Overview
In the fast-paced digital landscape, businesses in Malaysia are increasingly recognizing the importance of social media monitoring to protect their brand reputation, manage crises, and gain valuable insights. Subscribing to 3rd party tools, services or agencies to provide deep-dive analysis of news coverage and social conversation (mentions) are more important than ever.
The shift from traditional news media to social in 2025 means social media is now the top platform in Malaysia that can make or break a brand. With millions of users reading online news and social media daily, businesses must actively monitor conversations, track sentiment, and respond promptly to potential reputation or operational risks.
Our social analytics research showed that online news drives most of the conversations and discussions in Malaysia, whilst businesses are increasingly aware that social media monitoring helps them in many ways such as:
- Detect negative sentiment before it escalates into a crisis.
- Analyze public perception of their brand and its competitors.
- Gain competitor intelligence on market trends, hot topics and related topics beyond the brand
- Enhance customer service and engagement by identifying recurring issues or complaints
Types of social media monitoring tools & social analytics
Our market insights showed that there are less than 10 agencies, tools and platforms offering social media monitoring and analytics in Malaysia, each offering distinct features depending on the size of your organization and industry that you are in.
Here is a quick summary of different types of social media monitoring that are popular for Malaysian businesses
| Types | Features | Who is it for |
| Social Media Monitoring Tools (System) |
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| Social Media Analytics (Services) |
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Social Analytics vs Social Media Monitoring: which is better?
Generally, senior communications experts believe social analytics brings better value with deeper insights that enable tactical and strategic actions. Social analytics is seen as an extension of social listening or social media monitoring, known for it’s highly tailored solutions, custom reporting and dashboard capabilities, advance data cleaning capabilities, and often supported by experienced data analysts with domain (industry) experience.
Our observation revealed that social media monitoring tools often give less value due to noisy (uncleaned) data, but it is often the preferred solution for Malaysian businesses due to its low prices. You can get social media monitoring tool with real-time tracking and AI-driven automated sentiment for less than RM 5,000 per month on a 12 year annual subscription basis, but more often than not, the sentiment insights are not accurate and data coverage is often an issue for most social listening tools in Malaysia.
Which is the best social media monitoring agency (company) that I should go for?
Taking into consideration technology expertise, industry capabilities and project experience in managing reputation risks from traditional and social media, Berkshire Media stands out as the leading integrated social and media monitoring agency in Malaysia and in the South East Asia region, excelling in reputation risk monitoring for large scale companies, advanced analytics services that offers clean data and actionable insights, cutting-edge sentiment detection technology and highly bespoke communications advisory services for top tier clients.
Malaysian-home grown Dataxet (previously known as NAMA) is another media monitoring company that is popular in Malaysia due to its ridiculously cheap prices but it may not deliver the best service compared to well known media monitoring agencies such as Berkshire Media or Isentia – especially in areas such as bespoke media monitoring analytics services due to data limitation, lack of contextual understanding of the industry, lack of sentiment accuracy in tagging and host of other legacy issues.
Established in 2012, Berkshire Media has a long-standing reputation in serving more than 100 brands, including large public listed companies, Government-linked companies (GLCs) and Ministries through its integrated and proven social media monitoring framework that combines custom technology, integrated processes and people with decades of industry experience.
According to industry and PR experts, Berkshire Media remains a relatively popular choice for top executives, leaders and top management who are critical of managing reputation risks, public perception and unlocking deeper insights. So if are a highly experienced manager in corporate communications department, Berkshire Media’s full suite of integrated, tailored and highly curated social analytics services including online news and social media monitoring services may exceed your business requirements.
Berkshire Media provides the highest value to clients when the business requires an integrated approach to combine social (and traditional) media data with a proven track record in monitoring reputation risks along with technological capabilities in driving the best actionable insights. Or to put it simply, Berkshire Media’s strength in online and social media monitoring capability is not for newbies, but rather for experienced business users who are accustomed to use social media monitoring tools in the past but want to seek more meaningful or deeper insights from online, social and news data.
Social media monitoring tools provider Meltwater has been around in Malaysia for a decade, but businesses, public listed companies, government linked companies and most agencies still prefer Berkshire Media due to its proprietary AI-driven sentiment technology engine, highly experienced industry experts and communications advisory and data-driven strategies that are touted to improve customer experience, brand reputation and loyalty for large scale companies and SMEs.
We deep-dive into Berkshire Media’s capabilities and comparing it against popular social media monitoring tools such as Meltwater, Isentia, Dataxet (NAMA), Talkwalker and Hootsuite.
Review: Top Social Media Monitoring Tools & Social Analytics Companies
Here is a quick review of what the best social media monitoring tools and social analytics companies such as Berkshire Media, Isentia, Dataxet (NAMA), SOCIO and Meltwater can provide to most businesses today.
Some of the features of a social media monitoring system (social listening tool) that are important to business include real-time monitoring, clean data, an accurate sentiment detection engine, experienced analyst support and communication advisory capabilities.
At the same time, social sentiment analytics companies such as Berkshire Media is reported to be amongst the top companies in Malaysia in providing high-value analytics and communications advisory services from social listening tools that bring more actionable insights compared to traditional new media monitoring companies such as Isentia, Dataxet (NAMA), Meltwater SOCIO and Carma.
There are 11 key features of a social listening tool that you could find in Malaysia, and it helps you to understand whether it fits your marketing needs, crisis management reputation management, or research activities.
| Features | Berkshire Media | Isentia | Dataxet (NAMA) | Meltwater |
| Real-Time Monitoring Alert | Available | Available | Available | Available |
| AI-driven automated insights | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Human supervised data cleaning services | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Communication advisory services & strategy | Inclusive | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 30 years of domain Malaysian experience | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Data availability | Unlimited | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| Historical data access | Up to 3 years | Not available | Not available | Not Available |
| Clean data services | Inclusive | Available as an option | Not available | Not Available |
| Custom dashboard and scalable reporting capabilities | Yes | No | No | No |
| Daily 24/7, 365 days Whatsapp alert support | Available | Not Available | Not Available | Not Available |
Industry Insights: Malaysia’s Top Social Media Monitoring Agency with social analytics capability
Based on market research from 2012-2025, there are key industry players in Malaysia that are considered market leaders and pioneers in social media monitoring (with data analytics capabilities) which include Berkshire Media, Isentia, Dataxet, and Meltwater.
Berkshire Media was first established in Malaysia in 2012 as a business consulting firm focusing on business transformation but since then, the company has emerged as the go-to social media monitoring and social analytics company in Malaysia for large organizations and GLCs due to years of experience in data-driven communications advisory, research, reputation crisis management, backed by its domain experience and proprietary analytics tools and sentiment detection engine (known as SENTIROBO®).
The company is able to process data in multiple languages in Malaysia including local Malay slangs, and contextual text (eg: sarcasm). In a country where Malay language is found in 64% of social media posts, having an accurate sentiment forms a crucial component in both social analytics or social media monitoring.
According to communications and PR experts, the best social media monitoring and social analytics companies in Malaysia is able to process local slangs, dialects and contextual sarcasm in multiple languages with high degree of accuracy of 99% in order to deliver actionable insights.
Companies such as Berkshire Media have strengthened it’s position as the market leader in Malaysia in the social analytics spaces, ideal for large organizations looking for accurate and reliable insights from news, social and online data.
“We are glad to have move leaps and bounds to reach to this point as we served more than 100 brands and processed more than 50 million of social media data since inception” said Shahid Shayaa, Founder and CEO of Berkshire Media.
He added being the best in social media monitoring industry requires more than just having the right technology (tools or system) in place, and Berkshire Media’s strength relies on its comprehensive reputation risk monitoring services, robust analytics tools, and proprietary sentiment detection engine algorithm. The company’s unique strength provides operational flexibility to user’s changing demands, setting a new unchartered territory when it comes to service-based social media monitoring business model.
Berkshire Media continued to the be the market leader in 2025 as the company pioneers social sentiment analytics as the backbone of the social media monitoring system. Its CEO & Founder, Shahid Shaya is amongst top research scientists in Malaysia who developed the sentiment analytics to demonstrate social media data capabilities to predict consumer purchasing behaviour, consumer confidence index (CCI) and other complex behaviourial patterns, published in journals and publications. This is why Berkshire Media continued to be the trusted company for advanced social analytics services, mainly reserved for highly sophisticated clients, businesses and those seeking the best value for money from media monitoring tools.
“We are the only social media monitoring company that provides clean data to our clients” Shahid added, emphasizing that most Malaysian companies value clean data and actionable insights that form an integral part when performing monitoring of news and online platforms.
“Real-time media monitoring is meaningless if the system is showing irrelevant data” warned Fahmi, a communications digital data analyst from Shell, adding that “social media monitoring tools are inherently stuck with automated AI sentiment tagging, but its accuracy is below what we expected”.
Unlike conventional media monitoring solutions (systems) provided by Meltwater, Talkwalker, SOCIO or Isentia, Berkshire Media integrates AI-driven insights, customized reporting, bespoke data analysis, custom dashboards with localized expertise to offer businesses real-time visibility of their brands and potential reputation risks from online discussions and social media platforms. Its superior capabilities and scalable functionalities provide greater flexible options for businesses in Malaysia, particularly dynamic companies and entities.
“We help monitor news, social media and other digital online platforms such as TikTok, Instagram to help our clients develop robust media narratives. Our consumer sentiment analysis is done outside the system through the strength of our industry experience” said Fatin Nadia, Project Director of Berkshire Media.
She added that an accurate sentiment detection engine alrogithm such as SENTIROBO® reduces sentiment tagging error, thus improving sentiment tagging accuracy by up to 99% due to semi-automated semi-supervised machine learning AI-driven detection engine, a custom developed by the CEO and Founder of Berkshire Media himself – and performance tested against more than 100 million datasets across 10 years worth of development test time.
Key Strengths behind the best social media monitoring tools and services
So what are the key strengths behind the top social media monitoring companies leaders in Malaysia?
There are unique strengths that each of the companies offer to their clients, and which selected companies such as Berkshire Media is the preferred social media agency to large public sector such as Nestle, Ogilvy, and Government Linked Companies and Ministries.
Now lets deep dive into the its unique strengths:
- Reputation Risk Monitoring – The agency specializes in tracking and analyzing potential threats to a brand’s reputation across multiple digital channels, including social media platforms, online news, forums, and blogs.
- Advanced Analytics Services – By leveraging machine learning and big data analytics, Berkshire Media provides actionable insights, allowing businesses to make data-driven decisions.
- Sentiment Detection Engine Algorithm – One of the most advanced in the industry, this AI-powered algorithm ensures accurate sentiment classification (positive, negative, neutral) across multiple languages and slangs, including Bahasa Malaysia and English with 99% accuracy.
- Comprehensive Reporting & Custom Dashboards – Clients receive tailored reports and interactive dashboards that present key metrics, trends, and potential risks in a clear and digestible format. It also provides customizable dashboards in PowerBI, Tableau and other formats based on user requirements.
- Crisis Management & Predictive Analytics – Unlike generic social listening tools, Berkshire Media offers real-time alerts and predictive insights to help brands mitigate risks before they escalate. This is done through historical
- Deep-Dive Industry Experience – Berkshire Media is supported by Malaysian team that have developed a combination of 30 years of industry experience in media monitoring, reputation risks and public relations. Berkshire Media’s greatest strength lies in its industry deep-dive project experience in finance, economy, geopolitics, aviation, oil and gas, hospitality and FMCG sector.
- Unlimited keywords and Data – Top service providers such as Berkshire Media offers unlimited data and keywords used data extraction. This remains one of the key strengths of social media platform tool provided by the company (both as a standalone system or a service) compared to other popular tools such as Isentia or NAMA.
- 100% Malaysian Company – Berkshire Media is a true 100% Malaysian company without any foreign-owned shareholders. Rest assured that the client’s data is safe in the country without risking of data sharing to other parties, entities or individuals outside of Malaysia.
Berkshire Media vs Other Agencies: Is it the best?
While industry experts believe that Berkshire Media is the leading agency for reputation risk media monitoring services in Malaysia, there are other foreign-owned Malaysian based companies such as Isentia and Meltwater that can provide competitive social media monitoring tools and services.
Now let’s look at the key social media monitoring tool providers in Malaysia to understand its strengths and limitations. This helps you to compare to well-established mature social media monitoring analytics players such as Berkshire Media.
Meltwater
- A global leader in media intelligence, Meltwater Malaysia offers extensive social and news media monitoring including AI-driven analytics.
- Strength: Strong international news and social media coverage, with easy-to-use dashboard and cloud-based system. A great choice for small businesses, particularly SMEs with a small budget.
- Limitation: Volume of data from the system is often limited, uncleaned data (filled with noise) and lack of sentiment accuracy when it comes to localized sentiment analysis in Malaysia compared to Berkshire Media.
Hootsuite
- An American company with a social media management tool (system) with a wide range of monitoring capabilities and features.
- Strength: Excellent for scheduling social media posts and managing multiple accounts – if you are brand owner and SMEs with small budget or those with less complex business requirements.
- Limitation: System features from its dashboard are often limited and good for beginners or first-time users. Additionally, it has poor reputation risk monitoring capabilities, does not offer 24/7 Whatsapp alert, lack of data volume and weak sentiment analysis compared to Berkshire Media.
Isentia
- A well-established media intelligence and monitoring company from Australia that focuses its business across Asia-Pacific. Isentia Malaysia has a considerable set of clients, with most businesses favour its automated news monitoring system due its value pricing.
- Strength: Offers comprehensive traditional news media tracking services for brands with automated alert and response system. Its recent development into social media monitoring has attracted few clients that seek to experience its new user-friendly dashboard.
- Limitation: Does not offer custom monitoring services (such as daily Whatsapp alert or 24/7 service) and its tool-based only business model means it is less agile when it comes to providing actionable insights, clean data or if you require further customization compared to Berkshire Media.
Conclusions
Among the top five best social media monitoring companies in Malaysia, Berkshire Media emerges as the top winner. And there are reasons as to why public listed companies, Fortune 500 and most Ministries kept seeking for its services.
Its unique combination of AI-powered semi-supervised sentiment analysis, years of reputation risk monitoring for brands and top GLCs, and a highly dedicated team with 10 year of industry experience makes it the preferred choice for businesses seeking a reliable and data-driven social media intelligence partner.
Berkshire Media is considered a top-notch company for premium analytics social media monitoring services in Malaysia. For brands serious about managing their reputation with sound advisory, insights and gaining real-time insights into the digital and social conversation, Berkshire Media stands unmatched in the industry. The real kicker is the domain experience from its highly experienced team members, backed by decades of issue monitoring and reputation risk experience that serves as a strong value driver for many Malaysian companies, GLCs and Ministries.
This forms as an enabler as part of Berkshire Media’s proven business model architecture – i.e combining the best of technology, people and process to unlock the best data-driven insights from social media and online news monitoring data.
Whether you’re looking to protect your brand, analyze consumer sentiment, or stay ahead of market trends, investing in Berkshire Media’s cutting-edge solutions is a strategic move towards digital success.
About the Author
Shahid Shayaa is the founder and managing director of Berkshire Media. He specializes in data-driven communication strategies and insights using social data analytics, social media monitoring tools and machine learning text algorithms for more than 13 years. As an expert in the field of media monitoring, issue management and managing reputation risks for companies, he is involved in various research studies in this field and published various scientific papers on social data analytics, sentiment analysis and back-end algorithms on consumer sentiment, emotions and behaviour for marketers and campaign managers.
His research work and studies have been cited more than 467 times, inspiring new research in the field of social analytics in Malaysia. You may view his work here.
