Listening When No One’s Talking (About You, Anyway)
Thursday, June 11, 2009 | 8 Comments
Tags: Brand, Business, Listening, Social Media, Social Media Monitoring
Posted in: Community, Listening, Social Media, Social Media Monitoring
It’s a pretty common question: “What, exactly, am I listening to if no one’s talking about me or my brand?”
Companies that are small, new, or just not as plugged in to the online environment can sometimes feel as though they’ve got nothing to gain by monitoring social media because the mentions of their brand are few and far between.
But the “listening” step of social media is important beyond that. In fact, it illustrates a fundamental principle of a successful social media foundation: thinking and participating around and above your brand.
We’ve Got Company
Unless you’re in a super-niche or groundbreaking industry, you’ve got competition. You’re likely not the only game in town, so if someone isn’t talking about you, they may very well be talking about your competitors, and you can learn a lot about what they’re saying.
From insights about what customers love or don’t love about a competitors offering to who’s engaged in the community on behalf of the competitive brand, conversations can tell you a ton. And understanding your Share of Conversation within the larger industry you represent – especially as compared to those competitors – is an important insight.
One thing to note: trolling for your competitor’s customers and fans in social media is a big no-no. It’s one thing to connect with them and build a genuine relationship (good). It’s another thing entirely to be chasing down your competitors customers or engaged prospects and using these channels as an opportunity to poorly butt in and pitch your stuff (bad). Tread lightly.
Finding The Tribes
A key to understanding where to spend your resources in social media is the basic knowledge of where your potential customers are gathering online. Are they bloggers, or do they favor Twitter to have their conversations? Are they using forums to hold discussions? Or maybe they’re not using these sites much at all?
You can monitor for discussions that swirl around your industry at large instead of about specific brands to understand how those audiences are using (or not using) social sites. For example, if I’m a lawn care company, I’m going to be searching for discussions on lawn maintenance, landscaping, and the weekend warriors out cutting the lawn or sharing lawn care tips among their friends. Where they’re talking is where I want to be participating. Instead of a shotgun plan, I’ve now got a focused idea about where my social media outreach should be aimed.
Problem, Meet Solution
Problems, needs, and wish lists from your potential customers or your competitor’s customers are being tossed out to the social web all the time. From product reviews to casual statements about what’s not working right, customers are giving you loads of intelligence about what problems they need you to solve.
Think bigger than your brand, and tune in to conversations that are about the kinds of issues and challenges that your product or service is aimed at solving. If you’re a virtual assistant, maybe you’re listening to people who are drowning in email and learning how to help them to refine your service offerings. If you’re an accountant, you might be putting together a list of the most commonly asked questions from people setting up a small business and doing a podcast about it.
We call this “listening at the point of need” and it’s about understanding how your business solves problems for people, and then connecting with them in a meaningful, helpful way when they need you most. It’s not about a sales pitch. It’s about creating a solution for someone that they’re asking for. And by listening to the feedback from people who aren’t yet familiar with your brand but know your industry, you can learn how to create better and more relevant offerings that address the pain points these folks have and talk about most.
It’s Bigger Than Your Brand Name
Simply put, conversations in social media aren’t just about finding mentions of your brand. It’s about finding relevant conversations from within the communities you serve and understanding how those impact your business and its growth potential. Listening is a holistic activity with great potential to bring you intelligence, insight, and focus for your social media efforts.
What else would you be paying attention to, and how can you be listening above, around, and nearby you brand to improve your business?
8 Responses to “Listening When No One’s Talking (About You, Anyway)”
George Snell on June 11th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Wonderful advice. You can add that when you start listening and participating – people will eventually begin to talk about your brand – or at least your ideas or your market perspective.
You can also listen to the reporters and bloggers covering your market to see what they are talking about – what interests them and what kinds of stories they are interested in hearing about.
Nigel Legg on June 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Great post, Amber; sets out the reasons and need for listening and monitoring very well. I\’d like to add that through listening to the conversations occurring across social media a company can do so many things; a company that truly listens to the conversation, and acts on what they hear at all levels, from product development through to customer service could gain the respect of their target market. As a result, though the company is not actively marketing in the old sense, they are raising their profile and their game, so that marketing – and selling their products and services – should become easier.
Rick Boretsky on June 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Great suggestions. It amazes me how few companies are taking this simple, yet important step. I’ve asked questions on Twitter about quite specific products/services, and only get minimal, if any, response from companies that may offer that product or service. This leads me to believe that companies are not even looking/searching for such keywords, where they are given a great opportunity to enter a conversation or engage an interested prospect.
UnicHost on June 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Yup, there is no doubt about the article. It’s really a great piece of suggestion. Usually most of the companies appoint someone else to take care of social marketing and depends on them to bring sales, and you know what happens afterwords. You get all the nagging, irritating responses, ad-filled, glorifying responses. You want to run away from these people.
Listening is indeed a great practice, not only in business but also in real life situations.
Cris on June 20th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Thanks for the wonderful advice. Hope to hear more from you.
Julie Weishaar on December 12th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Great post. It compliments one of my favorite sayings: “People have one mouth and two ears so that they can talk less and listen more”.
Tweetbacks
NewHorizons123 (Julie Weishaar) on December 13th, 2009 at 3:39 am
http://www.radian6.com/blog/2009/06/listnening-when-no-ones-talking-about-you-anyway/
Sarah Montague on June 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Great points. I think you can also listen for how to refine your marketing messages. Listen for how customers define their problems and how they describe the solutions they are looking for. How do they talk about the competitors benefits? And when they are talking about you, are they using language that you can incorporate in your messages for greater clarity?
@Sarah Montague
Mom Central Consulting