Software Stack Editor

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

In business, reputation is everything. It can decide whether someone gives you their attention or, even more significantly, their sale.

However, with more than 5 billion people worldwide using social media to produce a constant flow of information, interaction, and opinions across dozens of platforms, reputations are harder than ever to maintain. That’s why free social listening tools are so important.

In this article, we’ll talk through why social media monitoring matters to marketers and test out five of the most popular social media listening tools out there.

Table of Contents

• Free Social Media Monitoring Tools
• What is social media monitoring?
• Why use a social media monitoring tool?
• Pro Tip: Use Social Inbox Streams In HubSpot

What is social media monitoring?

Social media monitoring, sometimes referred to as social media “listening,” is the practice of examining what social media users say about a specific topic.

For marketers, this topic is usually a brand, competitor, product, service, or even campaign.

With so many different platforms today, social media monitoring can take many forms. It could mean tracking specific:

• Keywords (could be your industry, product type, the problem you solve)
• Hashtags
• Users (think influencers, your loyal customers, or “power users”)
• Names (i.e., competitors, products, or even people), or
• Mentions/tags of a user

It can also take place directly on the platforms themselves or in third-party tools, which we’ll discuss shortly. For instance, back in my agency heyday, I used to have about 25 streams I would track in HubSpot with client competitors and handles.

Depending on your brand and goal, social media listening can also offer all kinds of different insights to shape your strategy.

It can help you navigate public relations crises, develop new products, evaluate your customer satisfaction, and even discover new markets or marketing trends.

What trends are we seeing when it comes to social media in general? Our 2024 Social Trends Report shares exclusive findings on how people engage across social personally and professionally. Get it free now.

For example, let’s say you’re a software company and see people talk about how bad your customer service is on social media.

That lets you know you need to make improvements, which could mean introducing a live chat on your website or sharing more troubleshooting or educational content on your social media content calendar, among other things.

Or what if you’re a clothing brand that sees an influencer, and your audience loves talking about their favorite trends? Knowing this may help you identify similar styles in your catalog to highlight and promote or even inspire a new design.

The impact is pretty wide, but it all starts from the same place — keeping tabs on the market around you with social media listening. So, don’t slack on making it a part of your social media strategy.

Dig deeper into social media listening specifically and how it works.

Why use a social media monitoring tool?

As a business or brand, it’s critical to know what’s happening around you at all times. I mean, this is the environment you’re conducting business in, and all of these factors can affect your ultimate performance.

That means you need to keep track of not just what people (like your competitors, buyers, and the press) are saying about you but also their general feelings, interests, concerns, and activities.

Social media is one of the most effective ways to collect this value insight, unfiltered and usually free, and then act accordingly. In other words, it helps you know what’s going on and being said so you can respond effectively.

With so many social media platforms today, monitoring and listening by manually checking a newsfeed or searching through posts is not scalable.

Thankfully, there are numerous social media monitoring and management tools available that can curate conversations for you and make it easier to engage with or analyze what to do.

I tested out five of the most popular for you.

Now, I have to be completely honest. I’ve been in this space for over a decade, and a lot of my go-to free social media listening tools are no longer free or even in existence. Bummer, I know.

I guess many caught wind of just how important social media listening is to businesses and figured they shouldn’t just be giving it away, while maybe others couldn’t keep up with changing permission and API updates.

Lots of newer social media channels are also much harder to track. (Most tools can only pull from those using RSS feeds.) But, hey, all is not lost.

If you’re strapped for cash or simply trying to cut costs, there are still a few small and mighty options you can combine to get started with social media listening for free.

I tested a few of them out for you, along with some tried-and-true paid options that offer free trials. Here’s what I gathered.

1. BrandMentions

BrandMentions, as the name implies, is purely dedicated to social listening. And, honestly, that’s probably why it’s so good.

While the full tool is subscription-based (with a 7-day trial), it does offer a host of free trackers you can use ad-hoc and get a ton of value:

• Social Mentions
• Hashtag Tracker
• Brand Tracker
• Social Media Tracker

I tried each one, and they are all extremely easy and intuitive to use. Simply enter the hashtag, keyword, brand name, or handle you want to track, and BrandMentions works its magic.

Yes, the data is limited to the past week, and insights like “sentiment over time” or “Top influencers” are only available with a paid plan, but the information you get is still impressive.

Check out what it gave me using HubSpot as an example.

Social Mentions

Hashtag Tracker

Brand Tracker

Social Media Tracker

Believe it or not, all of these examples are just what I could see above the fold in the reports I ran. There was way too much to show in this article. As I scrolled, BrandMentions went into specifics like:

• Reach
• Social Media Interactions
• Mentions by Media Type
• Best Time to Post

It even pulls a feed of existing media about the given keyword.

Truthfully, the results of each tool are pretty similar, so you can really just use one for all your needs. Nevertheless, I was super impressed and will be coming back to this one in the future.

What I like: BrandMentions is solely focused on social media listening. Because of that, all of the information shared is valuable and relevant. It’s also an extremely easy-to-use and navigate tool. Plus, the interface is modern, bright, and engaging.

What can be improved: No complaints!

2. TailWind

Tailwind is a social media management tool designed specifically for Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook Pages. It allows users to schedule posts (Images, Videos, & Stories), send emails, and get useful insights from each platform.

Need help in these areas? Give these resources a read:

• How to Use Instagram: A Beginner’s Guide [Expert Insights + New Data]
• The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing

While it doesn’t track specific hashtags or accounts, it does track the performance of the posts you publish, their engagement, and direct mentions of your brand.

Upon testing, I saw it also let me monitor my overall profile growth for Instagram.

For Pinterest, I could see details like:

• How often your content is pinned
• Your reach
• Recommended keywords
• Brand mentions and comments
• Your most pinned, most clicked, or most engaged content

All of these are fairly basic insights, but if you’re highly active on Instagram and Pinterest (like an ecommerce brand, for instance), it is convenient to have all of that information in one place.

What I like: TailWind is convenient for businesses using Pinterest and Instagram. Not only do you get insights on the platforms, but also design graphics and schedule posts for them.

What can be improved: I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, but I still found the interface cluttered and confusing. For example, instinct told me “create” was where I would go to create a new post for my social accounts, but this was actually TailWind’s design tool.

Because of this, the tool definitely comes with a learning curve.

Also, the tool doesn’t focus on social media listening, which leaves a lot to be desired — especially compared to BrandMentions.

While it does offer basic information on post performance, it does not allow users to gather information on competitors or track keywords and hashtags.

3. TalkWalker

Like BrandMentions, TalkWalker (by Hootsuite) is a typically paid platform that offers two free social media listening tools:

• Alerts
• Free Social Search

According to the Social Intelligence Lab’s State of Social Listening, it’s also the third most widely used social media listening tool in 2024.

Alerts

TalkWalker Alerts are similar to Google Alerts. However, unlike Google Alerts, which require a Gmail account, TalkWalker can be sent to any email address. It can also send alerts for mentions of your topic or keyword on X (still listed as Twitter on the tool).

Google Alerts don’t track social media.

In my test, I learned I could receive alerts instantly or once a week/day and choose to receive all of the results or what the tool curates as the “best” ones.

For brands that are active on X, this is an extremely useful tool to have in your arsenal. I mean, most of us check our email multiple times a day, right? With this, you can know exactly what’s happening with your competitor, brand, partners, etc., without leaving your inbox.

What I like: You can use any email address. This makes the tool more accessible than Google Alerts. It’s also great that it includes X.

What can be improved: I know this may be out of their hands, but to be truly valuable for social media listening, the tool needs to include more than just X.

But hey, what if you want to know what’s happening on other platforms besides X? That’s where TalkWalker’s Free Social Search comes in.

Free Social Search

Social Search claims to monitor “every conversation about your brand, hashtags, and competition on social media” but doesn’t specify what platforms that includes.

Right off the bat, I was a little skeptical. The website’s design was minimal and a bit dated, but Hootsuite is a trusted name in the marketing space, so I figured it had to be good.

That said, they didn’t make getting started easy. First, I had to fill out a form on the website and wait for an email to arrive from the tool. From there, I had to create an account on the Talkwalker web app, which showed me the search when I logged in.

As frustrating as this was, when I finally got into the search, I have to say it was pretty robust. Once again, I used HubSpot as an example, and Talkwalker immediately showed me some essential brand reputation metrics, such as “net sentiment.”

But it didn’t stop there. As I clicked around, I discovered it also shared word clouds with “top themes” including user handles, hashtags, and even emojis.

I can see this feature being really helpful when searching for more general topics like “marketing software.”

When I popped that into a new search, TalkWalker showed me this cloud of users who mentioned the topic most. Then, I could click on each handle to see more details about them and see specific posts.

Pro tip: Make sure to filter by your target country and language. Otherwise, you’ll be clouded with irrelevant results.

It also had tabs with insights on Influencers, audience demographics, location, and a feed of actual posts from social media.

What I like: For a free tool, social search offers a lot of interesting and intricate details for marketers to understand their performance and who’s talking about their topic of interest.

What could be improved: Full disclosure — Many results look spammy. While the filters for language, country, media type, device, and demographic are helpful, it would be useful to be able to also add criteria for follower count.

4. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is one of the most trusted social media management tools on the market and with good reason. It’s easy to use and navigate and extremely robust.

Of course that means it covers social media listening, but you can only enjoy it for free for 30 days. After that, it starts at $199 a month.

I gave the trial a go, which I was pleasantly surprised you could do without inputting a credit card, and I saw right away that it has a lot to offer marketers regarding social media listening.

Three main areas stuck out to me. The first was “smart inbox.” This shows you all the engagement on your brand’s specific accounts, like comments, direct messages, reposts, and even your published posts. From here, you can:

• Respond
• Share the message with your team via email or a thread
• Tag it to make it easier to find later
• Export or save the message

You can also filter all activity by platform, message type, tags, and even language.

The next section that caught my attention was “listening.” (Surprise, surprise.)

This is where you can find all the juicy social listening tools like:

• Brand health
• Industry insights
• Competitive analysis
• Campaign analysis
• Event monitoring and
• Keyword and topic tracking

I have to say once I clicked into a few of these options, I felt a little over my head. For example, when I clicked “competitive analysis,” I was taken to an intricate “query builder” to tell the tool what I wanted to see. And what I mean exactly what I wanted to see.

Don’t get me wrong — the information it was asking for (e.g., source, alert type, etc.) wasn’t out of the ordinary, but I just wasn’t expecting it. This tool got more granular than any other tool I tested, and I wasn’t prepared at the moment to dedicate so much time to setting up a query.

I’m sure that attention to detail is rewarded in the results, but that’s certainly something to keep in mind.

The last section relevant to social media listening was “reports.” This section offers some common reports on post, profile, and tag performance but also lets you explore content and strategy more deeply.

The competitor options even let you see how you stack up to your rivals on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

What I like: The tool is well-organized, easy to navigate, and intuitive. I also liked how detailed you could get with your targeting and tracking. While time-consuming, this was more specific than any other tool I tried, and I’m sure it shows in the results.

What could be improved: With the volume of features in Sprout Social — even just for social media listening – there’s a lot to learn and maneuver.

I imagine learning to use the platform successfully takes time, practice, and perhaps guidance. Also, at its premium price, it demands a lot of resources from a business. If you’re only looking for social media listening, there’s no need to spring for such a full suite.

5. BuzzSumo

While it is not free (it starts at $199 per month), I’d be remiss if I talked about social listening and didn’t mention BuzzSumo.

BuzzSumo is a content analysis tool that has a lot to offer marketers, in general. But where it shines for social media listening is in its ability to track and monitor your competitors, brand mentions, trends, and industry updates across Facebook, X, Pinterest, and Reddit.

In my agency days, it was one of my favorite tools for evaluating “shareability,” but it’s been a while, so I gave their 7-day trial a go. (No credit card required.)

It’s monitoring section is hugely valuable for social media listening.

Here, you can create an alert for things like brand names, your competitors, and specific keywords.

I really liked that I also had the ability to create an exclusion keyword list and send the alerts to a Slack channel as well as email. Once you create an alert, you’ll also be able to track the keyword in the web app like I could with “marketing software.”

What I like: Like Sprout Social, it has much to offer, but it’s a much easier tool to jump right into.

What could be improved: I’d love to see social media listening pulled out more distinctly so you can dive into each platform more specifically and gather insights about what’s going on there. While there are social listening tools, it’s clear that these tools are focused on helping marketers hone their content strategy.

Pro Tip: Use Social Inbox Streams In HubSpot

Now, if you’re a HubSpot Professional or Enterprise user, you’ve already got an awesome social media listening tool at your disposal. Lucky you.

All you need to do is navigate to Social, then hit the “Monitor” tab.

Here, you can easily create streams in your HubSpot portal that can track the following:

• Mentions and reposts (on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X)
• Specific keywords (on X)
• Competitors (across their social media using information gathered from their website)

You’ll also receive email alerts, so you never miss a beat.

(Social) Listen and Learn

Social listening is no easy feat these days. Between data privacy concerns and navigating channel differences it takes time, effort, and consistency.

Frankly, you may need several of the social media listening tools we shared to get a full picture of what’s going on with your brand, competitors, and market overall. But rest assured, it will be well worth it.

Whether you’re trying to gauge consumer sentiment about your brand, navigate a public relations snafu, or plan your next big product launch, social listening is certainly one tactic you’ll be happy to include in your strategy.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

Brands in ecommerce have the wonderful advantage of having access to a broader number of consumers than their local counterparts. Before you can woo a broader base of consumers, it is important to recognize the diversity that exists among them, and the intention required to convert them.

I’m an inclusive marketing strategist and run an inclusive marketing consultancy.

Last year I did audits of multiple ecommerce websites, and found the same opportunities for improvement over and over again from the perspective of how brands can do a better job of converting more of their ideal consumers who are part of underrepresented and underserved communities.

Consumers, no matter their identity, are looking for an answer to this fundamental question: is this brand for people like me?

There are three core areas that signal to a consumer whether or not a brand is for them or not. And as a result of those signals, the consumer will make a decision whether or not to take the next step forward with you, or not.

Signals That Tell Ecommerce Customers a Brand Is for Them

1. Representation

The people you want to serve need to see themselves, or who they aspire to be, reflected in the visual imagery your brand puts forth.

When they see themselves represented in the models you use, in your customer testimonials, or even imagery of your team, they receive a signal from you that communicates “people like me belong here.” When they don’t see themselves represented, the signal they receive is, “This brand isn’t for you.”

2. Customer Experience

Delivering experiences that have as little friction as possible for the people you serve, especially those with identities that are part of underrepresented and underserved communities, will demonstrate to them that you’ve taken the time to consider them to ensure they feel like they belong with you.

3. Identity-Based Design

One of the most effective ways to eliminate friction in your customer experience, is to design your ecommerce user experience with specific identities in mind.

By considering the various types of identities your ideal customers hold in the design and development process, it makes it easier for you to incorporate elements that make people with those identities feel seen, supported, and like they belong with you.

If you need additional resources to help you with your ecommerce strategy, check out this Ecommerce Planning Kit from HubSpot.

Examples of Inclusive Ecommerce Websites

Here are eight examples of ecommerce websites that have done a good job of designing for the needs of consumers with specific underrepresented and underserved identities.

1. Moo and Farm Rio take a global approach to converting more consumers.

Smart marketers know that people who have the problem their brands solve don’t just live in one country or speak one language. As such, it is helpful to showcase to these consumers immediately when they land on your website that your brand is for them.

Business card print house Moo does it by placing an option in the main navigation of its website that enables site visitors to select which country they are in, and the associated language they need. Based on the selection, the website automatically changes to the country’s corresponding language.

Image Source

Retailer Farm Rio takes a similar approach. Consumers are able to select which country they live in from the main navigation. Once confirmed, pricing and shipping options for the clothing items change to reflect the local currency of where the consumer is shopping from.

In this image, the country selected is Morocco, and prices are shown in their currency, the Dirham.

Image Source

Having to do a price conversion adds unnecessary friction, and sends a strong signal that “This brand isn’t for me.”

This episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast details how to build an effective multilingual content strategy so you can attract more people who speak other languages to your website.

2. Dolce & Gabbana leans into accessibility.

Just because someone has a disability, that doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy wearing stylish clothes. 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability.

As such, making your website accessible enables you to support the needs of a broader group of people, while delivering an experience with less friction.

Fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has embraced accessibility, by making it so website visitors can adjust accessibility settings to suit their needs.

Image Source

3. Amazon delivers an effective experience for neurodivergent consumers.

Estimates show that between 15-20% of the population is neurodivergent, including people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and sensory processing disorder.

Amazon is a brand that is making an intentional effort to serve these consumers.

In this video, three neurodiversity consultants, who are also consumers, share the ways in which Amazon delivers an experience that supports their needs.

You can catch the full discussion on how brands can design experiences that work for neurodivergent consumers on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

4. Calvin Klein, Fenty Skin, and Bonds welcome LGBTQ+ consumers.

Smart brands demonstrate to the LGBTQ+ community that they are seen, supported, and belong all year long, rather than just with PRIDE month limited edition products and rainbows.

Retailer Calvin Klein does it by showcasing a broad diversity of masculinity in the models it features on its website. Here’s how one gay male consumer explained why that range of representation is important to him.

Another way ecommerce brands can show support to the LGBTQ+ community is in how products are classified.

Fenty Beauty made its skincare line gender neutral, so there was no need to label products being for “men” or “women” which can exclude people who are non-binary. The brand even goes as far to showcase gender diversity in the models using the products.

Image Source

And underwear brand Bonds has done it by offering a gender-free line of its clothes.

Image Source

You can find more tips on how to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

5. Cooper’s Hawk embraces dietary restrictions.

Many restaurants now have an ecommerce arm to their business, as they start asking, and even encouraging, people to grab takeout via online ordering.

As someone with dietary restrictions, I’ve always been reluctant to embrace the convenience of ordering food online, for fear of the staff not seeing my write-in requests for accommodations with my food.

Cooper’s Hawk has addressed this fear. Within the online ordering section, they’ve created separate products that are labeled gluten-free. Even the name of the product has a “GF” at the end, so me or anyone else with a gluten-free restriction doesn’t have to write anything in and pray the notes were read.

Image Source

The brand takes a similar approach to vegan items on the vegetarian menu. A person can feel reassured that their food will in fact be vegan because it is labeled on the website as, “Vegan Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto”

Image Source

6. Savage X Fenty puts women of all sizes front and center.

The average clothing for a woman in the US and the UK is 16-18. But too often, the models showcasing clothing on ecommerce retail sites are models who wear much smaller sizes.

Savage X Fenty takes a different approach. The brand features a broad range of diversity in the models it uses, including a range of body sizes and types.

Image Source

And when it comes time for consumers to select their size, they don’t have to deal with being labeled “plus-sized” as other retailers often do. They just select from the broad range of sizes offered by the brand.

7. David’s Bridal’s approach to race and ethnicity.

There are many different identities your consumers have when it comes to race and ethnicity.

As such, when you’re thinking about the people you feature on your website, make sure you include a range of models that reflect those races and ethnicities.

Pro tip: Don’t opt for trying to use models who are racially ambiguous to try to appeal to the broadest range of consumers. It actually has the opposite effect, and frustrates people (often those of darker complexions) who often don’t see themselves represented.

Retailer David’s Bridal does this on their website, by highlighting a broad diversity of races and ethnicities with their models that is reflective of the people who buy their dresses.

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

8. Ikea embraces religious traditions like Diwali.

Consumers who have the problem your brand solves will also have a diversity of religious affiliations, traditions, and celebrations. While most brands lean hard into traditional Christian holidays, such as Christmas, more brands are starting to add additional holidays to the ones they celebrate.

Ikea has added products for Diwali, to see and serve consumers who celebrate it.

Image Source

And consumers appreciate that IKEA has products for them. There’s plenty of videos on YouTube of people showing their Diwali hauls from IKEA.

Make Your Ecommerce Website More Inclusive

There’s no downside to doing so. The more people you’re able to send clear signals that “you belong here” through your intentional design and user experience choices, the more people you’ll be able to convert.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

As someone who does conversion rate optimization (CRO) for a living, I can’t express to you how excited I get when a simple change makes a big impact. And this particular example? It doesn’t get much simpler or more impactful.

Sure, I’m a self-proclaimed CRO geek, but if you were able to increase the conversion rate on a web page by 560%, I bet you’d be geeking out, too.

Personalization as an Optimization Tool

As a member of HubSpot’s web strategy team, I’ve been optimizing the core website pages on HubSpot.com for the last eight years.

Prior to that, I spent many years optimizing this very blog.

And in the past year, I’ve been experimenting a lot more with using personalization as a tactic to improve both user experience and conversion rates on the website — by tailoring calls-to-action (CTAs) and content for different segments of people visiting our website.

But personalization can be tricky. By creating more than one version of a single page, that means you also need to maintain more than one version of the page.

Multiply that by each page on your website, and things can start to get pretty unmanageable. This makes it critical to track the performance of any personalization you put live on your website, and keep only the ones that are worth the return on investment.

Luckily, this one was worth it.

Personalizing for Free Users

On many of the core pages on HubSpot’s website, we typically show visitors two CTAs by default:

• One CTA encourages visitors to start using the free version of our software.
• And one CTA encourages visitors to get a demo of the premium editions.

When I started experimenting more with personalization on the website, it occurred to me that it was pretty silly to show free sign-up CTAs to contacts who are already free users.

And if these contacts are still visiting our web pages after becoming a free user, they’re probably still evaluating their options and might be interested in trying the premium editions.

So on one of our highest trafficked pages — a product page about our free CRM and other free tools — I created a rule using HubSpot’s smart content to replace the free sign-up CTAs with demo CTAs for any contact who was already a free user of our software.

Since there was no risk to free sign-up demand and therefore no reason to run a true A/B test, I ran this as a lookback test. (Meaning I made the change for 100% of visitors, then compared a period of time before and after the change to assess impact.)

Here’s what that looked like in action:

Default Content:

Smart Content:

The results were staggering. Once I implemented the free user personalization, it increased our demo conversion rate by 560%, increasing demo requests from about 40 demos/month to 260 demos/month, just from this one page. Aww yeah.

What’s more, there was absolutely no negative impact on free sign-up demand.

Even better? This approach can be implemented on any page where we have free sign-up CTAs. Meaning we’re bound to generate even more demo demand as we implement this across more website pages. That’s what they call a win-win! Or maybe it’s a win-win-win. 🤔

How to Set Up Personalization With HubSpot Smart Content

If you’re a HubSpot user who is subscribed to the Professional or Enterprise editions of Marketing Hub or Content Hub, you have the ability to personalize your web pages with smart content. There are several options for how you can segment smart content to your visitors, including by device type, country, referral source, language, and more.

For this particular use case, I based my smart content on contact list membership, first creating a list of contacts in our HubSpot Smart CRM that included anyone who is a free user of our software. And because this list is also smart, it’ll automatically update whenever a new or existing contact becomes a free user, ensuring that my personalization will always be up to date.

Next, I set up a smart rule in the page editor for each module on the page I wanted to personalize, based on membership to the contact list I’d created.

This enabled me to modify certain parts of the page (like copy and CTAs) just for free HubSpot users, while leaving the rest of the page content unchanged by default.

Best of all, it only took me a few minutes to set up. Talk about low-hanging fruit!

How to Make Personalization Work for You

The segmentation strategy you use to personalize your web pages should be based on your website’s overall conversion strategy and your business goals, which only you will know.

For example, one of our challenges on the HubSpot website is that we sell products that suit various business sizes, ranging from small startups to large, scaling businesses. These different-sized businesses have various challenges and needs and, therefore, will respond differently to certain content and conversion flows.

So the crux of our current personalization strategy is segmenting content based on both business size and where a contact is in their buying stage.

For some additional guidance and inspiration, check out our article on website personalization. (Pro Tip: If you’re a HubSpot user or are considering becoming one, you might also be interested in the new Breeze Intelligence functionality that enriches your contacts with third-party data, which can make your personalization efforts even more powerful.)

However you decide to segment your personalization strategy, start small, and keep a close eye on ROI. You might be surprised to find that sometimes, even the simplest change can make a big dent 😉

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Simplify growth with an all-in-one platform. Powerful marketing, sales, and support automation. Integrated CMS. Scalable software. Crafted for customer experience.

Like it or not, social media is ingrained in our everyday lives. People use it to share their happy moments and grievances, ask questions, and even find jobs while employers market themselves and connect with their buyers.

This is all fine and dandy, but what happens if someone posts about work or voices a contrasting personal opinion? This murky middle ground is why having a social media policy is so important for your business.

Well-thought-out corporate social media policies help keep a company’s presence consistent and scalable, no matter who posts or where. Yet, 45% of companies still don’t have one in place. I’m here to help fix that.

Let’s break down how to create a social media policy that is right for your team and look at some examples done well.

Table of Contents

• What is a social media policy?
• Why is having a social media policy important?
• Components of a Social Media Policy
• How to Create a Social Media Policy
• 8 Examples of Great Social Media Policies

Does more than one person manage your social media accounts? Do you expect your employees to promote your business on their personal profiles? Or would you rather they don’t discuss office culture or their day-to-day period at all?

In organizations with a large online presence or well-established public images, a social media policy helps answer these questions and set guardrails for how the company should be represented.

Think about it: Every person you hire has their own personality, tone of voice, and views. That may even be the reason you hired them. But the truth is, we live in volatile times.

There is much political and societal unrest, and things get complicated when an employee’s views or even behavior after hours contrasts with those of the organization, its values, or its buyers.

Corporate social media policies help combat and navigate these situations. They can also help ensure that personal views don’t seep into posts on your brand’s social media accounts either.

Now, I know. Some of you may be worried that enforcing strict rules in a social media policy stifles creativity or restricts freedom of speech.

But if done correctly, it shouldn’t hinder employees. In fact, it should make them feel more comfortable amplifying your social media messages since they’ll know exactly what will or won’t be beneficial. They don’t have to guess.

Why is having a social media policy important?

Good social media policies remove ambiguity. They give teams a single, documented playbook to follow and ultimately help every post about the company align with a brand’s values, tone, and goals.

Also, while no one wants their social media policy to be grounds for disciplinary action, it does give businesses somewhat of a safety net should things go awry.

I witnessed the importance of this first-hand during a presidential election at a previous employer.

We didn’t have a social media policy at the time, and my teammate posted something politically charged on their personal profile. Some third-party partners saw the post and were upset, putting the company in a difficult spot.

This likely could have been avoided if a social media policy had been established.

Benefits of a Corporate Social Media Policy

To get more granular, here are a few major benefits of creating a corporate social media policy:

• Maintain consistency of brand voice, tone, and messaging across social channels
• Prevent a public relations (PR) crisis as a result of a potentially offensive post
• Enable employees to handle legal and regulatory issues with sensitivity
• Protect the data privacy of customers and stakeholders
• Have effective responses at the ready for crises or data breaches if they do occur
• Ensure each new employee will have the tools to create a positive, consistent, and valuable brand message across social channels

So, what does a great social media policy look like?

Components of a Social Media Policy

First off, remember there isn‘t just one ’right’ policy that works for every company.

Below, I’ve shared several components that, from my experience, make for great social media policies — but some may not make sense for your team, business, or industry. Pick and choose what you like to fit your culture and business objectives.

1. Purpose and Scope

• Outline the purpose of the policy and its importance in protecting both the company’s reputation and employees’ rights.
• Encourage responsible, respectful communication and emphasize that employees represent the company even on personal accounts.
• Specify who the policy applies to (e.g., all employees, contractors, interns, etc.).

2. Employee Guidelines for Personal Accounts

• Specify when and how employees can discuss work-related topics on personal accounts.
• Encourage disclaimers like “views are my own” when relevant, especially if discussing industry-related topics.
• Provides guidance on sharing public information versus confidential details.

3. Guidelines for Social Media Use During Work Hours

• These days, personal smartphones and tablets are not just permitted at the workplace but are even required for some jobs. Therefore, setting guidelines for personal social media use at the office is essential.
• This could include time limits, phone-free areas or events, etc.

4. Brand Voice and Tone

• Detail the brand’s tone, style, and messaging standards for official social media channels.
• Clarify how employees should align with the brand’s image if they represent the company.

5. Confidentiality and Privacy Concerns

• Emphasize the importance of protecting proprietary company information, customer data, and client details.
• Include examples of what constitutes confidential information.

6. Intellectual Property Protection

• Outline rules for using company logos, images, and other branding materials on personal accounts.
• Specify that company content should not be reproduced without permission.
• You also may want to go into rules for user-generated content or republishing content that tags or is shared on your social media platforms by your audience.

7. Official Social Media Responsibilities

• Outline which departments or individuals handle official accounts, post frequency, and escalation procedures.
• Provide a list of official accounts and expectations. (This may include what audiences can expect from your brand as well as what you expect employees to do when managing your social media accounts.)

8. Engagement Guidelines (for Responding to Public Interaction)

• Outline how to respond to comments, questions, complaints, or negative feedback.
• Provide examples of appropriate responses and escalation steps for sensitive issues. This will be extremely valuable reference and training material.

9. Security and Privacy Protocols

• List steps to protect official accounts, such as using strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and limiting access.
• Provides guidance on recognizing and handling potential security threats (e.g., phishing, hacking attempts).

10. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

• Highlight legal considerations, such as compliance with advertising standards, disclosure requirements, and industry-specific regulations (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare, GDPR for EU).

11. Consequences of Policy Violations

• Clearly state the disciplinary actions for violating the policy, from warnings to termination for serious infractions.
• Ensure this section is in line with existing company policies on disciplinary actions.

12. Resources and Training

• Provide links to resources for further reading or training on effective social media use.
• Offer contact information for team members who can answer questions or provide guidance on specific scenarios.

13. Plan for Updates

• Explain how and when the policy will be reviewed and updated to reflect social media or business strategy changes.
• Consider scheduling a regular review to keep up with evolving social media trends and regulations.

Creating a comprehensive social media policy helps empower employees to use social media effectively while minimizing risks to the company’s brand and reputation.

How to Create a Social Media Policy

Social media policies can take many different shapes and forms.

Need some putting yours together? Our free social media policy template will help you collect your thoughts into a formal document that can be downloaded as a Word document, Google doc, or PDF.

8 Examples of Great Social Media Policies

Let’s explore how prominent companies created effective social media policies to inspire your own today.

1. Best Buy

Image Source

Best Buy has a social media policy in place that preemptively addresses privacy concerns that could arise using social media.

What do I like about Best Buy’s social media policy?

• It looks out for both the employee and the company.
• It’s skimmable but specific about what matters (i.e., what information should never be shared)
• It’s written in direct, simple language that anyone could understand.
• It’s clear about the repercussions of breaking the policy.
• It gives you guidance on where to go for more information.

What could be better?

• It’s dated. The policy appears to be from 2010 and even calls out “tweeting” specifically. Companies should regularly update their social media policies to reflect new platforms, behaviors, and concerns.

2. Adobe

Adobe keeps it even shorter than Best Buy, including social media simply as a footnote its much longer “Code of Business.”

Image Source

What do I like about Adobe’s social media policy?

• It’s concise.
• It applies to multiple platforms.
• It links to additional resources.

What could be better?

• It’s vague. Unlike Best Buy’s policy, which was short but easy to understand, Adobe’s feels like there is much to interpret. For instance, “appropriate” can vary greatly depending on the person.
• It doesn’t mention what happens if the policy is broken.
• It’s cold and formal with its language.

3. Walmart

Image Source

Walmart is dedicated to its social media accounts and believes in social media as an avenue for customer service. Its social media policy mentions all the networks it has a presence on, zeroes in on Twitter (X), Facebook, and Instagram.

What do I like about Walmart’s social media policy?

• It’s written in direct, simple language that anyone could understand.
• It’s specific about what audiences can expect from them.
• It addresses both Walmart employees and official brand accounts.

What could be better?

• It would make sense to discuss the other platforms Walmart is active on as well: YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Medium. There really is not explanation as to why they are not.

4. Ford Motors

Image Source

Ford focuses solely on its Facebook page in its most current social media policy version.

A PDF of “Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines” is also circulating online, but it is over 14 years old and includes several rebranded social media networks.

What do I like about Ford’s social media policy?

• It takes a unifying and welcoming tone.
• It’s specific about what you can expect from them and the expectations of others in its “community.
• It’s clear about its rights and use of content on its page.
• It gives you guidance on where to go for more information.

What could be better?

• It focuses just on Facebook. It should be opened up to address other platforms, as Ford is active on Instagram and X, among others.
• It doesn’t offer guidelines on how employees of Ford should conduct themselves

5. Coca-Cola

Image Source

Coca-Cola doesn’t have a social media policy in the traditional form, but rather “responsible social media principles” it promises to abide by.

This establishes a more timeless “brand” of social media for Coke rather than specific practices that may become dated quickly.

What do I like about Coke’s social media policy?

• It focuses on their impact and responsibilities to their audience.
• It establishes its values in detail with examples. For example, it explains that “platforms that accept responsibility for the content carried on their sites” partially means they must be moderated and free of hate or division.
• The principles are general enough to apply to any social platform or practice. This makes them timeless.
• It’s clear about what audiences can expect from Coke and what happens in the case of policy violations.

What could be better?

• It should include more specific guidelines for Coca-Cola employees.
• It should include intellectual property, brand, tone, and voice information.

Swaybase shares a document covering these items, but is unclear if this content is still in use.

6. The New York Times

Image Source

The New York Times (NYT) recognizes the price of its popularity — namely, that anything its employees state on their personal accounts could come across as the official opinion of The Times.

It also recognizes how essential social media is to its position as a credible house of journalism, making that very clear in its social media policy.

What do I like about NYT’s social media policy?

• It’s current. Updated in June 2024, it’s the most recently created social media policy I’ve encountered.
• It’s extremely thorough and specific. This includes but is not limited to who and what platforms fall under the policy.
• Most points are actionable.
• It uses bullet points to make it easier to digest.
• It explains NYT’s development process. The policy was created by collecting insights and quotes from actual reporters. This provides additional accountability and a sense of fairness, as the points came from employees.
• It starts with “highlights” to draw attention to the most important pieces of the policy.
• It offers guidance on troubleshooting and where to reach out for more information.

What could be better?

• This is presented in many ways, like a NYT article. This is on brand, sure, but I’d have recommended it be presented in a less verbose and easier-to-skim format.

7. Oracle

Image Source

Oracle is pretty tight-lipped about its social media practices. This is made apparent by reports in 2014 that they fired an employee for discussing their plans for X (then Twitter).

Oracle’s social media participation policy documents how social media is used as a business, but its employee code of conduct and business ethics touch on how employees can engage in personal social media.

What do I like about Oracle’s social media policy?

• It makes the “dos and don’ts” of social media for employees very clear.
• Its language is simple and easy to understand.
• It links to additional resources.

What could be better?

• It could provide more detail and examples of acceptable or unacceptable content/behavior online.

8. U.S. Department of Defense Social Media Policy

Image Source

Every organization should take precautions to make sure their classified information isn’t shared recklessly on social media. But this is even more critical for government agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense.

What do I like about Oracle’s social media policy?

• It’s concise and easy to skim.
• It links to related resources and makes those easy to find.
• It uses headers, bolding, and bullets to organize the information and draw attention to the most important parts.

What could be better?

• It focuses solely on how the DOD uses social media as an organization. It doesn’t speak to how DOD employees should approach social media, which seems important for a government agency.
• The language is formal and technical. I would simplify to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding. For instance, “disseminate” could easily be “share” despite coming from the government.

A great social media policy is step one.

Ultimately, the rules and regulations you choose to include in your policy should reflect your own brand’s values, messaging, and tone.

However, you can use these examples and guidelines to ensure you include statements that can help protect you against legal or regulatory disputes in the future based on an employee’s social media posts.

Additionally, aim to use your social media policy as your first step toward increasing the effectiveness of your social media strategies and ensuring a positive brand image on any platform on which you post.

If Hubspot is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.