How to Choose the Right Social Listening Keywords? Free Tool + Examples

TL;DR: Focus on specific, relevant keywords beyond your brand name, such as industry terms, competitor brand names, and customer pain points.

Use a social media monitoring tool or EmbedSocial’s free keyword generator to refine your list. Then, adjust when necessary to find actionable insights.

Social listening goes beyond tracking mentions, as it uncovers broader industry conversations that impact your brand’s health and reputation.

So, when selecting keywords, include your brand, products, competitor names, industry terms, and trending topics. This will ultimately help you monitor overall brand sentiment, spot emerging trends, and adjust your strategy effectively.

When doing any of that, follow these tips and tricks:

• Use specific keywords related to your niche to avoid irrelevant data;
• Refine common brand names with modifiers (e.g., “Apple iPhone” instead of “Apple”);
• Include long-tail keywords to capture high-intent conversations;
• Track competitor names and pain points your audience expresses;
• Monitor relevant hashtags on platforms like Instagram and TikTok;
• Regularly test and tweak your keywords to optimize your listening strategy.

What keywords should you monitor for your brand?

Should you focus on your brand name only or follow wider industry terms? How about your competitors? Should you care about them?

The answer for all of the above is: Yes. Here’s why:

1. Your company & product names

Track your brand health via its name, products, domain name, and social handles.

Example:

• EmbedSocial, embedsocial.com, @EmbedSocial

2. Keywords relevant to your industry

Track terms that describe your product category and the problems you solve, as this helps you understand your audience and reveals trends and consumer needs:

Industry

Direct keywords

Problem / Use‑case keywords

SaaS CRM

best CRM tool, buy CRM software, Salesforce alternative

struggling with sales tracking, need to centralize contacts

FMCG Skincare

organic moisturizer, buy eco skincare, alternatives to Lush

sensitive skin getting dry, natural acne remedies

Fashion

sustainable denim brand, vegan sneakers

need size‑inclusive fashion, ethical clothing suggestions

3. Competitor names & products

Tracking competitors helps you:

• Spot customer complaints you can act on
• Learn what customers like about competitor products
• Identify gaps where your brand can step in

Competitor analysis allows you to strategically gather data on rival brands, helping you identify their strengths, weaknesses, and market gaps.

By tracking online conversations related to your competitor’s brand, you get deeper insights into public sentiment, campaign performance, and opportunities.

Example:

• “Not happy with [competitor]”
• “[competitor] alternative”
• “[competitor] is too expensive”

4. Pain points of your target audience

Monitor phrases that reveal problems your audience faces, as these can provide valuable insights into customer expectations and customer sentiment.

By identifying and analyzing these pain points, you can better understand what your audience anticipates and how they feel about your brand.

Example:

• “Struggling with email marketing automation”
• “Need an app to track social media mentions”

How to choose the right social listening keywords to monitor?

Tracking the wrong keywords leads to irrelevant matches or no matches at all, so you have to devise a keyword monitoring strategy that will reveal the right insights.

So, let me show you how to focus on the conversations that matter and avoid wasting time.

Pro tip: Use EmbedSocial’s AI-enhanced Social Listening Keywords Generator to find the right keywords based on business type and use case.

1. Be specific

Avoid using broad industry terms like “marketing”, “software”, or “brand”. These will flood your feed with irrelevant social media posts and quickly overwhelm you.

Instead, choose specific terms that relate directly to your business, product, or niche. Include keywords that are unique to your own brand to ensure you capture relevant mentions and can benchmark your own brand’s performance against competitors.

Example:

• ❌ Bad: “Fashion”
• ✅ Good: “Sustainable denim brand”, “Size inclusive dresses”, or your own brand name

Monitoring your brand via specific brand-related keywords helps you track reputation, engage with your audience, and respond to mentions effectively.

2. Avoid common words

If your brand name is also a common word, you’ll need to refine your search to avoid irrelevant mentions. Refining your keywords not only filters out unrelated results but also improves data collection by ensuring you gather relevant online mentions and conversations.

Example:

• Brand name: Apple → search for “Apple.com“, “Apple iPhone”, “Apple MacBook”
• Or combine with category terms: “Apple iPhone” AND review

3. Test & adjust

• Too few results? Broaden your terms or remove extra filters.
• Too many irrelevant results? Add modifiers (e.g., “best”, “buy”, “alternative to”).

Use social media listening to identify which keywords are generating relevant mentions and adjust your strategy accordingly.

4. Consider different languages

Your brand or category name might mean something different in other languages. If irrelevant results appear from certain regions, adjust your search to focus on relevant languages or locations. Monitoring keywords in multiple languages helps you understand both current and potential customers, ensuring your messaging resonates with diverse audiences.

5. Use long‑tail keywords

Long‑tail keywords (3+ word phrases) often capture high‑intent conversations.

By targeting these specific phrases, you can identify potential customers who are expressing particular needs, which helps with lead generation.

Example:

• ❌ Short-tail: “Social listening”
• ✅ Long‑tail: “Best social listening tool for marketing agencies”

Tracking hashtags for social listening

Some platforms rely heavily on hashtags for content discovery: especially Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. So, tracking hashtags across various social media channels is essential, as it helps you monitor conversations and engagement beyond a single platform.

Imagine finding posts even if they don’t mention keywords directly.

How to find relevant hashtags?

There are a few best practices you can follow:

1. Start with category terms

• Example: #CRMSoftware, #EcoSkincare, #VeganShoes.

2. Check competitor content

• See which hashtags drive engagement for them.

3. Explore trending tags

• Use the platform’s explore/search features.

4. Mix broad and niche

• Example: #Marketing + #SaaSMarketingTools.

5. Add intent hashtags

• Example: #LookingForRecommendations, #ProductReview.

Note: Social media management platforms can help you identify, organize, and track relevant hashtags across multiple channels, making it easier to manage your hashtag strategy as part of an all-in-one social media management approach.

Example hashtags by industry

Here are some example hashtags (classified by industry) to support your social media marketing efforts by increasing visibility and engagement on key platforms:

Industry

Buying / Recommendation Hashtags

Problem / Use‑Case Hashtags

SaaS

#BestSaaSTools, #SaaSRecommendations, #StartupTools

#RemoteWorkProblems, #ProjectManagementHelp

FMCG Skincare

#BestSkincare, #EcoSkincare, #VeganSkincare

#SensitiveSkinProblems, #AcneSolutions

Fashion

#SustainableFashion, #VeganShoes, #LuxuryStreetwear

#CantFindMySize, #SlowFashionMovement

Pro tip: Once you have your hashtags generated, register for EmbedSocial and start monitoring posts that include them on varioous platforms (X, Instagram, YouTube, etc.).

Example of monitoring hashtags on Instagram with EmbedSocial

How to use EmbedSocial’s keyword idea generator? Step-by-step guide

We’ve built a free Social Listening Keyword Generator that creates both direct and problem‑based keyword lists for you. Follow these steps to use it:

1. Enter your business category (e.g., SaaS, beauty, fashion);
2. Describe your business and your target audience;
3. Add your competitor names (optional step);
4. Choose your goals (find buyers, spot competitor complaints, discover recommendations);
5. Get two lists:
   • Direct, high-intent keywords,
   • Problem-driven, use-case keywords.
6. Copy and paste them into any social platform or social listening tool.

Pro tip: Use EmbedSocial’s AI-enhanced Social Listening Keywords Generator to find the right keywords based on business type and use case.

Keywords vs. hashtags: Where to use each?

Platform

Best Tracking Method

Example Use

X (Twitter)

Keywords & hashtags

“alternatives to Zoom” or #ZoomProblems

Threads

Keywords & hashtags

“need a social media scheduler” or #SocialMediaTips

Reddit

Keywords

“best project management app” in r/Entrepreneur

Instagram

Hashtags

#SkincareTips, #VeganShoes

TikTok

Hashtags

#MorningRoutine, #BestCRMTools

YouTube

Hashtags

#TechReview, #SustainableFashion

Facebook

Keywords

“looking for eco-friendly skincare” in groups

Collecting and analyzing your social listening data

Every social listening strategy must include a sentiment analysis step. Using EmbedSocial’s Social Insights, you can easily identify the top keywords, hashtags, and authors from your collected posts and sense the overall sentiment around your brand.

These practical insights help you quickly spot trending topics, understand audience sentiment, and recognize influential voices in your niche.

Charts like Most Used Keywords, Popular Hashtags, Top Authors, and Sentiment Analysis: make it simple to grasp the data at a glance and share it with your team.

By leveraging these actionable insights, you can refine your marketing efforts, engage effectively with your audience, and stay ahead of emerging trends.

Conclusion: Always define what you want to track first!

Begin by defining what you want to achieve, whether it’s using brand monitoring tools to measure your share of voice, identifying industry trends, or tracking your competitors.

Next, choose the right social listening tool that fits your needs and allows you to monitor relevant conversations across key platforms.

That way, you can identify and select relevant keywords that reflect your brand, products, and the topics your target audience cares about.

All in all, this is what you have to do:

• Track direct product terms and indirect problem‑based phrases
• Combine keywords with hashtags where relevant
• Regularly review and refresh your keyword list
• Engage with users who match your target audience
• Monitor negative mentions and negative sentiment to protect your reputation

Finally, set up alerts to stay informed about mentions and emerging trends, and use these social listening metrics to develop your overall marketing strategy with meaningful actions.

By the end, you’ll create a listening strategy that delivers valuable insights, helps you understand your audience, and supports smarter business decisions.