Is your brand’s online conversation going unnoticed? Public online conversations can make or destroy a brand’s workflow. So, now more than ever, it’s critical to grasp the importance of social listening.
Brands can improve their online appearance by using live streaming for business to enhance reach and boost engagement.
According to a survey from Social Media Today, nearly 61 percent of businesses presently have a social listening platform implemented and maintain an eye out for keyword mentions.
This blog post explains how social listening can be used to monitor internet trends and conversations successfully. Let’s dive in!
Understanding Social Listening
Social listening is a practice that involves monitoring and understanding online communication regarding your brand that occurs on social media platforms.
The whole concept is to extract information about your brand, industry, and its competitors.
While social media monitoring aims to track specific keywords and mentions, social listening involves analyzing the context, tone, and trends within the mentions.
Importance of Tracking Online Conversations and Trends
Have you ever realized that customers expect brands to respond in real-time on social media? Nine out of ten marketers agree that an engaged online community, especially on social media, will help the company grow faster. Thus, timely and effective tracking of online conversations is a must to counteract negative influences on your brand image. Here’s how social listening can help your brand:
- Track online conversations and engage in social media listening to assist in brand image management.
- Focus on trends and popular discussions to adjust your content and remain relevant to your audience.
- Receive regular updates on industry trends and customer development to make wiser decisions.
- Measure customer needs and complaints to develop appropriate strategies that increase satisfaction.
- Leverage social listening to learn how your customers feel about your business and what they expect from your brand.
5 Ways Social Listening Can Help You Track Online Conversations and Trends
Here are the 5 most common and popular ways you can use social listening to track your brand’s online conversations and trends:
1) Monitoring Brand Mentions
Have you ever searched for how many times your brand appears online? You can follow your brand name on social networks, blogs, and other online forums through social media listening tools. These tools allow you to collect and compare data and provide you with the whole picture of your brand’s representation on the web.
How social listening helps you find mentions of your brand online:
- Volume of Mentions: Understand your brand mentions frequency to show an overall brand presence and accessibility. For instance, a peak of mentions may indicate a successful marketing promotion and lower mentions may lead to a reputational disaster.
- Context of Mentions: Examine the mentions of your brand to ascertain whether they are positive, negative, or neutral. This will assist in segmenting and categorizing what is important and what requires attention.
For instance, the below image is the positive brand mention of “Airbnb” on Twitter:
Understanding what people are saying about your brand
Social listening tools help you understand the context of public sentiment when managing brand mentions. According to an American Marketing Association survey, brand sentiment analysis aids in managing public perception and reputation.
The public sentiment analysis feature of Social listening tools can identify brand mentions with the following insights:
- Identify Trends and Patterns: Notice recurring problems or encouraging comments to determine what elements of your brand bother your target market.
- React Sufficiently: Quickly respond to concerns and capitalize on favourable feedback to improve your brand reputation.
2) Tracking Industry Trends
Are you aware of the latest trends influencing your industry? A business that analyzes industry trends will soon succeed.
Social listening technologies can monitor hashtags, controversies, and news relevant to your industry to spot new trends. For example, let’s say one of the major concerns in your sector is the emergence of sustainability. Using Social listening tools, you can identify the trends early and quickly.
Based on this data, you can also fuel your other marketing efforts like creating SEO content targeting those new queries for long-term visibility and creating ad campaigns that bridge the emerging concerns and solutions provided by your business. Using this holistic approach can help you stay on top of the minds of your customers and prospects.
- Keyword analysis: By examining the trending terms linked to your sector, you can identify emerging trends and changes in customer preferences.
- Competitive insights: You can monitor your competitors and their winnings.
Stay Updated On What’s Relevant to Your Audience
How do you ensure that your brand doesn’t go out of style? Staying updated with current events allows you to tailor your communications and content to what matters most to your target audience. For example, incorporating a topic that is becoming popular in your industry into your message can increase your business’s relevancy and engagement.
- Audience Interest: Monitor your audience’s conversations and produce content that addresses their needs and interests.
- Content Strategy: Modify your plan of action based on popular subjects to boost engagement and connect with your audience.
3) Understanding Audience Sentiment
Are you aware of how your targeted audience feels about your brand? To determine this, you must examine your customers’ online interactions. Sentiment analysis technologies can help you better understand your audience’s perceptions of your brand.
- Sentiment Distribution: To understand the public sentiment, count the proportion of favorable, negative, and neutral remarks about your brand
- Trend monitoring: Over time, track changes in your customer feedback to spot developments in public sentiment and take proactive measures to correct them.
Use sentiment analysis to gauge public opinion
Are you curious about how sentiment analysis might support your strategic choices? Identify the tone of your customers’ online conversation about your brand. You can then decide on the best course of action for your brand’s messaging and strategy. According to Zendesk research, two-thirds of customers turn loyal when a firm considers their emotions.
For instance, if there is an abrupt spike in unfavorable opinion after a product launch, this points to particular problems that require attention.
- Crisis management: Handle possible PR disasters promptly by identifying and addressing negative sentiment trends.
- Opportunity Identification: Use your PR and marketing techniques to capitalize on your strong points, which you should identify based on positive sentiment.
4) Identifying Influencers and Key Voices
‘’Influencers can make or break a brand’s digital presence. It’s not just about finding the loudest voice but identifying those who genuinely connect with your audience.
By leveraging social listening, brands can form strategic alliances with influencers who drive meaningful conversations and amplify your brand’s story in an authentic way.”
— [ Ian Nicholls, Founder – AutomobilGarage.com]
Leverage social listening tools to find the thought leaders and influencers who are influencing conversations on social media. Network with the conversation-driving influencers. This data is essential for:
- Prioritizing your audience choice: Determine who your target audience follows and who impacts your industry most.
- Strategic Alliances: Establish connections with these influencers to expand the visibility and credibility of your business.
Build relationships with influencers
Using what you learn from social listening, you can interact with influencers productively. Customize your communications and cultivate deep connections with influential figures in your field. For instance, knowing the subjects and interests of an influencer can help you create a captivating and unique pitch.
- Personalized Outreach: Communicate with influencers more specifically about their interests and current activity.
- Long-Term Engagement: Cultivate continuing ties with influencers to maintain a good association and eventually capitalize on their engagement.
5) Responding to Real-Time Events
Still thinking about staying agile in an ultra-fast digital world? Utilize social listening technologies to respond promptly to events and trends. They help you monitor your company’s trends in real time and act quickly: 51 percent of global marketers turned to social listening for grasping information during the pandemic.
For example, social listening benefits you in the following ways if a significant event affects your industry:
- Modify Your Messaging: Ensure your communications align with current affairs to stay relevant.
- Handle a PR crisis: Monitor immediate feedback and resolve possible problems before they get out of hand.
Adjust your strategy for online happenings
Using real-time information and live happenings, you can improve your approach and make the necessary adjustments to better align it with the current environment. For instance, you can increase customer engagement and relevancy by integrating a viral trend that is becoming popular into your content strategy.
- Timely Responses: Create replies that are relevant to the current events and trends, and modify your content accordingly.
- Strategic Alignments: To maximize efficacy and audience engagement, adjust your campaigns based on real-time feedback.
Conclusion
Social listening is a powerful tool for businesses to gain insights into audience opinions, market trends, and brand impressions. By using social listening approaches, you can react to new concerns, keep up with trends, and interact more successfully with your audience.
Ready to take advantage of social listening? Access the Agile PR Solutions’ social listening services in your PR strategy right now. Experience a dramatic increase in your brand’s success and engagement.
Visit Agility PR for additional information on how to use social listening to optimize your PR strategy.
