A Stepwise Guide to Building A Social Listening Strategy
6 Steps To Building A Successful Brand With Social Listening

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6 Steps To Building A Successful Brand With Social Listening 

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • What is social media analytics?
  • Types of social media analytics
  • 6 Steps To Building A Successful Brand Using Social Listening
    • Step 1: Define the Brand
    • Step 2: Choose the Right Social Listening Tools
    • Step 3: Monitor Brand and Competitors
    • Step 4: Analyze and Act on the Data
    • Step 5: Engage with the Audience
    • Step 6: Measure and Refine the Strategy
  •  Conclusion
  • About Konnect Insights
 

Introduction

Social listening refers to the practice of monitoring and analyzing online conversations, particularly on social media platforms, to gain insights into customer needs, preferences, and opinions. It involves using specialized software and tools to track mentions of a brand, industry, or competitor. This data is then analyzed to identify trends, patterns, and insights. Social listening is becoming increasingly important in building a successful brand in today’s digital age. It is a type of social media analytics that helps brands understand what is being discussed by existing or prospective consumers across various platforms. When we look at the various social media analytic examples, it is critical to understand how social listening can emerge as a critical pillar in data analytics for brands. With the rise of social media and online communication, customers have more opportunities than ever to share their opinions and experiences with brands. By monitoring these conversations, businesses can gain a better understanding of their customer’s needs and preferences, identify potential problems and opportunities, and build a positive brand reputation.  

What is social media analytics?

Social media analytics refers to the practice of collecting and analyzing data from social media platforms to gain insights into how people are engaging with a brand, product, or service online. It involves using various tools and techniques to monitor social media conversations, track social media metrics, and measure the impact of social media campaigns. Social media analytics can help businesses and organizations understand their audience, identify trends and patterns, quantify the success of their social media strategies, and make data-driven decisions. It can provide valuable information about customer preferences, sentiment, and behavior, which can be used to improve customer engagement and enhance overall business performance. Examples of social media analytics tools include social listening platforms, sentiment analysis tools, engagement metrics, and social media monitoring dashboards.  

Types of social media analytics

There are several types of analytics for social media that businesses and organizations can use to gain insights into their audience and social media performance. Here are some of the most common types:
  1. Descriptive Analytics
This type of analytics provides a summary of historical data and helps businesses understand customers’ responses. For example, it can be used to track social media metrics such as the number of followers, likes, comments, and shares.
  1. Diagnostic Analytics
They help businesses understand why something happens by identifying patterns and trends. It can be used to analyze social media engagement and identify the factors that contribute to success or failure.
  1. Predictive Analytics
This type of analysis uses historical data to predict future outcomes. For example, it can be used to forecast social media engagement levels and predict the success of future campaigns.
  1. Prescriptive Analytics
It provides recommendations for action based on data analysis. Prescriptive analytics can be used to identify areas for improvement and provide actionable insights to improve social media performance.
  1. Social Listening
It involves monitoring social media conversations to understand what people are saying about a brand, product, or service. Social listening can help businesses identify emerging trends, understand customer sentiment, and improve their social media strategy accordingly.  

6 Steps To Building A Successful Brand Using Social Listening

By listening actively to what customers are saying about their brand, businesses can make informed decisions about product development, marketing, and customer service. Social listening enables businesses to identify trends in customer behavior, which can help them stay ahead of the competition and create a loyal customer base. To build a successful brand with social listening, businesses need to follow a strategic approach. This involves setting goals, choosing the right social listening tools, monitoring the right channels, analyzing and acting on insights, and being transparent about social listening practices. By following these steps, businesses can leverage social listening to gain valuable insights and drive long-term success.  

Step 1: Define the Brand

The first step in building a successful brand with social listening is to define the brand. This involves understanding the brand values and objectives, identifying the target audience and their needs, and defining the brand voice and messaging. Understanding the brand’s values and objectives is essential to building a successful brand. Brand values should be authentic and aligned with business goals. This means identifying what the business stands for, what it wants to achieve, and how it wants to be perceived by the target audience. By having a clear understanding of the values and objectives, we can develop a strong brand identity that resonates with the target audience. Identifying the target audience and their needs is also important in building a successful brand. We need to know who the target customers are, what they want, and what motivates them. This information can be gathered through social listening by monitoring online conversations related to the brand, industry, and competitors. By understanding the target audience and their needs, we can tailor the messaging and marketing efforts to better meet their expectations. Defining the brand voice and messaging is another critical aspect of building a successful brand. The brand voice should be consistent across all communication channels and reflect the brand’s values and personality. The messaging should be clear, concise, and targeted toward our audience’s needs and interests. Social listening can help us refine the brand voice and messaging by providing insights into what our customers are saying about the brand and what messages resonate with them. Imagine a clothing brand that specializes in eco-friendly and sustainable fashion. Given that the business’s brand values are centered around environmental responsibility, we want to attract customers who are environmentally conscious and value sustainable fashion. To define the brand, we should start by identifying the target audience. Through social listening, a growing segment of consumers interested in eco-friendly fashion and looking for sustainable alternatives to traditional fashion brands can be easily found. Moreover, if the target audience is active on social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, they are probably sharing photos and posts related to sustainable fashion. Using this information, we can tailor the messaging and marketing efforts to better meet the needs of the target audience. We can use social listening to identify the keywords and hashtags that the target audience is using to discuss sustainable fashion. We can also use this information to optimize our social media content and improve search rankings. We can also use social listening to monitor what customers are saying about our brand and our competitors. This can help us identify potential issues or opportunities and make informed decisions about product development and marketing. By defining our brand and using social listening to tailor messaging and marketing efforts, we can create a strong brand identity that resonates with our target audience and drives long-term success. For instance, Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever. Dove’s brand values are centered around promoting body positivity and self-confidence. Accordingly, they target women of all ages and body types. To define its brand, Dove uses social listening to gain insights into its target audience’s needs and preferences. Through social listening, Dove discovered that many women were frustrated with the unrealistic beauty standards portrayed in traditional media and advertising. They also discovered that women were increasingly looking for brands that promoted real beauty and self-confidence. In response, Dove developed a marketing campaign called ‘Real Beauty’ that featured women of all ages and body types without retouching or airbrushing. The campaign was a huge success, and Dove became known as a brand that promotes body positivity and self-confidence. Dove continues to use social listening to monitor online conversations related to their brand, industry, and competitors. This enables them to identify trends and patterns in customer behavior and preferences and make informed decisions about product development and marketing.  

Step 2: Choose the Right Social Listening Tools

Various social listening tools are available on the market, ranging from free to paid options. Some popular social listening tools include Hootsuite, Konnect Insights, Hubspot, Keyhole, and Awario. Each tool has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it is important to evaluate each one based on specific business needs. The criteria for selecting the right social listening tool depend on several factors, including the size and complexity of the business, the budget, and the specific features required. Some key factors to consider when selecting a social listening tool are as follows:
  1. Features: Look for a tool that offers the required features. This can include sentiment analysis, social media monitoring, and analytics. It is important to be clear about the tools the business needs, as it helps identify the best solution available.
  2. Ease of use: The tool should be easy to set up and use, even for non-technical users. It is considered that the usability of the tool is directly proportional to the kind of results it can achieve for a business.
  3. Customer support: Look for a tool that offers reliable customer support, including documentation, tutorials, and responsive customer service. If a tool is newly acquired and unfamiliar, a business may need support in the initial days.
  4. Price: Consider the budget and look for a tool that offers value for money. It is important to select the right tool that offers the right balance between cost and possible benefits.
Once a social listening tool has been selected, it’s important to use it effectively. This involves setting up the monitoring parameters, such as keywords, hashtags, and competitors. The insights and analytics provided by the tool must also be regularly reviewed. Some tips for using a social listening tool effectively are as follows:
  1. Set up alerts: Use alerts to notify you of important conversations or mentions related to the brand so that prompt responses can be provided. The right alerts can help the brand stay ahead of the curve and identify challenges and opportunities in a time-bound manner.
  2. Monitor sentiment: Monitor sentiment to gauge how customers feel about the brand and identify potential areas for improvement. This is a critical function of a social listening tool. We can understand how its customers feel about the brand by monitoring customer sentiment.
  3. Track competitors: Use the social listening tool to monitor competitors’ social media activity and stay ahead of the competition. Understand and track the trends they are following to maintain a competitive edge.
  4. Analyze data: Use the analytics provided by our social listening tool to identify patterns and trends in customer behavior and preferences. This can help make informed decisions about product development and marketing.
For instance, Red Bull uses several social listening tools to monitor conversations related to their brand, industry, and competitors. Red Bull can track the mentions of their brand on social media platforms, blogs, and news websites, as well as monitor sentiment and track key metrics. One way Red Bull uses social listening to inform its marketing strategy is by monitoring conversations related to extreme sports and adventure activities. Based on this data, Red Bull has developed a marketing campaign focused on extreme sports, sponsoring events such as the Red Bull Air Race and the Red Bull Rampage. Red Bull also uses social listening to track competitor activity, including marketing campaigns and product launches. This enables them to stay ahead of the competition and make informed decisions about their product development and marketing strategy. By choosing the right social listening tools and using them effectively, Red Bull can gain valuable insights into their target audience’s interests and preferences. Accordingly, they can make informed decisions about their marketing strategy. This has helped them build a strong brand identity centered around extreme sports and adventure and maintain their position as a leading energy drink brand.  

Step 3: Monitor Brand and Competitors

To effectively monitor a brand, it is important to identify the keywords and hashtags that are relevant to the business. This includes the brand name, product name, industry terms, and any keywords related to the target audience. By tracking these keywords and hashtags, we can gain valuable insights into what customers are saying about the brand and identify areas for improvement. One way to track mentions of the brand is to set up alerts using the social listening tool. Alerts can be set up to notify us when our brand is mentioned on social media platforms, blogs, and news websites. This way, we can quickly respond to any positive or negative mentions and engage with the audience on time. In addition to monitoring our brand, it is also crucial to analyze our competitors’ social media presence and strategies. This involves tracking their social media activity and assessing their content, engagement rates, and follower growth. By analyzing our competitors’ social media, we can gain insights into their strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for improvement in our own social media strategy. Some tips for monitoring the brand and competitors effectively include: 
  1. Set up real-time monitoring: Use the social listening tool to set up real-time monitoring of the brand and competitors. Accordingly, we can respond quickly to any mentions or trends. This is a real advantage of using a social listening tool, as we can respond to customer queries and feedback quickly.
  2. Analyze engagement rates: Analyze engagement rates for the brand and competitors to identify what type of content is resonating with the audience. Brands usually prefer to continuously track engagement rates to understand the impact of their activities. It is also possible to track engagement rates in different campaigns to judge the effectiveness of various marketing activities.
  3. Benchmark against competitors: Use the competitor’s social media activity as a benchmark to measure the success of the social media strategy. It is particularly useful in industries that have cut-throat competition, and where companies are going the extra mile to develop a competitive edge.
Nike uses social listening tools to monitor mentions of its brand and products on social media platforms, blogs, and news websites. They also track relevant hashtags and keywords, such as #justdoit, to gain insights into what their customers are saying about their brand and identify trends in the industry. In addition to monitoring its brand, Nike also tracks its competitors’ social media activity, including their content, engagement rates, and follower growth. By analyzing its competitors, Nike can gain insights into what is trending in its industry and identify areas for improvement in its own social media strategy. For example, by monitoring its competitors, Nike identified the trend of incorporating sustainability into their products and marketing strategies. This led Nike to launch its ‘Move to Zero’ sustainability initiative, which aims to reduce the brand’s environmental impact. By effectively monitoring its brand and competitors using social listening, Nike can stay ahead of the competition and make informed decisions about its social media strategy. This has helped them maintain their position as a leading sportswear and athletic company and build a strong brand identity centered on performance and innovation.  

Step 4: Analyze and Act on the Data

Social listening tools provide a wealth of data about brands and customers. This includes data on sentiment, engagement rates, follower growth, and much more. By analyzing this data, we can gain valuable insights into our customers’ needs and preferences. This can help us identify areas for improvement in our social media strategy. To analyze the data effectively, it is important to identify trends and patterns. This includes analyzing data over time to identify changes in sentiment or engagement rates, as well as identifying common themes or topics that are being discussed among the target audience. Once we have identified the relevant trends and patterns, this information can be used to create strategies and action plans. For example, if we notice a trend of negative sentiment around a particular product or service, we may want to investigate the issue and take steps to address it. Alternatively, if we notice a trend of positive sentiment around a particular type of content, we may want to create more of it to engage with the audience. Some tips for analyzing and acting on social listening data effectively are as follows:
  1. Use data visualization tools: Use data visualization tools to make it easier to analyze and understand large amounts of data. By making sense of a large amount of data, a business can generate useful insights.
  2. Collaborate with other departments: Collaborating with other departments, such as marketing and customer service, helps to gain a broader understanding of our customer’s needs and preferences.
  3. Identify actionable insights: Focus on identifying actionable insights that can be used to improve our social media strategy and overall brand performance. These insights can prove extremely useful in accelerating the growth of a brand.
  4. Monitor progress: Continuously monitor progress to ensure that our strategies and action plans are effective and achieve the desired results. After setting up the tool, it is equally important to focus on consistent monitoring of the progress.
Let us take the example of a coffee shop chain that uses social listening to analyze and act on the data. The coffee shop chain uses social listening tools to monitor mentions of its brand on social media platforms, blogs, and review sites. They analyze the collected data to identify trends and patterns, such as common complaints or compliments about their products or services. After analyzing the data, the coffee shop chain discovers that many customers are complaining about long waiting times during peak hours. They also notice that customers are praising the quality of their coffee beans and the friendliness of their staff. Based on these insights, the coffee shop chain decides to take action by implementing several strategies. First, they increase staffing during peak hours to reduce waiting times. Second, they start a new marketing campaign highlighting the quality of their coffee beans and the friendliness of their staff to attract more customers. The coffee shop chain continuously monitors the results of these strategies by analyzing data from social listening tools, such as customer feedback on social media and review sites. They also track their social media metrics, such as engagement rates and follower growth, to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaign. As a result of their social listening efforts, the coffee shop chain can improve its brand image and customer satisfaction. They see an increase in foot traffic and positive customer reviews, which translate into higher revenue and customer loyalty. This is how social listening benefits most businesses, regardless of their nature, industry, or size.  

Step 5: Engage with the Audience

One way to engage with our audience is to respond to customer feedback and complaints. By responding to customer feedback, we show that we value their input and are committed to improving their experience with our brand. Social listening can help us identify customer feedback quickly so that we can respond on time. Engaging with our audience on social media platforms is another important way to build the brand. Social media platforms offer a great opportunity to connect with our customers and build relationships with them. We can use social listening to monitor conversations about our brand and respond to customer comments and questions. By engaging with our audience on social media, we can create a positive brand image and build brand loyalty.  Creating a positive brand image through customer interactions is also important for building a successful brand. By providing excellent customer service and positively engaging with our customers, we can create a strong brand image that resonates with our target audience. Social listening can help us identify opportunities for creating positive interactions with our customers, such as responding to customer feedback or offering personalized recommendations. For instance, Wendy’s has a reputation for engaging with its audience on social media platforms in a humorous and lighthearted way. They have gained a large following on Twitter, where they frequently respond to customer comments and questions in a witty and entertaining manner. For example, when a customer asked Wendy’s how many retweets they would need to get to earn a year’s supply of chicken nuggets, Wendy’s responded with a challenge to reach 18 million retweets. Wendy’s has also used social media engagement to create a positive brand image. They have responded to customer complaints and feedback in a timely and respectful manner, showing that they value their customers’ input and are committed to improving their experience with the brand. They have also used social media to promote their charitable initiatives, such as the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. By engaging with its audience on social media, Wendy’s has been able to build a strong brand image that resonates with its target audience. They have created a fun and approachable brand personality that appeals to a younger demographic and have gained a loyal following as a result.  

Step 6: Measure and Refine the Strategy

The final step in building a successful brand with social listening is to measure and refine the strategy. This involves evaluating the success of the social listening efforts and using feedback and results to gradually improve the strategy over time. Measuring the success of a social listening strategy involves tracking metrics such as brand mentions, sentiment analysis, and engagement rates. These metrics can help us understand how the brand is perceived by the audience and identify areas where we can make improvements. Once the results are evaluated, we can refine our social listening strategy based on feedback from the audience and insights gained from data analysis. This might involve adjusting the social media messaging or targeting a different audience segment. It is important to continuously refine and improve the brand’s social media presence to stay relevant and keep up with changing trends and customer preferences. By measuring and refining our social listening strategy on an ongoing basis, we can ensure that our brand is always evolving and improving in response to customer feedback and market trends. For instance, Airbnb, the online vacation rental marketplace, wanted to improve its customer service and reduce negative feedback from guests. They turned to social listening to gain insights into what their customers were saying about their experiences on the platform. By monitoring social media conversations, Airbnb was able to identify common complaints and issues that were causing frustration for guests. They used this feedback to develop new customer service initiatives and improve their platform’s user experience. For example, when guests were experiencing difficulty communicating with hosts, Airbnb created a new messaging feature that streamlined communication, allowing for easier resolution of issues. They also implemented a new review system that incentivizes hosts to provide excellent service and improves the accuracy of property descriptions. As a result of these changes, Airbnb was able to reduce negative feedback and improve customer satisfaction. By regularly monitoring social media conversations and making data-driven decisions, Airbnb has been able to stay ahead of the curve and continuously improve its brand’s reputation and customer experience.  

Conclusion

Social listening is a crucial component of building a successful brand in today’s digital age. By monitoring social media conversations, brands can gain valuable insights into their target audience, competitors, and industry trends.  The steps outlined provide a framework for brands to implement effective social listening strategies. However, note that social listening is not a one-time activity. Brands must engage in ongoing social listening to maintain a positive brand image and keep up with changing market trends. We urge brands to implement social listening strategies in their marketing efforts to stay ahead of the competition and build a strong, positive brand image in the minds of their customers. By staying attuned to customer feedback and adapting to changing market trends, brands can build long-lasting relationships with their audience and ensure the success of their business in the digital age.

About Konnect Insights

At Konnect Insights, we provide a unified solution for businesses to manage the entire customer experience. Listening, understanding, evaluating, and improving customer experiences can help create a truly integrated customer experience. The intuitive and user-friendly interface of our platform is easy to use for businesses of all sizes.

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