Foundations of Listening and Engagement

Tuesday September 22, 2009

Listening and monitoring across the web is the foundation for any solid, scalable social media strategy. From understanding how your brand is being perceived to knowing what’s brewing in your competitors’ camp, listening touches all aspects of the enterprise, and is not just the start of a great social media plan, but a constant and ongoing part of it. And when you’re ready to engage, there are some basics that will help you get off on the right foot.

What am I listening for?

When you’re first starting out, there are a few key areas where you’ll want to put your ear to the ground:

Your Brand
Listening for conversation around your brand is often the logical first step for many businesses. You want to get a handle on what people are saying, where they’re saying it, and what the context is. Listening around your brand can help you understand if your messages are sticking, or whether there’s a disconnect between your company presentation and your community’s perception. From emerging customer service issues to kudos for a job well done, the social web is teeming with insights about your business.

Worried that no one’s talking about you yet? That’s okay. We’ve got some ideas for you about Listening When No One’s Talking in this PDF.

Your Competitors
Don’t underestimate what you can learn by listening to competitive buzz, too. See if you’re ahead of the social media game, behind the curve, or somewhere in the middle. Competitive insights can also clue you in to rumors and insights about their business moves, how their customers and prospects perceive them, and identify unmet needs of the crowds. Benchmarking your competition on the social web can help you clarify how your social strategy should emerge and evolve, too.

Your Industry
Whether the social web is buzzing about your brand or not, there’s lots to be gained by keeping your finger on the pulse of your industry. Spot emerging trends and topics of interest to help you drive content creation or product and service ideas. Know who the key players are, and get early insights into the new voices in the industry. Hear what people have to say about what they need from businesses like you, and use their input to shape your outreach, engagement, and future business strategy.

For more insight into which conversations to listen for across all of these topics, check out our Top 10 Reasons to Listen and Another 10 Reasons To Listen PDFs. Download them, share them with your team, and use them as a launchpad for your listening strategy. Or if you’re getting ready to make a presentation to your colleagues or clients, have a look at this handy slide deck of The Top 20 Reasons to Listen all in one place (and use the PDFs as your talking points).

Ready, Set… Engage

Engagement is the next step on the social media road, and many companies are wondering just where to get started. What do I say? Who do I say it to? Once you’ve established a solid listening strategy, you’ll know where the conversations are taking place online, and you’ll know what they’re about. Need some tips on what to say when you get there and how to respond to the conversations you uncover? Check out this PDF on our Engaging your Community.

If it’s early for your brand in social media, maybe you need to find some ways to join the dialogue happening in your industry. Perhaps you’ve got some conversation going on, but you’d really like to better connect the conversation to your sales process the “right” way. We’ve got some ideas there, too.

We call it Listening At the Point of Need, and it’s all about understanding how context, intent, and expressed need in social media become opportunities for you.  It’s a new way of looking at sales in a web 2.0 world, where timing is everything, and the most valuable currencies are trust and relevance. Check out this whitepaper to help you better understand how to use smart listening to find and engage prospects across the social web.

What else can we help you understand or discuss about listening and engagement? Send us an email to community@radian6.com and let us know what’s on your mind, or send us a message on the quick form below. And stay tuned this month for more blog posts, videos, webinars and sharable content about listening and engagement on the social web.

Videos to Watch