Whether you have millions of subscribers, a couple of thousands of followers, or a community with fewer members, you definitely need to know what they think and say about your blog, brand, or company. This is the only way you’ll know what direction you need to stick to developing your presence on social media platforms.
Naturally, you can grab several certificate templates and conduct a giveaway to analyze your community’s activity (reach and engagement). However, while such activities can introduce your page to some new users, they won’t provide you a clear picture of public opinion.
In case you are aimed at creating a closer connection with your followers, you will need to dig somewhat deeper and collect a lot of different data. You’ll have to investigate when your brand is mentioned on online platforms and under what circumstances.
Learn the Difference Between Monitoring and Listening
While these two terms have a lot in common, essentially, they should be reviewed individually.
Monitoring your social media contacting channels is much like community management. Using this technique, you are supposed to regularly check your notifications, read and understand them. Here, we refer to reviews and comments that people make under your posts and photos. Being conscious and responsive is critical for SMM managers when it comes to monitoring their Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages. As you might have suggested yourself, your company needs to be represented on every popular platform because this way, users will be able to tag your account in their posts or tweets, and the manager will have the opportunity to reply to complaints and compliments, which the brand receives.
Performing social listening, an SMM specialist needs to process huge arrays of information on a much wider scale (in terms of the industry). Examining the competition on the market, its tendencies, and behaviors is a significant part of this investigation. Keep in mind that you aren’t required to manually check numerous websites, blogs, and pages to create statistics, as there are many digital tools, which are going to be very helpful during this mission.
Know the Objective of Your Social Media Research
Data analysis can give you tons of advantages. Nevertheless, to maximize the potential outcome, you have to precisely determine the goal of your monitoring activities. These goals can be of different kinds. By learning fresh information, you can improve your brand’s image, expand your audience, and offer better solutions for your customers.
Organizing a workflow, which will allow you to track all these (and many other) aspects, will, undoubtedly, push your brand to the top. Here are some examples:
- You have located a complaint (or a series of complaints) on Twitter or Facebook. So, now, you can express your concern about the inconveniences your client has experienced. Additionally, you can provide evidence of your team working on a solution for the issue.
- A user of your product or service has written a complimentary review on a social media platform and tagged your company. Don’t hesitate to show how appreciated his or her feedback is. While it might seem to be a rather small effort, people on the other side will definitely notice this act of politeness.
- Someone finds it hard to understand where your store is located, how to set up your mobile application, or what payment methods your subscription service accepts. Consequently, this person has shared these inconveniences with the world. Don’t let him or her struggle anymore and provide a comprehensive user guide. It will show that you really care about your audience.
Choose Only High-Quality Monitoring Applications
Recently, as the demand has been growing, more and more software developers and digital marketers were involved in creating handy software solutions, which allow specialists to easily collect and analyze insights. While, on average, such online applications are top-notch, there are certain aspects you should take into account before paying for one:
- Price. It is almost impossible to find any professional software solution free of charge. Standard monthly subscription offers usually range between $10 and $99. We recommend you select services that offer a free trial period so you can form your own opinion.
- Compatibility with social networks. Depending on the list of online platforms you are going to work with, you should choose the application that will support each of them without exceptions.
- Special features. As soon as there is no commonly accepted standard for the functionality required for a social media specialist, each app offers unique solutions. The best thing you can do is write down all the features you’ll require in your work to locate the most suitable option.
Conclusions
The sooner you start monitoring your community and listening to their opinions and suggestions, the better it is for your company’s social media life. As a blogger, marketer, or brand owner, you’ll be capable of retrieving an unlimited number of benefits from it. Moreover, you’ll establish a healthy and harmonious environment, which will definitely be appreciated by your followers.
