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Today, we’re breaking down what social listening is, how it differs from social monitoring and why it is a crucial tool for any brand looking to stay ahead. Are you ready to tune into your audience and take your brand's social strategy to the next level?
Imagine having a digital ear tuned into every conversation about your brand, your competitors and the latest industry trends, this is the essence of social listening.
Social listening involves actively seeking out and analysing discussions across social media platforms to gain insights into public sentiment and opinions. It allows you to track real-time mentions of your brand or topics related to your brand, assess how people really feel about your products or services and identify any pain points your customers may have.
While social listening and social monitoring may sound the same (and they are!) They serve two distinct purposes and offer different levels of insight.
Social monitoring is more about being reactive. It focuses on tracking specific mentions of your brand and sends notifications when these mentions occur. This is also referred to as brand monitoring and this approach is excellent for staying on top of audience engagement and addressing customer complaints and interactions swiftly.
Whereas social listening offers a broader view and is more proactive. It involves analysing a range of online conversations relating to your brand, product, industry and competitors. This broader perspective allows you to grasp any emerging trends, understand your audience on a deeper level and see a larger context of discussions.
Social listening tools capture and analyse online conversations about your brand and competitors. You can collect data in real-time or over a specific period and even filter by language or location.
To get started you will need to set out keywords or phrases related to your brand, products or specific topics of your choice. You can also exclude certain terms and refine your results. The platform then pulls out all posts or comments that contain those keywords or phrases used on your selected platforms. This enables you to understand your audience on a deeper level and gather insight on their opinions whether it's positive, negative or neutral. You can also usually categorise these to see what aspects of your brand or product are being talked about the most.
Depending on which platform you use there will be a different process and options for you to select to set social listening up. There are several social listening tools you can use, for example, Social Sprout, Brandwatch and Sprinklr.
Discovering what people truly feel about your brand and knowing what is being said online is the key benefit of using social listening. However, many benefits extend beyond seeking discussions about your brand. For example:
You can keep tabs on your competitors by seeing how your rivals are being talked about and identifying their strengths and weaknesses.
Monitoring trending topics in your industry. You can stay up to date with what is capturing attention in your industry and use it to influence your strategy and communications.
Evaluate the emotions and attitudes around key topics relevant to your business.
The insights gained from social listening can help influence various aspects of your business. From refining marketing strategies to enhancing customer experience to shaping product development and support. All this information is extremely powerful allowing you to make informed, data-driven decisions that can boost your brand's success.
Social listening is more than just monitoring mentions, it’s about tuning into the broader conversations that shape your brand's perception. By understanding the difference between social listening and social monitoring, and learning how to effectively use social listening tools, you can gain valuable insights into public sentiment, industry trends, and competitor strategies.
Harnessing these insights allows you to make informed decisions, refine your strategies, and enhance your brand's presence. Ready to elevate your social strategy? Talk to our team today to discover how social listening can drive your success.
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Social Listening Image: https://sproutsocial.com/insig...
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