What if we told you that your customers were saying things about your product (or even just about the category) at this very moment and that you could listen in on every single word of it?
Well, we can. Social listening is a tool that allows brands to monitor social media in real-time, looking for mentions of their products or their competitors’ products. And while it’s not exactly new, it’s becoming increasingly important for marketers to understand the conversations surrounding their brand. If you’re not monitoring what people are saying about your brand online, then how will you ever know what they want?
Or maybe they don’t even know what they want yet. Maybe all they know is that they’re feeling something—and if you can listen in on those feelings and find out where they’re coming from, you can use that information to create content that speaks directly to them.
And since we’ve already explained what social media listening is in our previous article, let’s skip straight to its uses, strategies, and hacks!
Stay on top of all your brand mentions in real-time and from one place
Social listening is the process of understanding what people are saying about your brand. Going beyond the obvious, it’s more than just monitoring what people are talking about on Twitter or Facebook. It’s a secret weapon that can give you a competitive edge by uncovering valuable insights from your customers and prospects, driving actionable results for your brand.
Acquire the most genuine and up-to-date feedback
Social listening is a great way to get the most genuine and up-to-date feedback from your customers. When you listen to what your customers are saying about you on social media, you can get real-time insight into what they like about your product or service and where there is room for improvement. This will help you make better decisions about how to improve your business in the future.
P.S.: WE HAVE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
Gain insights into online conversations mentioning your brand
Don’t just listen to what people are saying about you. Listen to what they’re saying, period.
Track the volume of online conversations and changes in sentiment
The world is a social place. We all have opinions, and we like to share them with each other! When we see something that catches our eye, it’s hard to resist the urge to tell someone about it. That’s why social listening is so important. It allows you to track the volume of online conversations and changes in sentiment around your brand, competitors, or industry.
Create content based on your audience’s wants, needs, and pain points
You may be asking yourself: why do I need to know what my audience wants and needs? Well, if you’re not able to answer that question, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. People are looking for answers to their problems on social media—and if you can provide them with solutions, they’ll be more likely to engage with your brand.
Identify emerging trends and patterns
You know what they say: the only constant is change.
In the world of social media, we’re seeing a lot of changes that are affecting how people use the platforms. Take Instagram Stories, for example; they’re so popular that they’ve been eating into Facebook’s time spent on its own platform. And it’s not just young people either—more and more people of all ages are choosing to consume content on Instagram over Facebook because it’s more engaging and fun.
It’s interesting to see how these changes are affecting different demographics across the board and how brands can use this information to their advantage in order to reach their audiences most effectively.
AGENIC CONTROL – THE ULTIMATE SOCIAL LISTENING TOOL
Conduct market research to guide your strategy
A great strategy is nothing without a solid foundation.
The first step to creating a great strategy is conducting market research. This will allow you to gain insights into the current state of your industry, as well as what people are saying about it online and offline.
This information can then be used to help guide your company’s future growth by informing decisions about new trends, products, or services.
Create meaningful engagement with your target audience
Identify opportunities for engagement: Social listening makes it easier for you to identify those moments when customers are most likely to engage with your brand on social media. For example, if there’s a major event happening or something exciting going on in the news, this may inspire people to talk about it on social media—which could be an opportunity for you to participate in the conversation!
Respond directly to your customers without them even tagging you
The best way to respond to your customers is by doing it immediately, without them even tagging you.
What does that mean? It means that when you see a customer post something on your platform, you should respond immediately—even if they haven’t tagged you. When you do this, it shows that you care about their issues and want to help.
You can also use the customer’s name in the first sentence of your response so that it comes across as more personal. For example: “Hey [name], thank you for reaching out.” This makes it clear that they are important to you as a company.
Respond to unsatisfied competitor’s customers
Sometimes, when a business owner is unsatisfied with their competitor, they’ll try to “one-up” them by offering better services or products. This can be an effective strategy for gaining new customers, but it’s not the only way!
If your competitor is taking business away from you and you don’t have time to do what they’re doing better, there are plenty of other options available to you. Responding directly to their dissatisfied customers can be a great way to show that your company cares about them and wants them to keep coming back.
When one of our competitors starts offering something similar to what we already offer, we always make sure that we reach out to their customers who aren’t happy with their experience. We ask them if they would consider switching over to our service if we were more convenient or had more value-added features than our competitor did—and then we make sure they know how much we value them as a customer!
Generate leads by monitoring relevant keywords and phrases
You’re probably familiar with the idea of keyword and phrase monitoring. It’s a common practice used by many businesses to see which words and phrases are generating the most interest from customers.
But did you know that there’s a better way to use this information?
You can use keywords and phrases to generate leads!
If you spent some time identifying the right keywords and phrases, then it’s likely that these terms are already being used by your target audience. By incorporating them into your content (and making sure it’s relevant), you’ll not only be able to attract new customers but also keep existing ones engaged.
Identify influencers to promote your brand
Influencers are a great way to promote your brand. They have a wide reach, and they can be an integral part of your marketing strategy.
Here are some tips on how to identify influencers:
- Look at the audience of your competitors.
- Find people who have large followings on social media.
- Find people who have large followings on YouTube and Instagram, as well as other platforms that are popular among your target audience.
- Look for people who have been featured in the media, such as Forbes or Entrepreneur magazine (and their online counterparts), or who have written blog posts that were widely shared by audiences similar to yours (or even just influential content creators in general).
Or use Agenic Influence, sit back, relax, and watch your influencer campaigns run smoothly.
Resolve any customer issues that might occur
One of the best ways to make sure your customers are happy is to listen to them. We know, we know: That sounds like something your grandmother would tell you, but it’s actually a pretty simple concept. If you’re not listening to your customers, they can’t give you feedback—and if they don’t give you feedback, how will you know what they want? It’s like trying to build a house without blueprints: Sure, it might look good in the beginning and might even be structurally sound… but after it’s been up for a while, all of those little details start to add up and become really noticeable. Don’t let that happen! Instead, take time out of your day (or hire someone else) to listen to what your customers are saying and then respond with grace and honesty.
Keep up with industry news, trends, and competitors to anticipate any changes that might affect your own business
Are you keeping up with the latest trends and news in your industry?
If not, you might be missing out on some opportunities to grow your business.
The more time you spend learning about what other people are doing, the better equipped you’ll be to anticipate changes that could affect your own business. And when you’re prepared for change, you can take advantage of it.
Here’s why it’s important to keep up with industry news:
It helps you predict trends. The way things are going now might not be how they’ll be in the future—and if you want to stay ahead of the curve, it’s important to know what’s coming down the line. You can’t know for sure what’s going to happen next if you’re only focused on today and today alone!
It helps you identify competitors and learn from them. If there are already companies doing something similar to what yours does, then they’re probably doing something right—so why not try out their strategies? If they work well for them, they’ll probably work well for you too!
To Conclude
Social listening is the thing you might’ve not known you needed, but now you are probably pretty sure it’s exactly what your strategy was lacking. Yup, it is that important and a real game-changer for literally any business that’s on social media.
So, everyone!
Now, if you’d like, you could try Agenic Control services for your social listening needs. We promise it’ll save you tons of time and provide you with insights you’re dying to know.
SOCIAL LISTENING ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE
