They said WHAT about me? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, you might think social listening sounds a bit like snooping on the latest gossip, but it\u2019s actually an incredibly valuable tool in your brand-building arsenal. You might not want to know what people are saying about you behind your back (even though we\u2019re sure it\u2019s all great!), but you should definitely want to know what people are saying about your company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this blog, we\u2019re going to walk you through everything you need to know about social listening \u2013 from what it is and why it\u2019s important, to the difference between social listening and social monitoring, and how to get started with social listening. We\u2019ll even give you the lowdown on social listening tools (don\u2019t know what they are? Stick with us!), and offer up some prime examples of the best in social listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wow, we said social listening A LOT! Let\u2019s go find out what it\u2019s all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social listening is a little bit like spying \u2013 except for the fact that it\u2019s completely legal and in no way morally dubious. Through social listening, you can track social media channels to monitor any mentions of your brand, your competitors, your industry, or a particular topic or keyword. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social listening gives you the chance to listen in on conversations related to your brand, and understand what customers (or potential customers) really think about you. You\u2019ll also get a real handle on how they view your competitors \u2013 which is invaluable market research. You\u2019ll get the full story of people\u2019s human experience of you and your market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People (and their opinions) change at a quite-frankly-alarming rate, which is why you need to listen, follow the data, and innovate. Social listening allows you to gain incredibly in-depth insight, and then act on those insights. That\u2019s how you go from standard customer experience to human experience \u2013 by delving deeper into what people are saying – good or bad! The opportunities are endless! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can analyse the info gleaned through social listening to improve the customer experience (interact directly with your customers; respond to a positive comment; diffuse a tense situation), create the sort of content people want to see, tailor your customer strategy to meet the specific needs of your target audience, use industry insights to generate new ideas, and even alter your brand strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Done right, social listening can really help you to build your brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ultimate goal of any brand is to achieve a high level of brand awareness<\/a> \u2013 making you a household name, and your customers far easier to sell to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In your journey towards building brand awareness, it\u2019s important to understand people\u2019s perception<\/a> of you in the marketplace. But because brand awareness surveys can only get you so far (unless you use some incredibly insightful software<\/a> to squeeze out every bit of useful info), you need to keep a realistic and objective ear to the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You want people to know your name, but only for the right reasons. If your brand becomes mired in scandal, it can be a sticky label to shift \u2013 which is why it\u2019s crucial to stay on top of your digital mentions. If a customer has a less than ideal interaction with a member of staff, encounters a big ol\u2019 problem with one of your products, or feels like you\u2019re not sticking to your brand values in some way, shape or form, chances are they\u2019re going to voice it on social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Social listening is important because it allows you to pick up on any mentions \u2013 good or bad \u2013 and interject. If a customer has been let down in some way, and you find out about it immediately, you stand a much better chance of resolving the problem and changing their perceptions. Without that instant alert, a post could quickly go viral and ruin your rep before you even know what\u2019s hit you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I swear we\u2019re not making this stuff up; they really are different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While social listening and social monitoring might sound similar, they differ in some pretty crucial ways. Social listening is far more broad in scope, as it involves monitoring customer feedback, brand mentions and industry trends, while social monitoring hones in on specific keywords or campaigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You also get different things from each of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Social monitoring is data-driven, and simply seeks to track mentions and conversations; social listening goes further \u2013 analysing the results, considering the motivations and causes behind the conversations, and creating changes to brand strategy. Without that added layer, you\u2019re going to struggle to meet the needs of your customers \u2013 even if you do know what they\u2019re saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Social monitoring helps you to see what\u2019s already happened, while social listening gives you the chance to look to the future and influence change; it also breaks down your social engagement to assess the sentiment behind the data (think \u2018heart\u2019 reaction versus angry-face emojis). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Right then; let\u2019s dive into the nitty gritty of how to make social listening work for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What are social listening tools? <\/p>\n\n\n\n So now you know how important social listening is, and how to approach it \u2013 but we\u2019re going to go out on a limb here and say you probably don\u2019t have the time (or the patience) to sift through trillions of social media posts across every platform out there? And even if you did, you absolute sadist, can you imagine how boring that would be? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of giving yourself the most tedious job in the world and manually sifting through endless reams of social media data, there\u2019s some really nifty software that can do the whole thing for you. Now doesn\u2019t that sound better? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember all of those keywords, topics, names, buzzwords and hashtags we spoke about? Social listening software can track all of that without breaking a sweat, the show-off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Choosing the right social listening tool is incredibly important to your overall strategy. But we\u2019ll get to that shortly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you want to see how some of the big brands use social listening to great effect? Whether you\u2019re interested in creating real craic with your audience, tailoring campaigns that speak to consumer sentiment, or making videos that jump on a trend, these brand know how to bring it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch and learn people; watch and learn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Aldi <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aldi<\/a> gives us all a lesson on how to entertain and engage an audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019ve tracked what works for them \u2013 humour \u2013 and tailored their entire content strategy towards giving the people want they want. Never taking themselves too seriously, the brand (which is at the heart of the now infamous \u2018Cuthbert versus Colin\u2019 debacle) plays up to what they\u2019re famous for to superb effect. They even bring their competitors along for the ride<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Through social listening, Aldi has created a solid understanding of their customer base, and what it takes to engage and entertain them. Most importantly, they act on this insight at every available opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ASOS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ASOS<\/a> just \u2018gets\u2019 its customers. Since starting out back in 2000, their digital strategy has evolved to meet the habits and demands of its many consumers. Capitalising on the fact that 90.4% of millennials use social media<\/a>, ASOS likes to plump for User Generated Content (UGC) \u2013 where the brand can track, monitor, and interact with ease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of their most successful campaigns to date has been the #AsSeenOnMe hashtag, where ASOS encourages Instagram followers to upload photos of them donning their best ASOS look, accompanied by the hashtag \u2013 with the chance to be featured on ASOS\u2019s own social media channels. And with 1.4m #AsSeenOnMe hashtags currently gracing Instagram, it\u2019s clear that ASOS has listened to the online chatter, and devised a strategy that speaks to a social media generation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Netflix <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Netflix<\/a> shows that social listening goes above and beyond simply replying to online mentions, or resharing posts from their heavily engaged audience. The streaming giant really tunes into the conversations and trends surrounding their brand and industry and has aligned their marketing strategy with these insights in mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Incorporating customer sentiment, and latching on to the ever-popular \u201cNetflix and Chill\u201d meme, Netflix created a video teaching their followers how to make their own socks<\/a> for Netflix and Chill time. This direct response to a consumer trend is a perfect example of the benefits of social listening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How can Forsta help? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fancy turning the chaotic\u202fcacophony\u202fof social media\u202finto straightforward, priceless insights? Wonderful! That\u2019s where we come in. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDifference between social listening and social monitoring <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Social listening tips <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Examples of social listening <\/h2>\n\n\n\n