Social Listening: What it is, its advantages and 7 tools you should know about

Social listening is the process of monitoring conversations on social media and other digital channels to identify what is being said about a brand, product or service. Unlike simple social media monitoring, social listening focuses on understanding the sentiments and trends behind mentions.

This approach allows brands to:

• Detect problems in real time.
• Identify business opportunities.
• Get to know your competition better.
• Adapt your marketing strategies based on public opinion.

What are the benefits of Social Listening?

The use of Social Listening brings with it a series of benefits that can be key for any company seeking to remain relevant and competitive.

Some of the main advantages include:

1. Improve customer service : By monitoring what customers say, businesses can quickly respond to complaints or questions, improving their experience.
2. Detect potential crises : You can identify a problem before it becomes a crisis, allowing you to act immediately.
3. Know your audience : Social listening helps you better understand your customers' preferences and needs, making it easier to create content and products that are more aligned with their interests.
4. Identify new opportunities : Monitoring trends and conversations can reveal business opportunities that were not previously visible.
5. Optimize marketing campaigns : By knowing the opinions of the public, you can adjust your marketing campaigns to be more effective.

How to implement Social Listening in your strategy?

Implementing Social Listening isn't complicated, but it does require the right tools and a clear plan. To get started, follow these steps:

1. Define what you want to monitor : Do you want to know what people are saying about your brand? About the competition? About a specific trend?
2. Choose the right tools : There are different tools on the market that facilitate the Social Listening process.
3. Analyze the data you have obtained : Gathering information is only the first step. The important thing is to know how to interpret it and apply what you have learned.
4. Act accordingly : Once you have the data and analysis, make informed decisions to improve your strategy.

How is social listening measured?

Social Listening is measured through different metrics that allow you to analyze conversations, trends and perceptions about a brand or topic on social media and other digital channels. Here are some of the main ways to measure Social Listening:

1. Volume of mentions

This metric refers to the number of times your brand, product, or a specific topic is mentioned on social media, blogs, forums, and other sites. The higher the volume of mentions, the more relevant your brand is in the digital conversation.

2. Sentiment (sentiment analysis)

Sentiment analysis identifies whether mentions about your brand are positive, negative or neutral. This allows you to understand how your audience feels about your brand and whether there are any aspects that need improvement.

3. Scope

Reach measures how many people have seen mentions related to your brand. It is an indicator of the level of visibility you are getting in the digital environment.

4. Participation (engagement)

This metric assesses how many people are actively engaging with mentions about your brand, whether through comments, likes, shares, or retweets. A high level of engagement indicates that conversations are resonating with your audience.

5. Share of Voice

Share of Voice compares your brand mentions to those of your competitors. It helps you measure how visible and relevant your brand is compared to the competition in the same sector or market.

6. Most mentioned keywords and topics

Analyzing which keywords, phrases or topics are most mentioned in relation to your brand allows you to identify the main concerns, interests or trends surrounding your product or service.

7. Influencers and top authors

Social Listening also allows you to identify which people or accounts are generating the most mentions about your brand. This is key to identifying potential influencers or advocates for your brand.

8. Response speed

This metric measures how quickly your customer service or community management team responds to comments or mentions about your brand, which directly impacts customer perception.

9. Trends and conversation peaks

Monitoring when and why mentions of your brand increase allows you to identify potential crises or key moments where you could intervene to maximize positive impact or reduce damage.

10. Backlinks and traffic generated

Some Social Listening systems also allow you to track how many links to your website are generated from mentions and how much traffic is being directed to your website from social media or other sources.

7 Social Listening Tools You Should Know About

To carry out an effective Social Listening strategy, it is essential to have the right tools. Below, we present seven of the best options currently available:

Hootsuite

Hootsuite not only lets you manage social media, but also has advanced Social Listening features to monitor mentions and analyze trends.

Brandwatch

This platform offers in-depth analytics and helps you understand audience perception of your brand in real time.

Mention

With Mention, you can track mentions of your brand on social media, blogs and websites, allowing you to stay on top of everything that's being said about you.

Sprout Social

In addition to being a social media management tool, Sprout Social has a strong focus on monitoring, providing detailed reports on your brand’s activity.

Talkwalker

Talkwalker is known for its ability to track mentions in real-time and generate advanced analytics reports to improve decision making.

BuzzSumo

This tool allows you to know what type of content is most shared and commented on in your industry, giving you key insights to adjust your strategy.

AgoraPulse

AgoraPulse makes social media management easy, while its social listening feature lets you monitor comments and mentions of your brand in real time.

Optimize your strategy with Social Listening

Once you implement Social Listening in your digital strategy, you will be better prepared to react to market trends and understand your audience in a deeper way. This will not only improve your relationship with your customers, but will also allow you to anticipate problems and take advantage of new opportunities.

Written by Moises Hamui Abadi : I am an entrepreneur, founding partner of Viceversa and SoyMacho. After leading several digital businesses and advising several other businesses, I decided to form MHA Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy dedicated to growing and empowering digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.