Today’s consumers are fast-paced information gatherers who thrive on virtual connections, real-time communication and social online interactions with instant access to news, views and reviews – an ideal combination that promotes fleeting trends, defies loyalties and has the power to move your business from an obscure brand to a trending delight within the hour. That is the power of social media!
Why would you not want to tap into the endless possibilities that social media has to offer your business? And even if your business does have a social media platform, it’s not enough to just post the odd ‘Happy Friday’ .gif or a picture of your latest product. Consumers expect meaningful engagement, they want answers, they’re looking for information, validation and deals and if your business is not ready and available to provide these consumers with this level of interaction, they will quickly move on.
Social listening though, goes beyond even that; beyond the interactions and the statistics. It allows you to track, monitor and decipher information and enables you to respond to conversations that are very specific to your industry, your brand and even your product. This is audience research at its very best.
A social listening strategy must become the key component of your digital marketing strategy if your business is to expand its digital presence and remain relevant and responsive in this highly social, digital world of fickle consumerism.
Social listening provides key information about your target audience, including the most popular social media platform for your business, general sentiment, customer needs and so much more. Maintaining your social media channels will also give you insight into relevant and popular keywords specific to your business.
Social listening affords your business the opportunity of a creating a digital marketing strategy that is designed specifically around the data that has been collected and analysed and enables you to tap into popular sentiment and understand how consumers actually feel about you, your competitors and your industry, enabling you to respond accordingly.
Respond to your customers and potential fans appropriately and keep your marketing efforts and strategy relevant by paying attention to current sentiment. Social listening helps you to identify ideal opportunities to engage directly with your customers about your brand.
Social listening can revolutionise your digital marketing strategy enabling you to create campaigns that are targeted and specific, being based on relevant real-time data gathered online which can benefit your business in a number of ways, including:
- Relevant consumer engagement;
- Being able to tweak your marketing strategy in real time;
- Learn what people are saying about your business compared to your competitors;
- Identify common pain-points and address these;
- Develop new sales leads; and
- Identify the specific social platforms where people are talking about your industry, your business, your products and even your competitors.
Social listening is not just about the amount of relevant information you can gather, it’s also about what you do with that information. Craft your business’s digital marketing strategy, using this information as the starting point but, above all, use the information wisely by engaging meaningfully with your customers so that you’re making lasting, meaningful connections that people will remember.
