how to listen (using social media)

In his post “Social media: Listening is the new marketing,” Paul Chaney at PracticaleCommerce.com says,

Marketers are known for talking, not listening.

So when it comes to bringing social media into the process of what currently exists, agencies have to ask themselves “when did we build in time to actually listen to the conversation that’s happening before we try to enter it?” Doh, maybe you didn’t. This is why the process has to change. You either have to be nimble (or small) enough to be process agnostic and go with the option that fits the problem at hand OR you have to look at your process as it is now and see where listening does or could fit in.

Let’s talk about how to listen. With social media, things like blog posts, comments, Tweets, and consumer reviews are all full of detailed descriptions – conversations that are happening – insights that are being shared with whomever cares to listen.  So get out there:

1. identify what you’re looking for: your company, your brand, your customer service, feedback, complaints, praise, topics of interest, etc.
2. identify criteria by which you’ll analyze each area
3. search one of the many available social search engines: Samepoint.com, socialmention.com, search.twitter.com, icerocket.com
4. set up a “dashboard” for incoming data
5. set frequency of moderation (how often do we want to look at what’s being said about _____?)
6. analyze types of content associated with your search – is it mostly blog posts? are my customers mostly Tweeting? are there a lot of videos out there about my brand/product/category? what does this “mix” mean? what seems to be most sharable about my ______?
7. determine what you’re going to do – how your brand will participate, interact, and engage
8. define “success in social media” for your brand
9. GO!

Step 7 is where the fun comes in.

• What will you create to engage your audience?
• How will you interact with them once they’ve been engaged?

It’s all up to you really – be creative! But please don’t forget to be strategic, or else we’re just going to have a bunch of digital waste that no one really appreciates but that gets constantly spammed to our inboxes causing us to be apathetic and cynical about brand engagement in the first place.

What does all this have to do with planning? I think it’s inherent in the discipline that planners listen well. It’s the ability to pause, to go slow, to take it all in, that helps us form the most educated and best informed replies. And if we’re all trying to start or jump into the conversation, this is a skill we must cultivate.