Social listening: Are you monitoring the right conversations?
Social media isn't just about making a lot of noise. It’s about taking the time to listen.
Social listening is, as the name implies, all about listening. It's about putting your ear to the digital ground so you can figure out what current and potential customers are saying about your organization, products, and industry.
Doing so won’t just uncover clues about how your buyers are feeling but could inspire changes in your marketing strategy, website experience, or buying process. It's an effective way of staying ahead of the curve and helps foster strong, more authentic relationships with clients.
It’s also something a lot of businesses are doing. According to the State of Social Listening 2022 from Social Media Today, over 60% of businesses have a social media listening system in place and are monitoring for keyword mentions.
Before you start social listening, there are a few key practices to keep in mind:
Choose the right keywords
An important part of social listening is choosing the right keywords. Depending on what you want to learn from social listening, and what your goals are, you’ll want to whittle it down to a few specific but encompassing keywords.
Choose the right platform
You can start social listening by going directly to a social media platform and using its search tools. However, if you're already using a social media management tool, there's a good chance that offers more in-depth and holistic social listening capabilities. If you're not, check out options like Emplifi, Meltwater, Hootsuite, Brandwatch, or Sprout Social.
Record your findings
At its foundation, social listening is a data gathering exercise. The more you listen, the more you’ll learn, and the more you’ll be able to do with it. As you start eavesdropping, make sure you compile your findings for future use.
Now you know what social listening is and why it’s important, what should you be listening for? Here are four thoughts to get you started.
Your business
The easiest and perhaps most obvious thing to listen for on social media is what people are saying about your business. Choose keywords that are specific to your business, its services, and its products, and use them to uncover not just insights about your organization, but the sentiment behind those statements.
Your competition
Alongside your own organization, tailor a collection of keywords around your competitors. By learning what consumers are saying about them and their services, you may recognize gaps you can fill, missed opportunities, or ways to optimize your own operations.
Your industry
Social listening is a great way of understanding what’s changing in your industry and, more importantly, how people feel about it. If new legislation has passed, new technology is on the rise, or current events are disrupting the way a B2B buyer does business, it’s your job to understand what’s happening. Doing so could inspire a change in the way you’re speaking to potential customers or the creation of a new piece of content that directly speaks to what you uncover.
Your calendar
There’s a good chance you’ve got a calendar filled with events, conferences, and upcoming trade shows. As scheduled opportunities that bring together experts talking about a specific and important topic, there's no better time to virtually drop in and have a listen. To make it easier, events will typically have a dedicated hashtag you can use to track conversations.
Now, turn those insights into action.
At this point you would have overheard some great interactions and should have insights gathered in one place. Now, it’s time to act on them.
Could your findings inspire a new FAQ page or series of blog posts? Did it highlight a better way to angle your homepage and explain your services? Is it time to introduce a product demo? These are all questions to start thinking about.
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