

They pop in with a positive comment or additional recommendation, but never a hard sell.

Tweet a photo of your cat in a Zappos box, and you just might get a retweet:īut they also keep an eye out for conversations where people recommend Zappos as an option for shoe shopping. Zappos is known for its legendary customer service and its consistent social engagement with fans. Or you might spot a conversation where people are looking for solutions your product or service could provide. Social media listening helps you better understand what your audience wants from your brand.įor example, an existing customer might tweet about how much they love your product. Here are some of the ways social listening can benefit your business. Simply put, if you care about your customers, you care about the insights you can get from social listening. It’s in your best interest to know what they have to say. Real people actively talk about your brand and your industry online. If you’re not using social media listening, you’re creating your business strategy with blinders on. How can a social listening strategy help your business? It’s about analyzing the information you collect and using it to guide your strategy and day-to-day actions. The defining feature of social listening is that it looks forward and backward. Social monitoring is essentially a record of what has already happened. Instead of just counting the number of times your brand gets mentioned, you look at what you can learn from social conversations to drive real business results.īeing aware of shifts in social sentiment also allows you to respond right away to unexpected changes.

Social media sentiment analysis is a key part of social media listening because it helps you understand how people feel about you and your competitors. This “online mood” is also called social media sentiment. Social listening looks beyond the numbers to consider the mood behind the data. But it’s not so great if a post racks up negative comments and angry-face reactions. It’s great if a post gets lots of positive engagement. It’s also great information to help prove the value of social marketing when it comes time to set the yearly budget.īut numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. It allows you to look back at what has already happened using metrics such as:īrand monitoring on social media is great for things like monitoring ROI or A/B testing campaigns. Social media monitoring is all about collecting data. What’s the difference between social listening and social monitoring?Īt first glance, social listening might seem like social media monitoring, but the two concepts actually differ in important ways. Watch Hootsuite’s own expert on the topic, Nick Martin, explain social listening in three steps: That can be something as small as responding to a happy customer or something as big as shifting your entire brand positioning. Step 2: Analyze the information for ways to put what you learn into action.

Step 1: Monitor social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitors, products, and keywords related to your business. Social listening is tracking social media platforms for mentions and conversations related to your brand, then analyzing them for insights to discover opportunities to act. No tricks or boring tips-just simple, easy-to-follow instructions that really work.
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Bonus: Download a free guide to learn how to use social media listening to boost sales and conversions today.
