{"id":21098,"date":"2020-03-03T13:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/?p=21098"},"modified":"2023-09-12T09:22:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T06:22:27","slug":"social-listening-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.x-cart.com\/social-media\/listening.html","title":{"rendered":"What is Social Listening, Why You Need It and How to Do It The Smart Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This blog post was originally contributed by Sam O’Brien, CMO at Affise, on behalf of RingCentral<\/a>. He has written for websites such as BambooHR<\/a> and Vault<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So your business is considering implementing a social listening<\/strong> strategy. That\u2019s not a bad idea. Some business owners have already discovered the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should be next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is it worth your time and effort digging into the world of social media? And why are you missing out by ignoring social listening?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s article, we\u2019re going to explain how you can interact with 3.5 billion potential consumers online. You can quickly manage a crisis, increase customer satisfaction exponentially, and pick apart your competitors\u2019 campaigns too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have the resources<\/a> to show you why you need social listening and how to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n What is Social Listening? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social listening involves a lot more than the name suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its most simple form, social listening is analyzing the data that specific tools have gathered about your brand across social media<\/a>. Essentially, this comes down to listening<\/em> to what people are saying on social networks. Then, you explore that information for patterns, insights, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you tweak your content to suit your consumer better, that\u2019s called social listening. Analyzing market trends, evaluating post analytics, and designing more effective campaigns for your customers all fall under the social listening domain.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"Digital<\/picture> <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

Credit: We Are Social and Hootsuite<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t use social listening in any form, then you\u2019re missing out on a vital and useful marketing tool. We can say without fear of contradiction that your business will be worse for it.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n But Wait. What\u2019s Social Monitoring? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Great question! The two are often confused with one another. They work in tandem, but they\u2019re two separate techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social monitoring<\/strong>, unlike social listening, is the act of observing brand information online, storing it, and reacting to it in real-time. Social monitoring keeps track of your brand awareness and your targeted keywords on social networks. It targets specific phrases and brand mentions, and stores that data for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once that data has been collected, your team can analyze it for opportunities. That\u2019s when it becomes social listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of that, social monitoring alerts you to key events. It\u2019s important to react to such events before negative press gathers too much attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beauty of social monitoring is that it collects all of this valuable consumer data without you having to look for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody would have the time to search through every single social media platform. First of all, who would want to do that? Even the most enthusiastic social media manager would lose interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, it\u2019s not humanly possible to monitor social media platforms efficiently. On average, there are around 6,000 tweets a second<\/a>. We\u2019ll save you the math: that\u2019s 500 million tweets per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So. On one 8-hour shift, how many of those tweets do you think you could skim read for brand mentions? Could you track conversations? Do you think you could find them all? More importantly, do you think you could respond to all of them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re sure you get the point. And that\u2019s only on one <\/em>social network.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n What Is the Difference Between Social Media Listening and Monitoring? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Social monitoring<\/a> is the process of identifying conversations about your brand on social networks. It recognizes specific data and stores it for you to use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also alert you to actionable events. Interacting with customers and responding to their queries on social media channels would also come under social monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you get around to actually using <\/em>that data, it becomes social listening. Analyzing trends and studying social metrics<\/a> are both parts of social listening. That\u2019s because you\u2019re listening to what customers are saying and adapting your content to benefit from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of social monitoring as a reactive<\/em> approach to your business presence on social media. Social listening is the proactive <\/em>approach where you study, analyze, and plan for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n Why Should Your Business Care About Social Listening and Monitoring? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That all sounds great! But what difference does it make to you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, we\u2019ve already made it clear that social listening is a powerful business tool. If your business doesn\u2019t have a social media presence, then you will be significantly handicapped already. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"Likelihood<\/picture>
\n Source: SproutSocial<\/a> <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

If on top of that, if you fail to gather and analyze vast volumes of critical consumer information available to you, then you will also be missing valuable marketing opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And guess what? Your competitors certainly won\u2019t be missing those opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a practical social listening strategy, you\u2019ll be able to analyze the root cause behind every single brand mention<\/em> on social networks. That data will help your team to spot connections and develop long-term strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can create more effective content and closely monitor those marketing campaigns to ensure they align with industry trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your brand awareness will grow. Customer satisfaction and loyalty will improve significantly. You\u2019ll out-maneuver competitors by using real-time customer feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on top of all that, your improved presence is likely to attract new customers as well. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n Can Social Media Listening Increase Customer Advocacy? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Customer advocacy is a focused effort to meet your customers\u2019 needs and then some. It involves going the extra mile to ensure that customers remain loyal. The customer comes first in every single way, and your business reflects that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if they\u2019re already loyal? Then you keep on improving them to make sure they remain a top customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social listening is one of many elements used to create that perfect customer experience. Companies are putting more and more focus on outstanding customer service. There are so many different management tools<\/a> that create that valued customer interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But social listening is one of the most important ones. It\u2019s a fundamental tool used to increase customer advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social listening helps you to keep existing customers\u2019 spending and pulls new customers in. It helps your team recognize what\u2019s already working and how to improve it even more.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n So How Can Your Business Use Social Listening and Monitoring Effectively? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So far, all we\u2019ve talked about is what social listening and monitoring actually are. Now, it\u2019s time to look at how <\/em>they can be used to your advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n How does social listening work? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An effective social monitoring strategy will gather data in the form of keywords, competitor trends, specific topics, and more. With each of those brand conversations captured, your business will be able to develop beneficial customer insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social monitoring will immediately let you know when a negative conversation is occurring. Your social listening and monitoring strategy should make sure that negative feedback never gets out of control. You\u2019ll be able to put the fire out before it\u2019s even begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this, the majority of companies will use specific social listening tools. These tools monitor individual words and phrases (keywords) which are closely related to your brand. Then, they compile this information into easy-to-use and intelligent reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once your team has that information, you can perform a detailed analysis. That will help your organization find out more about your consumers and the conversations they have about your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did a negative comment lose you some followers? Did negative coverage spiral out of control? And just how<\/em> did that post end up going viral? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Temkin Group study discovered the full extent of a bad customer service experience. 41% of consumers who have a very bad experience with a company will then go on to spend less with the same company. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"Bad<\/picture>
\n Source: Temkin Group Study <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

The last thing you want is an unhappy customer sharing the details of that negative experience online. With social listening analysis, you can prevent that from happening in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But more importantly, you\u2019ll be able to use social listening for future marketing purposes. With a deeper understanding of how customers interact with your brand, you can create content which better reflects their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your sales and development team can also create products that better suit consumer demands. But more on that later.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n When It Comes to Social Listening, How Do You Know Which Social Networks to Start With? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Research by Pew Research Center found that customers reach out to brands across an average of 7 social media channels<\/a>. And, the number of people using social media is only increasing. How do you interact with those customers? Where do you even begin?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many businesses will delay incorporating social listening because they find it overwhelming. In the beginning, the important thing is to study the demographics<\/a> of your most popular social media users. All that data will be provided by your social listening tool.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"Social<\/picture>
\n Source: Super Office <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

Once you get a picture of who\u2019s using your products, you can begin to target that audience on the most effective social media platform. You\u2019ll quickly get the hang of it and be able to consider adding another network to your activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have the resources, then more can follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Begin with one or two networks. Establish your ideas, fine-tune your strategies, and continue from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are obviously popular. But LinkedIn is a popular platform which many marketing teams forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddit is another particularly useful platform for marketing<\/a>. News, success stories, and customer service interactions are shared with millions of users every month.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n What Are Social Listening Tools and Strategies? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So by now, you\u2019re pretty sure you want to get involved in social listening. Don\u2019t just dive in at the deep end. Social marketing campaigns can be complex, and they need to be approached in the correct way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, carefully consider the tools you\u2019ll need to make any strategy<\/a> work. Social listening tools can cover every demographic imaginable. They\u2019ll be able to break down the age, location, and other useful information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are some of the most popular social listening tools on the market:<\/p>\n\n\n\n