In the kaleidoscope of changes, when everything shifts and transforms with the speed of a viral TikTok video or tweet, this trendy catchphrase crept into the marketing lexicon and snuck into marketers’ playbooks. Today, every online entrepreneur or marketer is into social listening. In fact, 61% of marketers already benefit from it, and 82% view it as a critical element in their strategic planning.
What does this term mean, what role does it play in business, and how can you make it the star of your social media marketing show?
Let’s figure that out and discuss the revolutionary impact of social listening on businesses and their marketing decisions.
Stay tuned in!
What Is Social Media Listening?
Social listening is a proactive approach to scanning social media platforms and their insides and deciding on your next move based on the results. The data may include information about your brand, customers, stakeholders, competitors, etc.
This technique helps you keep a vigilant eye (and a sharp ear!) on what happens, why, and at what time exactly via:
Later, you can refine your social media marketing strategy mid-voyage, changing tires on the road, as they say, depending on what you notice and hear.
Why Do You Need Social Listening in Business?
Explore the most representative use cases of social media listening.
Social listening for better customer understanding
You may think you know your ideal customer or buyer persona like the back of your hand. But hold on. Can you say where your target customers are hanging out now? What do they like and dislike about your product or service?
Thanks to social media listening, you can fully understand your customers and their:
- Needs and desires
- Complaints
- Motivations
- Emotions
- Behavior patterns, etc.
Many customers express their wishes or expectations to brands on social media.
For example:
When Burger King removed apple pies from the menu, it left the brand’s loyal fans heartbroken, especially vegan audiences. One of them tweeted: “I wish @BurgerKing would bring back their apple pies! They were vegan-friendly.”
Social listening for competitor analytics
Case number two is social listening for competitive analysis.
Here’s how you can leverage it.
Let’s imagine your direct competitor is Samsung. While sifting through the social noise, you can detect Samsung’s fundamental promotional tactic—influencer marketing. The brand’s marketing team runs a worldwide #TeamGalaxy campaign, collaborating with over 100 influencers and brand ambassadors. So, you pick a channel and track social media posts with the hashtag #TeamGalaxy.
Then, you analyze engagement levels and unveil the hacks and tactics they implement to generate likes, shares, and conversions. Later, you could add them to your marketing plan.
Social listening for reactive marketing
React to the situation fast or lose the chance forever.
That’s the motto of reactive marketing.
For example:
In 2023, one woman shared a TikTok video of her car turning into ashes. The Stanley tumbler was the only thing that survived the fire. Fantastically, it also had ice left inside!
What did Stanley do?
The bottle brand responded to this accident as soon as possible. Stanley’s president expressed concern about the customer’s safety, thanked her for sharing the case, and promised to buy her a new car.
Yup, that was an early bird catching the worm, improving the brand’s image while listening carefully and reacting on social media.
Social listening for PR and reputation management
Actually, 90% of business leaders acknowledge their brand reputation depends on how well they use social media insights.
Indeed, social listening can assist you in PR crisis management and improving your online reputation.
For example:
Just recently, Apple faced a huge PR scandal that threatened the company’s reputation. It was after an iPad Pro “Crush” advertisement that evoked a backlash of negative comments on Twitter.
Effective social listening helped Apple prevent it from snowballing into an even more gruesome PR catastrophe and reputational damage. The company’s spokesperson apologized immediately, confessing they “missed the mark.”
6 Social Listening Tips for Marketers
Address customer concerns at the budding stage.
What if people hesitate to buy from you, teetering on the fence? What if your customers encounter obstacles when using your product or service?
Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches, believes social media listening is like a magnifying glass to zoom in on customer pain points and frustrations. She notes, “As a marketer using social listening, you should recognize and pinpoint your audience’s hesitations and questions, untangle all the knots, and smooth all the wrinkles in customer experience on social platforms. More importantly, it’s crucial to dispel myths mounting over your product/service.”
The Ninja Patches team actively tracks users’ questions and responds to them in an instructional video format on TikTok.
For example, in reply to @vvvalerievvvalerie, they explain how to use iron-on patches.
Scrutinize your brand mentions more carefully.
You may spot social media users mentioning your company’s name and analyze the sentiment around it, whether negative or positive.
For example:
One of Oreo’s customers left the following negative feedback on Instagram: “These are way too sour for a cookie!”
At this rate, Oreo could consider customer feedback and improve the product.
Phil Strazzulla, Founder at SelectSoftware Reviews, also recommends capturing and reposting appreciative feedback on your pages once you’ve tracked your brand mentions. He shares, “Social media listening is an excellent method we’ve been applying in our marketing strategy to find and showcase positive customer feedback and user-generated content, aka UGC.”
He suggests collecting and sharing UGC pieces as follows:
- Photo
- Textual review
- Customer success story
- Video testimonial
- Influencer content, etc.
For example, the SelectSoftware Reviews team often reposts positive client reviews on LinkedIn.
Interact dynamically with social media users.
Do you only listen passively? Or do you engage with users on social media and communicate energetically with them?
Grant Aldrich, Founder of Online Degree, remarks, “If you haven’t done so, it’s your must-do for today and tomorrow in marketing: shift from a passive to an active social listening strategy. Don’t just be a wallflower watching the social media party from the sidelines; join the dance—comment and initiate engaging dialogues with your audience to nurture relationships, boost engagement, and keep your brand top of mind.”
For example, after noticing the spotlight on the company, Grant Aldrich dropped a thank-you note under the LinkedIn post.
Another example:
Terminix, a pest control company, listened to the satisfied customer on TikTok and replied: So happy to hear this! (Also, your nails are ?)
It’s a perfect example of human-centric marketing, which aims to build customer relationships and show that there’s a living, breathing human behind the brand name.
Style your content around your audience’s tastes.
Why don’t you just give them what they want?
Sturgeon Christie, CEO at Second Skin Audio, argues, “It’s the content that matters most in the aftermath of your social listening efforts. Identify which posts resonate with your audience (they typically have more likes, comments, and shares) and serve up what they crave the most.”
So, here’s what you should decide on in your social media content strategy (with the decisions made by Second Skin Audio):
- Content type (sound-deadening ideas for various car models, before-and-after transformations, niche-related memes)
- Tone and style (friendly, often humorous)
- Relevant hashtags (#Soundproofing, #SoundDampening, #Noiseproof, #Noisecontrol, etc.)
- Image aesthetics (real-life photos of soundproofing solutions)
For example:
Memes from the automotive industry are a winning content strategy for Second Skin Audio on Instagram.
Chase trendy topics.
Did you know?
Ignoring trends is one of the seven deadly sins in social media marketing.
If you have it, it’s time to ditch this sinful habit and use social media listening to catch and surf the waves of trendiness.
Roman Zrazhevskiy, Founder & CEO at MIRA Safety, notes, “One of the best social listening strategies (and it works perfectly for our team) is monitoring industry-relevant trends caught on by social media users. Since we prioritize emergency preparedness and physical protection, we pick up trending pop culture phenomena or movies related to this niche.”
For example, when the Fallout (a 2024 series about nuclear decimation) discussions trended on social media, MIRA Safety posted this short video clip with the closing line: Are you prepared?
Borrow the best marketing tricks from others.
Yeah, we know what you think.
You’ve been taught not to steal.
But it’s not stealing. This is only borrowing and adjusting.
This social listening strategy originates from the principle: Don’t copy, adapt! Alan Parkes, Owner of Denver Roofing & Colorado Springs Roofing, explains how to approach it:
“When you analyze your competitors or other brands through social listening, you identify their most successful marketing strategies on social media. You don’t copy, though; you rather adapt. Avoid entirely plagiarizing another brand’s content or strategy. Instead, reshape it and incorporate the most powerful elements that suit your brand’s voice and audience.”
For example:
Denver Roofing experts publish before-and-after pictures, a tactic frequently used by other roofing contractor firms, too. However, they add unique details to these images, like the roof color, project manager, etc.
Don’t Forget to Pick a Social Monitoring Tool!
In fact, 39% of businesses spend more than $100K yearly on social listening tools, and 71% pay for more than one.
The most recognized social media tools for listening are:
- Keyhole
- Talkwalker by Hootsuite
- Brandwatch
- Sprinklr
- Determ
How should you choose one (or several)?
Axel Lavergne, Founder at ReviewFlowz, helps you out:
“Your choice of social listening technology should be tied to your business needs. Ask yourself: what feature do I need? Is it brand monitoring, competitive benchmarking, or sentiment analysis? Also, read reviews and case studies from other brands to gauge the tool’s reputation and performance.”
For example:
At Keyhole, you may filter customer success stories by use case, company size, region, or industry (travel, finance, education, etc.).
Then, if you look for reputable brands that turned to Keyhole for social listening, you’ll see Reuters, among others. Samsung and Nestlé use Brandwatch, whereas McDonald’s and Microsoft are Sprinklr’s clients.
Have you picked the tool?
High five!
Final Note on Social Listening for Your Marketing Success
So, you’ve crossed the finish line. And it means only one thing. It’s the ideal time to put your social listening radars on high alert.
Tune in to social media and rewrite your marketing script based on your observations.
