In the digital age, marketers and brands employ an extensive mix of strategies and solutions to learn more about their target audiences, especially what they’re saying about their company, products, and service. Social media listening, a relatively new concept, has become quite popular in recent years as an intelligence-gathering solution for businesses to help them track and modify consumer sentiment.
In this post, we’ll talk about the role social media listening plays in online reputation management. We’ll also share the benefits of leveraging tools to tune into social commentary on multiple platforms.
What is Social Media Listening?
Social media listening is the process of tracking different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc. Brands use this strategy to keep an eye out for mentions and conversations related to their businesses and use their findings to discover, analyze, and capitalize on reputation enhancement opportunities.
Key Benefits of Social Listening Tools for ORM
Social listening tools help brands tune into social commentary and understand what their prospects, existing customers, and even competitors are saying about them. They play a crucial role in online reputation management by providing extensive market research in real time. Some of the most popular SML tools include Hubspot, Buzzsumo, Keyhole, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer, to name a few.
Here are the three key benefits of social media listening tools for ORM:
1. Enhanced Audience Understanding and Engagement
Social media listening tools help brands better understand their customers’ needs, pain points, and habits. Thus, they can help them design tailored marketing campaigns and plan their communications accordingly.
For example, an existing client might tweet about their recent terrible experience related to their recent purchase. This could prompt other potential buyers to steer clear of your products or services, and affect your sales and online reputation.
By tracking negative comments, tweets, or misleading information, you can pop in with a positive comment that empathizes with their inconvenience and offers them a viable solution. For instance, if they received a damaged good by accident, you can reach out to them, replace it, and offer a freebie or discount to retain them.
2. Competitor and Industry Intelligence Gathering
Social media listening does a lot more than let you track mentions and conversations. You can also learn what your competitors are doing or tune in to the latest trends in your industry. This will give you actionable insights for improvements in several aspects of your brand, including product development, marketing, and customer service.
By keeping tabs on emerging opportunities and threats, you can respond instantly and effectively.
3. Enhanced Crisis Management
Modern social media listening tools are no different than early warning systems. They help track consumer sentiment in real time. So, if any negative comments are flooding online and affecting your brand perception, you can know right away and strategize right away.
By paying closer attention, you can find the source of the problem and fix it. Every audience leaves digital bread crumbs for brands to follow.
Bottom Line
So, there you have it – everything you need to know about social media listening tools, including their benefits. With this information, you’re all set to leverage this innovative strategy to help repair or enhance your brand’s online reputation.
Or, you could go one step further and hire a team of social media experts specializing in online reputation management. RMG Digital Solutions is a leading ORM agency specializing in every aspect of branding and digital marketing from reputation/social media monitoring to SEO analysis and content creation/publishing.
Therefore, you can rest assured we’ve got what it to generate valuable insights from social commentary related to your brand. Feel free to get in touch with us and let us devise a tailored solution for you.