We’ve been talking about the 5 W’s of social media. In general, that covers Who, What, Why, Where and When. To make sure we focus on the two very different, but crucial sides of the W “coin,” we went a step further and divided the W’s into two main parts.
Earlier, we talked about what you GIVE or offer to your social media communities and how you relate to the people who follow your brand. Now we’re going to focus on what you TAKE away, or learn from your social media efforts.
Of course, the goal on both sides is to grow and advance in our marketing efforts. Fortunately, there are some pretty savvy resources available that can help us accomplish our goals. It’s always good to cover the basics from the ground-up, though, and that’s what we’re going to do today.
There are a couple of terms that we hear often in relation to social media take-aways or learnings. The main term that we’d like to focus on today is listening. For this purpose, we’re putting listening before related concepts like analytics, monitoring tools and data mining. Those are all very important activities, but listening should occur on a much more personal level.
Andrew Hutchinson has this to say on SocialMedia Today:
“If you want engagement, you talk, you listen (and listen and listen), then you respond.”
Listening is how we take information in; how we learn, grow and improve today’s activities for tomorrow. Social media offers the unique opportunity to connect directly with customers. Because of that connection, it only makes sense that we personally listen to what they have to say.
But listening is just one half of a conversation. The other half is engagement. Listening doesn’t do any good if you don’t do anything about it. If customers don’t feel heard, they aren’t going to take the time to communicate. They won’t be “liking”, posting, commenting or talking about your brand if they don’t feel there is any value in doing so.
To really drive the point home, here are a couple more pearls of engagement wisdom from Andrew Hutchinson:
“…interaction…turns followers into advocates…”
“The power of engagement cannot be understated as a means of strengthening relationships and trust in your brand, and social media is the best platform to facilitate this. It’s immediate, it’s accessible—it’s where your audience is already at.”
Imagine the ripple effect that personal interactions have within the realm of social media. We’ve all heard the criticisms companies have faced when they’re not listening to, or engaging with, their audience. Don’t let that kind of criticism befall your company.
Get the point?
Great! So, let’s make it personal.
WHO
The first thing that will point you in the right listening and engagement direction is determining who is talking about your brand.
Start by taking a look at who is on your list of followers:
- Are your followers who you expect them to be?
- Are they industry partners and influential thought leaders?
- Are they customers and/or potential customers?
- Are there competitors on your list?
- And when your followers talk, who (besides you) is listening?
By listening to who is saying what, you stand to learn a lot—not only about your brand as it is, but what it could be. People are more than happy to offer their opinions to businesses, and smart businesses always garner valuable, brand-building take-aways from customer feedback.
WHAT
Once you focus on who is doing the talking, get down to the nitty-gritty about what they’re saying.
- Is the feedback positive or negative?
- What can you do to empower your “cheerleaders” and turnaround any potential naysayers?
- Are people sharing first-hand experiences about your brand, or are they jumping on someone else’s conversational bandwagon?
- What suggestions are being shared? Are there any ideas for new products or services?
- Are people asking for specific things, or just commenting generally?
- What can you do to encourage more specific feedback and more interaction in general?
- And always, ALWAYS ask yourself: What’s in it for your customers?
By listening to what is being said, you can direct or re-direct conversations. You can inform and educate your audience, and build more support for your brand based on what your followers are interested in.
WHY
Next, focus on why people are engaging with your brand and how their engagement affects your business.
- Why do they care about what you do?
- Why do they take the time to follow you and comment on your boards, pages and feeds?
- Are they looking for VIP benefits or behind-the-scenes information?
- Do you offer special deals and promotions exclusive to your online community?
- Are they responding to surveys or requests, or are they communicating on their own accord?
- Are they communicating on a one-time basis, or are you cultivating repeat contributors?
- From another perspective, if social media activity suddenly increases or decreases, you definitely need to figure out why.
- And, don’t forget to ask … You can be sure that if you ask questions via social media, you’ll get answers!
WHERE
When most businesses think about where they connect with their audiences, they reply with the list of social media outlets where their business has pages and profiles. Another way to think about social media interaction, however, is to go (strategically!) where your customers are.
If your company has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, for example, but a large section of Instagram users fit your key customer profiles, then you may want to consider adding Instagram to your repertoire. (It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: Before you jump into any new-to-you social arena, first follow, listen, and learn everything you can about it so you can enter the arena confidently and effectively!)
- Where does it make the most sense for your brand to be?
- Where are your customers and potential customers now? You’ll also want to monitor follower migration. In other words, as social media trends shift, so may the volume and demographic of your customer base.
- Create a social media atmosphere that your customers and potential customers will want to come to: “Build it, and they will come!”
- Consider interactions on blogs and forums as well as the busier, button-related social media outlets. Posting relevant comments within existing conversations is a very effective way to build brand awareness and attract new followers.
- Track where your customers are coming from. Are they responding to an ad, or did they just stumble upon your page via some other resource?
Building social media communities based on where your customers and potential customers are (not just where you think your brand should be) is key in retaining and building your customer base.
WHEN
Defining when your customers are most actively social – in terms of the time of day – can be a little harder. But, just like all the other W’s, timing can be determined by listening to, and engaging with, your followers.
Don’t forget to consider cyclical traffic patterns, too. If your business is seasonally driven, or if it experiences spikes in activity due to weather or events, plan to listen and engage more heavily during those busy times.
Similarly, if your business experiences a “slow season,” you need to create a strategy that will keep conversations and interactions going throughout that time so your customers don’t forget about you.
In the long run, you can employ all kinds of analytical tools that will track your social media activities, but personally listening and engaging will always be your best strategy.
If you’d like to find out HOW to effectively implement social media W’s, we’ll cover that in Part III of this series. If you want to get started right away, just give us a call. We’re not superheroes, but the red capes at Filament are always ready to save the day!
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