Social Media Monitoring and Listening?

 Let’s face it, our social media channels are no longer for just chatting with friends. Social media monitoring is something you probably already do daily. You monitor your personal and or business social media channels for notifications. You choose to answer comments and questions from others or view responses to your posts.  Social media listening, on the other hand, is a large-scale overview of what people are saying about a brand, company, product or service online. When you are listening to social media sentiment, there is an opportunity from a brand management perspective to adjust your strategy for your optimal outcome potential. Identifying trends online is your first glimpse of how to manage your strategy, to align your products or services with these trends.

     Who needs Social Media Listening? Today, just about every business has an online presence. Anything and almost everything is shared just like our personal social channels. Social Media Listening can give your brand, service or product better positioning in today’s marketplace. This listening is important – it gives you valuable insights about your brand, how customers may view your brand, and how customers are perceiving your brand’s message. Who, exactly, can benefit from Social Media Listening?

B2C

     If you are a B2C company, what are customers saying about you? Are their sentiments positive or negative? Positive feedback can be used to build research for your business strategy.  Not only will the practice of listening let you hear what people are currently saying about your brand, product or service, if you’re looking to branch out into a new area, but Social Media Listening will also allow you to view your competitors’ strategies, and give insights on how to adjust your business plan accordingly. Negative feedback is a difficult pill to swallow, for sure! But, negative feedback is an opportunity to face the criticism head-on, offer apologies, make amends and most importantly, adjust your strategy to avoid whatever pitfall led to that outcome in the first place. This is a chance to show both current and future clients that you are making every attempt to be on point with your customer base- you will do whatever it takes for your consumer’s satisfaction.

B2B

     For a B2B company, social listening can be a great tool for measuring your brand’s place in the competitive marketplace. It’s possible to look at who out of your competitors has the most customer visibility, or keep an eye on the latest trending developments in your industry. Learning more about potential clients is a huge benefit in Social Media Listening. While you sell to other businesses, it’s still important to connect with people to make that happen. Target key decision makers, such as CEOs, CTOs, and Social Media Influencers. Use Social Media Listening to see what they’re interested in, their demographics, and how to interact or align with them in the future.