5 Steps to a Better Social Media Monitoring Plan
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 | 132 Comments
Tags: conversational listening, engage online, Listening, Social Media, social media engagement, Social Media Monitoring, social media monitoring workflow, social media strategy, social media tracking, two way listening
Posted in: Listening, Social Media, Social Media Monitoring
We don’t need to tell you that you need to be listening in social media, right? But perhaps you need a bit of help building out a listening program that’s sustainable, actionable, and actually helps you meet your business needs. Here’s a set of steps to take and questions to answer to round out your listening notions into a strategy you can execute on.
1. Decide On Focus Areas.
- Are you listening just for your brand specifically?
- What specific keywords and phrases are most important to you, and why?
- What are your assumptions and expectations for what social media monitoring can help you learn or do?
- Do you need to do competitive or industry analysis as well at this point?
- What areas of the business can benefit most from understanding commentary and conversation on the social web?
- Do you have particular initiatives or campaigns that you will track independently?
2. Articulate Your Goals & Measurements.
- What are you hoping to accomplish with your social media monitoring program? Be specific, i.e. “we want to identify emerging customer service issues in social media and route them to our offline channels.”
- By when?
- What do you know now as a baseline or status quo in that area?
- What constitutes success or forward progress toward your goal(s)?
- What measurements can you track and measure to illustrate progress?
- How do they relate to things you’re measuring in other business areas like customer service, marketing, product development?
3. Consider Resources
- Who is going to be doing the social media monitoring?
- What kind of training will they need? Tools?
- Do you have front-line people dedicated to listening efforts, or are you working it into various job descriptions?
- If you’re breaking it out into different roles, which topics/areas is each person responsible for monitoring?
- How many hours can you dedicate to listening efforts per week? Per month?
- What level of time and effort spent will indicate to you that you need more or fewer resources?
4. Map Information Flow
- Who needs to know what you’re finding through your social media monitoring?
- How will you document your listening and monitoring procedures and workflow?
- How will you get the listening insights to the appropriate team members?
- What are you expecting other team members to do with that information once they have it?
- How will you allow them to provide feedback to refine your listening efforts?
5. Illustrate Results & Next Steps
- What key information will you report? When should the first report happen after you start your listening program?
- To whom?
- How often?
- Who will review the results and be responsible for drawing conclusions based on the analysis?
- How will you dictate action steps based on the results?
You probably have your own subtleties and specifics as you map out your listening strategy, but the point is to have a solid roadmap that tells you what you want from listening, how you’ll deploy the people and tools to make it happen, and how you’ll gather and act on the information you find.
What have you learned from your listening efforts? Share your insights with us in the comments.
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132 Responses to “5 Steps to a Better Social Media Monitoring Plan”
dooleymr on January 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Great post…thank you for the thought-provoking questions. To build on your point, I think the themes you highlight can be used in any stage you're in…whether you're building your social media understanding or presence. Timing, Audience, Objective, Resources/Technology, Metrics/Reporting.
Sanjay Mehta on February 12th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
There is clearly a cost attached to listening. Of course, benefits too. But putting the large number of hours in the effort, is a cost for many companies.
Ignoring the conversations may be at your own peril.
So what is the way out?
Social Media Monitoring is an eminently outsourceable activity. If you can outsource the listening part, at a fraction of the cost you'd pay in the US, and then use the insights to create excellent outreach strategies, it may be the perfect solution.
We are based in India, and work with few US companies, in exactly this manner.
- Sanjay Mehta
Social Wavelength.
Sanjay Mehta on February 12th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
There is clearly a cost attached to listening. Of course, benefits too. But putting the large number of hours in the effort, is a cost for many companies.
Ignoring the conversations may be at your own peril.
So what is the way out?
Social Media Monitoring is an eminently outsourceable activity. If you can outsource the listening part, at a fraction of the cost you'd pay in the US, and then use the insights to create excellent outreach strategies, it may be the perfect solution.
We are based in India, and work with few US companies, in exactly this manner.
- Sanjay Mehta
Social Wavelength.
Sanjay Mehta on February 12th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
There is clearly a cost attached to listening. Of course, benefits too. But putting the large number of hours in the effort, is a cost for many companies.
Ignoring the conversations may be at your own peril.
So what is the way out?
Social Media Monitoring is an eminently outsourceable activity. If you can outsource the listening part, at a fraction of the cost you'd pay in the US, and then use the insights to create excellent outreach strategies, it may be the perfect solution.
We are based in India, and work with few US companies, in exactly this manner.
- Sanjay Mehta
Social Wavelength.
Janice Arnoldi on February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Thanks for the post Amber.
We're working with small businesses who are just getting their minds around social media. I like point 5 – Consider Your Resources. Many feel overwhelmed by all the tools and I think it's critical that small businesses don't jump headlong into setting up more tools than they have time for.
Janice Arnoldi on February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Thanks for the post Amber.
We're working with small businesses who are just getting their minds around social media. I like point 5 – Consider Your Resources. Many feel overwhelmed by all the tools and I think it's critical that small businesses don't jump headlong into setting up more tools than they have time for.
Janice Arnoldi on February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 am
Thanks for the post Amber.
We're working with small businesses who are just getting their minds around social media. I like point 5 – Consider Your Resources. Many feel overwhelmed by all the tools and I think it's critical that small businesses don't jump headlong into setting up more tools than they have time for.
SEO Guide on February 20th, 2010 at 3:07 am
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SEO Guide on February 20th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Hey I discovered your page by mistake on msn while looking for something completely different but I am very glad that I did, You have just captured yourself another subscriber.
SEO Guide on February 20th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Hey I discovered your page by mistake on msn while looking for something completely different but I am very glad that I did, You have just captured yourself another subscriber.
iridiumInteractive on March 12th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Very helpful writeup for social media monitoring which is not an easy ask on its own. Thanks for sharing this.
iridiumInteractive on March 12th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Very helpful writeup for social media monitoring which is not an easy ask on its own. Thanks for sharing this.
iridiumInteractive on March 12th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Very helpful writeup for social media monitoring which is not an easy ask on its own. Thanks for sharing this.
Anjuan Simmons on April 6th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Great Post! I wish you were in the audience when I presented my panel, "How Social Media Can Destroy Your Business Model" at South by Southwest Interactive 2010. We touched on the tactics of monitoring a company's presence on social media sites, but this post really digs into the strategic elements. Well done!
-Anjuan
Anjuan Simmons on April 6th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Great Post! I wish you were in the audience when I presented my panel, "How Social Media Can Destroy Your Business Model" at South by Southwest Interactive 2010. We touched on the tactics of monitoring a company's presence on social media sites, but this post really digs into the strategic elements. Well done!
-Anjuan
Anjuan Simmons on April 6th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Great Post! I wish you were in the audience when I presented my panel, "How Social Media Can Destroy Your Business Model" at South by Southwest Interactive 2010. We touched on the tactics of monitoring a company's presence on social media sites, but this post really digs into the strategic elements. Well done!
-Anjuan
Heather on April 12th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Very useful info. Appreciate it. I've been listening for a while, but just rolling out to the organization and this will help develop a clear approach regardless of how fast SM changes direction.
Heather on April 12th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Very useful info. Appreciate it. I've been listening for a while, but just rolling out to the organization and this will help develop a clear approach regardless of how fast SM changes direction.
Heather on April 12th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Very useful info. Appreciate it. I've been listening for a while, but just rolling out to the organization and this will help develop a clear approach regardless of how fast SM changes direction.
Evan on April 19th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Yes, good points. Very useful story. Monitoring your social media can really be one of the `MUST` in todays business. Best regards, Evan
Evan on April 19th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Yes, good points. Very useful story. Monitoring your social media can really be one of the `MUST` in todays business. Best regards, Evan
Evan on April 19th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Yes, good points. Very useful story. Monitoring your social media can really be one of the `MUST` in todays business. Best regards, Evan
Hugh Macken on June 17th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Amber, Thanks for this very helpful outline.
Obviously the "right" answers to the questions you list under Resources will vary based upon the organization's objectives, budget and other constraints. But I am curious to know of approaches that you have seen work well and not so well. For example, does asking an intern to handle listening generally work out reasonably well? Have you seen examples of large companies, SMBs or agencies "doing" listening successfully in house or successfully outsourcing some or all of that work?
Thanks, in advance for any insight you would be kind enough to share.
Hugh Macken on June 17th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Amber, Thanks for this very helpful outline.
Obviously the "right" answers to the questions you list under Resources will vary based upon the organization's objectives, budget and other constraints. But I am curious to know of approaches that you have seen work well and not so well. For example, does asking an intern to handle listening generally work out reasonably well? Have you seen examples of large companies, SMBs or agencies "doing" listening successfully in house or successfully outsourcing some or all of that work?
Thanks, in advance for any insight you would be kind enough to share.
Hugh Macken on June 17th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Amber, Thanks for this very helpful outline.
Obviously the "right" answers to the questions you list under Resources will vary based upon the organization's objectives, budget and other constraints. But I am curious to know of approaches that you have seen work well and not so well. For example, does asking an intern to handle listening generally work out reasonably well? Have you seen examples of large companies, SMBs or agencies "doing" listening successfully in house or successfully outsourcing some or all of that work?
Thanks, in advance for any insight you would be kind enough to share.
Kortney Breitbach on August 12th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
What a great post. I tried to digg it, but it’s already done been dugg.
dooleymr on January 28th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Great post…thank you for the thought-provoking questions. To build on your point, I think the themes you highlight can be used in any stage you're in…whether you're building your social media understanding or presence. Timing, Audience, Objective, Resources/Technology, Metrics/Reporting.