Since the dawn of social media, brands have learned to use the awesome power of social media listening to their advantage. You can use social media listening to generate leads, improve your content strategy, and manage your brand’s reputation.
But how else are businesses using social listening today? To find out, research firm Clutch recently surveyed 300 marketers. Respondents all used social media monitoring tools for their jobs at medium and large B2B and B2C U.S. companies.
Here are six ways social media listening benefits businesses today.
1. Improve Products & Services
Twenty-five percent of respondents said the primary benefit of social media listening is getting feedback to improve products and services.
Whether you’re a businesses or a brand, you should learn how your customers use your products or services. This will identify what is working and where there are opportunities to improve your marketing and sales.
2. Attract New Customers
Twenty-four percent of survey respondents said the primary benefit of social media listening is attracting new customers.
When people are considering buying from a company, they do research. That includes checking out your social media presence. So if you want to win new customers, make sure you’re responding to and taking care of your existing customers.
3. Provide & Improve Customer Service
Twenty-one percent of the people Clutch surveyed said the primary benefit of social media listening is improving customer service.
Customers expect fast responses and resolution to issues when they contact a business via social media. While the term social media disaster can be a bit overblown at times, it’s always important to focus on making sure you have a core audience that loves you no matter what you do (see: Apple).
4. Monitoring Content Performance
Thirteen percent of respondents said the primary benefit of social media listening is monitoring how different content performs.
While shares are a nice vanity metric, shares don’t actually necessarily translate into conversations or even visits to your website. Great content gets people sharing and talking.
5. Recruiting & Hiring
Nine percent of survey respondents said the primary benefit of social media listening is recruiting and hiring people.
People want to work at places that respond to and take care of their customers. Odds are, these companies also know how to treat their employees well.
6. Monitor Your Competition
Eight percent of the people Clutch surveyed said the primary benefit of social media listening is learning about the competition.
Find out what people are saying and thinking about your competitors. This could help you differentiate your company from the rest of your space and also find valuable gap that you could exploit.
For the full survey results, you can read Clutch’s Why Businesses Should Perform Social Listening: 2017 Survey.
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Featured Image: Depositphotos
Article image: Clutch
