Wouldn’t we all love to know what’s being said about us out there? If only because we enjoy the attention or are a glutton for punishment, there is some learning to be gained from knowing others’ opinions of us. It is certainly the same for businesses, and perhaps even more so because they thrive on customer feedback.
Keeping an ear to the ground and listening to what’s being said about one’s brand or company is called ‘Social Listening.’ In 2022 social media use on average was 147 minutes a day with audiences from millennials to Gen Z regularly voicing their views on various subjects including products and services.
But listening alone is not enough. What we do with the information matters. Businesses cannot engage in continuous improvement if they do not know where they are falling short with their customers. Social listening lays the groundwork to gather such information. It is different to social monitoring because, with the former, you will be actually keeping track of brand mentions, noting customer feedback and so on, while the latter is more focused on campaigns and keywords. So, in fact, social listening takes the information derived from social monitoring and makes active decisions based on it.
How to engage in social listening
The conversations surrounding brands and companies can be prevalent in the online space in the form of loose data. Collecting this data will be easier through various software applications such as Google Alerts. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications can be instrumental in keeping tabs on customer support discussions and requesting customer feedback on products and services in addition to obtaining new product ideas. You can also find data based on keywords and hashtags – determining what sort of information you’re looking for will certainly be an advantage. For instance, if someone mentions your brand of beverage in a hashtag alongside beach vacations, you know that your next step should be to consider how that beverage can be made a staple at beachside resorts and be tied with fun, relaxation and good times.
A great way to engage in social listening is by responding to customer feedback, online. This way you’re showing the customer that their opinion matters and that you’re willing to change your strategies or tweak your product or service in order to ensure their satisfaction. Furthermore, if there is a problem that has been highlighted about your brand, social listening will ensure that you catch it early and handle it effectively in order to minimise damage and demonstrate your company’s ability to take responsibility for a mistake and rectify it. Often, it is when companies do not listen to their customer’s complaints, or even worse, ignore them that customers walk away. Keeping customer turnover at a minimum should be your golden rule.
When customers also reach out to you to make queries, that is a point of potential customer conversion. Thus, really listening to them and attempting to help them in the best way you can will ensure that those customers keep coming back to you and build brand loyalty. For instance, there are a great many online platforms now that import items such as spices which can only be authentically sourced from the East of the world. But when one of these platforms takes the time to source exactly the brand you want, makes queries on the price ranges and picks the cheapest option including the quickest mode of delivery, you know that they do really care about their customer. This sort of social listening is akin to a friend who goes out of their way to help you.
Very much along these lines is keeping your ear out for ‘recommendations’ posts on social media. Many of us come across posts that request recommendations on what product is best for this or that, or which venue is best for this or that event, etc. Keeping an ear out for posts seeking recommendations within your own industry will give you a chance to jump in and offer your own brand as a solution.
The measures
Monitor how many times your brand is mentioned online. Even if it is to praise it, respond and show appreciation. Keep track of how many likes, comments and shares of your posts have been generated via social media channels. You can then assess what sort of reach your brand has. Moreover, if you see influencers whom you think will add value to your brand due to corresponding values, ask to build partnerships with them so that you can increase your reach further.
Seeking success
What you do with the information and data you receive is important. If you listen but do not act then the whole point of listening is lost. Listen in and keep an eye out for industry insights when designing your next course of action. Keep abreast of new tech advances or legislation that could affect your brand performance. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a fine example of this. AI tools are now readily available to design marketing material and promote brands. Making sure that your use of AI does not flout media ethics is imperative to avoid confrontation within the market space. You can use AI to generate content that gives your audience what they want to see and hear, but give credit where it’s due when using images, videos and the like.
Also, determine where there are gaps in the market and how you can fill those with your brand/s. Customer queries or suggestions will be extremely valuable in figuring this out. Perhaps, you can even progress to focus group discussions based on existing customer queries to move on to the next step in product development.
Finally, monitor political and social issues that have relevance to your brand and take proactive rather than reactive action. For instance, if there are conversations and criticisms about labour exploitation surfacing in your industry, be quick to demonstrate that your own company’s working conditions are optimal with a greater focus on community empowerment by seeking the help of small-scale entrepreneurs. If this isn’t the case, then admit that you are looking into your own processes and eliminating all practices that contravene ethical standards of work.
All in all, social listening can enhance your brand in so many ways if applied effectively. Stay on top of the game by learning more about it, allocating the proper resources and implementing it wherever possible.
(Anouk De Silva)