If you’re in a B2B go-to-market role—marketing, sales, product, or revops—you’ve probably heard big promises about “social listening” and “real-time market intelligence.” Most of it’s fluff. But some tools can actually help you spot trends, keep tabs on competitors, and make smarter decisions. This guide is for B2B teams who want an unvarnished look at how Brandwatch stacks up.
Let’s cut through the hype and see what this tool actually does, what it doesn’t, and how (or if) it fits into a modern GTM stack.
What is Brandwatch, Really?
Brandwatch is a social intelligence platform. In plain English: it monitors millions of online sources—social media, review sites, forums, news—for mentions of brands, topics, or keywords you care about. It’s like Google Alerts on steroids, with dashboards, analytics, and integrations thrown in.
For B2B go-to-market teams, the pitch is that Brandwatch helps you: - Track your brand’s reputation and share of voice - Spot emerging trends or customer pain points - Monitor competitors’ moves - Find content ideas and influencers - Generate reports to justify your existence to the C-suite
That’s the sales deck. But what’s it like to actually use?
Getting Started: Onboarding & Setup
What’s good:
Brandwatch’s onboarding is thorough but not overwhelming. You’ll get a walkthrough (often with a real human), and the help docs are clear. Setting up your first “query”—their term for a saved search—is simple if you stick to the basics.
What’s annoying:
Brandwatch’s real power is in its advanced query builder. If you want to filter out spam, track competitors, or use Boolean logic, you’ll need to invest some time. It’s not rocket science, but it’s easy to create a query that’s either too broad (loads of noise) or too narrow (misses important stuff).
Pro tip:
Start with a narrow query. Too many new users try to track everything and wind up drowning in irrelevant mentions.
Core Features: What’s Useful (and What’s Not)
1. Social Listening & Monitoring
- The good: You can track mentions from Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, news, blogs, and more. The volume is impressive—Brandwatch’s coverage is among the best in the space.
- The reality: For B2B, expect a lot of noise. Unless you’re a major software brand, most of your mentions will be sparse and scattered. You’ll need to fine-tune filters to get anything actionable.
2. Analytics & Dashboards
- The good: The dashboards are customizable and can actually look decent in a board meeting. You get trends, sentiment analysis (positive/negative/neutral), and breakdowns by source or geography.
- The reality: Sentiment analysis is hit or miss. Sarcasm fools the AI, and a lot of B2B chatter isn’t emotional anyway (“Evaluating Acme CRM” isn’t exactly high drama). Treat sentiment numbers as ballpark, not gospel.
3. Competitive Intelligence
- The good: You can set up queries for competitor names, execs, or product lines. Useful for keeping tabs on campaigns, PR snafus, or new launches.
- The reality: Don’t expect Brandwatch to uncover big secrets. Most competitor mentions are public anyway. But it’s handy for spotting patterns—like if a rival’s new feature is getting traction or hate.
4. Influencer & Author Identification
- The good: Brandwatch can show you who’s talking about your keywords the most or who gets engagement. This is decent for finding new podcast guests, co-marketing partners, or sources for quotes.
- The reality: In B2B, there are fewer “influencers” than you’d think. You’ll mostly find analysts, journalists, or the occasional power user—still worth knowing, just don’t expect Instagram-level reach.
5. Alerts & Integrations
- The good: Real-time alerts for spikes in mentions or negative sentiment. Integrations with Slack, email, and some CRMs.
- The reality: Alert fatigue is real. Set up too many, and you’ll start ignoring them. Be ruthless about what triggers a ping.
What Brandwatch Does Well for B2B GTM Teams
- Competitive benchmarking: See how your share of voice stacks up against others in your space.
- Early warning system: If a customer rants about you on Reddit, you’ll at least know before it becomes a fire.
- Content fuel: Identify what’s trending in your industry—handy for blog posts, webinars, or social campaigns.
- Reporting: Dashboards are solid for monthly/quarterly updates. You can export charts and data quickly.
Pro tip:
Use Brandwatch to supplement, not replace, your other market research. It’s best at surfacing weak signals—things you’d miss if you only relied on Google or LinkedIn.
Where Brandwatch Falls Short (And What to Ignore)
- Paywall for most historical data: Want to see five years of mentions? That’ll cost extra.
- Not great for small brands: If your company isn’t getting talked about much, you may find Brandwatch underwhelming. You can’t monitor what isn’t there.
- Sentiment is mostly a gimmick: It’s fun for charts, but don’t base strategy on it.
- Clunky UI in places: The query builder is powerful but gets unwieldy with complex logic. The learning curve is real.
What to ignore:
Don’t buy Brandwatch expecting it to magically generate leads or replace your sales research. It won’t. Treat it as a listening post—not a lead engine.
The Real-World GTM Use Cases
Here’s where Brandwatch can actually move the needle for B2B go-to-market teams:
- Product marketing: Spot recurring complaints or feature requests. Track competitor feature launches and the reaction.
- Comms/PR: Monitor for crises, negative press, or viral posts before they blow up. Quickly assemble a response doc.
- Campaign tracking: See if your new campaign, hashtag, or event gets any pickup outside your usual bubble.
- Sales enablement: Arm your team with fresh stats (“We’re leading the conversation on [topic]”) or examples of customer buzz.
Pro tip:
Schedule a monthly “Brandwatch review” with your GTM team. Don’t just let data sit in the dashboard—turn insights into action items.
Pricing & Buying Advice
Brandwatch isn’t cheap, and pricing is notoriously opaque. Expect to talk to sales and get a custom quote. For most B2B teams, you’re looking at several thousand dollars per year, minimum.
- Is it worth it? If your brand, category, or execs get talked about a lot online, Brandwatch can be a good investment.
- When to skip: If you’re a startup or in a sleepy vertical, you’ll get more value from less expensive tools (or even just Google Alerts and some elbow grease).
Alternatives: What Else Should You Consider?
If Brandwatch feels like overkill, here are a few other options:
- Mention: Simpler, cheaper social monitoring. Good for startups or basic tracking.
- Meltwater: Similar to Brandwatch, but more focused on PR.
- Sprout Social: Social media management with some listening features—solid if you’re already using it for scheduling.
Pro tip:
Test a few tools before deciding. Most offer trials or demos. See which one surfaces the most useful insights for your actual workflow.
The Bottom Line: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Brandwatch can be a powerful tool for B2B GTM teams—if you’ve got enough online buzz to track and the discipline to actually use the insights. But don’t expect magic. Start small: a couple of focused queries, a dashboard or two, and a regular check-in with your team. Ignore the vanity metrics and keep asking, “What can we actually do with this information?”
The best GTM teams don’t just collect data—they act on it, review what worked, and tweak their approach. Keep it simple, stay skeptical, and iterate as you go. That’s how you get real value—Brandwatch or not.