Social Listening is about understanding your social image, listening to the social discussions and then responding to it.
A crucial aspect of Social Listening involves two-way communication. Most brands, due to their one sided communication, fail in making a strong conversation. Social Listening helps you focus on a very important aspect of communication: acknowledging and listening; both of which are crucial in building better relationships.
Here is how Social Listening can enhance your search rankings:
1.) Boost User-generated Content through Listening
When listening socially, brands often commit the mistake of only hearing to what their customers are saying, without responding to it.
Social Listening isn’t just about hearing your customers but about acknowledging them. This means that you offer answers when users have a query, thank them when they offer feedback (even when the feedback is negative).
With better customer relationships, you can boost user-generated content which accounts for 25% of search results for top 20 brands. So it means that better relationships translate to better search rankings.
Key takeaway:
Improve your search engine ranking through user-generated content. Get your audience to talk about you. Participate in online customer discussions and threads.
2.) Find Relevant Topics to Write on by Gaining a Better Understanding of Your Audience
With social information collected through listening, you can create better social strategies and boost engagement.
Social Listening helps you analyse ‘how’ your response should be crafted to get positive engagement. It offers you an insight into audience behavior and what they expect from you on social media.
It enables you to create content that is most relevant to your audience. Additionally, it helps you address your buyers’ concerns.
So by gathering user requirements and crafting content that your users actually want to see, you can minimize content wastage and avoid creating content that doesn’t help your audience.
Key Takeaway:
Social Listening is like trending section of a social platform, just that it is much more focussed on creating quick results. So use the information from social interactions and enhance your content strategy in a manner that creates quick appeal for your users.
3.) Use Social Conversations to Gain Better Visibility
When it comes to social media, it is crucial for you to actively participate in social conversations and gain better visibility through it.
Keep track of conversations where you are mentioned and participate in them. With active interactions, you can boost visibility.
Here is a tip: engage your audience with humor as it helps in breaking the monotony of routine replies and improves interactions. But make sure to avoid commenting on controversial topics and focus on healthy, humorous discussions.
Key Takeaway:
Utilise social platforms to improve your customer interactions. Bring humor into the picture and break the ‘serious’ image. That’s one key change that only social platforms allow you to bring.
4.) Identify Unique Pain Points through Better Listening
Social media offers people the opportunity to present their opinions. And these opinions often stem from their concerns.
This presents a great opportunity for brands to tap into the power of social media to unveil new and unique pain points and focus on resolving them. This not only gives you an edge over your competitors but also helps in letting you emerge as thought leaders.
Look out for the topics your audience is talking about. See what changes do they expect in a product/service. Try to bring that change.
Key Takeaway:
By listening to users’ social interactions carefully, you can identify pain points that otherwise remain hidden. Focus on addressing these concerns through your own product/service.
5.) Utilize Social Listening to locate Important Influencers in your Industry
These days, a lot of social success comes from influencer marketing. Because your customers are more open to a fellow customer’s feedback than your own description of what you are offering.
So brands are turning to influencers. But identifying the right influencers to do the job is a difficult task. And you just can’t go by numbers when looking for influencers.
If you really want to use influencers to add value to your brand, it is crucial for you to pick people who are a true reflection of your brand image.
This is where Social Listening benefits you. By closely monitoring social interactions, you are better equipped in locating the right influencers. And by getting these influencers onboard, you can boost your social image and thereby your search rankings.
Key takeaway:
Social Listening enhances your ‘influence’ because it helps you find the best influencers in your industry. So use your listening skills to make better influencer choices.
Closing thoughts
Social Listening doesn’t just improve your social image, it also boosts your search engine visibility. Make use of Social Listening.
And don’t restrict yourself to just one platform. Utilise the bandwidth offered by social media and listen actively to what your users are saying. Are they talking about your brand? If yes, then how? What other things do they talk about? What piques their interest?
Find your answers by listening carefully. Translate these answers into a better social strategy.
Social Media can do a lot for your business growth if used the right way. To understand the complete manner in which Social Media can help you grow, enroll in our Social Media Certification Course.
Image Credits: bingitonseo.com, flickr.com
