Why Social Listening is Important for Marketing Research

Social listening, often an underutilised tool, is capable of revolutionising how businesses understand their audiences, competitors, and industries. While it is not a standalone marketing strategy, it serves as an essential method for gathering actionable insights.

By monitoring online conversations, analysing sentiments, and identifying trends, brands can create data-driven strategies to engage with their audiences effectively and improve their market positioning.

This guide explores the concept of social listening, its benefits, tools, and practical implementation. It also integrates examples to illustrate its potential impact.

What is Social Listening

WHAT IS SOCIAL LISTENING?

Social listening is the monitoring of online discussions across platforms such as social media, blogs, forums, and review sites. The goal is to track mentions of brands, competitors, industries, or general customer sentiment while going beyond merely collecting data. The real value is in analysing and interpreting these discussions to derive actionable insights.

For instance, a fashion retailer could identify frequent complaints regarding delayed deliveries through social listening. This discovery could prompt a reassessment of logistics, with measures implemented to improve delivery times, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.

KEY BENEFITS OF SOCIAL LISTENING

To fully harness the potential of social listening, understanding its benefits across different key elements is essential:

Brand Monitoring
Businesses can monitor how their brand is perceived by identifying recurring feedback trends. For example, marketing efforts can further reinforce this image if consumers often describe a clothing brand as affordable yet trendy.

Customer Sentiment Analysis
Businesses can gain valuable insight into customer feelings about products or services by analysing the tone of online discussions – positive, negative, or neutral. Positive sentiment (e.g., “I love how fast their delivery is!”) reinforces what works, while negative feedback (e.g., “Their customer service is awful!”) highlights areas for improvement. Neutral statements (e.g., “The phone is decent, but not extraordinary”) provide opportunities to turn indifference into loyalty through targeted campaigns.

Competitor Analysis
Monitoring competitor campaigns and consumer interactions can reveal market gaps. For instance, if competitors face complaints about slow customer response times, businesses could prioritise faster, more efficient customer support to gain an edge.

Proactive Crisis Management
Social listening enables businesses to detect early signs of negative conversations that may escalate into crises. For example, spotting growing dissatisfaction over a defective product allows swift action, such as issuing public statements or recalls, to manage the issue effectively.

Trend Identification
Staying attuned to emerging industry trends ensures a competitive edge. For instance, observing a surge in conversations about sustainability could prompt a beauty brand to introduce eco-friendly product lines.

Enhanced Product Development
Real-time feedback provides actionable insights for refining products. For example, fitness equipment manufacturers could identify frequent complaints about noisy treadmills and respond by designing quieter, more home-friendly models.

HOW TO PERFORM SOCIAL LISTENING

Social listening can be performed effectively by adopting a systematic approach:

Step 1: Defining Objectives
Clear objectives must first be established to determine what is to be achieved. These could include improving customer service, understanding customer feedback, measuring the efficacy of marketing efforts, spotting trends and opportunities, monitoring competitors, or managing brand reputation.

Step 2: Identifying Online Discussion Platforms
Once objectives are defined, it is important to identify the platforms where the business’s audience engages most actively. As mentioned at the start of this post, social media platforms (Facebook/ Instagram/ Tiktok/ X/ LinkedIn), forums (Reddit/ Quora/ HardwareZone), or review sites (TripAdvisor/ Google Reviews/ Yelp) may hold highly relevant discussions.

Step 3: Using Relevant Keywords
After identifying the right online discussion platforms to perform social listening, the next step is to create a list of keywords to monitor.
Keywords are specific words or phrases that help track people’s words about a brand, product, or industry. They can reveal how people feel and guide decisions to improve a business.
Business owners should list words related to their business, such as product names, services, or common phrases that customers may use. This list should be regularly updated to match changes in customer preferences or trends, and social listening tools (covered in the next section) can be used to track these keywords.
For example, keywords like “excellent service” or “bad experience” can help businesses focus on their strengths or address specific problems.

Step 4: Analysing Data
After all the data is collected through various platforms and tools, businesses should focus on understanding customer sentiment, common themes, and recurring feedback.
Businesses should use tools to categorise mentions (positive, negative, or neutral), identify patterns (e.g., frequent complaints), and measure engagement (number of mentions) to aid with data analysis.
For example, if most mentions about a new product are negative, the analysis can pinpoint whether the issue is quality, price, or delivery.

Step 5: Taking Action
Finally, social listening is valuable only when insights lead to action. Insights gained from social listening should inform actionable steps, such as responding to customer concerns, implementing changes, or refining marketing strategies.
For example, if social listening reveals frequent complaints about delivery times, the business can introduce expedited shipping options or partnerships with courier services.

TOOLS FOR SOCIAL LISTENING

Various tools are available to facilitate social listening, ranging from free options to premium services offering advanced analytics:

1. Google Alerts (Free): This tool sends notifications whenever chosen keywords are mentioned online. While suitable for tracking website and blog mentions, it does not cover social media.

2. Twitter/X Advanced Search (Free): Advanced search operators allow users to filter tweets by keywords, hashtags, and specific time frames, making it easier to monitor conversations on this platform.

3. X Pro (Premium): Formerly known as TweetDeck, this premium tool offers real-time monitoring of mentions, hashtags, and keywords, especially benefiting brands active on Twitter/X.

4. Sprout Social (Premium): A tool that provides comprehensive analytics and reporting, enabling the tracking of mentions across multiple platforms. Its sentiment analysis feature delivers valuable audience insights.

5. Hootsuite (Premium): This robust platform combines social media scheduling and monitoring, integrating with other tools to offer a holistic view of online brand presence.

6. Brandwatch (Premium): An enterprise-level solution, Brandwatch provides AI-driven insights, competitive benchmarking, and advanced sentiment analysis, making it ideal for larger organisations.

7. Mention (Premium): This mid-tier option combines social listening with online monitoring, covering social media, news outlets, and forums.

8. Brand24 (Premium): This intuitive tool offers real-time mention tracking, sentiment analysis, and campaign effectiveness reporting.

Each tool caters to specific needs, from startups requiring free solutions to larger organisations needing in-depth analytics. By effectively utilising these tools, valuable insights into brand reputation, customer sentiment, and industry trends can be gained.

Scheduling Social Listening

SCHEDULING SOCIAL LISTENING

Knowing the tools and how to do social listening is only half the battle. It is highly recommended to follow a structured social listening schedule to ensure consistency in insights and timely actions:

Daily Monitoring
Ensuring that urgent issues are addressed promptly aids reputation management and crisis prevention.

Daily checks monitor brand mentions and respond swiftly to customer concerns. For instance, a delayed order complaint can be identified and resolved quickly, demonstrating a proactive approach.

Weekly Reviews
To analyse recurring themes and uncover areas for improvement.

Weekly analysis enables the identification of feedback patterns. For example, repeated “slow service” mentions can be flagged for operational adjustments.

Monthly Assessments
To evaluate the effectiveness of recent marketing actions and guide future strategies.

A broader view is taken monthly to assess marketing campaign results, product changes, or customer satisfaction. If a new feature like free delivery is implemented, feedback can be evaluated to see if it has been well-received.

Quarterly Analysis
To align strategies with long-term trends and maintain a competitive edge.

A comprehensive review is undertaken every three months to track changes in customer preferences and industry dynamics. For instance, increasing demand for sustainable practices may prompt the introduction of eco-friendly products.

In summary:

  • Daily monitoring ensures immediate concerns are resolved, preventing minor issues from escalating.
  • Weekly reviews help identify and act on customer preferences or complaints.
  • Monthly assessments provide a snapshot of overall progress and success.
  • Quarterly analysis helps anticipate and respond to larger market shifts.

By combining regular monitoring with the effective use of keywords, businesses can remain attentive to customer needs and industry trends, ensuring continuous improvement and sustained customer satisfaction.

SOCIAL LISTENING IS JUST ONE PART OF A HOLISTIC MARKETING RESEARCH

While social listening is a powerful and underutilised tool, it must not be viewed in a silo and must be recognised as part of a larger market research strategy. Holistic market research incorporates surveys, focus groups, competitor analysis, and more to comprehensively understand customer behaviour, industry trends, and competitive landscapes.

By integrating social listening into broader market research efforts, brands are equipped with well-rounded insights that drive informed decision-making. At Evolve & Adapt, expertise in comprehensive market research is provided to uncover meaningful insights that drive business growth.

Schedule a no-obligation call with us today to explore how your data can become a competitive advantage.

Mark Wong

Mark Wong is a certified management consultant (TR 43:2015) and specializes in hybrid content and outreach for offline and online channels. He holds a Bachelor of Science Psychology from Singapore University of Social Sciences and is a Facebook-certified Media Planning Professional, Creative Strategy Professional and Digital Marketing Associate. He applies his passion for understanding human psychology, perceptions and social processes to gain insights into customer behaviour as a hybrid marketer.