Finding the right influencer marketing platform for social listening can mean the difference between capturing every piece of content your community creates and watching valuable UGC slip through the cracks. With the influencer marketing industry valued at $40.51 billion in 2026, brands need tools that go beyond basic tracking to deliver actionable insights from short-form video, Stories, and tagged content.

Key Takeaways

• Social listening built for short-form video matters most: Platforms that analyze TikTok, Reels, and Stories capture the content formats driving influencer marketing ROI today—not just static posts and text mentions.
• Archive leads for creator content detection: Archive tracks 400% more content than competing platforms and AI that watches video, listens to audio, and reads text, Archive sets the standard for comprehensive social listening.
• AI capabilities separate leaders from followers: Top platforms now use AI for sentiment analysis, brand safety vetting, and trend prediction—features that turn raw social data into strategic insights.
• eCommerce integration drives measurable ROI: Platforms with native Shopify connections enable direct attribution from creator content to sales, making it easier to prove ROI to leadership.

1) Archive — Best for Capturing Everything Your Community Posts

Archive is a creator marketing platform built for brands that are tired of missing Stories, screenshotting posts into Google Drive, and cobbling together campaign reports in Excel. The platform automatically captures, organizes, and manages user-generated content from Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube—including ephemeral content that disappears before you can track it.

Key Features:

• Social Listening: Detects and captures tagged content across Instagram and TikTok, including Stories that vanish in 24 hours
• Creator Search: Find creators by the brands they've posted about, follower count, location, and content type—including competitors' influencers
• Campaign Reporting: Live dashboards that show what's working, who your top performers are, and which creators to scale
• Brand Safety Vetting: Archive's AI checks historic creator content against your rules so legal and comms can trust your partnerships
• Smart AI Fields: Auto-tags posts with products, campaigns, sentiment, and custom fields you define

Best For:

Brands prioritizing comprehensive creator content capture across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube

Price:

Custom pricing; book a demo for details

Why Archive Leads for Startup Brands

What sets Archive apart is its ability to capture content that other platforms miss. Archive tracks 400% more content than competing platforms. For brands running gifting programs or ambassador campaigns, this means no more content slipping through the cracks.

Standout Capability: Archive Radar—AI video social listening that detects your brand in posts, even without direct tags or mentions.

Real Results:

• Ketone-IQ: 29% website revenue increase through Shoppable UGC Feeds
• Immi: Saved 80 hrs/week on UGC management
• She's Birdie: $10,000+/month saved on content creation
• Agency Eight: 40+ hours saved weekly
• Grüns: 650+ influencers managed in 1 hour/week

Archive serves 50,000+ brands including Allbirds, Notion, DoorDash, Uniqlo, and Momofuku. The platform connects to your social accounts in under 5 minutes with zero coding required and integrates directly with Shopify for e-commerce workflows.

2) Sprout Social

Sprout Social combines social media management with listening capabilities, making it a strong choice for teams wanting unified workflows. The platform's AI Assist automatically summarizes long messages for quick insights, while cross-platform tracking covers conversations across social networks, blogs, forums, and news outlets.

Best For

Teams wanting social listening integrated with broader social media management

Key Features

• AI Assist for semantic search across a 9 million+ creator database
• Sentiment analysis with spike alerts that flag sudden volume changes
• Brand Fit Score and Brand Safety Reports for influencer vetting

Pricing

Influencer Marketing pricing upon request

3) Brandwatch

Brandwatch positions itself for enterprise teams needing deep social intelligence beyond influencer marketing. With a 50 million+ global creator database and TikTok Marketing Partner status, the platform combines influencer analytics with broader consumer intelligence.

Best For

Enterprise brands requiring comprehensive social intelligence and media monitoring

Key Features

• "Iris" AI for conversation insights and trend summaries
• True Reach score algorithm for realistic audience sizing
• Creator Marketplace API access through TikTok partnership

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

4) Meltwater

Meltwater bridges traditional PR monitoring with social listening, making it valuable for communications teams tracking influencer impact alongside earned media. The platform provides historical data for trend research and comprehensive media coverage including broadcast and print.

Best For

PR and communications teams needing holistic view of influencer and traditional media

Key Features

• Media monitoring across social, web, news, and podcasts
• Sentiment analysis with real-time monitoring
• Influencer content mapping to media mentions and share of voice

Pricing

Essentials, Suite, Enterprise tiers — Custom pricing available upon request

5) Upfluence

Upfluence combines social listening with native eCommerce integrations, helping brands find organic influencers already mentioning their products.

Best For

eCommerce brands wanting social listening tied to sales attribution

Key Features

• 12 million+ creator database with AI-powered discovery
• Native Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento integrations
• Social listening to find influencers organically mentioning your brand

Pricing

Custom pricing with free tools available

6) GRIN

GRIN focuses specifically on eCommerce creator management with Gia AI assistant providing smart recommendations. The platform excels at product seeding workflows and tracking sales influenced by creators.

Best For

DTC and eCommerce brands blending influencer marketing with affiliate programs

Key Features

• Gia AI assistant for smart creator recommendations
• Product seeding dashboard with gifting workflow automation
• Social listening to discover organic brand mentions

Pricing

• Free trial available
• Lite: $399/month
• Essentials: $699/month
• Growth: $1,149/month
• Complete: $1,799/month

7) Keyhole

Keyhole specializes in real-time hashtag and keyword tracking, making it valuable for brands monitoring live campaigns and events. The platform provides volume predictions to anticipate viral posts and live dashboards showing influencer performance as it happens.

Best For

Agile teams needing real-time intelligence during campaign launches

Key Features

• Real-time hashtag and keyword tracking
• Campaign monitoring dashboards for live events
• Volume predictions for trend anticipation

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

8) Aspire

Aspire (formerly AspireIQ) emphasizes intuitive collaboration with a dual discovery model combining advanced search and a 1 million+ influencer marketplace. Social listening helps find influencers already mentioning your brand.

Best For

Brands scaling from manual influencer tracking to structured programs

Key Features

• Image search to find influencers by visual aesthetic
• Social listening for organic brand mention discovery
• Automated outreach and content libraries

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

9) BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo focuses on content discovery and trending topic identification rather than pure influencer analytics. The platform helps find genuine thought leaders based on content they share and includes a Question Analyzer that scours forums for real audience questions.

Best For

Content marketers wanting social listening focused on trending topics

Key Features

• Trending content discovery by topic and niche
• Topic-based influencer finder
• Content research showing most shared and linked articles

Pricing

Subscription plans start at $199/month or $159/month annually

10) Modash

Modash provides transparent pricing and one of the largest creator databases in the market at 250 million+ profiles. The platform's native Shopify integration enables direct product shipping and real-time ROAS tracking.

Best For

Budget-conscious eCommerce brands wanting large database access

Key Features

• Real-time ROAS tracking without requiring influencer sign-ups
• Event Mode captures all content during campaigns regardless of hashtags
• Native Shopify integration for streamlined gifting

Pricing

• Essentials: $299/month or $199/month annually
• Performance: $599/month or $499/month annually
• Enterprise: Starts at $14,700/year

Frequently Asked Questions

What is social listening in influencer marketing?

Social listening for influencer marketing means automatically tracking and analyzing content created about your brand across social platforms. This includes tagged posts, mentions, hashtags, Stories, and—with advanced platforms—untagged content where your brand or products appear visually or are mentioned verbally. Unlike basic monitoring that counts mentions, social listening analyzes sentiment, identifies trends, surfaces emerging creators, and provides actionable insights for creator marketing strategy.

How does AI improve social listening for creator content?

AI transforms social listening from simple keyword matching to comprehensive content understanding. Advanced platforms use AI to watch video content to identify products and brand mentions visually, listen to audio for verbal mentions in creator content, analyze sentiment beyond positive/negative classifications, predict which posts are likely to gain traction, and flag brand safety concerns in creator history. These capabilities turn raw social data into strategic intelligence that informs creator selection, campaign optimization, and ROI reporting.

Can social listening platforms help with creator discovery?

Yes—social listening directly feeds creator discovery by identifying people already talking about your brand or category. Rather than searching generic creator databases, social listening surfaces organic brand advocates who mention you without prompting, category creators discussing problems your product solves, emerging voices before they become oversaturated, and competitor creators who might align with your brand. This approach to finding influencers prioritizes relevance over reach.

What metrics should I track with influencer social listening?

Core metrics for influencer social listening include content volume showing how many posts mention your brand over time, engagement rates measuring likes, comments, shares, and saves on creator content, earned media value estimating equivalent ad spend for organic reach, sentiment distribution breaking down positive, neutral, and negative mention percentages, creator performance identifying which creators drive the most engagement and conversions, and competitor share of voice comparing how your mentions stack up against competitors. Advanced platforms like Archive provide campaign-level reporting that rolls these metrics into leadership-ready dashboards.