how to create a social media listening strategy to build & protect your brand
TRANSCRIPT
A Social Media Listening Strategy To
Build & Protect Your Brand
FocusOn: Social Media – a Virtual EventSeptember 12, 2016
Christine B. Whittemore
What does it mean to have a true social media listening strategy to build and protect your brand?• More than looking at a few tweets or some Google alerts
It’s a Systematic Approach to Monitoring What’s Being Said• About you, your company, your brand, your industry• On social networks• By real people
And Carefully Listening• From the perspective of your customers• To make your business better informed about what matters to them
Monitoring vs. Listening
Important Because• People are talking about you.• You can’t stop them.• If you listen, you can do
something about what you hear.
A Social Media Listening Strategy Means You Can….• Gain context for reviews and complaints• Refine buyer personas• Gather marketing insights• Validate content ideas• Identify & connect with thought leaders, including journalists• Be part of the conversation• Be social vs. just doing social
What You Need for Your Listening Strategy• Determine your goal• Find relevant conversations• Decide what to do when you find them• Prepare for the unexpected• Develop a routine• Establish a listening process• Identify tools for listening & monitoring
What Is Your Goal?• Thought leadership?• Customer service?• Engage a specific audience?
Find Relevant Conversations • Two elements• Where do your constituents hang out online?• What are the right terms for finding conversations
Where Do Your Constituents Hang Out Online?
• Facebook Groups• LinkedIn Groups• Forums• SlideShare• Quora• YouTube• Twitter• Google+• ?
Finding the Right Conversation Terms Can be difficult depending how ‘noisy’ the industry is• Search category/industry• Search for #s, chats• List important trade shows or organizations #s• Terms competitors use• Identify influencers
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What Search Terms Do They Use?• Broad terms• Product categories• Problems
• Specific terms• Company name• Brand names
They know you!
Be Aware of• Multiple meanings: steam vs. STEAM vs. steampunk vs. ….• Steam engines• Steam showers• Steam ovens• ???
• Terms to exclude• Job(s)• ???
What To Do When You Find Conversations?
• Follow the profiles• Favorite the updates• Add profiles to a list or create search streams• Listen• Engage
Prepare for the Unexpected• Will you engage or just monitor?• Anticipate the worst so you are prepared• Plan for trolls• Take it offline whenever possible
• Remember your goals
How the Air Force Does It
http://www.globalnerdy.com/2008/12/30/the-air-forces-rules-of-engagement-for-blogging/
Can You Involve Others in Your Organization?• It’s more social• Better insights• Makes you more nimble
Include Social Media in Your Employee Guidelines
The Listening Process• Pick search terms – single words vs. tight combinations of words
• Greywater vs. grey water
• General search to find:• Influencers• Relevant hashtags & terms
• Create streams to monitor • Twitter lists• Search terms• Specific profiles • #hashtags
• Interact as appropriate
Social Search Tools• Explore the networks (i.e., Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, etc.)• General social search:• Social Mention• Twazzup
• FollowerWonk search Twitter bios• Tagboard for hashtags• Board Reader for Forums• (Calibrate your search tools)
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Social Mention
Forums May Be Important
Search Within Networks
Twitter Chats
Google+
YouTube
Check Social Referrals in Google Analytics
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Calibrate Your Resources
Bonus Tip: Benchmark Your Company on Google Search• Do review sites appear?• G+: acknowledge publicly• Yelp: acknowledge privately• Get to the bottom of bad reviews; learn from them
• Unclaimed directory listings?Claim themAdd photosInclude consistent profiles Look like someone lives there
What Do You Do Next?• Create search streams for • Keywords• #s• Influencers
• Use Twitter Lists• Tools such as Hootsuite to monitor
multiple networks• Paid versions of the free tools• Follow, like, +
Hootsuite
HubSpot Social Media Monitoring Tool
After Creating a BaselineDevelop a routine & schedule to regularly monitor, observe, listen, participate • Engage, • Learn from, • Create content To completely delight your prospects, customers and fans
Recap• Conversations are happening online. Why not listen & learn?• To create a social media listening strategy, you’ll need to:• Find relevant conversations• Take next steps including be prepared for the unexpected• Develop a listening process and routine• Identify the best tools to use
• Be sure to identify your goals.
Contact Information• Christine B. Whittemore• Chief Simplifier, Simple Marketing Now
• [email protected]• @cbwhittemore
• www.simplemarketingnow.com