Editors note: This post was first created back in April 2014. Although it gives a nicely rounded view on the importance of social media monitoring, the most effective tools may have altered slightly. Check out our newer post on social media tools for small businesses for a better insight!
Monitoring social media should be a hot topic for all business owners today. It may seem nosey at first but it gives you access to powerful insights of what consumers and competitors are saying about you – and helps you to understand how your brand is perceived from an exterior point of view…
Social media monitoring a simple process that will have a great impact on shaping the changes or improvements your business takes. More and more is being communicated through social media nowadays. This has given users the ability to shape the perceptions surrounding a brand or businesses through online conversations, rather than perhaps a newspaper review. It is out there for everyone to see and get involved with.
Regardless of whether your business is at the top of its game or going through a rough patch, an insight into what customers want can only help.
Social media monitoring services and tools
There are many social media monitoring services out there. Hootsuite covers anything from Twitter, WordPress and Google+. Tweetreach focuses on (surprisingly) Twitter, and will tell you how far your tweets travel, giving you an insight into who is viewing them and getting involved in the dialogue. Lastly Social Mention looks at data from over a hundred social media sites. Give each a try and see which works best for your business.
These services link to a range of social media channels and track when you are mentioned. It is then quick to recognise positive or negative comments and respond in the best possible way, compared to searching for these comments yourself and potentially missing them. This way allows you a quick outlet to amend a person’s view if they have expressed a negative comment, or similarly respond to and highlight positive press. Overall this system makes it easier for PR and marketing when campaigning, as you are aware of what the public are saying, why they are saying it and what can be done to change or improve their views.
Another boost from using social media monitoring is that you will achieve great results from your social media campaigns. You will be aware of what consumers want and can predict their responses to products.
If you aren’t monitoring social media you are missing out on critical insights which you will need for strategic decision making, customer feedback, managing issues and creating effective marketing campaigns. If you are put off by the thought of analysing endless amounts of data from different media outlets then there’s no need to panic. Let the tool do the monitoring and you do the listening. The conclusion from the data will make it clear what needs to be done when it comes to your decision making.
As a business, make sure you are monitoring social media effectively and you will clearly know what customers and competitors are saying about you and what the general feelings about your product are. No more need to wonder if what you’re doing is right – monitoring social media will tell you!
By content assistant – Alice Hughes
@aliceeehughes
