Listening is very important with any social media strategy. Some people have a hard time grasping this concept because until a social media coach gives them some examples or shows them cases, it’s hard to think of this idea has been highly important. Some people that do see the value of listening still have trouble listening, because they don’t know how to have quality listening skills.
Like all skills, practice makes perfect! Some people have even registered or signed up with listening platforms like Scout labs, Attensity, or Radian6 thinking that they have genuine intent when they want to hear something about their brand or product.
This is great; however, when you have a huge pile of data, what do you do with it once you get it? It becomes overwhelming to have this much data on any topic so it’s no wonder it’s hard to take it all it or even try to listen to bits and pieces of this information at hand.
Let’s try and stay focused and talk about listening skills, with less regard for the tools. Keywords, that’s the buzzword, when people are looking for your brand or product. What comes to mind when people are looking for your brand? Focus on putting yourself in their shoes comes to mind when you need to think of keywords or when they are looking for your item. What would you think of when you would be looking for your items? Ask around and get clues from other people could possibly help pinpoint key words for your items.
Start by listing these keywords and then putting the list on the wall and really dissecting the words makes a few words or one word stand out. Staring at something for a while, even getting blurry eyed, you will see what stands out. If you see one word that stands out, make this your starting point.
It may sound silly, but this is a great technique. The odds of having 20 to 30 words on that sheet of paper gives you a great start. However, this is still too much to listen to! Unless you have a full-time team listening for these words, trying to get feedback and filtering is too much for anyone to handle. Pare down your keywords to about five, though the recommendation is for two or three keywords/phrases aside from your brand keyword.
Social listening platforms do charge by the number of keywords and responses. Listening to a few for a week or two and then switching to your other keywords or phrases will produce the effect that you are trying to achieve. Making productivity count right now when you select the right keywords will make your social mentions more focused and controlled.
Getting used to these concepts helps you not to feel so overwhelmed and overloaded. If you feel like you are so swamped, then it’s best to limit your queries. In fact, my opinion is (listening skills…anyone!) you will have better results tracking fewer things and seeing the issues clear, than to cast a wider net, therefore, you can concentrate on the surface of any of the issues at hand.
Let the fun part begin!
Keywords are in place, and the data is coming in. Spend time scanning through the links for any content that can become a discussion. For example, if people are having an issue with your product, address them and start up a dialogue. Did someone praise your product, than by all means extend a thank you! Really it’s as simple as that. People are happy when they are properly taken care of and this type of service is a must for any business.
It’s always nice to extend a thank you around the holidays. Even something simple like candy or flowers always makes a nice effect. Who knows, it just might make the difference if they decide to use your company next time they are looking for that product.
What if someone is saying negative things about your product? It’s only human nature that some people just might not like what happened or they didn’t like something; however, sometimes a user will step up and question why this other person has a negative reaction to your product and defends your company.
This defense wasn’t really asked for, but it sure is nice. This has more value than when the company responded. It’s nice to let the user do this, however, if they don’t do this, then, by all means, the company needs to step in and work through whatever the problem is. Honesty in the company will engender honesty in others and pretty soon, you will have a loyal customer base.
Creating conversations, while using our listening skills, we should start hearing certain names that keep coming up. Some of these people are highly opinionated or “influencers.” Getting to know these people might bring on other topics that you want to discuss with them. These might be people that you might want to invite and get feedback about a new product. You can support them by doing things like fan contests or other creative ways to make influencers feel good and encourage others to move to the same bracket.
Generosity, with connections, knowledge, and networking is what you gain when you use listening skills as your tool. Soon you will see support from friends for your product or cause all because your listening skills improved!