2024’s Top Social Media Monitoring APIs | Build Custom Tools with These Data Feeds

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Juan Combariza

January 2024 | 8 min. read

social-listening-api-guide

Table of Contents

Top Picks: Best Social Media Monitoring APIs

  1. For integrating external data into your own systems: Datastreamer API
  2. For API + visual interface: Keyhole API
  3. For monitoring + publishing capabilities: Sprinklr API
  4. For monitoring brand mentions: Mention API

Why APIs over No-Code UI's?

The Demand for Control & Flexibility

Traditional UI-based platforms have been the cornerstone of social media listening insights for years, and make it effortless for non-technical users to set up queries with zero code. On the other hand, APIs offer a higher degree of control and flexibility. With APIs, teams have the capacity to work with data in a manner that standard UI platforms can’t match, transitioning from providing broad insights to tailored intelligence tools that are informed by unique domain expertise.

This is critical for teams that want to integrate complex data sets into their own proprietary systems or develop customized analytics tools.

Building Custom Social Listening Tools

In a study conducted by SIL, it was found that a majority of social listening professionals, about 55%, rely on multiple tools, and nearly a quarter are weighing the option of developing in-house technologies. This highlights the challenge that social listening departments face in identifying a tool that satisfies their full breadth of requirements straight out-of-the-box.

This is where customizable APIs step in, empowering teams looking to:

  1. Add media monitoring features to your SaaS products or services. Consumer insights platforms, PR tools, or marketing agencies can build a front-end interface on top of an API and offer social listening as a new product offering.
  2. Connect external data into internal systems (i.e. data warehouses, analytics tools, dashboards, reports). For example – an intelligence department might be seeking to develop custom dashboards that merge social media insights with internal data, alerting stakeholders of market triggers for new business opportunities.
  3. Train and run custom AI models with filtered, structured text data at massive scale. We’ve collaborated with an organization that developed an AI model to forecast consumer trends based on social media content. This innovative model is now used to feed R&D insights to Fortune 500 CPG customers.

Social Media Data Scrapers vs. Social Media Listening 

Most media monitoring platforms essentially repackage data gathered by various scraping providers, adding enhancements such as user-friendly querying interfaces that are undoubtedly valuable to certain users.

One approach to reduce vendor costs is to go straight to data collectors like Socialgist, Webz, DarkOwl, and Data365 – which are some of the data providers used by market giants like Sprinklr and Brandwatch. But working directly with these providers can skyrocket labor costs due to the engineering work of building and maintaining the data pipelines that connect these API feeds into your systems.

The ideal approach for teams that want rapid integration of multiple vendors is to use a platform that offers pre-built, managed connectors between data providers and your products/internal systems.

The Best APIs to Feed Social Monitoring Data into Your Own Systems

1. Datastreamer API

Datastreamer - Social Listening API - Sample

This API call collects data from 3 separate data vendors and then funnels this compiled information to your specified destination.

Datastreamer helps you rapidly integrate social media monitoring feeds from any data vendor into your products – from a single API. 

This enables you to flexibly connect real-time web & social media data into your own systems. 

Beyond eliminating the need to build your own crawlers, Datastreamer also automates the pipelines that deliver external data into your products in a structured format that matches your internal requirements. 

Datastreamer is not a data collector, but instead acts as a bridge that connects your data products to a wide selection of industry leading data suppliers. Today, Datastreamer is the trusted pipeline infrastructure that delivers web & social media data to market leaders like BlackSwan Data and SEMRush.


Pre-Built Connectors to Data Vendors & Databases

Datastreamer’s catalog of pre-built connectors enables you to integrate data streams from industry leading data collectors in minutes instead of months. Implement Datastreamer into your infrastructure once, and then adding new data sources to your pipelines becomes as simple as tweaking an API parameter.

We also offer connectors that source & move diverse third-party data into popular tools that require a consistent format: 

  • BigQuery
  • Other analytics tools (i.e. MongoDB)
  • Data Warehouses (i.e. Snowflake, Databricks)


Automated Pipelines & ETL

Most ETL tools don’t support unstructured data, so Datastreamer set out to develop a straightforward solution specifically designed for handling the complexities inherent in web and social media text data.

Our partners supply the building blocks (data sources & data operations), and we provide the platform to stitch them together into robust pipelines that feed your products with continuous data. Pipeline management capabilities include real-time streaming, customizable data transformations, workflow orchestration, monitoring & debugging features + more.


NLP & LLM Enrichments

Datastreamer offers advanced AI models that are immediately ready for deployment to filter and refine data. These specialized NLP models can be set up in a familiar Boolean Query format but obtain a significantly greater accuracy than relying solely on keyword-based searches.

Additionally, there are a catalog of “operations” that go beyond filtering to unlock additional layers of value from your data:

  • Content translation, sentiment analysis, ESG classifiers, and location inference.
  • PII (Personally Identifiable Information) redaction to comply with GDPR or other compliance regulations.
  • AI models from Google, Cohere, OpenAI + more.
Datastreamer Pros
  • Affordability: A usage-based pricing model allows you to start with minimal upfront costs and gain volume discounts as you scale. Datastreamer doesn’t markup prices or white-label data from data collector partners. 
  • Pipeline Capabilities: Crafted intentionally to feed web & social data into your SaaS products or custom analytics, Datastreamer helps you deploy enterprise-grade pipelines without a dedicated engineering team required to build them. 
  • Compatibility with internal systems: Incoming data is automatically transformed into a structured format that matches your internal requirements.
  • Procurement Flexibility: Test, add, remove, or scale usage volume up from different data providers without complex vendor negotiations each time.

Datastreamer Cons
  • As an API-centered platform, the visual interface to build pipelines has limited features.  
  • While minimal engineering time is required, it is necessary to have at least one technical team member to test and deploy pipelines.  
Data Sources:

View the full catalog

  • Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads
  • News, Blogs, and Forums
  • Review Sites
  • Dark Web & Deep Web
  • VKontakte, 4Chan, Discord

You can request new sites through one of our data collection partners.

Developer Details
Datasteamer API – Pricing:
API access is available on all pricing tiers. Plans start at $150/month + usage-based fees.
Datastreamer API – Free Trial

2. Keyhole API

Keyhole-API-Sample

Sample request created by our writers based on documentation. This is not an official code snippet from Keyhole.

Keyhole is rapidly growing in popularity as a social media analytics tool. It enables the analysis of various profiles, brand mentions, campaigns, and influencers in real time.

Through its API, Keyhole provides the ability to retrieve data from sources such as Twitter and YouTube, to build or strengthen your own data systems.

Additionally, it allows for the tracking of conversations around any topic – whether a brand, product, hashtag, or campaign – by setting up real-time hashtag and keyword trackers. Ultimately, this enables you to add more data to your apps, reports, or create custom analytics systems.

Data Sources:
  • Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok
  • News, Blogs, and Forums
Developer Details
Keyhole API – Pricing

API access requires an enterprise plan, which starts at $10,000/year.

Keyhole API – Free Trial

Keyhole offers a 7 day free trial to their primary analytics tool – However, accessing the API requires booking a demo.

3. Mention API

Sample request created by our writers based on documentation. This is not an official code snippet from Mention.

Mention provides a comprehensive solution for brands and agencies to track online content, understand audience sentiments, and handle social media management.

Beyond its intuitive visual interface, Mention offers a real-time API for media monitoring, granting direct access to a wide array of social media and web data without the need for creating individual crawlers.

This API empowers developers to receive up-to-the-minute monitoring data. You can customize feeds with specific entities (like brand names), keywords, or location & language – and then push these insights into reports, CRM systems, or live websites.

Data Sources:
  • Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, YouTube
  • Pinterest, TikTok, LinkedIn Company Pages
  • News, Blogs, and Forums
  • Review Sites
Developer Details
Mention API – Pricing

Mention API access is available on the highest tier “Company” plan which requires a custom quote. 

Mention API – Free Trial

Getting access to the Mention API requires a demo call. Mention does not specify a free trial option for their custom enterprise plan.

4. Awario API

Awario-api-sample

Sample request created by our writers based on documentation. This is not an official code snippet from Awario.

With Awario, organizations gain the ability to uncover every mention of their brand across the web and social media, staying ahead of important online discussions.

The tool’s social listening API allows for easy export and integration of these mentions. Tailor your search to your exact needs using Awario’s filters, and directly embed the most pertinent mentions on your website, include them in reports, or get them delivered to your inbox.

Unlike many competitors, Awario relies on its own data crawling technology, which contributes to its cost-effectiveness.

Data Sources:
  • Facebook, Instagram,
  • YouTube, Vimeo
  • News, Blogs, Reddit

❗Twitter (X) data is not available via the Awario API

Developer Details
Awario API – Pricing

Awario API access is only available on their highest tier “Enterprise” plan, which starts at $3000/yr.

Awario API – Free Trial

Awario only offers a free trial for their “Starter” plan, which does not include API access.

5. Mentionlytics API

Mentionlytics-api-sample

Sample request created by our writers based on documentation. This is not an official code snippet from Mentionlytics.

With Mentionlytics, businesses have access to a powerful tool that specializes in tracking online mentions across brands, products, and competitors.

The Mentionlytics API allows for the creation of custom-made integrations or dashboards, incorporating a wealth of social and internet data. For customized reporting, users can benefit from its integration with Looker Studio. 

With countless discussions unfolding online, tracking hashtags and keywords becomes a powerful tool to identify the ones centered on your brand. Receiving prompt notifications whenever your customers engage with your specific keywords will proactively keep you in the loop.

Utilizing an API as your digital doorway spares you the effort and resources needed to create data crawlers.

Data Sources:
  • Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube
  • Quora, Reddit
  • Forums, Blogs, News
  • Review sites
Developer Details
Mentionlytics API – Pricing

Mentionlytics API access is available on “Advanced” plans or higher, which starts at $2500/yr.

Mentionlytics API – Free Trial

Mentionlytics offers a free trial for their “Advanced” plan, but API access is only granted upon request.

6. Determ API

Determ is a powerful media monitoring tool that helps you collect all conversations about your brand and industry in one place.

 Its API facilitates enriched data incorporation into your digital platforms, with a special focus on immediate news updates

It also provides an extensive range of metadata and customizable filters like date, location, language, and sentiment for precise data feeds.

Data Sources:
  • Facebook, Twitter (X), Instagram, TikTok
  • YouTube, VKontakte, Reddit
  • Forums, Blogs, News, Websites
  • Review sites
Developer Details
  • Output format: JSON
  • Filter with Boolean search
  • Historical Data Included
Determ API – Pricing

Using Determ’s API to push media monitoring data into your own systems is a available as an add on that requires a custom quote.

Determ API – Free Trial

Determ offers a free trial for their platform, but this does not include access to the API.

API Alternatives to Sprinklr, Brandwatch, & Meltwater

In the realm of social listening, platforms like Sprinklr have long been preferred for setting up brand monitoring queries and social channel alerts.

However, a significant drawback is that these major players, including Sprinklr, Brandwatch, and Meltwater, reserve API access for their enterprise-level plans. These premium plans, often requiring custom quotes, start at around $8,000/year based on user reports, with a majority of users reporting higher annually costs. Furthermore, these providers don’t offer a straightforward route to a free trial with API access.

It’s important to recognize that these large companies don’t primarily focus on API services and generally don’t engage in data scraping themselves. This means that, despite their renown, they might not meet the needs of those looking to extensively push data into their own systems

However, for larger organizations or agencies seeking an API with a broad array of features like social media monitoring, content publishing, and PR campaign management, these platforms, despite their high cost, could be considered among the top options