Social Listening: What it is and the advantages for your business

Social listening, also known as social listening or social media listening, is a technique that allows companies to know everything that is said about their brand, their products, their competitors or their sector on social networks.

It involves monitoring and analyzing the conversations, opinions, comments and mentions that are generated on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn, among others.

Social listening aims to understand the perception, needs, problems and expectations of users in relation to a brand or a specific topic.

In this way, valuable insights can be obtained to improve marketing strategy, customer service, product development or online reputation.

Why use social listening?

Social listening offers multiple benefits for companies that want to know their target audience better, improve their online presence and increase their competitiveness.

Some of the most important advantages are:

• Understanding the consumer : Social listening allows us to understand the interests, preferences, tastes, habits and behaviors of users on social networks. This way you can better segment the market, create more precise buyer personas and offer more personalized and relevant content and offers.
• Interact with customers : Makes it easier to identify and take advantage of opportunities to interact with current and potential customers. You can respond to their doubts, queries, complaints or suggestions, thank them for their praise or recommendations, solve their problems or generate engagement with participatory marketing actions.
• Measure the acceptance of a campaign : It allows you to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns on social networks. You can measure the reach, virality, sentiment and conversion of the actions taken, as well as detect the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy and make the necessary adjustments.
• Avoid reputation crises : Helps prevent and manage possible online reputation crises derived from negative comments, criticisms, rumors or false news about the brand or its products. It is possible to monitor the evolution of the situation, identify influential or detracting users, intervene quickly and transparently to offer solutions or clarifications and restore trust and brand image.
• Detect product failures : Allows you to collect direct and indirect feedback from customers about the products or services offered by companies. This way you can know the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the advantages or disadvantages, the strengths or weaknesses and the opportunities or threats presented by the products or services.
• Identify influencers and new potential clients : Social listening allows you to discover and interact with influential people on social networks who can act as prescribers or ambassadors of the brand.

How to perform social listening?

To carry out social listening, you need to define clear and specific objectives, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the results and use appropriate tools to collect and analyze the data.

Some basic steps are:

• Define the keywords : You must select the keywords that you want to monitor on social networks. These can be the name of the brand, the name of the products or services, the name of competitors, the name of the sector or market niche or any other term relevant to the business.
• Choose social networks : You must choose the social networks where you want to perform social listening. This will depend on the type of business, the target audience and the objectives being pursued. It is not necessary to be on all social networks, but on those where the audience is and where the most conversation about the brand or topic is generated.
• Use social listening tools : Social listening tools must be used that allow you to collect, filter, organize and analyze the information generated on social networks. There are many tools of this type, some free and others paid, that offer different functionalities and advantages. Some of the most popular are HubSpot, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Brand24, YouScan, Buzzsumo or Brandwatch.
• Analyze the data : The data obtained with social listening tools must be interpreted to extract useful conclusions and insights for the business. Attention should be paid to aspects such as the volume, frequency, sentiment, tone, content, format, origin, profile or influence of mentions or comments about the brand or topic.
• Take actions : The knowledge acquired through social listening should be applied to improve the digital marketing strategy, customer service, product development or online reputation. You must act quickly and consistently to take advantage of opportunities, solve problems, satisfy needs and build customer loyalty.

What are the best social listening tools?

There are many social listening tools available on the market, each with its own features and advantages.

Some of the most popular are:

• Hootsuite : This tool allows you to manage your social networks and monitor users' mentions, comments, opinions and feelings about your brand or topic. It also offers you reports and statistics to measure the impact and effectiveness of your marketing actions.
• Awario : This tool allows you to track and analyze the conversations that occur on social networks, blogs, forums, news and other digital media about your brand or topic. It also allows you to identify the most relevant influencers for your business and participate in conversations.
• Brandwatch : This tool allows you to collect and process large amounts of data from social networks and other digital media about your brand or topic. It also offers you valuable insights to improve your marketing strategy, your customer service, your product development or your online reputation.
• Talkwalker : This tool allows you to monitor and analyze users' mentions, comments, opinions and feelings about your brand or topic on social networks and other digital media. It also offers you reports and graphs to visualize the data and draw conclusions.
• Buffer : This tool allows you to manage your social networks and schedule your posts. It also allows you to monitor users' mentions, comments, opinions and feelings about your brand or topic. In addition, it offers you analysis and reports to measure the performance of your campaigns.
• Brand24 : This tool allows you to monitor and analyze users' mentions, comments, opinions and feelings about your brand or topic on social networks, blogs, forums, news and other digital media. It also allows you to identify the most relevant influencers for your business and receive alerts in real time.

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 enhancing digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.