Are you truly listening? Social listening is a powerful tool that goes beyond just monitoring your brand and competitors sentiment.
Have you thought about listening beyond what people say about your brand? With 73% of online Americans using social networking sites, it is crucial to understand what your customers are talking about online beyond your brand (Pew Internet, December 27, 2013). If you don’t know what your customers are saying, how can your brand join their online conversation? Social listening is the crucial element to create a 3D image of your target audience. This enables your brand to make strategic business decisions and stay ahead of the competition.
Social listening involves monitoring news sites, blogs, micro-blogging, social networking sites, forums, eCommerce platforms and many more. This allows you to better understand the bigger conversation among your target audience (not just about your brand). As a result, you can now place your brand in other conversations beyond the traditional discussion. A great example would be Red Bull. Even though they are an energy drink, they have expanded the conversation to extreme sports.
More so, social listening allows you to identify your brand’s key influencers. It is not enough to follow these opinion leaders, but it is crucial that you actively engage with them. This will ultimately create new brand advocates.