Get Started with Social Listening in Keyhole

What is a Social Listening Tracker?

A tracker is the heart of Keyhole. It’s your custom search tool that pulls in real-time posts and mentions from platforms like Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, blogs, and more—based on the keywords, hashtags, or accounts you want to monitor.

Whether you're tracking a brand, campaign, competitor, or trending topic, your tracker turns noise into insights so you can stay ahead of the conversation.

Keyhole offers two tracker types:

Basic Trackers – Fast to set up, great for simple monitoring.
Advanced Trackers – Designed for deeper analysis with Boolean logic, filters, and targeting by language, region, and more.

Use an Advanced Tracker when you need precision—like filtering by location, finding verified mentions, or analyzing campaign sentiment by region.

Quick Links: A Page-by-Page Guide to Your Tracker

How to Create a Tracker

1. Go to Listening & Campaigns in your Keyhole dashboard

2. Click Add New Tracker

3. Choose one of the following setup options:

Add Tracker: A quick setup for basic monitoring.
Add Advanced Tracker: Perfect for detailed customization like Boolean searches and additional filters.

If You Use Add Tracker

1. Enter Keywords and Hashtags: Add the keywords, hashtags, or accounts you want to monitor

2. Select Platforms: Choose from X, Instagram, TikTok, Connected Facebook, Connected YouTube, News, Blogs, and Forums

3. Click Create Tracker to complete your basic setup

If You Use Add Advanced Tracker

1. Set Boolean Search Criteria:

OR: Find posts with any specified term you list (e.g., “Hawaii OR Oahu”). Enter terms in separate boxes.
AND: Collect posts that include all terms (e.g., “Hawaii AND Oahu”). Enter terms in the same box, separated by spaces.
Exact Phrase: Use quotes for exact phrase matches (e.g., “Hawaii vacation package”).

2. Select Platforms: Pick the platforms you want to track and choose Exclude Retweets if you don’t need them

3. Apply Filters:

Language & Location: Narrow results by country or language
Account & Domain: Include or exclude specific accounts or domains
Verified Users: Limit results to verified accounts on X

4. Set Dates & Volume: Specify start/end dates or data volume limits

5. Name Your Tracker: Customize the name and URL of your tracker for easy organizing and sharing, especially when managing multiple campaigns

6. Click Preview to review everything, then Save

New trackers only start collecting data from their creation date. To access historical data, you’ll need a separate purchase.

Tips for Effective Tracking

Refine Searches Using Boolean Logic: Think of Boolean logic like a conversation with your data—you’re telling it exactly what you want to hear. For example:

Use OR to widen your search (e.g., tracking “holiday” OR “vacation”).
Use AND to target precise posts that include all your terms (e.g., “product launch” AND “2024”).
Exact Phrase is perfect when you want to capture a specific phrase, like a brand slogan.

Create Sub-Trackers for Deeper Insights: Break down a campaign into smaller topics using sub-trackers. For example, track a brand campaign overall and create sub-trackers for individual products or hashtags.

Explore Each Section of Your Tracker

Once your tracker is live, Keyhole starts collecting matching posts. You’ll see different tabs appear in the left menu.

Here’s what each one does:

Dashboard

See an overview of post volume, users, engagements, impressions, sentiment, top posts, and share of voice. Learn more →

Posts

View all posts collected by your tracker, including full content, likes, comments, shares, timestamps, and media. Learn more →

You can filter by tag, sentiment, platform, or geography.

Influencers

See who’s driving the most engagement on your keywords—sorted by follower count, exposure, or average engagement. Learn more →

Sentiment

Break down how people feel: Positive, Neutral, or Negative. See timelines and top terms by sentiment. Learn more →

Media Wall

A visual stream of posts with images or video. Perfect for presentations or live event displays. Learn more →

Tracker Settings

Update your keywords, hashtags, account filters, and search rules. Learn more →

Notification Settings

Set alerts for spikes in activity, new mentions, or sentiment changes—so you never miss an important moment. Learn more →

Historical Data

Need older posts from before your tracker was created? Submit a request for historical backfill (available on some platforms). Learn more →

Frequently Asked Questions

Question	Answer
What is sample data?	When you first create a tracker, Keyhole gives you a preview of the conversation by pulling up to 200 posts from recent history. These are called sample posts—they’re real, public posts that include your tracked term. Think of it as a sneak peek to help you get a feel for the tracker before it starts collecting new, real-time data. Just note: sample data isn’t complete or comprehensive—it’s not historical data, and it shouldn’t be used for reporting. Want to go back further in time with complete results? You’ll need a Historical Data report. Learn more here.
Why doesn’t my new tracker show old data?	When you first create a tracker, Keyhole gives you a preview of the conversation by pulling up to 200 posts from recent history. These are called sample posts—they’re real, public posts that include your tracked term. Think of it as a sneak peek to help you get a feel for the tracker before it starts collecting new, real-time data. Just note: sample data isn’t complete or comprehensive—it’s not historical data, and it shouldn’t be used for reporting. Want to go back further in time with complete results? You’ll need a Historical Data report.
Why might two trackers show different data?	If two trackers are created at different times—even with the same keywords—they won’t show the exact same data. That’s because each tracker only starts collecting real-time posts from the moment it's created. For example, if you start Tracker A on January 1 and Tracker B on January 10, Tracker B won’t include everything from the 1st to the 10th. It may include a small sample set, but not the full data, so the numbers will differ. Need matching historical coverage across trackers? You’ll want a Historical Data report to fill in the gaps.
Why doesn't my tracker show Reach and Impression data?	There are a few reasons why Reach and Impression metrics might not be showing up yet: The tracker is still processing. If you’ve just created it or it’s collecting a high volume of posts, Keyhole might still be calculating those numbers. Give it a little time. The accounts aren’t authenticated. For Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, Reach and Impressions are only available if the accounts are added to Profile Analytics or your Account Watchlist. This is due to API rules from those platforms. You’re tracking unauthenticated or third-party content. If the content is from creators you haven’t added, or from platforms like TikTok, estimated metrics may not be available unless public accounts meet engagement eligibility criteria (active followers, regular interactions, consistent viewer watch time). Want a full breakdown of which platforms and metrics are supported? Learn more in this guide. Still not seeing the data after a few hours? Reach out to us at [email protected], and we’ll take a look for you.
Why does Keyhole not calculate Reach, Engagement, and Impressions for News, Blogs, and Forums?	Unlike social platforms, News sites, Blogs, and Forums don’t provide public engagement data like likes, shares, or view counts. And without those signals, it’s not possible to reliably calculate Reach, Engagement, or Impressions. Keyhole still collects posts from these sources, so you can track what’s being said but metrics like Reach won’t appear alongside them. Want a full breakdown of which platforms and metrics are supported? Learn more in this guide.
Why does the Influencer tab show X (Twitter) users, but not Instagram or Facebook users?	X shares user data through its API, so when someone tweets using your tracked keywords, Keyhole can show that account in the Influencer tab automatically. Instagram and Facebook don’t work the same way. Their APIs don’t allow us to pull in user info unless you’ve added those accounts to your Profile Analytics or Account Watchlist. Until then, their posts will appear in your tracker, but without account-level details. Want to track specific IG or Facebook creators? Just add them to your Account Watchlist and we’ll take care of the rest.
Why is Keyhole data different from what I see in Instagram or Twitter?	If the numbers in your Keyhole tracker don’t match what you’re seeing directly in Instagram or Twitter, here’s why: You’re seeing posts outside the tracker’s date range. Keyhole only collects data from the moment a tracker is created. If the conversation started earlier, those posts won’t be included unless you’ve requested Historical Data. The app includes private posts. Keyhole can’t. Instagram and Twitter show counts that include private or restricted posts. But due to API limitations, Keyhole only tracks public content that’s available to third-party platforms. So while Instagram or Twitter might show more posts overall, they’re not all visible—or accessible—through their API for reporting.
How do I embed Keyhole graphs or Media Walls on my website?	To embed a graph or Media Wall, follow these steps: To embed a graph: Go to your tracker Hover over the top-right corner of any graph until the </> Embed icon appears Click Embed, then select Copy Snippet Paste that snippet into your website’s HTML wherever you want the chart to appear Your embedded graph will update automatically with real-time data—no refresh needed. To embed a Media Wall: In your tracker, select Media Wall from the left-hand navigation Click Embed in the top right corner Click Copy Snippet, then paste it into your site
How do I modify my Hashtag or Keyword search?	To refine your search terms: Go to your tracker. Click Tracker Settings from the left-hand navigation menu Scroll down to Search Settings to edit your keywords using Boolean logic Boolean Search Criteria: OR: Find posts with any specified term you list (e.g., Hawaii OR Oahu). Enter terms in separate boxes. AND: Collect posts that include all terms (e.g., Hawaii AND Oahu). Enter terms in the same box, separated by spaces. Exact Phrase: Use quotes for exact phrase matches (e.g., "Hawaii vacation package"). Searches are not case sensitive.
How do I search for exact phrases in Social Listening?	To track an exact phrase—like a product name, event, or campaign—wrap the words in quotation marks in your Tracker Settings. For example: To find posts that mention Hawaii vacation package in that exact order, enter: "Hawaii vacation package" This ensures Keyhole only pulls in posts with that specific phrase, not just any post containing the individual words. You can also combine exact phrases with AND or OR logic for more advanced tracking.
Can I limit the number of posts a tracker collects?	Yes. You can set a volume limit to control how many posts your tracker collects. To do it: Go to your tracker Click Tracker Settings from the left-hand menu Scroll down to the Start and Stop Tracker section Under Tracker Volume Limit, enter the maximum number of posts you want to collect Once your tracker hits that number, it will automatically stop collecting new posts. It’s a simple way to manage data collection whether you're testing, budgeting, or tracking a short campaign. Learn more about Post Quotas.
Can I set an end date for my tracker?	Yes, you can schedule your tracker to stop collecting data on a specific date and time. Here’s how: Open your tracker Click Tracker Settings in the left-hand navigation Scroll to the Start and Stop Tracker section Set your desired Future End Date and Time Once the tracker hits that deadline, it will automatically pause and stop collecting posts. This is especially useful for event tracking or time-bound campaigns where you don’t want to pull extra data beyond a set window.
How far back can I access historical data?	It depends on the platform and whether the accounts are added to your Account Watchlist or Profile Analytics. Here’s what’s currently supported: X (Twitter): You can pull historical data from as far back as 2015, depending on your plan. Instagram: Data can be pulled from the last 24 hours, but only if the account is added to your Account Watchlist. Broader keyword tracking across public posts isn’t supported due to API restrictions. Facebook: You can access data from the last 90 days, but only for public pages that have been added to your Watchlist or Profile Analytics. General keyword tracking across Facebook isn’t supported. YouTube: Data is available from the last 30 days, but only for channels added to your Watchlist or Profile Analytics. TikTok: Historical data is not currently supported. If you need data from before a tracker was created, you can request a Historical Data report. This is a separate service, and pricing depends on date range and volume.

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