Conversations around your brand are taking place (probably right now).
A recent study found 89% of Internet users share online content on social networks, 93% use email and 82% use blogs. Additionally, social networks were identified as the top method for sharing content with friends.
Listening to your social customers is important and can be beneficial to your company. Think of them like a free focus group; by monitoring conversations about your brand, you can see how people view your company, services or products.
Still not convinced you should listen and join in the conversation? Here are more key reasons why it pays to listen to your social customers:It can improve your brand or product
Is your service slow, do your customers wish you still carried last year’s model, or is your brand getting a bad rap? If so, your customers are sharing their thoughts on social networks. Understanding how your customers feel can help you improve your corporate reputation and/or product.
It can help you provide better customer support
A negative tweet about your brand isn’t always a bad thing. Quickly responding to customer complaints with a solution and providing instant customer support helps strengthen relationships with your customers. Remember, customers not only share their bad experiences, they also share positive ones.
Keeping a pulse on competitors
Paying attention to conversations around your competition can help you gain a better understanding of their product or services and its advantages and disadvantages. You can learn how much your audience is talking about you in comparision, and, if necessary, strategize ways to ramp up your social media game plan to help shape the conversation.
Generate new business leadsBuild brand advocacy and spread the word
Through keyword search, Facebook interest groups, Tweetchats, forums, and many, many more social platforms, you can uncover potential sales opportunities. There will be people looking for services or products that your company offers; find them and reach out to them!
People online are passionate, and you may be able to find those social customers who love your brand. By building a relationship with these community members and influencers, you can spread organic word-of-mouth across different channels. After all, people trust their friends and family the most.
Are you already using monitoring tools to listen to your social customers? How has this improved your business, and results have you seen? We’d love to hear about your experiences – leave a comment below.
About Kimling
Kimling is a former TV news reporter who now leads the Marketing & Communications team at Meltwater Group.
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