CREATIVE THINKING
Use social listening for inbound marketing
Social listening , or social monitoring , is essentially eavesdropping on the active portion of the internet all at once . It ’ s probably the single greatest access businesses could ever have to their customers in terms of understanding what they want .
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It ’ s a secret weapon of business that isn ’ t a secret , and still there are companies not using it to potential or at all .
The internet is a big place , and trying to search that expanse manually for the data your business needs is an exercise in futility . But there ’ s plenty of software out there , even free options like Google Alerts , that will collect all that data for you and bring it right to you , even analyse it for you . You should have good social media management software in your budget for this and much more , or you should hire an agency that has such software . Social listening is an invaluable tool and David Bolton , at Corsham-based Inbound Digital Marketing agency Tain Brae Digital , explains nine ways to use it for inbound marketing .
1 . Listen around your keywords First things first . You should have a list of the most relevant keywords to your situation and start your search there .
2 . Measure your success and amplification Likes , followers , and subscribers only tell part of the story when it comes to your reach and your reputation . Listening to social conversations and being alerted of any mention on a blog or review site gives you much more insight as to how amplified your brand is and how well it ’ s received .
3 . Learn about user behaviour This is one of the beautiful things about social listening . Imagine sitting in a large shopping centre for a week and noting the behaviours of the shoppers as thoroughly as possible . You would probably notice quite a few things . Using good software and social listening you can collect one hundred times more information about one thousand times more people in a matter of hours . The key to sales is knowing your customer .
4 . Learn what your audience is passionate about When you ’ re performing the art of social listening well , you know what the newest trends are as they happen , not after they ’ re big . This gives you a competitive advantage in time to market . It ’ s much easier to tailor your message to your audience when you already know what your audience thinks about things .
5 . Learn what your competitors are doing Not only what they ’ re doing industry-wise , but what they ’ re doing on social media that ’ s working and not working . Knowing your competition ’ s weaknesses and strengths is strength in itself .
6 . Connect with key influencers Because finding them isn ’ t good enough . You need to connect with some influencers , which is more than a quick request for a favour . The connection is a relationship . Make new friends .
7 . Respond quickly to positive and negative comments In real life , we can choose to ignore negative comments and attacks , but unfortunately , online you ’ re forced to defend your honour . It ’ s there forever once it ’ s published , and lots of people are going to see it and be negatively influenced by it . Social listening alerts you of comments so you can respond quickly to mitigate or reverse any possible reputation killers .
8 . Develop content around user input It ’ s easier to make content that people like than to make them like your content .
9 . Discover the conversations , people and trends impacting your business Drive your business results by staying ahead of the curve . Hear what ’ s being discussed as it ’ s being discussed , instead of 2 months later on the news . That ’ s being proactive about your business success .
Finally , don ’ t give up . If you are already doing all of these and still aren ’ t seeing the results you ’ d like , contact us to see how we can help you .
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20 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017