works</td>
      <td>YouTube, Facebook, TikTok</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Thought Leadership and B2B</td>
      <td>Establish credibility and authority by working with trusted industry experts</td>
      <td>LinkedIn, YouTube</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Affiliate and Ambassador Programs</td>
      <td>Drive consistent conversions and loyalty through long-term relationships with influencers</td>
      <td>Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Social media collabs are the most familiar form of influencer marketing. Brands partner with creators to produce sponsored posts, videos, stories, or reels. The content features a product or message in a way that fits naturally into the creator’s usual content.

These partnerships work best when the brand aligns with the influencer’s style and audience. It makes the promotion feel authentic.

Product reviews and tutorials showcase how a product or service works. Influencers test the product, do a walkthrough, or share their honest experiences.

This format helps audiences visualize the product in real life. It builds confidence by answering common questions before someone decides to buy.

Thought leadership and B2B influencer partnerships

Influencer partnerships can center on expertise instead of lifestyle. Brands can collaborate with industry experts, analysts, or respected professionals who can speak credibly about trends or challenges. 

These partnerships help to build authority and trust. They position the brand as part of a larger, knowledgeable conversation.

Affiliate and ambassador programs are built for long-term relationships. Influencers earn commissions or ongoing perks for promoting a brand over time. They do so by sharing unique links or codes, which users click to make a purchase.

Creators have a continued stake in the brand, so they promote the brand more than once. This type of content often feels more credible and consistent to the audience.

Tip: Learn more about Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), how to become a content creator, and how to negotiate as a creator, and read this blog to learn more about the question "What is an influencer?"

High level benefits of influencer marketing include building trust and credibility, reaching highly targeted audiences, increasing brand authenticity, and generating repurposible content and user-generated content (UGC).

Influencers can create content and endorsements that feel organic to followers. This helps brands access niche communities and gain creative assets that improve performance on owned and paid channels.

Summary of influencer marketing benefits:

High engagement compared to traditional ads

More than half of marketers say influencer marketing helps them acquire better customers. Many tend to work with the same influencer more than once, another solid testament to how effective influencer marketing can be.

For more insights into the effectiveness of influencer campaigns, check out our blog on influencer marketing statistics.

Any brand can start using influencer marketing at any time. You don’t need a massive budget or a list of celebrity connections. All you need is a clear framework that will help you find the right influencers and connect them to your goals.

Before reaching out to influencers, get clear on what you want to achieve. Are you trying to build awareness, drive traffic, generate sales, or position your brand as an authority? Clear goals help you choose the right creators, shape the content, and measure success without guesswork.

Knowing the type of behavior you want to influence, will help you identify the objectives and right influencers for your large-scale marketing campaigns.

Some common examples of influencer marketing objectives include:

If your brand is new to the market, or you are about to launch a new product, you need audiences to know about it. And if that is the case, the primary objective of your influencer marketing campaign should be brand awareness. You would want to work with influencers who would reach a large number of people, and use a strong CTA so you can measure the campaign's success.

Influencer marketing is a great way for brands to communicate their values and realize deeper brand loyalty. Brand values can not only be communicated via the content that’s shared but also signaled by the choice of an influencer.

A prime example is Lululemon’s ambassador program. They identified local influencers in the fitness scene who embodied their brand values, exposed these influencers to Lululemon’s values, and gave them high-quality activewear for free. In exchange, these influencers chose to promote the Lululemon brand on their social platforms and run classes at Lululemon’s studios.

Tip: Learn how to run an influencer loyalty program, learn more about value-based influencer marketing, and how the Meltwater Brand Score helps you determine how influencers align with your goals.

Influencer marketing is well-known for being able to generate website traffic and sales within a short amount of time. Based on the principle of word-of-mouth marketing, consumers are more likely to trust the recommendation of someone they personally know. Hence, having influencers talk about the benefits of your product has proven effective in driving sales.

Identify relevant influencers using tools and analytics

The importance of finding the right influencers cannot be overstated. One common pitfall among marketers is selecting a partner based on vanity metrics like follower count or engagement numbers. The existence of fake bots, spam, and inactive accounts can drive up these numbers. 

Influencer analytics tools and influencer search platforms like Meltwater help with this by calculating the true reach of every Instagram account. True reach removes fake bots and spam accounts from the equation, reflecting a more accurate depiction of a user’s influence.

Your relationship with an influencer should go beyond a purely transactional one. As you work with them as true partners, they could become true brand ambassadors, not just spokespeople.

Influencer discovery tools like Meltwater also help you find influencers through conversational AI search. Enter a prompt describing the kind of campaign you're running or the specifics you're looking for in an influencer to surface results uniquely tailored to your requirements.

Reading Tips: How To Amplify Your Brand With a Blogger Outreach Campaign, How To Scale Your Influencer Outreach, How to Approach Influencers Through Emails, How To Perform an Instagram Influencer Audit, How to Perform Influencer Marketing Competitor Audit, Free Influencer Marketing Competitor Audit Template, How to Find Twitter Influencers to Grow Your Brand, three types of influencers driving results for alcohol brands.

Tracking influencer campaign metrics lets you prove how your efforts pay off. Measure campaigns with a mix of reach and engagement metrics plus outcome metrics. Consider how link clicks, conversions, and any brand lift indicators map to your objective.

Use UTMs and time-window attribution to tie social referrals to web behavior. Pair quantitative metrics with qualitative signals (earned coverage, sentiment, and UGC) for a full performance picture.

<table class="table-primary alternate-color">
  <caption>KPI mapping: objectives → primary metrics</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Objective</th>
      <th>Primary metrics</th>
      <th>Notes</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Awareness</td>
      <td>Impressions, reach, share of voice</td>
      <td>Measure velocity and top outlets/platforms; useful for brand-health dashboards</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Engagement</td>
      <td>Likes, comments, saves, story views, engagement rate</td>
      <td>Track relative engagement vs. benchmarks and by content format</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Traffic</td>
      <td>Link clicks, UTM sessions, landing page visits</td>
      <td>Use UTM tagging to attribute sessions and compare campaign windows</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Conversions</td>
      <td>Leads, purchases, coupon redemptions, conversion rate</td>
      <td>Use cohort windows to capture delayed conversions and affiliate codes where applicable</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Brand lift</td>
      <td>Brand-lift survey results, lift in consideration or awareness</td>
      <td>Combine survey-based lift studies with behavioral metrics for a fuller picture</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Tip: Read our in-depth blog about influencer campaign measurement, KPIs, and ROI and take a look at influencer measurement tools.

Strong influencer partnerships are built on collaboration. Give creators the space to tell your story in their own voice. The more natural the content feels, the more likely it is to resonate with their audience. 

After each collaboration, report on your results. Meltwater’s social influencer tool allows marketers to keep track of their campaign’s performance in real-time and generate reports in an instant. From engagement numbers to follower growth, earned media value to link clicks, marketers have all the data they need at their fingertips.

Successful campaigns align influencer content with brand values, have clear customer touch-points, and employ authentic, creative formats.

These examples show that clever hashtag strategies, product seeding, and long-term ambassador programs can scale organic participation and produce sustained social proof at relatively low cost.

1. #ImWithCharlesKeith by Charles and Keith

2. #danielwellington by Daniel Wellington

1. #ImWithCHARLESKEITH by Charles and Keith

The Charles and Keith team employed several influencers to promote the launch of their new collection. A search of the hashtag #IMWITHCHARLESANDKEITH on Instagram will return over 20,000 Instagram posts. While it raised social media awareness for the launch, Charles and Keith wanted influencers to help drive traffic to their own Instagram page. 

Once on Charles and Keith’s page, users would see a link to shop their Instagram feed in their bio. But instead of bringing users to their e-commerce website, the link brings them to a completely new platform that resembles their Instagram feed. Users can click on the items featured in the photos and they will be shown more information about the products. Clicking again would bring them to the product page where they can purchase it.

Reading tip: How to Use Ecommerce Influencer Marketing to Grow Your Business

Charles and Keith’s smart move to create a seamless, fluid customer journey is something we can all learn from.

Tip: Learn more about social commerce and livestream shopping.

Download our free Influencer Marketing eBook for even more insight into influencer definitions, finding the right creators, managing partnerships at scale, measuring ROI, using AI for successful campaigns.

Free ebook: Influencer Marketing Ultimate Guide

Influencer Marketing Guide: Strategy, Platforms & ROI

At a time when information travels at lightning speed and opinions are shared with a click of a button, reputation monitoring is as vital to a business as its products, employees, and customers. Customers rely on digital word-of-mouth like reviews and social media posts to steer them toward great companies and away from bad actors. 

To stay on top of what people are saying about your business, a reputation monitoring tool helps you be everywhere your customers are.  

What Are Online Reputation Management Tools?

Are Online Reputation Management Tools Worth It?

Reputation monitoring tools track and manage your brand across the web, even in places where you don’t have an active online presence.

You can use these tools to understand you reputation standing amongst consumers. They help you watch for crisis situations that may arise from unhappy customers or issues impacting your industry (such as a food recall), and keep track of competitors activity.

Are Online Reputation Management Tools Worth it?

Yes, online reputation management tools are worth it for all kinds of businesses, from well know brands to small businesses. Building and maintaining a good brand reputation has many benefits including:

Learn more about the benefits of a good reputation here!

Here’s a closer look at some of the best online reputation monitoring software, tools, and services that can help you maintain your image:

Meltwater’s powerful social listening platform makes it a desirable tool for reputation monitoring. It combines social listening with sentiment analysis, so you can see not just what people are saying but how they’re feeling, too. You can monitor unlimited keywords, a major plus if you also want to keep tabs on your competition’s reputation. Meltwater will send you real-time alerts when it detects shifts or trends so you can get ahead of crises, negative reviews, or poor customer experiences before they mar your brand image.

Meltwater monitors more sources than any other platform or tool, including blogs, forums, podcasts, offline media, and Chinese social media sites. This gives brands a comprehensive view of how their brand is performing throughout the digital space.

Want to learn more about how Meltwater can help you monitor your brand’s reputation? Simply fill out the form below and an expert will be in touch!

Mention is a brand monitoring tool that’s easy to use and focuses solely on social media data. Users can track millions of conversations in real time and organize and filter their mentions to see what matters to them. It’s also easy to compare mention trends over time to see how your audience is keeping the conversation going about your brand.

Unique features include a daily recap that compiles quick insights, a Smart Folders storage system to easily find important mentions, and alerts whenever there’s a spike in conversations. Mention also offers a free trial so you can test drive its features before committing.

Tip: Learn more about brand reputation measurement.

Although primarily a social media management tool, HubSpot’s keyword monitoring streams are excellent for managing your online reputation across social networks. You can track specific comments and mentions from all your accounts and respond to them via a unified inbox. 

Most notably, HubSpot sends out alerts via email whenever users post comments containing your targeted keywords, ideal for quickly addressing crucial feedback and handling any potential PR crises before they blow out of proportion. 

You can also set up custom email notification frequencies, while the platform’s AI-powered toolset can summarize overall follower sentiment and suggest replies.  

Online reviews are powerful sources that can help or harm your reputation. With the proliferation of review sites (like Yelp!, Google, Manta, Facebook, Glassdoor, and many more), brands need an easy way to collect and monitor reviews no matter where customers leave them. Enter Reputology, a unified platform that brings all of your reviews under one roof for better online reputation management.

The platform monitors your reviews 24/7 across every site and channel and emails you when new reviews appear. Capture reviews for all of your locations and respond to customers directly from the platform. Take it a step further by analyzing the content of the reviews to spot trends in feedback and get to the root of any problems. This allows you to take an informed approach to addressing feedback and prioritizing improvements that will make a difference.

When building your online reputation monitoring stack, don’t neglect simple, free tools like Google Alerts that can add instant value to your process. Google Alerts monitors keywords of your choosing and sends you daily email roundups of articles that mention those keywords. This is a great way to keep tabs on who’s publishing content about you or your competitors. You can set up multiple alerts in seconds, then watch your inbox for insights.

Using Google Alerts for monitoring reputation is idea for start-ups and small businesses that might not have the means to invest in comprehensive reputation monitoring software just yet.

Tip: Learn everything you need to know about online reputation management and building and maintaining your business' reputation.

GatherUp specializes in online review management. The twist is that in addition to monitoring for new reviews, the tool helps you proactively ask your customers to review your products or services. 

Customers give weight to online reviews, with 93% of buyers saying online reviews impact their buying decisions. For businesses who want to improve their online reputation, proactively asking for reviews can help you build trust with your audience. The tool also lets you reply to customer reviews with AI-generated responses or turn reviews into social media content.

SentiOne takes a two-pronged approach to online reputation monitoring. It combines social listening with AI-powered chatbots to connect you with your customers and hear what they’re saying. On the social listening front, SentiOne gathers publicly available data from social channels and mines for mentions of your brand or related topics. Chatbots also provide insight into customer sentiments by analyzing why they’re engaging with you.

Users can filter their results by positive or negative mentions to see where they’re hitting the mark or where they can improve. You can also turn the data into visuals to make the information easier to understand.

Tip: Learn how to never miss a mention with Meltwater's Ultimate Social Listening Guide.

Focused on small and medium enterprises, ReviewPush ensures you never miss another review. Rather than having multiple log-ins for each review site and each business location, ReviewPush brings all of your online reviews to a single location. You can respond directly to customer reviews from the platform. 

ReviewPush also gives you multiple ways to view your data. See your performance as a company or dial deeper into individual locations to see how your reputation stacks up in different markets. You can also monitor changes in reviews, ratings, and conversations over time to see if you’re making the right changes to improve your brand image.

ReviewPush offers a free 21-day trial so you can see how it fits into your brand reputation monitoring strategy. 

This popular trend tracker might not be the first tool you think of when you need online reputation monitoring services. But BuzzSumo also empowers your reputation monitoring strategy with mentions and alerts for your brand keywords. See where your brand is being mentioned on the web, especially when it comes to getting backlinks from other websites. You can also use BuzzSumo to monitor your competitors and see who’s mentioning them online.

Want to learn more about the powerful social listening and competitive intelligence capabilities in the Meltwater Suite? Simply fill out the form below and an expert will be in touch!

BirdEye is well loved in the reputation monitoring space for its ease of use. First and foremost a customer feedback platform, BirdEye lets brands gain direct insights into their customers’ experiences and use them to improve their approach. Since your customers’ experiences ultimately define how they perceive you, it’s essential to close the feedback loop and ensure you’re making the right changes and investments in the right areas to grow your reputation.

Manage multiple aspects of your reputation from one place, including online reviews, business listings, social media, and more. Send custom surveys to customers to collect feedback. Engage with customers on multiple channels and ask for referrals. BirdEye puts your reputation in the spotlight at all times and gives you the tools you need to control it.

Tip: Learn more about how to measure customer experience.

For brands that need a comprehensive solution, Reputation’s platform specializes in all things business reputation monitoring. The philosophy here is that all feedback has the power to transform, which is why the platform caters to every stage of the customer journey. Surveys, business listings, and messaging allow brands to be proactive in engaging with customers and use those opportunities to grow their reputations.

It pulls reputation monitoring and the customer experience together so companies can create meaningful conversations at every touchpoint.

Managing reputations across multiple franchise locations is no easy feat, especially when each location has their own online listings for collecting reviews and feedback. SOCi aims to bridge the gaps by centralizing online reputation monitoring and marketing.

Primarily a marketing platform, SOCi includes business reputation monitoring tools to boost reputations at the local level. Listening technologies help brands uncover what people are saying online and where they’re saying it, even if they’re not saying it directly to the brand. These tools also help brands capitalize on user-generated content that can be repurposed in their marketing. 

Tip: Check out our deep dive on user-generated content and repurposing content and how to leverage it for your brand.

Thryv is a powerful small business software solution that includes features for reputation tracking. Most notable is its online review management toolkit, which monitors for new reviews 24/7 and maintains your business listings across 40 sites. Businesses can update all of their listings from a single location, making it easier for customers to find them and leave reviews. And by seeing all of your reviews in one place, you’ll always know where you stand.

Discover Tools for Building an Unbreakable Reputation

In today’s hyper-connected world, where online reviews and social media reign supreme, online reputation monitoring could be the difference between success and failure. Every company should know what’s being said about them and be proactive in managing their reputations.

Meltwater helps you stay on top of every mention, everywhere with holistic media intelligence. Our platform covers more sources than any other platform and transforms mentions into sentiments and insights instantly.

Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below:

Top 13 Online Reputation Monitoring Software 2026

Social media remains one of the most critical channels for lead generation and reputation management. To stay competitive, businesses need tools that make it easy to monitor conversations, engage with followers, and publish content efficiently on the platforms their customers already use. For many teams, Sprout Social fits that need. 

For others, a Sprout Social alternative makes more sense. Between pricing, features, and user interfaces, different teams have different needs for social media management. Sprout Social’s pricing and workflows might not meet the needs of smaller teams or companies with highly specific social media goals.

That’s why many organizations look beyond Sprout Social to find alternatives that better align with their budgets and strategies. Let’s look at five Sprout Social alternatives and what makes each one a strong contender.

The 7 Best Sprout Social Alternatives for 2026

If you’re evaluating options to improve social media scheduling, analytics, or audience interaction, this guide explores some of the best Sprout Social alternatives. We compare each tool based on purpose, key features, pricing, and use cases.

Meltwater is built for companies that want deep insights into how their brand is being talked about on social media. It manages social media content from start to finish, tracks social media metrics, and turns that data into reports and trends. This makes it popular with PR teams and larger organizations.

Current Pricing: Custom pricing available on request

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a unified marketing tool suite that manages and measures marketing campaigns that span across multiple touchpoints, including social networks. The platform includes a native social media management solution with a particularly powerful unified inbox and keyword monitoring streams for social listening. Coupled with a native CRM and unified marketing analytics, HubSpot Marketing Hub is suitable for larger companies looking to establish an omnichannel presence and streamline lead generation and nurturing processes.

Centralized inbox with keyword monitoring streams

Dedicated social media AI agent for content generation and performance analytics 

Multi-touchpoint campaign management support 

Current Pricing: Social media management is available in Marketing Hub Professional; it costs $800/month with three users included.

Best for: Larger companies and full-service marketing agencies looking to handle multi-channel marketing campaigns.

Agorapulse puts scheduling, monitoring, and messages all in one place. Its inbox makes it easy to reply to comments, mentions, and messages without missing anything. The platform also includes reports and team collaboration tools. It’s a solid option for businesses that want strong features without an overwhelming interface.

Current Pricing: $79-$149 per user per month; custom pricing available

Best For: Businesses with dedicated social media teams

Tip: Research some of the best Agorapulse alternatives

Buffer is a straightforward tool for scheduling and publishing social media posts. It’s easy to use, affordable, and works well for keeping your content organized in advance. You also get basic analytics to see what posts perform best. Buffer is a good fit if you want simplicity without a lot of extra features.

Current Pricing: $5-$10 per user per month; free tier available

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