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How To Build a Social Listening Strategy

Date
December 18, 2024
Read Time
4-5 minutes
Category
Social Media

Social media is the key to success in the modern digital age and having a comprehensive social listening strategy may no longer be a luxury — it may be a necessity. Actively monitoring online conversations and social media data provides businesses with valuable insights into how customers feel about your brand, helps identify emerging trends, and helps make informed decisions on products and services. If you want to learn how to build a social listening strategy, boostCX has the tools you need to engage with and learn from customers on social media platforms.

6 Steps to Creating a Social Media Listening Strategy

When you decide to implement a social listening strategy, it is important to have a plan in place. Creating a successful social listening strategy requires a more structured approach that aligns with your business goals and allows you to discover meaningful insights from the mountain of customer sentiment and data you will find on social media.

Here's a step-by-step guide to help get you started:

1. Establish Specific Goals

Before you dive headfirst into social listening, it is critical that you define your objectives. What do you hope to achieve with this new strategy? Are you hoping to better understand and improve customer sentiment? Do you want to collect ideas for new products or services? Maybe you hope to engage new audiences or generate stronger relationships and partnerships? Define your goals to better guide your social listening efforts and help you measure success.

2. Identify Important Social Media Metrics to Monitor

What metrics will you monitor with your social monitoring strategy? Determine which metrics are most relevant to your goals and focus on those. Are you interested in tracking brand mentions, sentiment analysis, or competitor activity? Choosing the right metrics will provide valuable data for analysis and help you make data-driven decisions. Key metrics you can monitor include brand mentions, post volume, impressions, reach, engagement rate, and sentiment.

3. Find the Right Social Media Tool or Technology

It is important to invest in a social listening tool that aligns with your needs and your budget.  Numerous tools are available, and each offers features like real-time monitoring, sentiment analysis, and competitor benchmarks. Choose a tool — like boostCX Social Reputation Management — that provides the functions you need to effectively track and analyze social media data.

4. Analyze Competitors on Social Media

Don't just focus on your own brand mentions. Analyze what's being said about your competitors and use it as a comparison tool. What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do customers view their products and services? Analysis of competitors and established benchmarks can reveal valuable insights and opportunities to set your brand apart.

5. Create a Plan to Respond

Social listening isn't just about listening and monitoring social media posts. It's about actively engaging with your customers when and where they are most active. Develop a plan for how you will respond to comments, questions, and feedback in a timely and appropriate manner. This demonstrates that you value customer input and are committed to providing excellent service at every touchpoint.

6. Give Your Strategy Time

Building an effective social listening strategy takes time and effort. It will not happen overnight. You need to continuously monitor, analyze, and adjust your strategy based on the data you have collected over time. As your strategy progresses, you'll adapt your approach and reap the full benefits of social listening.

READ MORE: How To Use Social Media to Improve the Customer Experience

Do you want to learn how to build a social listening strategy? With these steps, you can create a social listening strategy that delivers valuable insights, strengthens customer relationships, and drives growth for your business. Remember — social listening is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring, analysis, and adaptation.


Contact boostCX today to learn more about our social listening solutions and how we can help you turn online conversations into action!

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