What is Social Listening and Why it Matters
Social listening helps businesses monitor, understand, and adapt to conversations happening all around them. Understanding consumer decision-making should be the backbone of any marketing or communications tactic and social listening is an exceptional way to better understand these decisions.
The world’s most accomplished, respected and – dare we say? – most beloved brands regularly rely on social media to connect with their audiences. From creative content to community management, social media is a cornerstone of building brand belief, believability, and buzz.
Nearly five billion people use social media, with the average user accessing more than six social media platforms every month. Almost 70 percent of Facebook users log in every single day. That adds up to a lot of talk around brands, and that talk adds up to impact consumer decisions.
According to a Pew Research Center report, adults under 30 trust social media almost as much as their local and national news organizations. A full 36 percent of adults 30-49 do, despite the prevalence of misinformation on social media platforms.
And as it turns out, ordinary social media users are among the biggest culprits. According to that same Pew Research Center report, nearly 40 percent of U.S. news consumers admit to KNOWINGLY sharing fake news on social media. They do it so frequently (and fervently) that Associated Press now has a regular feature, “What Didn’t Happen This Week” for the sole purpose of debunking misinformation on social media.
So how can a brand know if it is a target, and how can brands use social listening to make strategic decisions?
Crawford social media clients gain access to Cision Social Listening, powered by Brandwatch, the world’s largest pool of real-time consumer discussion, with more than 100 million sources. It is trusted by thousands of the world’s biggest brands including Unilever, Nestle, GSK and Toyota. In addition to monitoring traditional social channels like Instagram, X, and LinkedIn, Brandwatch can track reviews in more than 40 different languages, and across sources like Google Reviews, Amazon and CNET.
Here are 7 ways we use social listening to help our clients:
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- Understand which posts and content are driving the most mentions and engagement, comparing performance over time or by campaign.
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- See how messaging impacts the way customers think, talk, and view a brand.
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- Measure how online presence, engagement, and public perception stacks up against competitors.
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- Determine when, where, and how people are mentioning a brand to make sure social media messages reach the right audience.
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- Quickly spot conversational trends and discover new conversations and keywords to enhance the social, PR, and the overall brand strategies.
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- Recognize unusual activity, helping get ahead of or respond to crises.
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- And most importantly, act on these insights to get to the heart of decision making. Social media has a really big impact on real bottom lines, around $1.3 billion in direct social commerce sale in 2023. That number is expected to double by 2026.
Do you want to talk about social listening, or other ways to turn social chatter into cheddar? Let’s connect on the socials! Or you can email social@crawford.agency to get started.