Listening on Social Media?

Social Listening! Why so important?

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In Likeable Social Media (2015), Kerpen discusses the benefits of listening via social media and what can occur if a company does not practice this important rule. When effectively listening, you’re acknowledging your customer’s opinions and thoughts, allowing them to know that they are heard (Kerpen, 2015). This is very important as it builds trust and strengthens the relationship between a brand and its customers. 

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Neil Patel, shares a valuable example of HubSpot performing social listening when a customer has a question on Twitter. HubSpot was able to step in and loop in their support team to provide their customer with an answer (Patel, 2015).

When a company effectively listens on social media, they’re able to analyze the data they gather to better plan product changes, marketing campaigns, and different offers or promotions (Kerpen, 2015). 

Kerpen describes what can happen to a brand if they don’t practice listening, saying that a company’s brand reputation can be badly hurt by not responding efficiently to communication from customers on social media (p. 18). Doing so can lead to a level of mistrust and a greater risk of customers turning to the competition. Listening can be done as a low level of effort and can hurt a company's overall brand image when not taken advantage of.

Be Authentic!

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Companies will always try to make their processes more efficient, but this doesn’t mean you should compromise the ability to be authentic. Kerpen says the online social web is all about human interaction with one another (p. 104). It’s important to remember that not every response has to be the same. 

Taking an improv approach and building a team that is able to be flexible and engaging to customer responses is one way to ensure you’re able to respond authentically (from an individual perspective) while being able to manage a higher volume of traffic (Kerpen, 2015). Another strategy identified by Kerpen is to develop a set of guidelines for the tone of voice that should be used and what is not ok to say (p. 107). 

Sources:

Kerpen, D. (2015). Likeable Social Media. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.

Patel, N. (2015, January 05). How social listening can improve your marketing: Social media examiner. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from Social Media Examiner, http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-listening-can-improve-your-marketing/