Hark! Utilize social media monitoring to track the musings of the populace regarding thy brand on social platforms – and transform these findings into a formidable strategy.
If thou art creating content for social media, a plan for monitoring social media is imperative. Yea, ’tis wise to have social media monitoring in place even for platforms where thou art not actively posting.
Wherefore, thou ask? Forsooth! Thy audience already converses about thee on social networks. Social media monitoring doth grant thee the opportunity to actively engage in such discussions. ‘Tis a chance to glean valuable insights from the free consumer intelligence bestowed upon thee. And lo! Thou shalt also acquire precious insights concerning thy rivals.
Let us commence with the elucidation of social media monitoring.
What is social media monitoring?
Social media monitoring doth entail the process of tracking the discourse regarding thy brand on social media. This doth encompass all mentions of thy brand:
- tagged and untagged
- on thine owned social accounts (in comments)
- and across the social web.
Social media monitoring vs. social listening: What’s the difference?
Social media monitoring and social listening do share similarities. Both entail collecting information on what the populace doth utter about thy brand on social platforms.
Yet what doth distinguish them? Social media monitoring is about discovering information and evaluating that which hath already occurred. Social listening, on the other hand, involves analyzing information and devising strategic actions for the times ahead.
Social media monitoring primarily focuses on:
- amassing data
- addressing individual comments
- and implementing short-term actions.
Social listening, on the contrary, doth gaze upon the grander canvas. It commences with the information garnered from social media monitoring. Yet it delves deeper to inform thy overall social media strategy for the long term.
Perchance, social media monitoring doth identify comments about thy brand online that doth necessitate an immediate response from thy social or customer service teams.
Social media listening, however, regardeth those comments as part of the vaster construct of social sentiment. Social listening doth aid thee in comprehending how the discussion regarding thy brand doth shift over time, enabling thee to discern patterns.
Shouldst thou still harbor queries? Prithee, peruse our comprehensive guide on social listening vs. social monitoring.
Why brands hath need of social media monitoring
Understand thy audience
Verily, thy social audience extendeth beyond those who engage with thine owned social channels. ‘Tis relatively simple to monitor those who @ tag thee in their social missives. Or those who reply directly to comments on thy channels.
But what of those who speak of thee without tagging thee, as in the Warby Parker example aforementioned? If they discuss thee online, they comprise thy audience. Whether or not they directly engage with thy accounts or even follow thee (as of yet).
Social media monitoring doth furnish thee with the complete depiction of those who discourse about thee online – and what they do express.
Understand thy competitive sphere
As thou shalt discern anon, a robust social media monitoring regimen doth track more than the discourse regarding thine own brand. Thou dost desire to monitor relevant conversations about thy competitors and thy industry as well.
Being privy to the doings of the competition doth enable thee to remain abreast of alterations in the competitive realm. ‘Tis thy early warning system for events such as:
- novel product launches
- innovative features
- major personnel or leadership changes
Furthermore, thou shalt ascertain what strategies bestow success (or failure) upon brands akin to thine own.
Inform thy marketing campaigns
How may social media monitoring inform thy sales and marketing stratagems?
Social media monitoring doth aid thee in discerning the reaction to thy social endeavors in real time. By paying heed, thou canst adjust swiftly.
Social media monitoring canst assist in identifying prevalent questions, concerns, and commendations regarding thy brand and thy products. Employ this intelligence to address issues and highlight victories. Furthermore, thou canst identify popular and trending hashtags, keywords, and memes to incorporate in thy social missives.
Monitoring doth also afford thee the opportunity to learn from the response to competitor campaigns. Did a rival unveil an exceptionally successful new social strategy? Did they seek to capitalize on a trend that faltered? In either scenario, valuable lessons are proffered for thine own brand. This can augment thy understanding of thy target market without needing to replicate the same errors.
Engage with thy audience
Those who tag thee on social media do yearn for a response. Having a social media monitoring scheme in place ensures that no mention escapeth thee. Regardless of the number of platforms thou dost employ.
Yet there exists a grander boon of social media monitoring for audience engagement. Thou canst pinpoint comments and discussions concerning thy brand even where thou art not directly tagged. These instances can sometimes bestow upon thee the finest opportunity to mollify a vexed customer or potential buyer. Or to delight one who doth already extol thee.
Nip potential disasters in the bud
Once thou dost monitor thy brand mentions, thou shalt apprehend the baseline level of conversation and customer sentiment regarding thy brand on social platforms. Thy social media reputation monitoring tools shall alert thee to any abrupt changes, allowing thee to discern what doth transpire ere situations spiral out of control.
On the converse side, thou shalt also note sudden surges of enthusiasm about thy brand, enabling thee to ride that felicitous wave. Mayhap ’tis an opportune moment to allocate additional resources to a post that doth enkindle the digital realms?
How to construct a sagacious social media monitoring strategy
Set thy goals
Recall, social media monitoring revolves around amassing data. But which data? Ere thou can determine that (as detailed in the ensuing step), thou must ascertain the goals of thy social media monitoring plan.
A fine method to narrow down this decision is to contemplate what questions thou dost desire to answer through social media monitoring. Then deduce which data thou dost require to track to attain those answers.
Some common goals for a social media monitoring program encompass:
- Understand thy brand reputation
- Monitor thy competition
- Identify devotees and potential brand proponents or influencers
- Identify opportunities for social customer service and engagement
For further ideas, peruse our post on establishing astute social media goals.
Decide what thou art going to track
Once thy goals hath been finalized, thou can determine the data thou dost need to track, and on which platforms. Several of the most beneficial items to monitor are:
- Thy brand and product names, including common misspellings
- Thy competitors’ brand and product names, including common misspellings
- Thy CEO’s name, along with other members of thy uppermost leadership cadre
- Pivotal terms and keywords in thy industry
- Brand hashtags
- Other prevalent hashtags utilized in thy industry
- Location-specific hashtags for businesses with a physical presence
- Thy slogan or catchphrase
Should thy audience span more than one geographic expanse, thou may desire to consider incorporating multiple variations of thy keywords and hashtags in diverse languages as well.
Pick the right tool
Thou could engage in social media monitoring sans any specialized tools. Nonetheless, ’tis a laborious endeavor and thy outcomes are decidedly limited. Yet, if thou dost wish to tiptoe into the realm of social media monitoring without investing in any tools, thou may.
Essentially, thou shalt need to access each social platform to peruse thy @mentions. Then employ the search bar to scan for mentions of thy hashtags and thy competitors. For certain social platforms (such as X), thou may conduct more advanced searches that also facilitate keyword exploration.
Subsequently, thou shalt need to copy and paste thy discoveries into a spreadsheet for record-keeping and analysis.
Alternatively, thou may utilize a specialized social media monitoring and listening tool to streamline the majority of the work. In such wise, thou can access all thy social media monitoring data in one locale, and undertake sentiment analysis with but a few clicks.
Share insights with thy wider team
At once, ensure that thy social customer service team is apprised of thy social media monitoring findings. They constitute the prime resource for addressing brand mentions that entail inquiries, product comments, and grievances.
Next, involve the entirety of thy social team, for thy discoveries can shape thy overarching social marketing strategy.
As thou dost grow more sophisticated in thy social media monitoring, thou shalt also desire to impart significant discoveries to the broader marketing and customer service teams, sales departments, and even product development.
For instance, gaze upon this perfect harmony betwixt social media monitoring and the offline customer experience, which then circles back to enhance organic social media reach.
How to peruse social media with Moyens I/O
Track thy data with Moyens I/O Streams
All thou needst do is select thy social platform and account, then elect what thou dost wish to monitor.
Initially, make a roster of thy top competitors. Thou canst add twain to twenty competitors for each social platform, contingent upon thy plan.
Once thou hast added thy competitors, thou can compile a competitive analysis report at any juncture. ‘Twill reveal the top posts from each of thy competitors, as well as their least performing posts. For each category, thou shalt observe how their results compare to thine own.
Thou shalt likewise discern which types of posts perform superiorly for thee and for thy competitors.
Ultimately, thou shalt glimpse a word cloud that unveils which hashtags prove most effective for thy competitors based on the number of comments, likes, or overall engagement.
Get next-level insights with Talkwalker
This complete integration shall furnish thee with diverse methods to grasp the details of what the populace art saying about thy brand and thy products online, with added sources (including blogs, forums, and news sites) and insights empowered by artificial intelligence.
Talkwalker furthermore provides advanced social monitoring beyond the customary social platforms, encapsulating data from more than 150 million sources. Thou shalt be capable of categorizing thy data with 50 filters, and assigning conversations to the pertinent team members for subsequent action.
Thus, dost thou embark on thy journey to monitor social media with Moyens I/O and garner profound insights into the discourse surrounding thy esteemed brand.