Understanding The Power Of Social Listening
In business, one of the most fundamental principles is taught to us from a young age - the customer is always right. Personally, I learned this lesson from Mr. Eugene Krabs in an early Spongebob episode nearly twenty years ago.
These days, the idea still holds true. Listening to customers to hear what they like, what they don't like, what they need, and how they use your product is critical to continuing to provide the value they seek. And where is a great place to look for their feedback? Social media.
On that note, let me introduce the concept of social listening.
Social Listening
Hubspot provides a great article and further resources to learn about social listening, what it is and why it's useful. The goal is to use your customers on social media as a sort of on-going focus group, where you are able to understand the conversations people have about your brand, whether or not they share anything about it, and even gain insights on products via beta launches or test marketing.
Social listening primarily aims to obtain information about social media mentions, and customer conversations about the brand/product. This allows for marketers to then examine the root causes behind what they learn about their customers, and begin optimizing strategy to better cater to what buyers really want.
Brands that engage with their audience on social media are more likely to see significant growth. Customers love when this is done well and effectively, and improving social media engagement has proven successful for brands such as:
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In addition, opportunities to understand more about what competitors are doing relative to your own brand exist when companies use social listening. Being able to hear from the target audience what they like better or worse about other firms is infinitely useful in developing a differentiated competitive advantage. Even something as simple as providing a 2-minute tutorial video on how to use a feature when customers communicate confusion about it can go a long way.
Start off with learning about how to set up monitoring systems, choosing keywords, and using results from analysis to begin informing future strategy. Sprout offers a social listening tool specifically designed for enterprise applications, that does it all in one convenient place.
It comes down to just being social customer service - answering questions, responding to messages, developing that B2C trust, personalizing the experience, and offering content that is useful, relevant and trendy. This is the expectation customers have of their favorite brands in 2023 - let's see it working in action!
Real World Example - Wingstop
The Texas-based chicken chain, Wingstop, is known for having an excellent social media strategy & high focus on social listening. Take their revival of the hot honey rub, for example.
In June of 2022, Wingstop introduced a new flavor option for their wings: hot honey. Customers LOVED the flavor, and it became a fan favorite. Eventually, it was discontinued & like with any other restaurant, buyers complained and wished for it's return.
So what did Wingstop do? They delivered. An Instagram post from the brand proclaimed the return of hot honey, as a direct response to consumers expressing interest in it.
Since this, Wingstop has turned the hot honey rub into a full-on campaign. Memes, content, and merchandise about the "return of hot honey" are now in full swing from the restaurant. It's also worth noting this is only one example from Wingstop - if your brand is in need of some inspiration for social listening, check out their Instagram and Facebook pages.