Why Your Brand Needs a Social Listening Strategy

Social listening is tracking what customers and potential customers are saying about your company — and your competitors — online. You can then analyze these insights to act on opportunities for engaging with your audience. Social listening goes beyond the pure data and numbers … it focuses on how people are feeling.

This strategy became popular during COVID-19, as companies needed to answer questions in real-time during a health crisis. But even as the pandemic has subsided, social listening has not. Companies have recognized the need to monitor their customers’ changing preferences, and yours should too!

Stay in touch with your audience

Don’t think of this as taking every little opportunity to upsell your newest product or service — show people you’re there to listen and take feedback. You can even show people you’re there to cheer them on when they tweet about looking for a house, finding the perfect fall boot, or where they went for lunch.

Know what’s working, and what’s not

Monitoring conversations in your industry can also show you what customers are looking for on your website, or what they need in a product. Think of it as a free, ever-evolving focus panel with people who are in the weeds and know what they’re talking about.

Keep your eye on the competition

Social listening isn’t just what your customers are saying about you. What are your competitors busy doing? Launching new products or marketing campaigns? Maybe there’s a gap you’re seeing that your company could fill. There are opportunities everywhere!

Yes! I want to start using social listening as part of my marketing strategy … now what?

Now you can start doing the research to see which tool works best for you! Here’s a list Hubspot put together that’s a great starting point. But feel free to start googling on your own to see what you come up with. Happy listening!

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