Ever wanted to amplify your brand presence on social media? Try social listening.
In today’s social media age, social media listening is one of the most important things to consider while creating strategy for a brand’s presence on social media. Social media listening involves leaning into the conversation on social to know what people and other companies/brands are saying about your own. For example, in the event of a crisis or social media campaign, a brand can choose to appropriately address the issue at hand by applying what it learned via social media listening.
Still, it is important to understand the difference between social listening and social monitoring.
Through social media listening, brands can stay ahead of the curve and keep its community of followers happy. There may be trends, messages or desires from a brand’s followers that were not visible, reachable or understoof before that can be found via social media listening. Some say that social media listening is more proactive than reactive. A short-term piece of data or information can turn into a long-term strategy.
Key Statistics, Analytics & Messages
Social media listening can unearth several key statistics, analytics and messages. The conversations of a brand’s community of followers can be translated into tactful action items for a brand. The following information can be collected as a result of social listening and used to support social listening:
Company action items such as topics and trends of interest to a brand’s community of followers, real time and honest information about the success of a brand’s marketing campaign, challenges and desired areas of improvement for a brand, etc.
Basic metrics such as reach, engagement, influence, shares, etc.
Advanced metrics such as advocacy, audience engagement, brand awareness, community retention, etc.
Behavioral metrics such as amplification rate, impact actions, conversation rates, lead generations, etc.
Additionally, brands may choose to track hashtags, as they are an easy way to track social media engagement across several platforms. There are also several tools and platforms that brands can use to conduct efficient and effective social listening practices.
Case Study: Slack says “It Could Have Been a Huddle”
Social listening does not have to involve a long-winded and complex response to an issue, situation or trend. It can be as simple as a Twitter post. In 2021, a meme circulated on social media, specifically among the younger working generation. It read “it could have been an email.” In response to that meme, professional communication giant, Slack, created its own version of that meme. It read “it could have been a huddle.”
The meme was posted to Twitter and shared by many. Slack’s version of a video or audio call is a huddle, so it made sense that they would promote their brand while applying social listening. Slack believed that it would gain more name recognition by joining in on the conversation.
Slack huddles began gaining traction in 2021, so it was fitting that the company would want their community of followers to learn to adopt the new way of communicating within the app. Up to that point, Slack huddles were not the first choice of many professionals across different industries. It wasn’t until 2022 that Slack fully moved to huddles.
Part of the company’s success with huddles could be attributed to their social listening skills on social media. Slack presented its followers with memes and reasons why huddles were the best option for their company. As a result, many were persuaded to stop using Zoom and other video conferencing tools in addition to Slack. Because Slack offers chat and audio/video conferencing tools, Slack could meet the many needs of professionals all at once and in the same place. Finally, Slack learned how to appropriately and effectively take to social media to achieve its goals.
For more information on social listening and how it can be used to positively influence a brand, read the following articles:
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