Why Social Listening is More Important Than Ever

 By Chan Desai, Account Strategist for Otter PR  

The stream of 24/7 conversation on social media channels moves at breakneck speed, but social listening enables you to monitor that online chatter and react appropriately. It's all about listening to what customers say about your brand and adapting accordingly.

Step 1: Monitor social media channels for relevant keywords.

Social media platforms are a treasure trove of data. You can use the information you glean there to improve your products, your messaging, and your customers' experience. To harness the power of this data, you must first learn how to listen.

You listen with tools that track relevant keywords across social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For example, if you track your brand name or the name of your product, your social listening tool will alert you when someone mentions those terms online.

To get started, compile a list of keywords relevant to your brand. Some of the most common branded keywords include your brand name, product names, product lines, brand misspellings, and name variations. Tracking these phrases directly associated with your brand clues you in to what people are saying about you and gives you more opportunities to engage.

You'll also find it incredibly helpful to track your competitors' keywords. You can keep tabs on your competition by following their brand mentions, messages, and posts across all social media platforms.

Finally, you'll also want to track the keywords trending with your target audience. Identifying trending conversations around your products or services enables you to create better messaging strategies that lead to higher conversion rates.

Step 2: Analyze the information and respond

Once you have collected the data, it's time to analyze it and respond. Your response may involve anything from addressing a customer complaint to improving a product to reconsidering your brand's message. It's important that you stay on top of what people say about your brand, so that you can respond quickly when necessary.

Social listening enables you to stay connected with your audience and understand what they want and need. It gives you opportunities to engage on social media and build relationships. Respond with a personalized message that makes your customers feel heard and valued.

Helpful social listening tools

If you're like most brands, you do not have hours to spend poring over user feedback. Fortunately, you can use social listening technology to keep tabs on the buzz surrounding your company:

• Hubspot offers a social listening product that creates campaigns, distributes content, and performs media analytics. Your brand can also use the platform to set up individualized keyword streaming that tracks real-time mentions of your company online.

• Hootsuite is another useful social listening tool. This social media monitoring dashboard aggregates mentions of your business on multiple platforms and allows you to respond to all of them from one location.

• Finally, Sprout Social offers software that monitors data in real-time to keep tabs on mentions of your company and other relevant keywords. You can use the program's built-in social listening tools to increase your social media engagement and monitor media trends.

Social listening can help your brand better understand your consumers, competitors, and industry. You can use it to gain valuable insights into what people think about your brand and products, improve your customer's experience, identify issues that customers face in real-time, and address those issues quickly. If you want to find out more about social listening and how you can benefit from it, contact the experts at Otter PR.