If you are using social media for your business, you might already understand that platforms like Instagram or Facebook are not just for broadcasting your message, it is a powerful two-way communication platform.
Instead of just posting on Facebook or LinkedIn, try to learn about your audience, by listening to them. You can effectively listen to your customers using a data-driven way called Social Listening.
Before we go ahead and look at how you can implement social listening into your marketing strategy, let’s discuss why this is important for any business.
Why Is Social Listening Important?
You might be well aware of the fact that popular brands, celebrities, or brand influencers are often bombarded with thousands of messages and mentions. Popular social media accounts see thousands of interactions every day, and it leaves less scope for such people to focus on “just their profile.”
Social listening helps you understand the trends and news about your industry, your city/state, and your competition. It gives you an insight into the culture and preferences of your target audience.
Knowing what people say about you is crucial for your success and this is more important if you are a product manufacturer.
Remember that social media helps you know what customers think about you – and it can either be good, bad, or ugly.
Tips to incorporate social listening into your marketing strategy
#1 Know the buzzwords
Did you know that more than half a million comments are posted on Facebook every minute? So it’s impossible to sit and go through comments to find insights and chatter about your brand.
The very first step you can take is to know the buzzwords. These are the words used by people when they talk about your brand. These can be
The product names
Slogans or mascots related to your brand
Name of the CEOs or Directors of your company
Brand related hashtags
Hashtags related to events or places
Related to your competitors
You can use these buzzwords to track the trends or learn about product feedback. If you are planning to launch an updated version of an existing product, you can use social listening to know about the upgrades your customers love.
#2 Know what the “Pain Points” are
Social media is not only a place where you can stay connected and informed but is a platform where people often post about their frustrations. This can at times be related to a product or service you offer.
If you are using social listening, you will naturally understand what the customer’s pain points are. You can use negative feedback or criticism to build your next product or marketing strategy, and connect with your customers in a more meaningful manner.
Pain points are often associated with self-identity and this is the reason why people prefer to do it via their social media account.
Therefore, instead of just focusing on how much your product or service is liked by people, you get to know the things your product lacks and it’s weaknesses.
Did the product you launched help them feel better? Was it useful and worthy?
#3 Time to compare
Did you ever want to compare your products or services with that of your competitor? If yes, you can do it effectively using social listening.
You can easily compare what people are saying about you and your competitor with ease.
If you find that your competition is neglecting a segment of their consumer, you can use that to your advantage. You can hire the services of top-notch social media marketing agencies to discover various ways to improve your market share.
#4 Seek opportunities
Why is it important to learn about trends in social media in real-time? This helps you spot new opportunities fast and allows you to make quick decision making.
A lot can happen within a few seconds on social media platforms.
Businesses can use social listening to develop a new product, or improving existing ones. You can easily quantify various unmeasurable factors and learn how many customers are looking forward to a certain feature or how they feel about the new software update.
Listening is an efficient way to hear what your customers think about your brand and helps you connect with them.
Are you listening to your target audience?
Some of the popular social listening tools you can make use of are HubSpot, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer, and TweetReach.
Connect with us today to learn how we blend social listening with top-notch social media marketing strategies to make your brand stand out amongst millions of brands online.
It is time you grow your business by connecting with the right audience.