How to track brand mentions on social media, free and paid

How to track brand mentions on social media, step by step

To track brand mentions on social media, search X (formerly Twitter) with advanced search for each name, then set a free Talkwalker Alert with the Twitter result type. Those two steps cover X and, with Talkwalker's other result types, news, blogs and forums; the other networks in one feed need a paid tool.

1. List the names: the brand name, product names and domain, the keyword types Brand24's help center names. Leave full URLs and email addresses out.
2. Open X advanced search while logged in, fill the fields for exact phrases, accounts and dates, and click Search.
3. On Talkwalker Alerts, enter each name, choose the Twitter result type, pick how often alerts arrive and verify your email address.
4. Read both once a week, and note any network where people name you that these two do not reach.

Instagram and Facebook: business accounts and limits

Brand24 collects Instagram data only through a Business or Creator account, and its Facebook and Instagram integration needs both accounts to be business accounts connected to each other. From a connected Facebook Page it collects comments on the Page's public posts and reviews left on the Page.

It may miss a public post made on a personal profile, it collects no posts from Facebook Groups after Facebook's March 2018 API changes, and it never collected Instagram or Facebook Stories. Instagram's API allows up to 30 unique hashtags per integration. Threads is a separate connection that an account administrator sets up, and Brand24 says Threads monitoring currently has no engagement metrics.

TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn by plan

On Brand24's pricing table, as read on October 24, 2026, LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok start at Team. Brand24's comparison table leaves YouTube off the Individual plan, while a help article says YouTube caption monitoring is available on all plans, so ask which applies. On LinkedIn it collects only the posts and comments of organization profiles you administer.

Brand24 says it can detect your keywords in the spoken words of TikTok videos from monitored profiles with captions, and that it may not detect every spoken mention. Octolens's FAQ lists X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Bluesky, Reddit and Hacker News. Octolens Pro is $199 a month, billed monthly, with 10 keywords and 15,000 mentions; extra mentions on Pro cost $0.013 each, and you can set a monthly spend cap.

How to monitor social media mentions with alerts and reports

To monitor social media mentions after setup, use the Brand24 tools that sit on every plan. Storm Alerts warn you when mentions or reach jump by a percentage you choose. Notifications reach you by email or the Brand24 mobile app. Daily or weekly email reports summarize new mentions and can go to added recipients.

Sentiment labels each mention positive, negative or neutral using software, and AI Sentiment Analysis is on every plan. On the free route, Talkwalker Alerts delivers by email, RSS or Slack, and X advanced search shows results when you run it.

Free route or paid tool

Use the free route when one or two networks matter: Talkwalker Alerts is free, and X advanced search works with a login. Move to a paid tool when Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or LinkedIn matter too. Brand24 Team, at $349 a month, billed monthly, adds TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn to the X coverage of every plan; its Facebook and Instagram data need connected business accounts.

During Brand24's 14-day trial, X and Instagram are capped at 100 mentions a day, a limit its help center words with Twitter rather than X. Brand monitoring tools lists the options, Talkwalker Alerts vs Google Alerts compares the free alerts, and the Brand24 review covers the plans.