Do you know what Social Listening is and why is it important for your business?
Don't worry if you draw a blank, I'm writing this blog to briefly and simply explain it to you. It really isn't complicated or hard to understand. Do let me know if I you have any questions after reading this.
Social Listening is a great tool for businesses to keep on track of negative and positive conversations involving their brand/product. Your business may not be on every social media channel, but that doesn't mean that your business and products won't be discussed there, as well as in forums. Social media as a whole, has a huge influence on the companies that individuals will buy from, so is more important to your business then you may give it credit for.
Most businesses are obsessed with pushing content after content on their social media channels, thinking this is all they have to do. There are so many other aspects involved with successfully managing social media, it’s not just about pretty pictures and witty captions.
Social media should be thought of like a conversation, you wouldn't just talk at someone you would listen too and have a varied conversation. The same should be applied when managing your social media.
One way in which you can monitor what is being said about your business is by setting up alerts to notify you of when your business is mentioned, or manually typing your business into the search field on the relevant channels/google.
Social media managers and marketers use social listening to monitor digital conversations about a brand online to understand what customers are saying. They will respond directly to bad press if they need to, using the protocol you set up when first working together. There should always be a procedure that your social media manager can follow, which allows them to directly compensate someone who feels they have had a bad service when using/buying your product. This saves time and hassle for the customer, your social media manager and you.
Social listening will also help when planning content and creating appealing offers for your customers. Something to consider though, is that it will only monitor conversation people are having about a brand/industry, not provide an insight into marketing programs directly.
I hope this has been useful to you and a good introduction to social listening. If you’d like to know more or want me to help you manage your social media please do email info@aquilinasocial.com.
Until next time!
S x