Let me guess. You’ve invested time and money into your social media posts, and no one ever comments, likes, or shares them. You’re not getting any traction. Where’s the ROI here? Is social media even worth it? Well, yes, but the problem is your social media strategy is broken. And one little word has the potential to completely unbreak it.
Listening
Yep. There it is. Listening. Listening is what approximately half of all businesses on social media are skipping, according to the Altimeter Group. And it’s killing businesses, because they are flying blind.
Imagine walking into a cocktail party with some business cards, and the first thing you do is start talking and handing out business cards. No introductions. No questions. No quiet observations. Just blathering on from the word, Go, and handing out marketing materials. How receptive do you think that audience will be? Do you think you will get any meaningful interactions by just pitching your product to complete strangers who may or may not have the slightest interest in what you are selling and who are really only gathered there to meet interesting people and have a good time?
No.
If you are not escorted out of the building immediately, you will at least be tuned out by everyone in the room. Even if you successfully get a business card into every hand on site, NO ONE is going to call you. NO ONE is going to do business with you. NO ONE is going to engage or interact with you on any meaningful level. And I hate to say it, but that’s probably what you’re doing on social media right now.
Why?
Maybe you don’t have a big budget or know how to listen in on your audience. Maybe you still don’t understand what the point is. Well, let me put it this way: if you jump right into posting on social media, your posts will not be seen, and you will not get anything out of these efforts. You might as well be pouring your money into a hole in the ground.
Do I have your attention yet?
Good. Here’s why you need to invest in social media listening BEFORE you launch your strategy. Essentially, the listening phase is when you create your user manual or strategy. Without knowing how to connect with your audience or how to operate your strategy, you are flying blind. Listening is when you snoop around and find out all about your target demographic and how to engage them.
Before you invest time and money into posting, you need to invest in learning what makes your audience tick, where they hang out, what questions they’re asking that your posts can answer, etc. A successful listening phase will give you a blueprint for how to post content that will connect with your audience, engage them, and motivate them to do business with you.
How?
There are several tools you can use to make this easier (FanPage Karma being my favorite), but basically what you need to do is hang out, search different terms, spy on your competitors to learn what works for them, and get a feel for the behavior of your audience and how to reach them. It’s the same with a cocktail party. Stand there quietly, drink in hand, for a few moments until you know what the conversation is about and how you can contribute to it.
Social media is not just an advertising platform. It’s not about broadcasting; it’s about conversing. If you don’t want to be social, go home.
What?
A good social media listening phase will determine these key factors for your given audience.
• Demographic Details: You may have a decent idea who your audience is (I hope you have created a customer avatar by now). But social media listening can uncover new segments to target and help you further hone their demographic details.
• Where They Hang Out: Don’t just assume Facebook is going to be your primary platform. You might find your audience likes LinkedIn or Instagram better. Furthermore, what blogs do they read, where do they leave reviews, and what related pages do they interact with?
• When to Post: Posting times matter. Social media listening can enable you to find out when your audience is online, when they typically engage with certain media more than others, and more.
• What Works for the Competition: By listening, you can better understand the voice that works best for your competitors, the themes, the media format (video, audio, image, other), the questions they answer, when they post, etc.
• The Problems To Solve: What questions are your potential customers asking? How would you know if you don’t listen to them? Social media listening means you can tie your solutions directly to their problems.
• Sentiment: This one is more ongoing, but after you begin implementing your posting strategy it helps to keep an eye on what people are saying about your brand, your product, and even your industry. Continue to monitor and listen to your customers just like you would in person. But with social media, you can do so much more easily and in more powerfully relevant ways.
Intelligent marketers understand that keeping the dialogue open is the way to build relationships and business. Please like and share this post with your network to move the dialogue forward!
