Quickly find what your audience actually cares about. Social Listening in HighLevel’s Social Planner surfaces real-time trends from Google, Pinterest, Wikipedia, TikTok, and YouTube—so you can create content that rides the wave instead of missing it. Use live cultural signals to plan posts faster, back up ideas with data, and move from discovery to scheduling in one workspace.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is Social Listening in Social Planner?
• Key Benefits of Social Listening
• Trend Sources at a Glance
• How To Set Up Social Listening
• Use Cases
• Best Practices
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Related Articles

What is Social Listening in Social Planner?

Social Listening is a research workspace built into Social Planner that aggregates trending signals from multiple public sources. It helps you understand what people are searching, watching, pinning, and talking about—so you can turn real-time interest into timely posts and campaigns.

Social Listening centralizes trend discovery from Google, Pinterest, Wikipedia, TikTok, and YouTube and presents each source with its own metrics and context. It lives alongside your existing planning tools, so you can move directly from an insight to a scheduled post.

Key Benefits of Social Listening

These advantages focus on planning smarter, faster content backed by real data—not hunches.

• First-mover advantage: Spot rising topics before they peak to capture outsized reach.
  
  

• Audience alignment: Match campaigns to the exact keywords, songs, and hashtags people are engaging with.
  
  

• Data-backed decisions: Replace guesswork with verifiable trend metrics across sources.
  
  

• Faster workflow: Discover, ideate, and schedule without third-party tools or extra logins.
  
  

• Clear client value: Tie strategy to live cultural signals for stronger reporting conversations.

Trend Sources at a Glance

Use this quick-reference table to understand what each data source contributes and which on-screen metrics appear for faster decision-making.

How To Use Social Listening

The Social Listening tab is available wherever Social Planner is enabled in your workspace.

1. In your Sub-Account, Open Social Planner and click on the Social Listening tab.

   
   
   
   

2. Step 2: Choose the data source you want to analyze (for example, a hashtag, keyword, song, or channel). The selected source will be highlighted, and you can scroll through the full list to view detailed insights.
   
   

   
   
   

3. Step 3: Apply the date filters to focus on a specific time range and track trends for the dates you’ve selected.
   
   

Note: Clicking a trend card opens the source website in a new tab to explore the original chart or dataset with similar parameters (when supported). 

For example, Wikipedia Pageviews cards open the official Pageviews tool (https://pageviews.wmcloud.org) with the article pre‑selected. Changes you make on the external site do not modify your HighLevel data.

Use Cases

Practical scenarios that turn Social Listening insights into action. Use these patterns to move from discovery to scheduled content with minimal friction and maximum impact.

• Weekly content planning: Build a 7–14 day calendar by pulling 3–5 high-signal topics from multiple sources (e.g., Google + YouTube). Draft posts immediately with Add to Planner while momentum is high.
  
  

• Localized campaigns: When a source supports location, compare regions to tailor copy, visuals, and offers per market (e.g., US vs. Canada). Prioritize regions with higher search or engagement.
  
  

• YouTube discovery → script drafting: Use YouTube Popular Keywords to outline hooks and titles, then study Trending Videos for pacing/format cues before filming.
  
  

• Seasonal & event content: Combine Pinterest growth % (seasonality) with Wikipedia pageview trends(awareness) to time education posts, checklists, or buying guides.
  
  

• Thought leadership & explainers: Validate a rising concept via Google Trends + Wikipedia to publish timely explainers, FAQs, or carousel threads that meet demand.
  
  

• Creator & competitor research: Track YouTube Popular Channels to map collaboration prospects and identify topics you should cover or differentiate from.

Best Practices

Actionable guidance to improve signal quality, speed to publish, and long‑term performance while reducing risk.

• Triangulate trends: Validate ideas across at least two sources before committing resources.
  
  

• Mind the half‑life: Trends decay quickly! Aim to draft and schedule within 24–72 hours of detection when appropriate.
  
  

• Add context & credits: Note the originating source in your post brief (e.g., “Source: YouTube Trending”) so teams understand why a topic was chosen.
  
  

• Protect brand safety: Avoid sensitive or misleading topics; cross‑check with authoritative references and review Wikipedia history for context before posting.
  
  

• Work from repeatable templates: Keep title/thumbnail/caption frameworks ready; use Ask AI from the top right corner to adapt tone for each network.
  
  

• Measure intentionally: Use consistent naming or a project label in post titles to group “Social Listening” content, then compare results in Social Planner analytics.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to connect social accounts to use Social Listening?
Social Listening pulls public trend data from sources like Google, Pinterest, Wikipedia, TikTok, and YouTube.

Q: How often is the data refreshed?
Trend data updates periodically, and cards refresh automatically when you change Date filter. Exact cadence varies by source.

Q: Is Social Listening an add-on or paid upgrade?
Social Listening is available wherever Social Planner is enabled in your account.

Q: Does Social Listening recommend the best time to post?
Social Listening surfaces what to talk about. For when to publish, use Best Time to Post in the Post Composer or CSV bulk scheduling flow.

Q: Can I download these insights?
Not at the moment. Social Listening is currently view-only inside the dashboard.

Q: Do I need to connect my social accounts to use Social Listening?
No — Social Listening pulls public trend data from sources like Google, Pinterest, Wikipedia, TikTok, and YouTube.

Q: Can Social Listening actually help in discovering potential leads?
Yes. While it’s not designed as a direct lead-generation tool, it helps you uncover conversations, trending topics, and keywords that your target audience is engaging with. This gives you opportunities to join the right discussions and create content that attracts potential leads.

Related Articles

• Getting Started - Setup Social Planner
  
  

• Social Planner - Advanced CSV for Bulk Scheduling
  
  

• Social Planner - Link Shortener
  
  

• Best Time to Post Feature in Social Planner
  
  

• Social Planner - Track Social Performance Using Advance Analytics