Are you using social listening to learn what your customers are saying about your brand? If you aren’t, you definitely should be. Whether positive or negative, receiving and addressing customer feedback is essential in the digital age because today’s customer influence reaches further than ever before.
But how do you know how your customers feel about your brand? Social listening is your business’s way of having its ear to the ground regarding how customers think about your brand on social media.
What is Social Listening?
Social listening is the monitoring and analyzing of online conversations, discussions, and mentions about your brand or product on social media platforms, forums, review sites, and other online channels. Social listening aims to better understand customer sentiment and perception of your brand, which you can use to improve your marketing, customer service, and communication strategies.
Are you ready to learn more about the importance of social listening? Here’s how your business can benefit from social listening.
Understand Customer Sentiment Using Social Listening
By using social listening, you can better understand customer sentiment. Social listening allows you to monitor and gauge customers’ feelings about your brand, products, and services. Customer sentiment is more than likes and comments on your posts; it’s using those likes and comments to reveal the underlying opinions and emotions behind how your customers interact with your brand.
Social listening tool showing customer sentiment
Brand Advocates And Detractors
A brand advocate is a loyal customer of your brand, while a detractor is a dissatisfied customer. Both are important to your brand and should be paid equal attention. Identifying your brand’s advocates and detractors by actively listening to online conversations and engaging with these customers can help improve customer satisfaction and your brand’s perception in the marketplace.
Crisis Control
While it doesn’t happen to every business, sometimes bad things can happen, and it can often play out for the world on social media. Social media is notorious for both positive and negative publicity, and how you handle a crisis can significantly impact your business.
Social listening can help keep you aware of potential crises or controversies before they spiral out of control, allowing you to take action before dealing with a public relations nightmare.
Competitive Analysis Using Social Listening
Social listening doesn’t just look inward at your brand but also helps you gain valuable insight into your competitors. By understanding your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can better position yourself to improve your marketing strategies and brand positioning and stay competitive.
Social listening tool comparing the share of voice for a brand and a competitor
Improving Your Product or Service
Your customers’ feedback is one of the most important and valuable assets when marketing your business. Comments and feedback found on social media can help you better understand your pain points and provide helpful suggestions, requests, and even product development insights.
Customer Service
With social media, many customers no longer need to message you privately to resolve an issue. But a negative comment on your Instagram feed doesn’t have to be wrong. Addressing that complaint for your followers shows that you actively listen to your customers’ concerns and that your commitment to their satisfaction is essential.
Using Influencers and Partnerships
Social listening can help you identify influencers within your brand’s target audience. Influencers can expand your product or service’s reach by introducing your brand to new markets. At ELMNTL, we often use influencers to help brands gain a wider audience.
Trendspotting
You want to stay on top of the latest trends, and social media conversations can help you monitor trends and changes in customer behavior. This, in turn, allows you to adjust your social media strategy.
Personalized Marketing
When you understand your customer’s sentiments and preferences, you can easily tailor your marketing messages to a specific demographic.
Brand Reputation
Sometimes you’re only as good as your reputation. With social listening, your brand can keep tabs on your public perception and address any negative comments or issues that might adversely affect your brand’s reputation.
In Conclusion
Social listening has become a necessity but helpful part of marketing in the digital age. It can provide valuable insights into your customers’ perceptions of and sentiment for your brand.
Social listening lets your brand make better-informed decisions about your marketing, products, or services. This can help you make stronger connections with your customers and help build your brand.
To speak with the social listening experts at ELMNTL about how you can understand and take control of your customer sentiment, don’t hesitate to contact us today!
