You’ve probably heard the term social listening being used more and more but maybe you’re still not exactly sure what it is or why it’s so talked about, so let’s get started..
In this article you will learn:
- What is Social Listening?
- How does it work?
- Why it will be HUGE in 2022
- How it Gives Marketers Superpowers AND Makes Their Jobs Much Easier
- How to get started
What Exactly is Social Listening?
Simply put, social listening is the process of gathering large amounts of data, in the form of mentions, from across the various social media platforms. Social listening is by far the quickest and most effective way to understand your market, your industry and your customers. Up until recently, it was used by large organizations with enormous budgets and teams, but rapid advances in big data technology and huge improvements in usability mean that these impressive capabilities are now accessible to everyone. With the availability of powerful and user-friendly tools like Mandala Analytics, more and more small businesses and first-time users are turning to social listening – more than half of global marketers now use social listening platforms (Gartner).
[Timeline on Mandala Analytics]
How is Social Listening Different from Social Media Monitoring?
Social media monitoring just means monitoring specific channels for mentions. For example, if you have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, or a YouTube channel, you can see what people are saying about you or your brand, you can comment and get feedback, interact with users and build relationships. That’s great!.. and you should be doing this too, but this is only a small slice of what’s going on. Social listening lets you access a much broader sample of mentions from conversations taking place on all social media platforms. It offers more diverse and honest opinions and ideas, lets you track trends and changes in the market, and much more. With Mandala Analytics for example, you’re able to view the entire social media landscape, understand the patterns, trends and most relevant insights and then zoom into focus on the data that matters most.
[Thinking]
Social listening tools work by harnessing the power of big data (extremely large data sets, analyzed to reveal patterns or trends). These tools collect specific kinds of mentions, from across various social media platforms and organize that information to give insights that are highly relevant, useful, and potentially game-changing for any user.
What do you mean by ‘mentions?
Mentions can be in the form of comments or posts containing target keywords the user has chosen. When you want insights on a brand, a product, or any topic at all, just choose your keywords, enter them into a social listening tool like Mandala Analytics, and the system will go to work scanning social media platforms (and/or selected websites and forums) for mentions containing those keywords.
Why Social Listening will be HUGE in 2022
The past couple of years were, shall we say… interesting. The one thing that we’ve learned is that things change, and these changes can be major and can happen quickly. The huge growth in social media usage and developments in user behavior have shown us that we need to be responsive and adapt to changes as they happen, and to do this we need the right knowledge at the right time.
In 2022, Connecting with customers will be more vital than ever as customers expect brands to have a dynamic online presence that’s personal and genuine. Brands have shifted away from being simple messengers of their products or desirable ‘lifestyle’, to becoming more like influencers and even friends. In this new environment, it’s all about building relationships, and marketers are turning to social listening tools as central part their strategies.
[Listen and you shall hear.]
A new study from the global digital agency, Wunderman, found 79% of consumers aged 18-65 in the USA say brands must demonstrate "they understand and care about me" before they consider purchasing. This emerging need among consumers, was identified as "Wantedness
How Social Listening Gives You Superpowers AND Makes Marketing so Much Easier
Social listening tools have far too many uses and applications to go into here, but let’s look at a few of keyways that these tools can take your social media game to the next level…
Boost Your Brand
Monitoring and benchmarking online mentions lets you build better awareness and manage your brand more effectively. By knowing where and when people are talking about you or your competitors, you can direct your attention to the right place, and industry insights help you stay ahead of the curve.
[Wordcloud on Mandala Analytics]
Manage Your Campaigns
When planning a campaign requires plenty of information. You need to have clear goals in terms of your target demographics, where they are, what they like and how you’re going to reach them. Monitoring campaigns before, during and after let’s you know what works and what doesn’t and learning from others’ campaigns helps you avoid mistakes and get your placement and scale just right.
[Mention console on Mandala Analytics]
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
Competitor Analysis lets you see what people are saying about the other players in your market. Choose who your main rivals are and watch their every move, while also monitoring their customers. What do they like or dislike about those brands and where are there opportunities to make inroads with their customers?
Create Winning Content
Why does some content fail, while others go viral? Knowing what kind of content brings the most engagement and takes your message the furthest doesn’t need to be a mystery. Social Listening tools can help you to understand how users and audiences react and interact with content, taking the guess work out of content creation.
Identify Key Trends and Influencers
70% of teens and 86% of women trust influencers and use social media for purchasing advice. For those starting out, influencer marketing is the most cost-effective way to build awareness and stand, building familiarity and trust among a highly targeted audience. Social listening allows you to spot rising trends and find exactly the right influencers for your brand for maximum ROI.
[Cosmos trends on Mandala Analytics]
Mandala Analytics has plans to suit a range of budgets, starting from a small pay-as-you-go offers, so there’s no commitments or contracts. Clear and easy tutorials let you get up and going straight away and there’s even a 7-day free trial so you can access the Mandala system and try it for free right now.
Sources: Digital Marketing Institute, Emarketer
More articles: blog/en/
Mandala Team
Creator
Category
Share this post
Search the blog
Mandala Newsletter
Sign-up to receive the latest insights in to online trends
Sign Up
