The difference between social media monitoring and social media listening refers to the reason why you perform these actions and the measures you take accordingly. Social media monitoring answers the question "what?" and follows punctual mentions and conversations with the idea of answering them and controlling the direction of the discussion. Social media listening brings an overview, answers the question "why?" and tracks the audience's relationship with the brand in a more complex way, in order to then optimize the campaigns according to the feeling of the target towards the products and services considered.
Why is it so important to do social media listening for your brand? We give you 5 reasons, but we warn you that the list is much longer:
1. Measure the performance of your campaigns and strategies
No matter what budget you invest in your campaigns, you can never guarantee that your audience will react the way you want. Social media listening is a way to quantify the performance of the strategies you started with, checking if they were correct, relevant to the public, or if they were well enough promoted to reach the segment you wanted to reach.
When your audience discusses your product in terms that you set in your most recent campaign, then you know you've reached your goal.
2. You control the brand's reputation
Image crises can start from the wrong strategies, unauthorized communications, and a context in which your product has become a collateral victim. When dealing with a crisis, it is good to have a well-developed plan, but also to act quickly. With social media listening tools, you immediately find out if a dissatisfaction has the potential to become a crisis and, above all, you know the source of that crisis, in order to adjust the plan in the most appropriate way.
Your brand's reputation is like a living organism, which must always be monitored, so speed is an attribute you can't afford not to have.
3. Identify fans and haters
Social media listening can identify both your brand ambassadors and the people who constantly criticize it. Do not hesitate to reward your loyal customers and evangelists, but do not get involved in the discussions of haters, whose purpose is just a conflict without the possibility of concluding it amicably.
4. It helps you find leads
Your biggest supporters have the potential to be perfect leads. Try to identify individuals who are prepared to be approached by the sales team. The rest of the community that responds positively to your messages can be encouraged to move to the next stage in the buyer’s journey through personalized lead nurturing campaigns.
5. Discover new product ideas
Praise and criticism can be constructive. When you do social media listening, you understand both the strengths and weaknesses of your product or service. And the ideas determined by this know-how can help you take the product to the next level.
If you are lucky, ideas about your products can also come from user-generated content.
If you are interested in social media listening tools, you can analyze Hootsuite Insights, Adview or Talkwalker. Good luck!