There are always those special guests in a party who love to talk on and on about the highs and lows in life, recent achievements and out of the world, unique experiences which they feel should be shared. There are also the ones who keep tabs on what people are talking about, the hub and hotspots of interest, the good and not so good reactions they generate after a short conversation or friendly gesture. The subtle observer plays the perfect role as a social listener who is always in-sync with the latest trends, preferences, and events across the board.
Generating actionable insight is the current buzzword for brand building, client engagement, and marketing. Every brand follows a certain tone and tenor in its marketing strategies, which resonates with its product persona. Some follow a direct in-your-face-approach, while some prefer a subtle read-between-the-lines strategy. Not all marketing campaigns hit the bull’s eye when it comes to creating an emotional connection with the targeted audience.
Social listening provides brands the real-time analysis of their own impact story and an opportunity to script a better one in case a campaign goes awry. Social listening tools are brilliant aggregators of the audience’s moods and their changing preferences. Simply put, they are a mining house of data, emotions, and brand perception driven trends hidden behind all the likes, shares, collective views, and impressions over social media channels.
How Social Listening Impacted Brand Growth
Late in 2010, there was collective client fatigue in the industry segment for freshly baked pizzas in India marked by diminishing sales and fewer outlets. The routine advertisements and offer rollouts from leading players Pizza Hut and Dominos were failing to grab popularity. Food lovers were regularly venting their anger and disappointment over the dry and drab pizzas on social media channels. Dominos had an ear to the ground and were the first to move off the block, with the “Oh Yes, We Did” campaign, calling out on itself over the lackluster pizzas. The campaign was an instant hit amongst the masses, transforming brand perception while making all the right noises. Dominos swamped all the nearest competitors and zoomed ahead in terms of sales and brand valuation over the last decade. Dominos overtook Pizza Hut in terms of sales in 2017, even though it had less than 2000domestic units. This was a classic case of social listening, which underlined the importance of acknowledging the audience’s sentiments and incorporating the same lingo in marketing strategies.
Social listening tools are an integral part of market research for global giants in mobile manufacturers such as Samsung. The company effectively used various social listening tools for tracking the customer sentiments and expectations around major mobile launches from their own stable as well as its nemesis across the Pacific, Apple. What locations generate the most buzz around a product launch? How do online conversations and instant product reviews on social media affect sales? Which devices drive the most conversations, and which features are appreciated or missed most by the users? Social listening tools ensured a complete reshaping of marketing efforts, which positively impacted sales and future product developments. Today, Samsung is a global leader of smartphone devices shipped worldwide, followed closely by Apple.
Absence of Social Listening causes Social Distancing from the audience
A business can sometimes be all at sea without adequate social listening tools which may even result in forced social distancing. Peloton Interactive completely misread the social outrage and posted its “Bicycle” ad, which was deemed as sexist and dystopian by a majority of users on social media. Instead of taking corrective actions, the company waited till it was hit by a parody by comedian Eva Victor which took its stocks plummeting downward by 10% along with massive damage to its goodwill.
Get a Marketing Edge with Social Listening Tools
Social listening tools can catapult your business to the numero uno position, mining mounds of social engagement data generated each minute. Simplified graphics and data on your tool dashboard can help you:
- Identify and read your audiences and their needs so that you can deliver perfectly.
- Monitor both the brand’s strength and its consumers’ sentiments, with detailed analytics.
- Identify market influencers with targeted products and services for leveraging mass outreach.
- Connect with potential leads online through various conversations, like users asking for general recommendations.
- Closely track competition and industry trends.
- Be adept at crisis management and public relations.
- Forecast changes in customer behavior.
- Marketing in 2020 is powered by client engagement. Social listening tools have made it easier for brands to interact with their audiences while leveraging the enormous outreach across all social media channels for publicity, and marketing.