Octolens Review: How To Market With Social Listening

In the “no-sleep” world of marketing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial.

Social listening has emerged as a vital tool for businesses wanting to engage with their audience directly. Octolens, a new social listening tool I recently discovered, connects you with customers discussing your brand, competitors, or industry-related pain points.

This blog will guide you through Octolens, highlighting its features, benefits, and how it stands out compared to similar services like Brand24 for social listening.

What Is Social Listening?

But more importantly, you'll gain an understanding of how social listening is a HUGE untapped marketing space for your business – and how to start engaging with new customers immediately.

I remember the exact moment I realized how crucial social listening had become in the digital age. And it's funny, because this whole “social listening” thing was a whole new paradigm shift for me.

It was 3 AM, and I was scrolling through Reddit, trying to figure out why our latest product launch had been a bit “meh.” That's when it hit me – we had been shouting into the void instead of listening to what our customers were actually saying.

About Octolens: Social Listening Tools

Let me tell you about a tool that completely transformed how I approach customer engagement: Octolens. But before I dive in, I should mention that I've spent the last decade working in digital marketing, watching countless tools come and go. Most of them promised the moon and delivered a handful of stardust. Octolens is different.

It's something that everyone needs.

If you engage and market on social media to get exposure or new clients, Octolens opens up a whole new aspect to your pro-active marketing game. Instead of just posting content and hoping random people click through to your site, you can find those already with an interest or problem they have (that your product can solve) and engage with them.

Social listening opens up the door to a more pro-active approach than “create-and-wait.” (Which is when you create content for social media and “hope” people find your lead magnet.

And from an startup perspective, it creates a metric you can track – engagements per day – rather than just waiting. This makes it a much more direct approach.

Think of Octolens as your personal social media detective. You know how sometimes you wish you could be everywhere at once, catching every mention of your brand or industry?

That's exactly what it does. I was particularly impressed by how it connects with Slack – because let's be honest, who has time to check yet another dashboard?

The notifications pop up right where you're already working, which saved my team countless hours of manual monitoring. But it's more than that. You can set a system that notifies you or a mention about a brand or keyword – so you can have regular engagment without setting up a complicated system.

Octolens AI

The AI component is what really sets it apart though. It reminds me of having a really savvy assistant who knows exactly which conversations you need to see and which ones you can safely ignore. It automatically prioritizes the best conversations and can even suggest and angle to enter the conversation.

Which Platforms does Octolens Monitor?

It monitors several – and since I started using it, they have added more. These can be toggled on or off for specific keywords.

• LinkedIn
• Reddit
• X Twitter
• Bluesky
• YouTube
• DEV
• GitHub
• Hacker News
• Stack Overflow

I have asked about Facebook, and the team is working on it. That will be exciting to monitor.

How Octolens Works (Video)

Getting started with Octolens is refreshingly straightforward. The onboarding process feels like having a conversation with a knowledgeable friend rather than wrestling with complex software. And I know this sounds strange, but it is probably one of the easiest software to start using. You don't even need to login and authenticate your social media profiles.

You begin by defining what matters to your business – think of it as teaching the tool your language. What's particularly clever is how you can fine-tune your keyword searches. For instance, when we were launching an eco-friendly product line, we could zero in on discussions about people looking to switch from a specific (non-eco-friendly) product.

Now, I know what you're thinking – isn't Brand24 the go-to tool for this kind of thing? Well, here's where things get interesting. While Brand24 has been around longer, it's like comparing a luxury car with all the bells and whistles to a base-model BMW- sure, the luxury car is nice, but the BMW gives you everything you actually need at a fraction of the price. Octolens comes in at just $15 monthly, while Brand24 will set you back $119 for tracking only three keywords.

Brand24 is priced for larger businesses. Octolens makes sense for solo-preneurs and those who need more leads but are marketing on a budget.

Plus, Octolens updates more frequently, which in our fast-paced digital world can make all the difference. I have been in conversation with Charlotte Schmitt, the founder of Switzerland-based Octolens, on Linkedin. And she has been really helpful.

I've seen firsthand how this tool can transform a business. It can take you from creating and waiting to engaging and building your business and brand today!

You just have to put yourself in the mind of your potential customer.

Understanding Octolens for Social Listening

At its core, Octolens is designed to facilitate seamless interaction between businesses and potential customers. It allows you to monitor conversations across various platforms and engage without hefty advertising expenses. Here’s how Octolens can become your secret weapon for customer engagement and business growth:

Integration with Communication Platforms: Receive notifications straight to Slack or other channels, ensuring you’re always in the loop when your brand or keywords are mentioned.
AI-Powered Insights: Octolens utilizes AI to filter out high-intent mentions, providing you with the most pertinent information about your audience’s needs.
Comprehensive Analytics: The tool offers an easy-to-navigate interface displaying keyword mentions, relevance scores, and platform-specific data.

Getting Started with Octolens

Setting up and optimizing Octolens is straightforward:

Onboarding and Settings: When you first sign up, Octolens will guide you through initial settings where you define relevancy parameters. This customization ensures the platform aligns with your business needs or even affiliate marketing strategies.

Keyword Management: Tailor your keyword search by adding relevant terms and excluding non-essential ones. You can even opt for exact match searches to dial-in on specific discussions. Think about the pain points your customer may be searching for – not just competitor brands.

I did have a search bringing in foreign searches – and I got that fixed up with Octolens team. A brand name was the same as a common Polish phrase.

Platform Selection: Choose the platforms that matter most to you. Whether it's Reddit, YouTube, or niche forums, you can focus your energy where your audience is most active. I would start with all.

Engagement Strategies: Use the analytics to find potential interaction opportunities. Engage with users discussing your product or competitors and turn these interactions into sales conversions. Keep in mind what platform you are interacting on. You have to slip into your customer's skin at this point.

Octolens Analytics

Octolens provides helpful analytics based on your keywords and the mentions on each platform.

I won't share my keywords, but I can tell you this data is very helpful.

Octolens vs. Brand24

While Octolens offers a competitive pricing model at $15 per month or $180 annually, Brand24 can become expensive, with individual plans costing $119 per month for tracking merely three keywords. Moreover, updates on Brand24 occur every 12 hours compared to Octolens’s option for hourly updates depending on the platform.

Don't get me wrong, Brand24 is amazing – but for most solopreneurs the cost is too high. It's just a different tool.

Brand24 does have a mobile app, which is kinda boss!

Octolens is the perfect Brand24 alternative with better pricing.

Octolens vs Pulse AI

Pulse AI also allows you to monitor keywords on Reddit exclusively. Pulse has a free plan, but it's not as robust or authoritative. Certainly worth testing out in any case.

It's a good bridge to get started in the world of social listening.

Speaking of Reddit, I have been using this very unique tool called GummySearch to find the best keywords and subreddits on Reddit to market on. It's incredible for audience market research.

Check out GummySearch here. Use THEBOT for a GummySearch Promo code discount of 10%.

Final Thoughts on Octolens

Octolens is a valuable tool for any business aiming to enhance its customer engagement without the complexities and costs of traditional advertising. Octolens has an intuitive UI and robust features, and yet it offers a low-tech means to dive directly into conversations that matter.

Whether you’re a course creator, agency owner, or business entrepreneur, Octolens provides versatile use cases tailored to meet your goals.

Bottom Line:

Octolens allows you to easily eavesdrop on your potential customers conversation on social media. This allows you to engage directly with people close to the end of the buying cycle.

And while social media “post-and-pray” is free, and paid ads can be expensive, Octolens sits in a nice middle ground. It's a paid tool, but it can get you consistent leads every day.

Try out Octolens today.

Use Octolens Promo code OCTO24 for a discount to get started with Social Listening for your business.

Social listening is an incredibly effective marketing tool that most people have no idea how to harness. Now you do. Take action right now.