Social listening is a tool used to monitor social media channels for people’s opinions on your brand, products or competitors often without being aware of you listening. If someone was talking about your brand, wouldn’t you want to know what they were saying? It’s not just about listening to the information, it’s about analysing it and putting into action the things that you learn.
Taking action on the information you find is what sets social listening apart from social media monitoring which is all about collecting data, allowing you to look back at what has already happened. Social listening goes beyond numbers and looks at the mood that your social media posts create and how people feel about your brand and your competitors.
The online mood your company creates is also known as social media sentiment; keeping track of this is an important part of social listening. Social listening allows you to recognise a change in sentiment; you can track in real-time positive or negative responses and react accordingly. Interaction with consumers is great when it ends in positive sentiment however when something goes wrong, social listening can help stop PR disasters escalating by recognising the consumer reaction as soon as it happens.
Your customers share information about what they do and don’t like about your brand each and every day, social listening can help you understand this information and utilise it. Not only will people be speaking about your brand, but they’ll also be speaking about your competitors too. You can analyse the market through the eyes of your customers and help seek out opportunities and threats in the industry. Getting to know how people feel about your brand can help you know what is going right with your marketing and product development strategies.
If you care about your customers and their insights then you should be using social listening as a tool in your marketing strategy. If you feel you aren’t getting enough interaction in general, social listening can help you alter your strategy to gain an increase in your interaction numbers.
If you are looking to implement social listening into your marketing strategy but unsure where to start, Brighter Directions is here to help, call our team today to see how we can help on 01246 586330!
