The rise of social media and the power the services wield simply cannot be denied in today's market. Businesses that hide their heads in the social media sand do so at the risk of not only losing customer confidence but also losing their entire business.
Engaging in the art of social listening is one of the most effective methods employed by businesses to monitor various social media channels in regard to their brand. Social listening is the ability to monitor social networks by monitoring various keywords and hashtags in order to track what is being said about a particular brand or business. Companies that use these endless information streams often find they have better access to consumer insights about and can more readily interact with customers on all topics related to their business.
Crisis Management
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of social listening is that businesses can use the information they collect to more quickly identify potential problems with their products before they go viral and work with their customers through their social media accounts to solve any issues that might arise. This monitoring can effectively help companies prevent crises before they occur, and in the event that a crisis does happen, it allows them to quickly identify the crisis and begin to manage the problem before it gets out of control.
Real-Time Insights
While crisis management is one of the most obvious benefits of social listening, monitoring social media has much more to offer. Continual monitoring of social media channels allows businesses to gain almost instant access to real-time comments and communication related to their products and brands. By simply monitoring social media channels, companies can find out not only what their customers think and feel about their brands, but also check up on what their competition is saying. This allows smart social media users to easily shift the focus of their marketing efforts to continue growing positive sentiments felt by their customers.
Candid Opinions
Social Media services encourage clients to share both positive and negative information. In many cases, social media users feel free to share publicly many opinions that would most likely be kept private in most circumstances. This freedom leads users to be candid about their opinions on everything from politics to products. Companies can use this brutal honestly to their advantage and gain meaningful insights about how consumers feel about their products and their businesses in real time. Social media empowers users to share their true feelings about a brand. Companies can leverage this information and use it to their advantage, simply by engaging in social media themselves and tracking any mention of their company or brand.
Social media networks wield great power today and businesses that recognize this power can use the services to their advantage. Each network offers a wealth of information that, with a little effort, can easily be monitored by businesses to gain meaningful insights into their products and how consumers buy, use and feel about them.
