Five Ways to Use Social Listening to Fuel Your Social Media Strategy

Social media enables millions of conversations every day, with Internet Live Stats reporting 500 million tweets every day. As part of any social media strategy, you need to know what your audience is saying and thinking, but conversations about your company aren’t necessarily aimed directly at you. Social listening tools scan these conversations so you know when your audience is talking about you.

Proactive Customer Service

Social media offers consumers a convenient way to get help with problems, with JD Power reporting 67 percent of customers using this channel for customer support. When you pair social listening tools with your social media support, you can reach customers before they have to come to you directly. Proactive customer support helps you contact customers who are frustrating and having a hard time, as well as those who wouldn’t bother to directly talk to you.

Customer Relationship Management Integration

Your sales, marketing and sometimes customer support departments use CRM tools to aggregate customer data for prospects and repeat customers. Social listening tools let you flesh out these records with additional information, gaining valuable business intelligence on sales leads.

Nurturing Relationships

Your high-value customers deserve special treatment, especially if you’re in a competitive industry. Connect with your customers one-on-one by using social listening tools to understand their wants, needs, pain points and priorities.

Engaging in Social Conversations

Want to expand your reach? Engaging in social conversations related to your products, service or business helps you connect with your audience. These tools can look for specific keyword phrases or tags so you get alerted to relevant conversations.

Identifying Influencers

Influencer marketing works by leveraging highly effective word of mouth and applying it into a digital format. When 92 percent of customers want recommendations from sites and people they trust, according to Forbes, you need to reach those authority figures. You can find these influencers with social listening within your industry, finding those with large followings.

Popular Social Listening Tools for Social Media Strategy

Use these tools to start implementing social listening into your social media inbound marketing campaign.

1. Hubspot: This software is feature-rich, integrates with a wide range of apps and is easy to use. The social listening tools also include analytics and CRM integration.
2. Brand Mentions: This tool provides a basic social listening feature with informative reports. It’s good to get started with if you aren’t sold on social listening.
3. HootSuite: You get a solid social listening and social media management platform, as well as a social media post scheduling tool and other useful features.

Social listening is a must for your social media inbound marketing campaign and any social media strategy, providing you with a business intelligence and relationship-building edge.