Are you new to the term social listening? Chances are you’ve already been monitoring what people say about you online and if you use this information to enhance your business, you’re engaging in social listening. Take the next steps to not just monitor your brand, but also use your social listening efforts to gain insight, customers and to build your brand. Here are a few tips to get you engaged:

1. What social media channel does your customer frequent?
Your first step is to determine which social media channel your customer frequents. It could be Facebook or Twitter or perhaps industry blogs. Track and then join the conversation when the time is right.

2. Become a problem solver.
Monitor key words or phrases that relate to current issues your customers may be experiencing. Use these issues to solve the problem or provide a turnkey solution.

3. Improve your customer service.
Identify your positive feedback, but also any negative feedback you may receive. Certainly show your appreciation for those that recognize your job well done and reply to negative comments and try to turn the negative experience into a positive one.

Two tools that we find helpful to social listening:

Google Alerts: It doesn’t cover social media or most blogs, but it is a good place to start. As the name states, Google Alerts will send an alert when a website has posted something about you. Sign up at google.com/alerts.

Hootsuite: This app provides tools to manage your social media accounts. You can manage multiple channels, schedule content and engage your customers. There are free and paid options available depending on your needs. Sign up at hootsuite.com.

With a little fine-tuning you can turn your social listening into an opportunity to build your customer base. Already using social listening? Share your thoughts and tips with us.

Nuevo Advertising