As technology evolves, you have more and more ways of connecting with your target audience. For B2B organizations, a new avenue that’s cropped up in recent years is social media. An effective social media strategy can help you build positive brand perception, educate and even influence purchase.
Social listening is an important factor of any social media strategy today. In a nutshell, it is the art of ‘listening’ or monitoring social media to understand how your brand is perceived. It offers insights into what your audience wants, whether your product/service solves a problem that your target audience faces, whether or not you have a positive brand perception in the market, and much more. Through the data that you gather, you can identify opportunities, prepare for threats, and even tweak your communication to establish a stronger connection with your target audience.
Social listening vs social monitoring
Social listening and social monitoring are often confused and used interchangeably, but they are two different tools. In social monitoring, you focus only on mentions of your organization, conversations around your product/service, and track a fixed set of keywords. On the other hand, the scope of social listening is much broader. You focus on industry updates or trends, brand mentions, feedback from your and your competitors’ customers, and more. As a result, social listening gives you a lay of the land. Since you have a treasure trove of knowledge, you can use it to elevate marketing efforts.
While they are two different strategies, for your B2B business to soar, use them in tandem.
5 key benefits of social listening
Now that you know what social listening is, see how you can benefit from it.
1. Track brand sentiment
Social listening will help you identify the market’s sentiment towards your organization, and also the reason why a prospect picks you or picks your competitor. Once you know why your competitors are getting chosen over you, for instance, or if there is a mismatch in your audience’s needs and in the way you’re positioning your product/service, you can reform your marketing approach accordingly.
2. Support ABM efforts
Account-based marketing involves addressing a subset of your target group that boasts of high intent and has adequate purchasing power. Social listening can help you improve lead generation via ABM, as it allows you to identify and understand your ABM audience better. In turn, it helps you shape your communication in a way that’s instantly engaging.
3. Stay one step ahead
When you invest in social listening, you’ll never be caught unawares. For instance, when you identify an event that can potentially slow down sales of your product or service via active social media listening, you can work well in advance to alter your communication in a way that constantly reinforces your relevance. Therefore, you can neutralize the impact of such an event. Similarly, if you notice that there’s a gap that a product/service can fill, and one that aligns with your area of expertise—act on it. Develop a solution and enjoy the first mover’s advantage.
4. Observe your competitors
You can also keep track of your competitors through social listening and use it to better your position in the industry. For instance, if a customer is unhappy with your competitor, trace the cause, understand it and strategize on how you can offer a better solution. Similarly, if a competitor is offering a new product/service and it is receiving a good response, determine how you can provide even more value and differentiate yourself.
5. Identify brand advocates
Influencer marketing has been a mainstay in B2C marketing for a while now and is steadily gaining prominence within the B2B ambit as well. Here, brand advocates—be it existing customers or industry experts—help boost your organization’s visibility, credibility, and even sales. Social media listening can help you identify the best-fit brand advocates or influencers, so that you make the most of this marketing tool.
As is the case with all aspects of social media, an agile, adaptive approach to social listening is what will fetch you the best results. At Resolute B2B, we excel at providing a range of social media marketing services across platforms, including social listening and monitoring. So if you haven’t invested in social listening just yet, contact us today.
