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You know the fact that millions of people are present on social media very well. And that is why you cannot ignore the importance of social media presence. Whatever the niche you are dealing in, a strong presence on social media channels is imperative to draw the attention of your target audience. You need to maintain your online presence regardless of your business model.
When it comes to maintaining social media presence, you often think about posts to promote your product or service. You keep talking about your brand, competition, and problems you can solve. But all your efforts do not make sense if you are deaf to the noise made on networking channels. Social listening is the practice of paying attention to conversations made by users to deliver a better customer experience.
In other words, social listening is key to knowing what people are saying about your brand, your products, and your services. It allows you to know the real opinions of users about your brand, tracks social media mentions, analyzes data, and identifies trends.
Do not confuse social media monitoring with social listening. The former allows you to track the impact of your efforts on your brand, and it is a quantitative approach. It talks about your overall brand awareness, and it is a qualitative approach. It can let you know why it is happening and what you can do to improve the reputation of your brand. Here is how social listening can help your business grow.
It helps identify conversations
You must have a couple of social media accounts. And if you want to know what your users are saying about your brand, you need to track every conversation. However, it does not seem feasible to monitor all networking sites to know about the mentions of your brand because this strategy has two flaws: you will waste your precious time, and you will miss things.
No matter how things are complicated and seem to be impossible, you cannot afford to miss any information. Otherwise, it will turn up as a complaint from a valuable customer or an opportunity for your competitors to slag you off.
While you know that negative news spread like wildfire. You cannot afford to miss out on any conversation that is hovering like a threat over your head. Therefore, you should use a social listening tool. It pulls every mention of your brand from all social media accounts and brings them all to one place.
It is the easiest way to see all conversations occurring on online platforms with a mention of your brand name. After getting them in one place, you will be able to realize where you slipped up that brought disappointment to your target audience and think about what you can do to control criticism.
People will invest in your brand if they think you value your customers. It is crucial to track whether your customers are happy with your products or services. Do not forget to focus on conversations that mainly target your customer service.
Nowadays, customers are grouchy, and they are always complaining about a product, no matter how good products you are offering. Studies have revealed that 30% of users directly complain about a brand on social media channels which can range from late shipping to no answer within 24 hours. Of course, if these complaints are made, you are losing users to your competitors.
It helps identify potential threats
Some customers will leave you without any complaints. And some will spread negative words against your brand on social media channels. Since negative comments spread like an infectious disease, you should carefully examine negative press.
A disgruntled client can post anything on social media channels. And if you do not take notice of it, it can be the voice of thousands of people. The best way to avert negative press is to ensure that all customers are happy with your products and services.
Do not sit back just because a client has bought your product. Do follow-ups to ensure that they are not facing any problems. Try to immediately provide them with a remedy in case any concern arises. A good market is one that controls the damage before it goes out of control.
Do not be overconfident about the reputation of your brand because sometimes you are caught on the wrong foot when you least expect it. For instance, if you have been providing financial products like credit card deals, unsecured loans with bad credit, or secured loans. You need to ensure that your users understand all features, terms, and conditions of your offerings. If they knew everything in advance, it would be less likely to have a fiasco down the road.
It helps you gauge the competition
Social listening is also crucial for competitive analysis. It helps you gather information about your competitors and make strategies to outperform them.
You can get to know about their social media presence, the feedback they receive from customers, who talk about their brand, what people say about their brand, and the like.
Competitive analysis is a must to know how your competitors are doing. It can help you get an idea of where you are lacking and how you can improve.
It helps you identify if you are meeting your customers’ needs
If you want to grow in the long run, you must meet the expectations of your users, and this will be possible if you provide them with a product that caters to their needs, and solves their current problems. Social listening is the best way to know if you have been able to meet your users’ needs.
You can get to know the opinions of your target audience about your product. Talk to your users on social media, take their feedback and then revamp your product. It may seem a hectic approach, but it is useful as it can control before any damage is done.
You must have a good marketing strategy for a successful business, and social listening should be part of it. Do not make it limited to promoting your brand on online platforms. But evaluate what your target audience thinks about your brand for better insight.